The Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations subcommittee marked up their portion of the appropriations bills yesterday evening. The full Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill on Monday, June 18. NSF did very well with a total appropriation of $6.509 billion, an increase of 10 percent over FY07 and $80 million more than the President requested.
Research and Related Activities got $5.14 billion in the subcommittee markup7.9 percent over FY07 and $8 million more than the Presidents request (but that $8 million is apparently going to the EPSCoR program, which the committee has apparently moved into R&RA from Education and Human Resources). Education and Human Resources received $822.6 million or 17.9 percent over FY07 and $72 million over the request for FY08. Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction received $244.7 million, the level that the President requested and 28.2 percent more than FY07.
No details were provided for the various programs within each account but well know more as the process moves forward through the House and when the Senate takes it up and well keep you updated here.
On June 12, 2007, In American Competitiveness Initiative, Funding, FY08 Appropriations, By MelissaNorr
On June 4, 2007, In R&D in the Press, By Peter Harsha
The computing community has had these concerns for quite a while, so it’s not surprising to see other disciplines noting similar issues with DARPA in this OpEd written by David Ignatius in Friday’s Washington Post:
DARPA once liked to boast that it took on impossible problems and wasn’t interested in the merely difficult. But in recent years, the scientists argued, DARPA has become nearly as cautious and prone to micromanagement as the government’s science behemoth, the National Institutes of Health. Before making most of its grants, the NIH demands such detailed evidence of success that it is “funding the past, not the future,” one scientist complained.
“DARPA seems to be shifting to the NIH model — more near-term, more risk-averse,” said Don Ingber, a professor of pathology at Harvard.
For more background, in addition to all the links above, be sure to check out CRA’s Information Technology R&D page which has tons of links to previous press reports on the issue….
From the CCC Blog
- A Retrospective on Alan Turing’s Influence Erwin Gianchandani
- Microsoft Research Names 2012 Faculty Fellows Erwin Gianchandani
- Revisiting “Where the jobs are…” Erwin Gianchandani
- “Troves of Personal Data, Forbidden to Researchers” Erwin Gianchandani