AIP FYI #28: OSTP Highlights FY 2004 Physical Sciences Request; Final PCAST Letter

The Office of Science and Technology Policy issued seven budget documents
with the release of the FY 2004 budget request. One of these documents was
entitled, “The Physical Sciences: Research and Development Funding in the
President’s FY 2004 Budget.” This one-page brief highlights the budget
requests for NSF, DOE, and NASA, and is as follows:

“Research in the physical sciences supports health science research; leads
to a better understanding of the universe; and spurs progress in a host of
other areas, including information technologies, defense technologies,
energy, agriculture, and the environment.

“The 2004 Budget strengthens the nation’s investment in the physical
sciences by making significant investments in a number of priority areas:

“National Science Foundation (NSF). The President’s Budget increases the
overall NSF budget by $453 million, or about nine percent. Of Note:

“NSF physical science investments alone would increase by $100 million, or
13 percent, in programs. This represents an increase of 35 percent, or $219
million, over investments of just five years ago.

“Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction (MREFC) would receive a
60 percent, $202 million, increase – which would greatly help fund MREFC
Projects approved by the National Science Board.

“The MREFC investments also include $60 million in funding for ‘Ice Cube’,
a unique neutrino observatory at the South Pole.

“Department of Energy (DOE). The President’s Budget provides $5.2 billion
for federal science and technology at the Department of Energy, a three
percent increase from the 2003 request. Of Note:

“The FreedomFUEL initiative will provide a total of $3.2 billion, including
$720 million in new funding over the next five years to develop the
technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store, and distribute
hydrogen fuel for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity generation.

“The DOE Office of Science would receive $3.3 billion, an increase of about
two percent. However, since construction funding for the Spallation Neutron
Source will be reallocated, the available funds for Office of Science core
research programs actually increases by $117 million or 4.2 percent, with
priority given to operating the Office’s existing suite of large national
scientific user facilities.

“The Office of Science at the Department of Energy almost triples its
investment in unique nanoscale science research centers, with a proposed
increase of $63 million to begin construction, design, or equipment
procurement for four new centers, bringing the total number of funded
nano-centers to five.

“National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The NASA budget
provides nearly $9.2 billion for federal science and technology programs at
NASA, a 5-percent increase, with $4 billion for space science. Of Note:

“A new $31 million investment in optical communications technology would
increase the scientific and educational outcomes of future planetary
missions.

“Two new missions to undertake research at the intersection of physics and
astronomy, LISA and CON-X, would commence with $59 million. LISA is the
laser interferometer space antenna (space-based gravity wave detector) and
CON-X is a next-generation x-ray telescope for, among other things, imaging
x-ray emission from black holes.

“A Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter Mission, to search for life on Jupiter’s moons
and demonstrate breakthrough power propulsion technologies, would receive
$93 million.”

At about the same time, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology (PCAST) released the final version of the letter first drafted on
August 28, 2002 (see FYI #101 in 2002.) There was a reworked version of
this letter dated October 10 (see FYI #7 in 2003.) During the August
conference call that reviewed this draft letter there was considerable
discussion about federal funding for the physical sciences. The PCAST web
site states that four reports were drafted and approved by PCAST in 2002,
and provides the following link,
http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/FINAL%20R&D%20REPORT%20WITH%20LETTERS.pdf to
the report on “Assessing U.S. R&D Investment.” In an October 16 cover
letter found on this site to President Bush, PCAST co-chairs John H.
Marburger and E. Floyd Kvamme state:

“In brief, the report explores issues surrounding the historical patterns
of federal investments in science and technology, and provides several
recommendations on how to address these issues. The PCAST understood that
the doubling of the National Institutes of Health’s budget has been
completed and the current budget situation is constrained. Accordingly, the
report suggests targeting the physical sciences and certain engineering
fields (that cross-cut several agencies) for budgetary reallocation given
their importance to our nation’s economic well-being and competitiveness in
order to better balance the available budget dollars.”

An accompanying letter from G. Wayne Clough, Chair of the panel writing the
report, to Marburger and Kvamme, outlines the panel’s first recommendation:

“All evidence points to a need to improve funding levels for physical
sciences and engineering. Continuation of present patterns will lead to an
inability to sustain our nation’s technical and scientific leadership. We
recommend that beginning with the FY04 budget and carrying through the next
four fiscal years, funding for physical sciences and engineering across the
relevant agencies be adjusted upward to bring them collectively to parity
with the life sciences.”

Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org

(301) 209-3094