National Science Board

What this funds

The NSB was established by the NSF Act of 1950 with dual responsibilities: to provide national science policy advice to the President and Congress, and to establish policies for NSF within the framework of applicable national policies and priorities set forth by the President and the Congress. The Board consists of 24 presidentially appointed members, along with the Director of NSF as an ex-officio member. Representing the broad landscape of the U.S. science and engineering (S&E) research and education community, the Board serves as an advisory body on S&E issues critical to the Nation. Board members serve six-year terms with staggered appointments. They are eminent researchers with records of distinguished service in multiple sectors who "provide representation of the views of scientific and engineering leaders in all areas of the Nation." The Board convenes at least four formally scheduled public meetings per year, with additional meetings as needed, to review and approve major NSF awards; consult with the Director on new programs; oversee and provide policy direction and strategic guidance to NSF; oversee the lifecycle of large facilities, including conducting site visits; and address significant S&E-related national policy issues. The Board initiates and conducts studies and reports on a range of policy topics and engages NSF's stakeholders nationwide. The Board reviews NSF's priorities to ensure progress and consistency along the strategic direction set for NSF and to ensure alignment with national priorities and balance among new investments and core programs. The Board examines issues of importance to the S&E research and education communities, in general, and to NSF, in particular. Topics are determined through requests from Congress or the President, and as the Board identifies in consultation with the community and NSF management. Recent NSB reports have examined the macroscale changes to the global and U.S. S&E landscape, the skilled technical workforce, and our dependence on foreign S&E talent. Recognizing the imminent threat that the People's Republic of China's S&E investments pose to U.S. S&E leadership and the growing share of U.S. basic research funded by industry, NSB is focused on renewing NSF and American S&E to respond to this changed S&E landscape and ensure America's global scientific and technological leadership in years ahead.1 In its NSF-facing role, NSB is focused on fostering a nimble, results-oriented, next generation NSF that responds to national priorities (including AI, Quantum, and Advanced Materials and Manufacturing), helps the nation avoid technological surprise, and complements other federal and non-government investments. NSB is focused on implementing the findings of its recent reexamination of NSF's merit review policies, especially as they relate to strengthening the agency's focus on the societal benefits of NSF-supported research. In its national S&E advisory role, NSB is exploring new models to collaborate across sectors to optimize U.S. R&D and educate domestic STEM talent with an eye toward the approaches and institutions needed to ensure a golden era of U.S. leadership. The Board has several standing committees to assist with its responsibilities. The Executive Committee (EC) includes the Director of NSF, who chairs the Committee, and four elected members from the Board, two of whom are the NSB Chair and Vice-Chair. The Committee has been given the authority by the Board to approve awards in the rare instances when immediate action The Committee on Oversight (CO) conducts independent oversight of NSF's operations, processes for risk management, audit plans and results, and processes for complying with laws and regulations; reviews Office of the Inspector General (OIG) activities and NSF management responses; monitors audits and makes related recommendations to the Board; and oversees the Board's compliance with The Committee on Strategy (CS) provides a forum for developing the Board's strategic discussions of NSF's budget, programs, organization structure and agency vision; makes recommendations to the Board on annual Budget Requests and quadrennial Strategic Plans; and provides strategic guidance to the Board on NSF's programs. The Committee on National S&E Policy (SEP) oversees development and production of the congressionally-mandated Science and Engineering Indicators (Indicators) report in collaboration with NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES); helps ensure that the S&E information and policy resources developed by the NSB are high-quality, policy-relevant, and accessible in order to meet stakeholder needs; and helps fulfill the NSB's charge to provide ongoing information and policy advice to Congress and the President on S&E research, education, and The Committee on Awards and Facilities (A&F) addresses strategic issues and recommends policies to the Board related to awards and MREFC projects; makes recommendations to the Board on awards and facilities; and provides lifecycle oversight on facilities and awards. The Committee on External Engagement (EE) leads the NSB's communication and engagement efforts with government, industry, the public and the research and education communities, and helps the Board advance the pursuit of national policies for the promotion of research and education in S&E. EE also reviews nominations for two awards established by the Board: the Vannevar Bush Award and the Science and Society Award. Ongoing activities of the Board include reviewing and making recommendations on: ' Large awards, MREFC projects, and other proposals, as needed; ' NSF's Management Response to the OIG Semi-annual Reports to Congress; ' Transmittal of the NSF, OIG, and NSB budget submissions to the Office of Management and ' Priority order of projects in the MREFC Account; ' Inclusion of new projects requiring funding under the MREFC Account; ' NSF's financial management reports; and ' NSF's strategic plan and longer-term budget plans, including NSF's research infrastructure FY 2027 Budget Request to Congress This FY 2027 Budget Request will enable the NSB to fulfill its statutory governance responsibilities including oversight, and to respond to Administration priorities and Congressional requests. Personnel Compensation and Benefits and Other Operating Expenses 1 PC&B includes base salary costs and anticipated within grade and promotion increases. The Board's FY 2027 Request allows the National Science Board Office (NSBO) to maintain a core of full-time policy, communications, administrative, and legal staff. In addition to providing institutional memory for the Board, the NSBO staff provides both the resources and expertise for coordinating and conducting science and education policy analyses and developing and implementing broad

Extracted from National Science Foundation, p. 23. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

Contracts funded by this line

14 linked contracts. These are obligations — lifetime awarded money — and they are not comparable to the request above and are never added to it. No total is shown: an award linked to several lines is counted in full on each, so the sum would not be a fact.

Showing 8 of 14 — most confidently matched first, largest within a confidence tier. These are not necessarily the largest 8.

Confidence mix · 14 certain

Linked contracts are a floor, not a census. Coverage is bounded by how distinctively a program is named and, for performer links, to RDT&E and Procurement — O&M and military construction publish no performers. Budget figures are FY2027 request dollars; contract figures are obligations. The two measure different things and must never be summed together.

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Answers come from the figures on this page and nothing else. These dollars are parsed from National Science Foundation's Congressional Justification and are approximate — confirm anything that matters against the cited page.