National Science Foundation Annual Report 1988 About the National Science Foundation
he National Science Foundation is industry and U.S. participation in from the National Science Foundation. 7 an independent federal agency international scientific efforts. Facilitation Awards for Handi created by the National Science Foun Tbe Foundation is run by a pres capped Scientists and Engineers (FAH) dation Act of 1950 (P.L. 81-507). Its identially appointed Director and provide funding for special assistance aim is to promote and advance Board of 24 scientists and engineers, or equipment to enable persons with scientific progress in tbe United States. as well as top university and industry disabilities (investigators and other The idea of such a foundation was an officials. staff, including student resect rch outgrowth of the important contribu NSF is structured much liize a assistants) to work on an NSF"project. tions made by sctence and technology university, with grant-making divi See the FAH announcement or during World War II. From those first sions for the various disciplines and contact the FAH Coordinator at days, NSP bas had a unique place in fields of science and engineering. The (202) 357-7456. the federal government: it is respon Foundation's staff is helped by advi The National Science Foundation sible for the overall health of science sors, primarily from the scientific com has TDD (Telephonic Device Jor the and engineering across all disciplines. munity, who serve on formal commit Deaf) capability, which enables In contrast, other federal agencies tees or as ad hoc reviewers of propos individuals with hearing impairment support research focused on specific als. This advisory system, which to communicate with the Division of missions, such as health or defense. focuses on both program direction and Personnel and Management about The Foundation is also committed to specific proposals, involves more than NSF programs, employment, or general expanding the nation's supply of 59,000 scientists and engineers a year. informcuion. This number is (202) scientists, engineers, and science NSF staff members who are experts in a 357-7492. educators. certain field or area make final award NSF funds researcb in all fields of decisions; applicants get verbatim science and engineering. It does this unsigned copies of peer revieivs and through grants and contracts to more can appeal those decisions. than 2000 colleges, universities, and Awardees are wholly responsible for other research institutions in all parts doing their research and preparing the of the United States. The Foundation results for publication. Thus the accounts for about 25 percent of Foundation does not assume respon federal suppori to academic institu siblity for such findings or their tions for basic research. interpretation. NSF receives more than 3 7,500 * * ^ * proposals each year for researcb, NSF welcomes proposals on behalf of graduate fellowships, and math/ all qualified scientists and engineers science/engineering education; it and strongly encourages women, makes more than 16,000 awards. minorities, andpersohs with disabili These go to universities, colleges, ties to compete fully in its programs. academic consortia, nonprofit institu In accordance with federal statutes tions, and small businesses. The and regulations and NSF policies, no agency operates no laboratories itself person on grounds of race, color, age, but does suppori National Research sex, national origin, or disability shall Centers, certain oceanographic vessels, be excluded from participation in, and antarctic researcb stations. The denied the benefits of, or be subject to Foundation also aids cooperative discrimination under any program or researcb between universities and activity receiving financial assistance
Cover: "Instabilities in Supersonic Flow" (image showing development of instability in a supersonic gas jet). This is from an animated sequence of400 images; the animation was computed in about 15 hours on a CRAY supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Appli cations, tJniversity of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Principal investigators: David A. Clarlte, Donna Cox, Philip E. Hardee, Michael L. Norman National Science Foundation Annual Report 1988
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 Letter of Transmittal
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
I have the honor to transmit here with the Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1988 of the National Science Founda tion, for submission to the Congress as required by the National Science Foundation Act of 1950.
Respectfully,
Director, National Science Foundation
ne Honorable The President of the United States CONTENTS
Director's Statement IV
Highlights 2
Chapter 1: Introduction 13
Chapter 2: People: The Urgent Need 14
Chapter 3: Instrumentation
and Equipment 24
Chapter 4: Recent Initiatives 31
Chapter 5: Awards/ Organizational
News 38
Chapter 6: Conclusion 47 Appendixes 48
Appendix A. NSF Senior Staff and National Science Board Members (FY 1988) 48
Appendix B. Patents and Financial Report for FY 1988 49
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Director's Statement
he end of 1988 is also the The Administration's five-year Because demographic trends JL end of the Reagan Adminis doubling strategy was reaffirmed demand it, we will renew our tration. This has been a period of in January 1988, and this time we efforts to attract larger numbers of growth for NSF, one in which new were able to achieve tangible women and minority-group missions have been accepted and results. In late 1988, with strong individuals to science and engi integrated with traditional activities bipartisan support in both House neering. Women and minorities and a basis laid for further devel and Senate, the Congress passed a must be recruited more success opment. The new Administration five-year authorization bill for NSF, fully if we are to have the people will enter office already committed and it was signed into law by we need in science and engineer to improving American research President Reagan. This multi-year ing. This is absolutely crucial. and education in science and engi authorization — the first such au Our FY 1989 bill also contains neering, and NSF is ready. thorization the Foundation lias an authorization to establish a pro- Congressional action in 1988 ever had — will p: muc grami d to help 11 odernii was especially important for NSF. firmer basis for planning than has the nation's academic research Early in 1987 the Administration been available before. Congres facilities. In response to this, NSF had asked Congress to double the sional endorsement of specific has begun to explore the roles and NSF budget over the succeeding future budget targets will make it responsibilities of the various five years. This was unprece easier to defend the Foundation's parties involved in the support of dented. It recognized the impor appropriations request in each of research facilities. tance of science and engineering the next several years. In addition to a new Administra to economic competitiveness, and NSF's appropriation increase for tion, 1989 will see important especially the importance of 1989 was almost 10 percent — a changes in Congressional leader university basic research. But it very good result in a year when ship. There will be new chairs of was also a hard thing to ask of domestic programs were limited to both the House and Senate appro Congress in a time of financial 2 percent overall. We will be able priations subcommittees respon constraints. After the stock market to strengthen the basic disciplinary sible for NSF. But in spite of these collapse of October 1987 forced a programs and also move ahead shifts, support for basic research is budget "summit" between Con with major initiatives. likely to remain stable and strong. gress and the Administration, All Foundation activities are Leaders in both parties have NSF's appropriation for 1988 doing well. Our education pro recognized the economic impor showed little real gain. grams are growing vigorously, tance of science and engineering with excellent support from the and appear prepared to put Administration and both parties in increasing resources behind our Congress. Science and technology efforts. centers* will become a reality in 1989, with normal review in the annual budget competition. We expect to fund 11 of these centers in 1989, with total first-year fund ing of about $25 million.
See Chapter 4.
IV NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Priorities need to be set among competing research projects. And we must enhance industry-univer sity relationships to improve the transfer of knowledge. All these problems require action. But at NSF, we have a strategy in place and are starting to get results. We will be able to do our part in solving these problems. That is a good position to be in as we look to the challenges of the new Administration.
Erich Bloch NSF Director
The nation needs to do much better in many areas. Education is a particular challenge. Industrial support of basic research is inade quate, and industrial application of new knowledge is insufficiently aggressive. The Federal research and development (R&D) budget needs a better balance between development and basic research. Highlights
radiation. Still, the high temperatures Global Change seemed to fit a disturbing pattern to some observers. The 1980's have so The greenhouse effect. Those were far included the four hottest years of the buzzwords heard on the news, in the past centuiy. Moreover, the Congress, and in daily conversation earth's temperature has risen nearly as a wave of blistering heat and an one degtL-e in the past 30 years, unrelenting drought swept across the leaving the [)lanet vs'armcr today than United States m the summer of 1988, at any time since measurements began In the Mid\\'est cornstalks shrivelled, 130 years ago. Even so, many scien and parts of the Mississippi River tists caution that all of this could be became a wading pool. within the natural variability of the In response, some scientists cau earth's climate system. tioned that the heat wave might be NSF did not \^'ait for the .simimer only a meteorological aberration and heat of 1988 to begin examining have nothing to do wilh the green climate, the greenhouse effect, and a house elttct—the ^lo!)al wanning of myriad of related issues that affecl life the earth caused bv the act:umulation on earth. The Foundation's Inlerna-
eany ly/U s, mciuueu. moueuing 01 large-scale ecosystems. Results of this work helped forge many of the interdisciplinan' relationshij^s among nattiral science researchers that are
Some infrared crucial i(.) tmdcrstanding the delicate escapes into space balance of the earth and its environ ment. Moreover, NSF began support for the carbon dioxide measurement progratn at Mauna Loa, Hawaii in 1957, during the International Geo physical Year. It is this record that Trace gases absorb some infrared and emit it back to eartli indicates the continuing rise of carbon dio.xide in the atmosphere. Mauna Loa serves ,1. th. b. i-n hniaik station for the world. Building on these efforts NSF more recently begaii a new global geo sciences program, designed to support ^^^„rtt, emits mf-ared (tteal, studies of the earth as a system, of
Earth interrelated physical, chemical, and The greenhouse effect—a warming of the lower atmosphere and the earth's surface biological processes that regulate our al:)ility to thrive on our planet (see box).
2 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
^ : Highlights
Radiation theory predicts a smooth, Geosciences: black-body profile for light emitted by The Global Picture a radiating body such as the earth. Btit satellite observations and labora The greenhouse effect, the Another project, Global Ecosys tory experiments indicate gaps in the death of rain forests, the hole in tems Dynamics, investigates the spectrum that coincide with absorp the ozone layer. In trying to find land-based and freshwater parts tion in the infrared by greenhouse the most accurate mcxiel for of the biosphere and how they gases, the most prevalent of which is understanding these problems interact with the earth as a whole. water vapor. Were a rise to occur in and their worldwide impact, These ecosystems form an the earth's average temperature— scientists think of the planet as a intricate and fascinating feedback caused by an increase in these complex puzzle, where the pieces loop: The decay of a major gases—the climate would be affected form a system of interrelated forest, for example, can alter the in dramatic ways. physical, chemical, and biological chemical composition of the at Research teains supported by NSF processes that regulate the way mosphere, inodify the climate, are seeking to understand and quan we live. The goal of NSF's Global and change the pattern of ele tify these cliinatic changes and their Geosciences effort is to under ments that circulate in the bio effects on various regions of the stand these processes —how they sphere. In turn, changes in the globe. Most of the greenhouse gas function and how they interact to atmosphere can further alter the results quoted in the press come from cause major changes on earth. forest. NSF supports ecosystem computer-based simulations of the at NSF is coordinating its research research in areas ranging from the mosphere; however, those computer program on global change with lush tropical rain forests to the simulations are based on numerical many other federal agencies and extreme climate of deserts and inodels that contain many uncertain with other countries. For exam tundra. ties. Years of research will be needed ple, the World Ocean Circulation Other projects include an ice before such models can siinulate the Experiment receives support from drilling program that is recon oceans and atmosphere accurately. the World Meteorological Organi structing the history of the climate Scientists have learned that such zation and the United Nations or in the arctic and antarctic. In diverse systems as forests, the oceans, ganization UNESCO. Through these regions, ice cores represent and the atmosphere all interact to this experiment, researchers seek the best source available for produce or aller phenomena such as to understand the circulation of records of past climate. Ulti the greenhouse effect. NSF's overall the oceans well enough to model mately, such studies help scien global geosciences j^rogram is an their present state and evolution tists to iinprove predictions of outgrowth of this important realiza in relation to long-term changes future changes in climate and the tion. At the same time, NSF supports ; in the atmosphere earth's response to those changes. specific studies of the greenhouse effect itself. Uncertainties about the greenhouse PALEOCLIMATES gases abound. Where do they come FROM ICE CORES (ARCSS) frotn? In what amounts? How long GLOBAL does each gas reside in the atmos TROPOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY phere and how might they be re moved or their concentration reduced? There appear to be no easy answers, but researchers are discovering that understanding feedback mechanisms among the earth's ecosystems is a major step toward finding solutions.
GLOBAL OCEAN FLUX STUDY
CEDAR = Coupliag. Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Re ARCSS = Arctic Systems lOGA = Tropical Ocean Global Atmospf WOCE = World Ocean CircuUcion Experiment NOZE - National Otonc Lxpt
ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 3 Highlights
Methane is a case in point. The gas is emitted I)y wetlands and marshes, Ozone Depletion: the flatulence of grazing cattle, and seepage from natural gas pipelines. Hole Story Rice paddies and termites may also be major contributors. But the problem Continues is even more complex, because rising temperatures and changing climate The verdict is in on the "hole" in could alter the amount and locition of the ozone Li\ei that cx;curs over Ant methane. Wetlands may disappear in arctica cvt'j-y September through No one part of the globe and etrierge vember, The hole, or stratospheric elsewhere. Human populations .shift, ozone depletion, is largely caused by and the grazing patterns and numbers the action of chlorofluorocarbons of cattle are expected to change. All of (CFCs), human-made chemicals these will affect the pattern of meth wicieiy used in refrigeration and loam ane emission, which in turn hirlher plastics, as well as unicjue meteoro alters the greenhouse phenomena. logical condilions. During the lale Although scientists may be imcer- austral winter, lliin layers of nearly normal ozone-" cc^ncentrations nltfrn'ir''" Willi iavei:> v>! itcaily tolai ciepieiu_>i!, are harbingers of global climatic so th;.t on :n--rig-: ;-hcUt half ('f the picjijiciii.i lo Lc^iue, iiie UaSic iiicory c>J ozone disappears. Scientists also have ilk- -ic.-nh. .II-,,; I 1. .k. r-, found preliminary e\'idence lhat ozone W h..-n • • ii.iiii •.;,i~t.-. .ir.- ii-|.-.i-.-d im. . destruction on a smaller scale may be the atmosphere, they hover there like occurring over the North Pole, and a blanket, blocking the escape of heat. possibly in more temperate climates Nevertheless, the earth usually man as well. ages to keep a delicate balance be tween hot and cold. There is nc3 A chemical cause was originally suggested by tlic; tirst National Ozone u.-,--. .11 .ll 1.1. -.. -Ill i.. b.-h.--.. • III ll -Ik il lixpedition (N()/.K), which travelled to would change C3ver the long haul. Antarctica in 1986 and was sponsored The release of carbon dioxide from by NSF, the National Oceanic and the burning of fossil fuels appears to Atmospheric Administration, the be a chief culprit, accounting for an Nationa] Aeronautics and Space estimated half of the increased atmcjs- Administration (NASA), and the pheric concentration of greenhouse gases, (.complicating tiie grcenjiouse But it was ex idence gathered bv tlie oroblem is the increasing destruction ivn,' NOZE expedition—and by instrumented NASA aircraft—that carbon dioxide. With fewer trees, confirmed those early speculations. more carbon dioxide remains in the air. The 1987 measurements shcDwed Three other gases—methane, that the ozone hole contained large nitrous oxide .md chloiolliiorocar- , c:<)ncenirations olAhlorine monox bons—account for much of the rest of ide—a key hnding lj>ecause the the greenhouse problem. Methane compound is produced by the break has various sources, as discussed down of CFCs and is known to above. Nitrous oxides are derived trigger chemical reactions that can irom the breakdown of chemical fertilizers and licpiid fuel emissions. .\n..l in,tin H-IIUM'- I n-hi w- lli.il . hi. - rofluorocarbons, human-made chemi cals, probably are responsible for the destruction of atmospheric ozone (see below).
MA-^iONAL SCIENCE FOUND.ATION Highlights
Astronomy News
An international group of astrono mers has discovered a galaxy about 15 billion light-years from earth, the most distant ever sighted. The finding is important because the galaxy is believed to be only slightly yotmger than the universe itself. If many such galaxies exist, they could bring into question a popular theory of galaxy formation. Most scientific ideas about the origin of the universe incorporate a version of the "Big Bang" theory, which holds that a giant explosion hurled matter into empt>' space, creating an expanding universe. In this scenario, galaxies slowly form around dense clumps of dark, cold matter and do not reach maturity for billions of years. But this picture may be at odds with recent observations of distant galaxies that appear to be mature, yet in some cases are no older On the rise. Researchers at the South Pole launch a balloon carrying ozone-measuring than one to two billion years. instruments. Similar balloons have been used near the North Pole, where chlorine The newly sighted galaxy, desig from CFCs also plays a key role in ozone depletion. nated 4C41.17, is one of several extremely distant galaxies discovered According to tlie scenario con Now a similar depletion phenome over the past several years by Ken structed by researchers and verified non may be occurring over the North Chambers, a Johns Hopkins University hy experiments, CFCs that reach the Pole. Research balloons released from graduate student; Wil van Breugel, an upper atmosphere are adsorbed on ice a Canadian base near the Pole re astronomer at the University of Cali particles that form during the dark vealed that a vast atmospheric "crater" fornia at Berkeley; and George Miley, winter at high altitudes and at tem forms there in winter months, due to an astronomy professor at Leiden Uni peratures colder than 112 degrees F. the disappearance of ozone. And versity in the Netherlands. below zero. When sunlight returns, measurements over Thule, Greenland The astronomers initially found the chlorine atoms released from showed significantly increased the galaxy because of the enormous CFCs destroy ozone, converting it into amounts of chlorine gas, a tell-tale power and unusual spectrum of radio diatomic oxygen. Although this is a sign of ozone destruction by CFCs. wave signals it emitted. They studied more cominon variety of oxygen than Although the chlorine levels were only the radio emissions at the NSF- is ozone, it lacks the ozone's capacity between one-half and one-fifth of supported National Radio Astronomy to absorb ultraviolet radiation. those over the Antarctic, the seasonal Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico. Atmospheric ozone shields the depletion of atmospheric ozone at the The team followed up its radio study earth from the sun's harmful ultravio North Pole is believed to be well with optical observations at Kitt Peak let rays. With a diminished ozone underway. National Observatory near Tucson, layer, more ultraviolet radiation Arizona, which also receives NSF reaches earth, exposing humans, funding. plants, and animals to an increased risk for skin cancer, damage to the immune system, and a possible Burning with the light of 100 million increase in some genetic mutations. suns, supernova 1987A was the brightest supernova observed since the time of Galileo. One year after its appearance in 1987, astronomers were observing at optical, infrared, and x-ray wavelengths—hoping to glimpse
ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 5 Highlights
Another type of ring also figured in astronomical obseivations made during 1988. lacqiielme Hewitt, a Princeton astronomer then working at MIT, was analyzing data from a telesccjpe surs'ey of radio wave : sources when she spotted a fuzzy, circular image on her computer screen. Further checking indicated that she had likely discovered a celestial phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein in 1936 but dismissed by liim as hopeless to detect. Einsiein -^aiu uiai vvucn ii;.;ia >»r Mosi, chstdiil Qalaxv Glcivui;^, hyt/i'o.iicu (>tis /s seen in Ihe iiio\l di'^lanl :j,(il
)n. With tlie rapid fading of the supernova light from dusty clouds in distant source. The distortion is know supernova's brilliant but overpowering the Large Magellanic Cloud. These as a gravitational lensing effect. A surface light, new details are emerging echoes appear as arcs or rings of light number of such distorted images— about the supernova and ihe dust from the clouds; they afford scientists usually incomplete rings or arcs of clouds that surround it. a unique cipportunity to map the inter- light—have been disco^'ered o\ er the Intriguing features tietccted in the • • past dec"ade. But,'as; Einstein poinled aftermath of the explosion are "ech- and also provide a kind of photo OLit, in the unusual ease "wheie the graphic record of the supemova ex earth, the nearb\ massive object, plosion. If telescopes can precisely and the distant source are precisely resolve details of the reflections, aligned, the resulting image should be scientists may be able to trace the a complete ring. Until Hewitt's dis evolution of the supernova across the covery, no obser\'ation had revealed width of the rings. evidence for an entire Einstein ring. The supernova is only visible in the Hewitt used the Vep- Large Array Southern Hemisphere, and observa- radio telescope, a collection of 27
Chile at the NSF-stipfiorted Cerro conduct her original radio suivey in 'w',,.L!..i., ..iJ1.^..., iiw, Institution's l.os Campanas Obsei-va- MIT, Princeton, and Caltech, she has tory, and at the Kuropean Southern conduc ted further experiments to Observatory. confirm her finding—including the use of an optical telescope.
Gravitational lensing. This radio source was observed at the Very Supernova echoes. Tbe circular arcs are light Large Array radio echoes from Supe?~nova 1987A. Ihe overex telescope in Socorro, posed ,K s»' I <.«./><. I./ II I '11/ I •< bus ixen ma.^hed tn the image Thu pu luie teas taken veiy unusual .siruciure, al ( erru rololoPitci-Ament.au ()bsen aUny which strongly ,<.7/t;t;c.s7.v (CTIO) in March 19SH, using Ihe 1.5-meler Ihiit the soiuce ;s chu lo telescope and a Charged Coupled Device gnivitati(mal lensing by (CCD). a foreg?-ound massive ohfect, which may be a giant radio galaxy. If so, the source represents an "Einstein Ring," a particidarly symmetric rase ff gravitational tensing first propo.s-ea i)y Einstein in 19.^(>. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Superconductors: The Quest Continues
Superconductors are materials which lose all resistance to electric current below a certain temperature. The phenomenon was first demon strated in 1911 by a Dutch physicist who cooled a crystal of pure mercury to 4 degrees Kelvin (4 degrees above absolute zero or -460 degrees Fahren heit). For 75 years, an extensive search by physicists turned up materi als that would become supercon ducting at only slightly higher tem peratures. In 1986, j . Georg Bednorz and Karl Alexander Muller of IBM's Zurich laboratory measured supercon ductivity in a copper oxide at 35 degrees Kelvin—12 degrees higher Paul Chu (center) and his superconductor research team at the University of Houston than had ever been observed. Results of the IBM research team were confirmed and higher teinpera- the compounds belong to a common Still, some applications do seem tures were achieved. (The IBM re class of ceramics known as perov- possible. High-temperature super searchers received the 1987 Nobel skites. The oxygen content of the conductivity may result in new Prize in physics for their efforts.) In superconducting copper oxides differs microcircuitry; new semiconductor- February 1987, a team headed by from conventional perovskites, and superconductor hybrids; and more Paul Chu at the University of Houston scientists believe that the arrange sensitive measurements of tiny mag and M.K. Wu at the University of Ala ment of oxygen atoms plays a key netic fields (needed for medical bama at Huntsville discovered super role in creating high-temperature imaging, biomagnetism studies, and conductivity at 98 degrees above superconductors. the search for gravity waves). It inay absolute zero. Reports of the new superconductors take many years before other possi These and other discoveries meant have sent puzzled scientists back to bilities, such as magnetically levitated that superconducting circuits no the blackboard and computer termi trains and electric cars, can ever longer had to be cooled with a steady nal. There are now as many as 10 to become reality, if they do at all. and costly supply of liquid helium 20 theories that describe what is hap (about $4 a quart). Instead, liquid pening inside copper oxides to make In January 1988, American and nitrogen, only about 40 cents a quart, them lose all resistance to electricity. Japanese scientists independently would suffice to cool the material to While searching for the definitive discovered a new high-temperature the superconducting state. answer to superconductivity, research superconductor that differs dramati While claims of higher temperature ers must also contend with some cally from the family of materials that superconductors continue to surface practical requirements before a myriad had previously been the focus of (some scientists report seeing the of possible applications of the new intense research. The majority of phenomenon at room temperature), technology can be achieved. One of high-temperature superconductors scientists are uncertain as to how these is the maximum amount of under study had contained rare earth those materials, most of them copper current that can be carried through a elements, but Paul Chu and his oxides, work. Researchers do know superconductor before its resistance from neutron-scattering studies that reappears. Additionally, the stability of the copper oxides when exposed to air, water, or other compounds is not fully known.
ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 Highlights
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met •'(xu o'lbx-r V5ru-,cs, t with i hich A< ir de\ ;. !• i| H/I.I a last . . - • hhers that ex'enri :c.i I'v :A-ci,:„y:> !•«):• sni.jr:n, made lilt- I isl viiiir rm-.jl i if^ii-i ir ni v ii .1 in . >T 1 •serve -::<>;Tirn; ;:; c.ee e's-es eeiievi e.ii-:o-i e-ijs 14 iS,;e 'X :<);-:;- vien.! r'e,.. PSI-' siil>erfilh-i-^ siiiH/'<-i;l I nu ct-^e iihileriiils lescdivhcrs nsed u liiser techiiujiie iiiuh-snpcnmi- .IhcUiil: fihcK- I nuigin/ie.i <»c'r'/i'/- Highlights The Purdue team relied on an This finding has important applica intense x-ray source located at Cornell tions that go far beyond a deeper University's Eiigh-Energy Synchrotron understanding of DNA and its work- Source (CHESS), which has lielped mgs Because DNA coiling is ciucial provide the first structural images of to normal cellular processes, sub many biological tnolecules. The stances that prevent coiling can be x-rays available from this NSF-sup deadly to tells. Foi example, drugs ported source provide a high-resolu that interfere with DNA coiling are tion structural image of the virus 100 under development as antibiotic and times mcjre rapidly than do x-rays anticancer drugs. from conventional sources. The The new mathematical formula was scientists also used Purdue's powerful applied by mathematician James H. Cyber 205 supercomputer and graphs White at the University of California at ics facility, both partially NSF-funded, Los Angeles, biologist William Bauer to analyze patterns and to construct at the State University of New York at images of the virus. Stony Brook, and biologist Nicholas Cozzarelli at the LTniversity of Califor DNA; is the molecule that funda nia at Berkeley. mentally controls the life of a cell. But to fit within the cell, DNA, which is often shaped like a circle, must twist and coil itself into the familiar doulile helix until it is as small as one ten-thousandth of its original size. Like a strand of spaghetti wound tightly around a fork, DNA wraps around proteins inside the cell; the wrapping or helical winding provides a geometric shape for selected en zymes to recognize and also is critical for the expression of genetic Insect virus structure. This atomic information. resolution structure of the black beetle virus Now, researchers have discovered a was determined- using x-ray crystallogra mathematical formula that describes, phy techniques. The green, red. and blue for closed k)ops of DNA, how its subunits occupy qua.si-equivalentpositions helical structure determines its ability in the 60 triangular clusters that make up the icosahedral symmetric structure of the to r^'ist and coil. virus. The formula is helpful in describing DNA, because it ties together two The investigators found the struc facets of the molecule's complex Electro ture of the black beetle virus through geometry. As DNA wraps around a rap, a technique called x-ray ciystallogra- protein, the axis at.)Out which it winds phy. The technique uses high-energy tilts slightly, much like a spiral stair x-rays to bombard a single pure case whose angle of ascent changes ciystal containing al>out 100 billion every few steps. Mathematicians virus particles. Atoms within the discovered that although DNA packed crystal scatter, or diffract, the x-rays in inside a cell undergoes two kinds of a characteristic pattern that is unique coiling, characterized by separate for each kind of molecule. The scatter numbers, the two terms sum to a ing pattern is recorded by special constant value. If one term is known, electronic detectors or capttired on the fomtula allows the other term to photographic film to reveal the struc be simply calculated, enabling re ture of the virus. searchers to describe more completely the geometry of the DNA molecule. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 9 Molecular sieve. Mark Davis, a 1985 PresiderUial Young hive.sligator, holds Better Sieve, III! ../',/;. •.••| -.' ll' f'urif'v •i'lr.: Mark Da\is, professor of chemical Lompoundspreriinisly un/to.ssil>le— or engineering at Virginia I^olytechnic too costly—lo filter. Institute (anci a 1985 winner of an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Aw aid I. t ollahi iral-ri.! w illi Juan < .aiw-- ' it ill..' I >< .VS ( lu-nii. .ll I • .inp.iiiy r.' prepare a crystal laced with h.oles so lih- ll nil" ••! ,1 hutinui hair, j'c Jn.- rii it can separate small molecules .' , ..i. f:. ced through ihcirpoiiS. X.Sf from large ones. The material, which supports research in emerging technolo looks and feels like cla\, acts like a gies such as micromechanics, which is molecular sieve and has important expected to l?e a inultiniillion dollar i'li^ivcs^ ill a Jill .i|">plii..iti<'ir. Ill in. iwisiii'; lill,- \ ii.ld 111 and in separating and puntymg drug compounds. An.ili ..-M -ll-. I' < a ll> .111 MINI I lie -nv < .il'c i^'- 1 .nl\ I •.•i|jin--i.'r. I |.;iiii.. i<. pass through its molecular openings or pores. The new^ design by Davis and Garces represents the first in crease in the size of molecular sieve |-...ri.-^ Ill lUMih l^ii '..iMC. MiJu.ulai sieves pre\ iously av ailable would not allow scientists to isolate any molecule of oil larger than about 8 angstroms (about eight times the diameter of a hydr. ..ucii .111 mi I Hiii IIK- IK-V\ dvvii.- has openings .ibout "7^ percent larger, gasoline to be sifted or filtered from a Sieve as a catalyst, the oil inciustp' may be able to crack larger molecules of oil into smaller molecules ot gasoline. Other uses for the sieve may be in the separation and purification of bicjlogical and human-made ccmi- pound.s—the larger pores of the new device are in the range of certain drug compounds that could nc:it previously be purified, or done so only at great co.st. I ).\\ 1-, IN . 'IK- . •! •.. Mil.,- I I'lxsidcn tial Young Investigators in the United States. NSF awarded him a five-year grant to pursue his research. liii.i'^iiu- ,111 ili.-i.iru. 111. .1. H iln.- -i/i.- of a human hair, gears with teeth the size of blood cells, and springs. UC-Berkeley micromotor .seen hi video. 1 0 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION oniEi cranks, and tongs so small they migh accidentally be inhaled. These devices are part of a new class of microscopic machines that may one day have the same revolutionary impact as the tiny integrated circuit used in computer chips, In the minds of many engineers and scientists, this miniature equipment promises to alter radically such areas as manufacturing process and medical practice. To shrink tools to microscopic dimensions, engineers rely on the same technology used to make tiny integrated circuits. Gears, motors, and other components are made by depos iting ultra- thin layers of material on one part of a silicon chip and etching material away from another part. At Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, Kaigham J. Gabriel and William S. Trimmer have used the silicon-chip technology to make turbines and Cutting edge. A team of Howard University researchers engaged in semiconductor working gears 125 microns in diame research has discovered a mechanism that could advance computer laser-printer ter. Gear teeth are 15 microns wide, technology. These and other Hoivard University researchers received a boost from NSF less than otre-fifth the thickness of a ihrough the creation of a Materials Science Research Center of Excellence at Hoivard. human hair. At the University of California at Berkeley, Richard S. The University of Texas at El Paso Muller and his colleagues have Minority Centers center focuses on three areas: the fabricated miniature levers, cranks, study of corrosion, an examination of and springs, using the chip technol In October 1987, NSF announced iron-niobium-chromium alloys, and ogy. More recently, they have fabri the first two awards of a program the chetnistry of organic compounds cated a working electric motor no designed to boost the participation of known as nonplanar aromatics. At the larger than the width of a human hair. leading minority institutions and Alabama A&M University center, re At MIT's Artificial Ititelligence researchers in areas of vital scientific searchers investigate quantum optics Laboratory, scientists are working and engineering importance. Howard and optical electronic systems. Work toward the goal of inaking "gnat University in Washington, D.C, and at the Cit>- College of New York center robots," miniaturized versiions of the Meharry Medical College in Nashville, includes studies of silicon transition big and expensive robots currently Tennessee each received $5 million metals and materials and the structure produced in research laboratories. To over five years to establish research and dynamics of the interface between demonstrate the potential for com centers under the Minority Research dyes and substrates. Capitalizing on puter control of a "gnat," the MIT Centers of Excellence program. The its unique location, the center at the researchers built "Tom" and 'Jerry"— centers provide funding for research, University of Puerto Rico at Rio computerized, mobile robots that sit in scholarships, instrumentation, new- Piedras specializes in research on the toy cars. Rather than responding to courses, industrial affiliate projects, tropical and Caribbean environment. complex computer-programmed and efforts to attract talented high A recent NSF-supported study found instructions, the robots depend on school students to the sciences. How that Black and Hispanic students in microscopic sensors to react to their ard's progratn focuses on inaterials Montgtimery County, Maryland, one of environment. science research, while Mehany's the natkm's mo.st respected school concentrates on cellular and molecular systems, began to trail whites and biology. Asians on math tests as early as the In the summer of 1988, four more second grade. The two-year study, excellence centers were funded by which tracked the progress of 28,000 NSF—-in Texas, Alabama, New- York, school children, indicated that these and Puerto Rico. children are unlikely to catch up to their peers unless "extraordinary" steps are taken. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 1 1 J,:,, Highlights An initial step ma\- lia\e Ix-cn the P' 'k nual luvl -.a\ in.L;s . .1 up In hi cieation of llie first NSF Comprehen Small Business percent again. Full-scale validation sive Regional Centers for Minorities, InnovatiGn of these findings is in progress at established in 1988 in Atlanta, Puerto this writing. Rico, atid New I'oik City. Aimed at Research Continuum Dynamics, inc.. tlie minority students in science programs small business invoh'cd. has signed a from kindergarten through college, contract with Fruehauf Corporation, During the oil crisis of 1973, NSF these centers encourage partnerships the world's major manufacturer of launched research on the aercxiynamic among community groups, universi semi ii.tiles \ans foi ..xclut-i-vc use drag of trucks through its Research ties, and state and local governments this drag-reduction technology. With Applied to National Needs (RANN) to help solve the critical nationwide usage by an estimated 2.4 million program. The result of this research is problem of underrepresentation of Ncini ir.nlc-i' \.in-, CILII . . Acrm;.; "^u iitiii visible today on all c>ur ma|oi inter minririties in the scientific and techno an!--- ./.i; lu-d i,,^ . ,,| state highways in the form of air logical fields. In addition m the tlvee rriuU) ;;n»-.T ~-.; •'-'1,'re 1 '"1 'P'- •; o:)1r,; i . oeilectors on the roofs oi tractor cabs. majcjr awards, NSF gave Los Angeles. or $1 billion per year at 1988 fuel Lise oi' tiiese denectors has reciuced Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Norfolk, r-ii. • W hill- ill.' I'lU. KIIICII. m III ihis fuel consumption by approxitnately 10 Virginia more mfKkvsi awards to begin technology into the marketplace percent. Now an NSF project has activities at sites that may become would occur over a five- to seven-year addressed the aerodvnamic dras at the rff^l-l_™ttllS tiilW" nnrlfi'rvNlSP'c: C.-i'V'^ll to tne nations tmctiing industry. effort among the .Atlanta Universip' Business InnovaticDn Research Pro center, Gec:)rgia State University, gram. Preliminaiy findings indicate Georgia Technical University, and the Atlanta public sthooK—is typical of the new NSF effort. Activities for elementary school students include ^aturdav programs and .summer science schools that emphasize student-run experiments and demon- Nli.iu. .iiN, I I >r nun. .i il\ . < IL-L;.' ..-iit;!- neering students who have completed their freshman studies, the center offers a six-week summer prc^gram designed to encourage students to .-.Lay ciliuiiuci. in acidiuon, the Attanta center is developing a new five-year master^s dec^ree .-.rri...-iry) for sruden*^s . nil .liv.l III .1 >v iciu I..-.I. hin;; 11|. .- gram. Atlanta-area youth clubs and community grt:)ups are attracted through center-sponsored museum activ ities and the use oi pf liable science education modules. Each of the three regional centers is developing a compulerized tracking •s ••k in 1.. !• .11. .w ilu' pjiii..i| ..III. .n . .1 iiiuiviuuais c;vcr urnc. in aucution, a deUvety instruments fo?- tbe rapid testing of chemical sensor responses. The Foundation national advisop' committee of has awarded an SBIR grant to Mosaic Pidu.stries (of Mountain View. CA i for research recognized experts in scienc c and oil chemual muioseiisor arrays using neural network analysis science education has been appointed by each center to provide advice and to assist NSF in evaluating and dis seminating project results. 12 NA i .ONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Chapter 1 Introduction ie mission of thie National Science I Foundation is to support and en courage research, both collaborative and independent. NSF also promotes broad-based science and mathematics education programs, as well as special efforts to ensure that a continuing supply of talented scientists and engineers is available for research. In addition, the Foundation sup ports the basic equipment needs of re searchers and the institutions in which they work. Such projects include a major upgrade of the University of Michigan cyclotron, use of an x-ray crystallography technique to obtain some of the first images of viruses, and operation of a wide array of radio, x-ray, and light telescopes. All these activities, described in this report, aim to boost economic com petitiveness as well as nurture the intellect and awaken our natural curiosity. Statue of Albert Einstein at National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 1 3 Chapter 2 People: The Urgent Need understand what their math teachers A professor can never better distinguish are teaching; nearly a third of 13-year- himself in his work than by encourag olds could not perform math work ing a clever pupil, for the tme discover usually taught in elementary schools. ers are among them, as comets amongst the stars. In the international arena, U.S. Quoted in biography of Linnaeus students rated poorly in a study by Benjamin Daydon Jones comparing science achievement in 17 countries. American fifth graders placed eighth among students from 15 he scientific and technical educa countries according to international I tion of our young people is one tests based on science curriculum. U.S. of the nation's most important respon ninth graders ranked 15th in a field of sibilities. Yet nearly half of American 17 countries, and high school seniors 17-year-olds canjiot solve math prob studying "advanced placement" lems normally taught in junior high chemistry and physics ranked 11th school, according to a survey of the and 9th, respectively, out of 13 coun National Assessment of Educational tries surveyed by the International Progress. (1) Some 30 percent of the Association for the Evaluation of nation's 23,000 public and private high Educational Achievement. schools offer no physics courses, 18 Not only were the average scores of percent have no chemistry, and 8 American students unimpressive, but percent no biology. Moreover, an results from different U.S. schools NSF-sponsored study by North included in the smdy varied widely, Carolina's Research Triangle Institute suggesting substantial disparities in found that less than a third of elemen resources and standards within the tary school teachers felt competent American educational system. enough to teach biology, chemistry, geology, physics, or space sciences. The same study also found that more than half of all secondary school science teachers never had a college FRESHMAN SNTEREST iN TECHNOLOGY CAREERS computer course and felt unprepared (percentages for first-time, full-time freshmen) to use a computer in the classroom. An NSF-supported survey suggests some of the reasons for the teachers' reluctance: While 85 percent of elementary school science teachers had taken college biology courses, only about a third had taken a college chemistry course and only one-fifth a college physics course. Only about 25 percent of all junior high school and high school science teachers had ever taken an earth or space science course in college. Students have problems of their own, the Research Triangle study found. About one-third of the nation's 11th graders said they often do not 1. "The Science Report Card," Summer 1988 Source: ACE-UCLA Freshman Survey Program Higher taucation Kesearoti institifte, UCLA 1 4 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Some Solutions To help remedy these mounting problems—and to boost the quality of science education and literacy—NSF during 1988 began several new pro grams, increased funding for existing fellowships, and continued its efforts in public outreach. Sparking Student Interest A 22-year study of incoming college freshmen has found that their interest in majoring in math, engineering, and the "hard sciences"—biology, chemis try, and physics—has dropped by a third since 1966. (Source: American Council on Education-UCLA Coopera tive Institutional Research Program). Interest in mathematics among freshmen fell by 90 percent and in the physical sciences by nearly half. Freshman interest in engineering increased by a modest 4 percent. The figures do not bode well for the future supply of technical specialists and scientists needed in the nation's workforce. In an effort to attract young people to science careers, NSF has created Young Scholars 1988. Under NSF's Young several programs designed to spark students' initial efforts. Actually, these Scholars Program, these high school natural curiosity about science long projects will reach many more stu students are studying wildlife and before students enter college. Efforts dents and adults than just the 2,500 fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University. range from grants targeting specific direct participants, and will also groups of young people to the widely enhance parents' interest and under publicized events of National Science standing of science. and Technology Week (see below). One of the first Young Scholars In 1988, the Foundation began a awards went to Gallaudet College in $3.7 million effort to establish enrich Washington, D.C, an educational ment programs in science, mathemat institution for deaf and hearing- ics, and engineering; it did so by impaired persons. Gallaudet spon making awards for more than 2,500 sored a four-week science competition promising secondary school students for gifted secondary school students in 34 states, the District of Columbia, who are hearing impaired. Intended and Puerto Rico. The Young Scholars as a model to attract young people to Program emphasizes student participa the sciences throughout the United tion in the process of scientific States, the Gallaudet program invited discovery. Projects combine teacher students to work on a variety of instruction and problem-solving with physics and engineering projects. laboratory work and field trips. Each These included designing and con project includes follow-up activities, structing a solar collector, evaluating often with parents and additional the energy requirements of a new Young scholars from the University of students, that are designed to sustain building, and predicting the path of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, at work on the excitement generated by the a moving object. biological sciences prefects ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 15 On a broader scale, the Founda Educating Teachers Education Partnerships tion's fourth annual National Science In 1988, NSF announced the first 27 In 1988, NSF also announced four and Technology Week attracted awards of a new program to help awards to upgrade science education thousands of young people from upgrade the teaching of undergradu for children in kindergarten through across the country (and their parents ate science, mathematics, and engi grade six. The awards mark the and teachers) through live and neering. The Undergraduate Faculty second phase of a program that has televised science events. During the Enhancement Program provides for forged partnerships among scientists, last week of April 1988, in scores of national and regional workshops and teachers, and textbook publishers. communities, there were laboratory seminars for faculty who wish to learn The partnerships guarantee wide open houses and special science about recent developments in their distribution and effective use of the exhibits. Science-fair project winners fields of science. materials developed—a problem with and their teachers also were honored, One innovative workshop took previous curriculum projects. For the along with noted scientists and place at the University of Montana. publishers involved, NSF's investment authors of children's science books. Twenty-five college biology and provides "seed" money, enabling them During the same week, the Ameri applied mathematics teachers learned to invest in innovative materials that can Chemical Society distributed via first-hand about the uses of mathe may not necessarily fit traditional satellite three hours of television matical and computer models in guidelines. programming featuring outstanding smdying the biology of conservation. One of the awards went to the Life chemists reporting on chemistry news In the first of two summer sessions, Lab Science Program, Inc., of Santa for young people. The programs the teachers attended lectures, semi Cruz, California, which will work with were available free to cable and nars, and workshops; made forays the Addison-Wesley Publishing Com public broadcasting stations. And at a into wilderness areas in Montana; and pany to expand a life sciences pro special reception of the Association of worked on a group project aimed at gram that focuses on school vegetable Science Technology Centers held in modelling the local environment. gardens. By performing chemical Washington, D.C, participants from 20 During the following academic year, experiments and analyzing the research institutions offered hands-on the teachers worked on projects nutrients in soil in their own gardens, exhibits and demonstrations for the modelling the environment near their children learn how plants, like the public. own colleges or universities. At a human body, need nourishment from follow-up session in the summer of a variety of sources. Addison-Wesley, 1989, these faculty participants will like other publishing firms involved in report on their work and how they these projects, will market the curricu integrated the material into their lum and dedicate a share of the profits undergraduate teaching. to training teachers in its use. Art of .Science. Dirk McVeigh Lough of St. foseph, Missouri ivon first place in an Art of Science competilion for "Thoughts," ariwork depicting the fusion of a neuron and a computer chip. In addition, some 50 U.S. high school juniors and seniors exhibited original artwork expressing their views of science and technology. This competition was part of the Nalional Science and Technol ogy Week celebration. NfiTIONRL SCI6NC6 leCHNOUDGV iJU€€K '88 nPRIL 24-30 National Science Fnundatiun Waslliniiton DC 16 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION The elementary school projects will be joined later by others aimed at middle schools, as NSF and the private sector continue to build on the so- called Publishers Program. A New Partnership With Business A projected shortfall, by the year 2000, of 430,000 college graduates in the natural sciences and engineering has provided a strong incentive for U.S. industry to invest in science and mathematics education. Under an innovative program sponsored by NSF, corporations and business Publisliing Partners • Addison-We.sley, Menlo Park, CA/Life Lab Science Program, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA Precollege education. Gil Lopez, director of the Comprehensive Math and Sciences Program, watches students at Brooklyn Technical High School perform computer • Houghton Mifflin, Boston, calculations. This pilotprogram creates and tests models for high school math and science MA/Florida State curriculum and technical career guidance. Such efforts reflect some of the ways that University, Tallaha.s.see, FL NSF is addressing science and math education needs in the precollege years • Kendall-Hunt, Duiiuque, IA/ Biological Science.s Curricultim Study, Colorado Spring.s, CO • The National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C./ Technical Education Research Centers, Inc., Cambridge, MA • Ohaus Scale Corp., Florham Park, NJ/Lawence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA • Schola.stic Inc., New York, NY/An Aclvi.sory Coalition Nature nurture. It's elementary for children tending school vegetable • Silver, Ikirclett & Ginn, gardens as part of the Life Lab Science Program in Califomia. While Morri.stown, Nj/I lotiston their gardens grow, these children also leam about soil nutrients and (TO) Mtrsetun of Natural chemicals. Science • Stmixirst, Pleasantville, NY/ Educational Devekipment Center, Inc., Newton, MA ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 1 7 associations in 17 states liave joineci senior researchers in engineering Programs like this aim to address witli primary and secondary schools, departments at 15 universities each the serious underrepresentation of colleges, universities, and museums in supervise 10 or more research proj minorities in science and engineering. a series of projects to improve science ects. NSF support for the first two That shortage has been documented and mathematics teaching. years of this program totals $379,000, in several recent studies, including the The 27 projects already funded with an additional $578,000 available July 1988 interim report of the federal demonstrate the variety of ways for three more years. Interagency Task Force on Women, through which industrial scientists and Undergraduate Initiative Minorities, and the Handicapped. NSF engineers can work directly witfi was a key member of that task force. teachers and students, bringing In addition to ongoing programs examples of the newest applications and activities, NSF has expanded of science into the classroom. Some support for undergraduate science and of these researchers educate teachers, engineering. This initiative is Founda some serve as mentors for students, tion-wide, with activities funded by and some help develop new teaching the research directorates and by the materials. Directorate for Science and Engineer At the Cupertino Union School ing Education (SEE) as well. SEE also District in California, accountants, plays a coordinating role through its stockbrokers, and bankers work with Division of Undergraduate Science, teachers and students in grades 4-6 to Engineeering, and Mathematics illustrate practical everyday applica Education. tions of mathematics. In Jefferson Under this initiative, programs have County, Kentucky, high school stu been developed in these major areas: dents use equipment and technology students, laboratories, faculty, curricu provided by Apple Computer to lum development, and career access. convert computer software into an Increase in Graduate Minority Graduate Fellow. audible form that can be used by Rosemarie Soliven Lara, a FeUowships bioengineering graduate visually impaired students unable to student at the University of work with visual material. The NSF As a first step toward the goal of doubling, over the next several years, Califomia, San Francisco, award also provides funds to train received one of NSF's Minority the number of graduate fellowships it teachers to use these specially de Graduate Fellowships for 1988. signed materials. awards, the Foundation in 1988 an Tloese awards help full-time nounced that 685 outstanding college Engineering and the Disabled graduate students studying and university students had been science, math, and engineering. One new NSF program unites offered graduate fellowships—an young engineering students and increase of 108 over 1987. The disabled persons in a common re awards give students an annual search effort. Both groups work stipend of $12,300 for full-time together in community-centered graduate study. In addition, NSF programs that are expected to offers to the U.S. university selected broaden the careers of the students, by the fellow an annual allowance of create new contacts between universi $6,000 in lieu of fees and tuition. In ties and their surrounding communi 1988 more than 5,100 students applied ties, and produce custom-designed for these fellowships. equipment and special computer The Foundation also awarded 75 software for use by persons with JMinority Graduate Fellowships in disabilities. 1988, 20 more than during 1987. As Under this program for Undergradu with its goal for the Graduate Fellow ate Bioengineering Design Projects, ship Program, NSF plans to double the number of minority fellowships it grants over the next several years. Young engineer. Graduate student Eduardo L. Acuna studies electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, thanks to an NSF Minority Graduate Fellowship. 18 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOLINDATION Postdoctoral Fellowships Mathematics NATO-NSF With tenure-track teaching and The Foundation also announced NSF supports the bulk of its over research positions growing scarcer, it 26 fellowships for postdoctoral work seas commitments to postgraduate is increasingly difficult for new science in the mathematical sciences. Under research through the NSF-NATO and engineering Ph.D.'s to remain on this 10-year-old program, new Ph.D.'s (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) campus. Postdoctoral fellowships can choose research environments Postdoctoral Fellowships. Initiated by provide financial support to help best suited to their scientific develop NATO in 1959, the fellowship program young scientists maintain their close ment. The fellowship provides two seeks to boost progress in science ties to the university; such ties may be academic years and three summers of and technology and to foster closer critical for encouraging innovative support. However, research fellows collaboration between NATO member research. During 1988, NSF awarded have the option to teach part-time, countries. Each such country admini several new and ongoing postdoctoral extending the lifetime of the fellow sters the program separately for its fellowships. Some examples follow. ship. Among the 1988 winners was own citizens; at the request of the U.S. Environmental Biology, Susan E. Landau, from Connecticut's Department of State, NSF administers Plant Sciences Wesleyan University. Her fellowship the program in the United States. After a nationwide competition institution was Cornell University. During 1988, NSF-NATO awarded 57 sponsored by NSF, the Foundation of the new awards. awarded l6 new fellowships in environmental biology. Research interests of the award winners include molecular phylogenetics, populations and community ecology, and general ecosystem studies. Fellowship recipi ents in 1988 conducted research at 13 U.S. universities, at two institutions in Australia, and at one in Panama. In plant sciences, a postdoctoral research program began in 1983, in response to a need to attract outstand ing young biologists to that field. This rapidly advancing research area has a shortage of scientists trained in state- of-the-art technology. For 1988, 20 persons received the two-year fellowships. Among them was Sara M. Machlin, a Ph.D. recipient Research opportunities Carole L. Horn uses from the University of Minnesota. computer programs to run simulations of The host institution for her work, on genetics eqiuitions at the University of characterizing a certain agrobacterium, Califomia, Davis. Hom received one of NSF's Fellowships for Postdoctoral Research was the University of Washington. in Environmental Biology. Chemistry Twenty young scientists were selected as 1988 chemistry fellows from among the 114 who applied. This program aims to attract outstand I ::;: ing young chemists to careers in Sara Machlin, a 1988plant biology post research and teaching, to enhance doctoral fellow their education, and to ease their entry into the field. The program encour ages recent doctorate recipients to broaden their skills and expertise through further research in areas of contemporary chemistry different from their doctoral research areas. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 1 9 other Programs The photos in this section show awardees in other NSF programs designed to boost science/engineering education and careers in those fields. Visiting Professorships for Women. Chair of the Bryn Maivr College geology department, Maria luisa Crawford will spend a year as a visiting scientist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. There she will lecture and conduct research on geolog\> and geochemistry. A special NSF grant for women, enabled her to expand her research horizons at the inMitution ofher choice. Presidential Young Investigator Janis C. Weeks will study insect nervous systems at the University of Oregon, Eugene. She is one of 148 outstanding young Ph.D. 's who received NSF's 1988 Presidential Young Investigator award. The awards are intended to help uni versities attract and retain scientists arul engineers who might otherwise Minority Research Initiation grantee. Donella J. Wilson (left) is pursue nonteaching careers. Assistant Professor of biology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. Here she supervises a graduate student in a DNA sequencing experiment. Research Initiation in Minority Institutions (RIMI). Zvi Weisz (right) is project director of a 1988 RIMI grant to the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. Oscar Resto (left) is a technician working on the thinfibvisaiid surface fabrication facilities developed through 20 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION this grant Here they inspect a Tunneling Microscope made at the university in collaboration with the University of ferusalem. Outreach Activities to a crowd of several hundred re • The Girls Club of America has NSF also promotes scientific literacy searchers, policy makers, and business been funded for efforts to attract girls and awareness by the general public. people on the role states can play in to science. The Club has put together In addition to National Science and promoting economic competitiveness. an educational program through Technology Week (described earlier), NSF staff were available throughout which girls visit laboratories and guest activities include the following: the day to discuss the Foundation's lecturers in turn visit local clubs. Working with States programs and plans for individual • Milwaukee Public Museum— investigator research, centers and After a three-month safari to a tropical In 1988 NSF continued to work with groups, and human resources in rain forest, museum staff recreated the state governments on research and science and engineering. forest at their museum and developed education issues. As part of that Museums, Media, Clubs special educational materials for effort, NSF joined the Michigan children. Strategic Fund in Ann Arbor on June 9 If attendance at science museums is & 10, 1988, for a national conference any indicator, the public's interest in on how research and development science is booming. According to (R&D) programs can benefit state and preliminary findings of an interna regional economies. State planners tional study conducted by the Associa and academic and business leaders tion of Science Technology Centers, from 31 states attended the two-day the number of people visiting U.S. meeting. science centers jumped 38 percent NSF director Erich Bloch joined from 1979 to 1986. Among centers governors James J. Blanchard of that were surveyed, 16 percent of Michigan and Richard F. Celeste of respondents said they had been Ohio for a discussion of the long-term founded only within the past seven benefits of R&D-based economic years; four out of five said they development strategies and how states planned to expand or move to a new can strengthen and expand their facility during the next five years. science and technology bases. Direc Among the newest exhibits at some of tor Bloch called for renewed national these museums: support of basic research and for new Girls in science. Imagination efforts to improve the transfer of and a sense of design combine research products to business. He as Girls Club members study also noted that lack of adequate triangulation and support. financial backing for research is hurting America's ability to compete with other countries. On June 29, 1988, Lincoln, Nebraska became the site of the first "NSF Day," a special event drawing attention to the importance of research and education and the states' role therein. The Foundation's Director met with Nebraska governor Kay Orr and spoke Diversity of life. In this sketch, museum guests stroll ttrrough the Milwaukee Public Museum's replication of a Central American tropical rainforest An NSF grant made possible this addition to the Museum's permanent exhibit halls. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 21 • The Realm of the Atom—^At the New York Hall of Science, NSF helped fund the most realistic and detailed replica of the atom ever constructed. An offshoot of this widely acclaimed project has been development of a working microscope that can be used by three people at once. NSF also supports such shows as "Square One TV," a math program for students in grades 3 to 6, and "The Mind," a followup to public televi sion's earlier series on the brain. And "3-2-1 Contact," the popular public television show for young people, worked with NSF to design a poster How atoms behave: first-ever three- dimensional dynamic exhibit and booklet about the South Pole. model of an atom. Atoms change These materials will be sent to secon their appearance in quantum leaps dary schools nationwide. from 07W state to another Shown here are three possible shapes of a hydrogen atom at different energy levels, as demonstrated in the New York Hall of Science exhibit, "Realm of the Atom." "The Mind." Students from the Roberto Clemente Middle School in the South Bronx participate in the nine-part TV series, "The Mind," which premiered on the Public Broadcasting System in October 1988. Included in the series are programs that explore the psychology of addictive behavior, the violent mind, and the aging process. 22 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Exploring Antarctica. "3-2-1 Contact" films at the South Pole. FACTS FROM "3-21" POSTER • Antarctica is a continent. It's fossils of plants, reptiles, and as big as the U.S. and Mexico com mammals in Antarctica. That's bined. because about 10 million years ago, • Antarctica is the world's coldest Antarctica was warm. place. The record low was 128.6 F. • Antarctica has never had a war. below zero. A treaty protects it for scientific • Antarctica is the windiest conti research and other peaceful nent on Earth. Along the coast, activities. winds blow up to 200 mph. • Only 7 different kinds of pen • In summer, it's light in Antarc guins live in Antarctica. They're tica for 6 months. In the winter, it's birds, but they can't fly. A penguin dark for 6 months. uses its wings to swim. • Antarctica has mountains. Its • The male Emperor penguin is highest peak is l6,066 feet, just in charge of hatching its young. It over three miles high. keeps the egg warm in a pouch • Scientists have discovered near its feet. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 23 Instrumentation and Equipment n 1988 NSF acted on several fronts grant to strengthen a new course on Ito address pressing equipment and the electrical properties of materials. instrumentation needs. For example, Caverly's $11,000 award from NSF the Foundation expanded the College bought automated testing equipment Science Instrumentation Program to for his sophomore-level courses. include two-year colleges. And NSFNET: Major Upgrade through its support of a wide range of projects, some of them described Since the 1970's, many computer below, NSF reaffirmed its commitment networks have sprung up in the to the importance of equipment in United States. These networks basic research. transmit data differendy, and commu nicating information to researchers Equipment Grant Extended using different networks can be a logistic nightmare. To simplify communication, NSF In the first three years of its College announced in 1988 a project to Science Instrumentation Program, the upgrade, expand, and manage Foundation granted $18.8 million in NSFNET, a backbone network that 778 awards. During 1988, NSF links various regional computer expanded the program to include two- networks and supercomputer centers year and community colleges. Equip supported by NSF. The project is ment purchased must be used primar expected to speed data communica ily for undergraduate teaching, but tion greatly among the nation's students and faculty also may use the research institutions. equipment for research purposes. The five-year project involves Each grant is for a maximum of government, industry, and academic $50,000 and colleges must match the groups. It establishes additional award dollar for dollar. connections among communication Participants say that the value of the networks limited to one region of the awards goes far beyond their cash country, among the five supercom value. According to David Domozych, puting centers that NSF supports, and an assistant professor of biology at among national networks serving Skidmore College who received a particular scientific disciplines. For $9,000 grant in 1985, the program example, new and upgraded commu spurred his institution to spend a nication lines will transmit more than quarter-million dollars over the next 1.5 million bits of data per second, the five years to purchase new light equivalent of about 50 single-spaced microscopes for the biology depart typewritten pages per second. ment. Robert Caverly, an associate Easier and faster communication professor of electrical and computer will speed the pace at which basic engineering at Southeastern Massachu knowledge is applied to the develop setts University, used an equipment ment of new technology. The super- netv/ork also will make it easier for scientists to share software and other tools and products of their research, encouraging greater collaboration among experts in diverse fields. In addition, the expansion of NSFNET enables the Foundation to play a key role in helping to organize the many networks used by federal agencies. The Michigan facility differs from NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION most particle accelerators because it HIGH BANDWIDTH DATA NETWORK bombards targets with heavy nuclei, (1.5 mbits/sec) rather than with such lightweight charged particles as protons and elec trons. The heavy nuclei permit scientists to conduct research not accessible with light ion beams. One example is the creation of elements that normally do not exist in nature, perhaps including superheavy ele ments predicted by theorists. Using the high-energy cyclotron, scientists also will study how nuclear material behaves when it is squeezed by high-speed collisions between very heavy nuclei. The compression can lead to densities and temperatures as great as those that cause stars to explode and which are believed to have occurred in the "Big Bang" that scientists believe created the universe. Thus the cyclotron recreates for laboratory study the extreme condi Expanding the research network. NSENET, a national network that links regional tions that prevailed at the birth of the computer networks and NSE-supported supercomputing centers, will offer faster and cosmos. more extensive communication to researchers over the next five years. Via NSENET, Another instrument, which enables researchers who before had no access to advanced computing facilities can now connect and collaborate with the nation's leading centers. ultra high-precision experiments to probe the structore of nuclei, was dedicated at the Indiana University A major part of ttie project is NSF's efforts by the two agencies. The Cyclotron Facility in Bloomington in five-year, $14 million grant to MERIT, Goddard Space Flight Center in 1988. The device, known as a Cooler Inc., a consortium of eight Michigan Greenbelt, Maryland is linked to the Ring, is a roughly ring-shaped device universities, to upgrade and manage Southeastern Universities Research 285 feet in circumference that per NSFNET. In addition to NSF support, Associates Net; the Ames Research forms three critical functions—cooling, the state of Michigan contributed $4 Center in Mountain View, California is storage, and acceleration of subatomic million to this effort, and International linked to the Bay Area Regional Re particle beams. Business Machines contributed soft search Net; and the Johnson Space The Cooler is a post-cyclotron ware and hardware valued at $20 Flight Center in Houston is linked to accelerator system that operates on million. MCI Communications Corp, SESQUINET, a regional network in beams of protons and other light provided fiber optic communication Texas. weight subatomic particles that have a lines and support services. wide variation in energy. The Ring In a related development, NSF Cyclotrons boosts the chances of studying rare began a five-year agreement with the nuclear events because particles in the National Aeronautics and Space Ad After more than eight years of beam strike an internal target many ministration (NASA) to share high planning and construction, the world's thousands of times instead of just speed networking facilities. The most powerful cyclotron began oper once, as with normal beam experi agreement will link university re ating in June 1988, hosting some of ments at the Indiana cyclotron. searchers now connected to NSF's the most promising experiments ever Because particles in the beam now national computer communications conducted by nuclear physicists. pass through the target about a million network with databases and super The national superconducting times a second, unusual interactions computers at three NASA laboratories, cyclotron at Michigan State University may be detected that might reveal saving thousands of dollars that might can accelerate the nuclei of atoms as deeper insights into nuclear structure. otherwise be wasted in duplicated heavy as uranium to energies up to an unprecedented 8 billion electron volts, using superconducting magnets chilled to minus 452 degrees Fahren heit. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 25 Searching for Gravity Waves ence pattern—a series of dark and In February 1988, scientists using the bright fringes—indicates if a gravity mini-submarine Alvin, a research Scientists are developing new wave has struck. vessel at the Woods Hole Oceano equipment to detect a gravitational Experiments with the model sys graphic Institution in Massachusetts, phenomenon first predicted by Albert tems indicate that their sensitivity ap measured the volcanically heated Einstein in 1916. According to Ein proaches that of some of the most ad water surrounding Loihi at a warm 87 stein's theory of general relativity, vanced bar detectors, which can sense degrees Fahrenheit—compared to the moving masses generate waves that changes in length as small as one part usual 40 degree temperature of the ripple through space-time. Rotating in 10 (-18). The models also promise ambient sea. Alvin researchers also bodies would generate gravity waves that full-scale laser interferometer de found that the water contained that would in turn exert a rotational tectors still in the planning stage—Cal concentrations of carbon dioxide force on another body. tech and MIT physicists envision two which were 140 times as high as those A flying bird, a speeding car, or a mammoth devices, each with arms in normal seawater. Underwater rocks marathon runner presumably generate stretching out some three miles—may collected near Loihi had so much gravity waves, but the waves would become the most sensitive gravity carbon dioxide in them that they be so weak as to make them all but wave detectors ever constructed. The fizzed and popped like seltzer water impossible to detect. However, when NSF-supported feasibility study for when brought to the surface. In large amounts of material are sud these proposed devices takes their addition, oxides of iron and other denly accelerated, such as the fireball promise one step closer to reality. metals found near Loihi give further explosion that transforms an aging star clues to the composition and activity into a supernova, the resulting gravity Mini-Submarine Helps of the earth's crust and mantle. waves may be strong enough to be Underwater Researchers During the summer of 1988, Alvin detected as they pass through earth. and its crew descended into an NSF has funded an engineering Rising 13,000 feet from the plains of underwater crater, part of the under study that is a key step toward the north-central Pacific Ocean, the sea mountain range called Juan de building a full-size gravity-wave growing seamount known as Loihi Fuca Ridge, located about 300 miles sensor markedly different from earlier will emerge over the next 100 to off the coast of Oregon. There detectors. Test models of the device 10,000 years as the newest addition to researchers sighted new species of built at MIT and Cakech (others have the Hawaiian islands. Scientists are animals and uncovered a fissure in the been built overseas) rely on laser intrigued by Loihi because it is underwater mountain range that may beams and mirrors to stalk gravity believed to have originated from be as long as 20,000 feet. The fissure waves. Because gravity waves are material deep in the mande, the spouts a plume of water so huge that believed to compress space in one section of the earth between the crust some have dubbed it "megaplume." direction while expanding it in and the heavy liquid core. another, physicists usually design these new detectors in an L shape. Mirrors are attached to masses at the ends of the two arms that make up the L and at the corner where the two arms meet. "When a wave passes through the detector, it suddenly changes the length of each arm, a distortion that can be sensed and amplified by laser beams that bounce back and forth along each mirrored arm several thousand times. When Caltech prototype the laser beams are recombined and gravity-wave compared, their characteristic interfer detector Detecting gravity waves. Researcher checks the vacuum enclosure for MIT's gravitational wave interferometer. This L- shaped gravity wave sensor is a precursor of the highly sensitive full-scale laser interferometer detector proposed by MIT and Caltech physicists. Such devices detect the gravity waves generated by the sudden acceleration of mass. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 19f 27 Over the years, Alvin researchers have returned to their laboratories with more than 300 new species of sea animals and discovered underwa ter geological formations never seen on land. In 1977, an Alvin crew diving near the Galapagos Islands found hot water vents in the ocean's bottom that serve as a cooling system for the earth's hot interior. The vents or cracks in the ocean bottom send up plumes of warm, mineral-rich water, some of them a dozen feet high. Before the discovery, earthquakes and volcano-like eruptions were the only known ways that the earth's interior heat was dissipated. In its more than 2,000 dives since 1963, the 18-ton submarine has ex plored the remains of the Titanic in the North Atlantic and recovered a Chicago Air Shower Array. Shown here are some of the CASA scintillation-detector U.S. Air Force hydrogen bomb that stations installed at Dugway, Utah. The stations are positioned on a square grid and had been lost in the Mediterranean. measure discrete sources of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. The completed array will Armed with six directional propellers, consist of 1000 such detectors. two robot arms, and several tubes and bins to collect samples, Alvin has At the University of Chicago, scien rapidly, other machines with less brought to the surface never-seen tists concluded that a more sensitive speed but with an extremely large creatures such as giant tubeworms— cosmic ray detector was needed—one memory may also provide answers worms two feet long that apparently that was larger, had improved resolu just as quickly to some types of thrive in the dark, cold regions near tion, and could operate in connection problems. the ocean's bottom. with another type of detector. In a Such computers are the subject of remote section of Utah, NSF support an NSF-supported project at Princeton Chicago Air Shower Array has enabled the researchers to follow University on the use of expanded Cosmic rays are highly energetic through on their vision. James W. memory. The study may lead to particles that strike the earth periodi Cronin and his colleagues have fundamental changes in the way cally from outer space. Although their blanketed the area with an array of certain classes of problems are solved energy often surpasses that of the detectors that are connected electroni by computer. The researchers use a world's most energetic particle accel cally. Known as the Chicago Air conventional computer specially erator, the exact origin of cosmic rays Shower Array (CASA), this system is outfitted with memop- comparable to remains a mystery. Recendy, two larger than most detectors and thus that of a supercomputer. The five- compact binary stars, Cygnus X-1 and may be able to capture enough year study, also supported by the Hercules X-1, were reported to be the cosmic ray events to identify their Office of Naval Research and the originators of cosmic rays with ener origin definitively. If so, CASA will Defense Advanced Research Projects gies greater than one-hundred trillion have solved one of the most intriguing Agency, is expected to give new electron volts. But the reports were problems confronting astrophysicists insight into computer programming greeted with some skepticism because today. and hardware for machines with not enough of the cosmic rays had massive memory, The work also may been detected to pinpoint accurately Massive Memory Machine suggest improved methods of posing the origin of the particles. problems intended to be tackled by As massive amounts of memory computer, possibly translating into become available to smaller computer orders-of-magnitude improvement in systems, the most efficient way to computer performance. program and operate a computer is changing. While customary super computers solve problems by relying on their sheer ability to perform millions of complex calculations 28 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION design, and electronic publishing, Biological Instrumentation Plane Rescued scientists and academics have so far Within the Biological, Behavioral, missed out on this revolution in Shcteen years after a specially and Social Sciences Directorate, the computing, according to an NSF- equipped transport plane crashed on new Division of Instrumentation and funded report (Visualization in takeoff in a remote section of the Resources provides funds for multi Scientific Computing, Nov. 1987). antarctic, a team of scientists and user instrumentation, instrument de The panel of university and industry engineers rescued the airplane from velopment, methodological develop researchers who wrote the report its icy tomb and restored its flying ment, and biological instrumentation recommended that scientists and ability. facilities. One program provides engineers team up with visualization The successful effort to recover and funds for single items of equipment, experts in order to solve graphics, restore the plane, estimated at $10 another for large-scale core facilities. image processing, or representational million, is less that one-third the price Some examples: problems that pertain to the needs of of a new, similarly equipped airplane. • Leroy Hood, at the California a particular scientific discipline. The The LC-130 Hercules is the workhorse Institute of Technology, is developing payoffs, the panel noted, are many: of the antarctic program, which is methodology in the area of micro- Artificial hips custom-designed with managed and funded by NSF. These chemistry. The new equipment will the aid of three-dimensional imaging versatile planes make wheeled land increase sensitivity in protein sequenc reduce the risk of post-operative ings on asphalt and prepared ice ing. He is also automating DNA rejection from 30 percent to 5 percent. runways; they use skis to land on the sequencing and developing a new In other scientific disciplines, graphi rough surface of the glacier ice and apparatus for separation of large DNA cal renditions of DNA sequences, wind-marred snow. The planes fragments for the human genome molecular models, brain maps, transport personnel between project and other large-scale sequenc simulations of airplane flights, and Christchurch, New Zealand and ing of DNA. Hood is also developing patterns of fluid flow can speed Antarctica, as well as to and from new methods for gene analysis and communication of new ideas. Perhaps McMurdo Station (the main research new computer methods for sequence most significantly, the immediate base), the American Station at the analysis and comparison. This lab visual feedback offered by computer South Pole, and remote field research oratory is at the forefront in develop graphics and computer imaging sites. ing new instrumentation and method techniques can help researchers The restored plane, known as JD ology that is rapidly exported to the deluged with data gain insight into 321, had been flying supplies and biological community at large. scientific processes, help them recog scientists when it was damaged during • In a major multidisciplinary effort, nize patterns or anomalies, and aid in takeoff in 1971 and forced to make an D. Lansing Taylor, Carnegie Mellon pointing out computational errors. emergency landing. None of the 10 University, is integrating the technol ogies of quantitative fluorescence microscopy, imaging technology, computational sciences, graphics display computer science, and ad vanced instrumentation development. The goal here is to construct a quan titative fluorescence microscope/ imaging system for the biological sciences. Computer Visualization As tools for applying the power of computers to scientific research, computer graphics and imaging techniques offer a way to see the unseen. As a technology, computer visualization promises radical im provements in the way people interact with computers. Although visualiza tion technology has been well inte grated into manufacturing, product Cloud sequence. This supercomputer simulation, one of a series shoiving the evolution of a thunderstorm, was calculated by plotting velocity, temperature, rain, turbulence, energy, and other storm data. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 29 crew members aboard was injured; however, the airplane was deemed beyond economical repair and abandoned. It later became buried beneath 33 feet of ice and snow. But following the successful recovery of other similarly damaged planes in the 1970's, engineers reconsidered their decision and decided to recover the downed plane. After digging 10 to 12 hours each day for a month, a team from ITT/Antarctic Services, Inc. (an NSF contractor) towed the aircraft from its pit and parked it on the frozen antarctic surface on Christmas Day, 1986. During late 1987, engineers battling high winds, blowing snow, and temperamres that dropped below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit installed the plane's rebuilt engines and rein stalled flight controls and other equipment. More than once, fierce snow storms buried the small modular building and tent-like shelters of the recovery team. Then the team's Mapping climate patterns. Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric efforts were marred by the tragic crash Research use this supercomputer- generated grid of earth for climate and weather of another LC-130, which was carrying research. supplies and parts to the recovery site. Two U.S. Navy personnel were killed and nine others aboard were injured in the accident. Powered by four engines, three of them salvaged from the 1971 crash, JD 321 performed well throughout its first five-hour flight back to McMurdo ^'•y.C':-ff y-A Station. After further servicing and modernization outside of Antarctica, : the plane—one of 11 LC-130's uniquely outfitted for polar flight— was scheduled for a return to service on the coldest continent. The U.S. Navy operates the antarctic planes, which NSF owns. Retrieved and refitted LC-130 30 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Chapter 4 Recent Initiatives s research questions become in- The creation of these centers A.creasingly complex, so does the reflects some major factors. First, equipment needed to help provide many research problems can no answers. But often one research in longer be studied by scientists work stitution alone cannot afford to buy ing alone—^because of the need for and maintain the costly, sophisticated large facilities and/or research support equipment and facilities that are the teams, or simply the need to bring core tools of modern research. (1) together individuals with diverse skills Moreover, as studies in biotechnology who are from different disciplines and and other fields cross the boundaries research settings. Second, students between disciplines, the sharing of benefit from exposure to this method talent and resources becomes crucial. of doing research. Finally, such Indeed, such collaborations spark centers enhance the possibility of creative new approaches and insights extracting from many basic discoveries in research efforts. the information and know-how to By supporting such efforts as realize technical applications. science and technology centers and Another initiative begun in 1988 plant research centers, by adding new was the creation of plant science sites for ecological, engineering, and centers to stimulate state-of-the-art materials research, by making new research in agriculture and thus instrumentation grants for biological ensure the nation's future ability to research, and by fostering interna compete in world markets for food tional cooperative research, NSF in and forest products. This is a federal 1988 helped foster important new interagency effort of NSF, the Depart collaborations among scientists. At ment of Agriculture (USDA), and the the same time, the Foundation contin Department of Energy (DOE); its aim ued to support and recognize critical is to enable more scientists to use contributions from individual investi modern technology, including genetic gators, who receive the largest share engineering, to gain greater under of NSF support. standing of the structure and function of plants. With such understanding, Centers for Science and researchers may be able to improve Technology, Plant Research the quality of food and fiber, as well as increase the efficiency of their In a 1987 speech to the U.S. Con production. gress, President Ronald Reagan In September 1988, an NSF award outlined a national policy for science went to Cornell University's Center for and technology. A key element of the Experimental Analysis and Trans this policy was establishing new, uni fer of Plant Genes. Simultaneously, versity-based research centers that USDA announced funding for Michi would directly contribute to the gan State University's Center for nation's economic competitiveness. Genetic and Biochemical Alteration of During 1988, NSF reviewed more than Plant Lipids and Starch, and DOE 300 proposals, with the first awards to announced support for Arizona State be announced by late 1988. (2) University's Center for the Study of Early Events in Photosynthesis. NSF 1. For more on the facilities issue, see Scientific and Engineering Research FaciUties at also granted, under a separate pro Universities and CoUeges (Sept. 1988), available gram, an award to Arizona State for from NSF's Division of Science Resources scientific equipment to be used in Studies. research at the university's Plant 2. At press time, 11 awards were expected. Science Center. ANNUAL REPORr FISCAL YEAR 1988 Biological Facilities and Research Centers In September 1987, NSF awarded 20 grants to provide sophisticated instru mentation to Biological Facility Centers investigating basic problems in such areas as biotechnology, neu roscience, and environmental biolbgy. The awards are the first under NSF's Biological Centers program, estab lished to encourage biologists to share state-of-the-art equipment and to collaborate on research problems requiring insight from different scientific disciplines. These grants fund the purchase of Particle bombardment technology. A commercially available equipment and botany graduate student prepares to use in some cases contribute to the current version of the particle gun development of new instruments. developed by Cornell scientists. The gun is Each center is used by an estimiated 10 one of many state-of-the-art instruments to 20 scientists whose research that will be available for use by visiting depends on access to new front-line researchers at the Cornell Plant Science Center. equipment. At the University of Oregon, Marga ret A. Lindorfer and her colleagues received an NSF equipment grant to aid in their study of the structure and function of biological molecules. Their new equipment includes a protein sequencer to determine how amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are ordered along a protein; a peptide synthesizer, which creates experimental chains of amino acids made to the experimenter's specifica tions; and an x-ray detector to deter mine the three-dimensional crystal stmcture of both naturally occurring and human-made proteins. Equipment grant. With funds from NSF, the University of Oregon purchased the peptide synthesizer shown here with researcher Margaret Lindorfer. 32 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION NSF also has established three university-based Biological Research Centers devoted to studies pertinent to the growth of biotechnology—includ ing the education of students in an interdisciplinary setting. These centers are: • Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (a new institute aimed at understanding the way assemblies of macromolecules—such as nucleic acids and complex proteins—function and work together in the living cell); • University of California at Berkeley (a center to study plant cell biology); • University of Arizona (a center for research on insect biology). Long-Term Ecological Research Ecological changes take place over Researchers working under NSF's program for Long-Term Ecological Research Centers years, decades, or centuries. Long- term studies are needed to understand floodplain soils that were previously The focus of the National Center for questions on the intricate relationships underwater and on land that suffered Geographic Information and Analysis among animals, plants, and microor severe fire damage. A second Alaskan is a computerized database called ganisms and how the populations of project is the study of an arctic tundra Geographic Information Systems each may shift over time; the influ system, an effort managed by the (GIS). GIS converts geographic ence of the oceans, atmosphere, and Marine Biological Laboratory of information from maps and other earth in cycling nutrients and other Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Experi sources into digital, computer-read chemicals; and the predator-prey rela ments on the tundra, a site encom able form, allowing mathematical and tionships between organisms and their passing a landscape of rivers, lakes, statistical analyses that were previ environment. Since 1980, NSF has and land, focus on the impact of ously difficult or impossible to per helped advance basic knowledge of changes in nutrients, heat, light, form. One advantage of this database ecosystem structure and long-term grazing animals, and predators on the is that it combines, displays, and processes through its Long-Term ecosystem. By virtue of their isolation updates different maps of the same Ecological Research program. Estab and simplicity, tundra ecosystems area more readily and accurately than lishing and maintaining research at provide a good model for research on could ever be attempted by hand. precious ecological sites around the more complex natural systems. In addition to helping mapmakers, country—from the Alaskan tundra to the system is expected to aid research estuaries on the coast of South Caro Focus on Geography ers in artificial intelligence, ecology, lina— the program is a lasting com meteorology, political science, and NSF has established a new univer mitment to long-term study and resource management. Many re sity-based center for the analysis of preservation of ecosystems in the U.S. searchers predict that the impact of maps and other geographic data. During 1988, NSF added five GIS on geographical analysis will be The five-year grant went to a three- institutions to manage intensive as important as is the telescope's role member consortium consisting of the studies of ecological systems. For in astronomy. University of California at Santa example, studies of Alaskan conifer Barbara, the University of Maine at ous forests, conducted by the Univer Orono, and the State University of sity of Alaska at Fairbanks, are helping New York at Buffalo. scientists explain how plant and animal communities develop follow ing natural catastrophes or dramatic climate changes. The research focus is on the growth of organisms on ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 33 • University of Wisconsin-Madison/ Engineering Research Center for Plasma-Aided Manufacturing. Plasma- aided manufacturing techniques use electrically charged particles for precise and reliable etching, deposi tion, polymerization, and for changing surface characteristics of materials on a microscopic level. NSF also supports an older center, based at the State University of New York (Buffalo), which is headquarters for a national research effort on earthquake engineering. During 1988, participating researchers from Cornell, Lehigh, and Carnegie Mellon Universi ties worked to develop three knowl edge-based expert systems. These systems are intended for use by studying chemical levels. Analyst uses a microcomputer-based geographic informa architects and structural engineers tion system to m.onitor and mMp strontium 90 levels in the southeastern United States. in designing earthquake-resistant buildings or in evaluating the seismic resistance of existing buildings. New Materials, Engineering toughening glassy polymers, a critical issue in developing new plastics and Groups related compounds. In this smdy, Computers and Four teams of university scientists scientists from the field of ceramics Supercomputers were awarded $7.4 million from NSF will work with experts in polymers. Under its Institutional Infrastructure to conduct basic research on materials Four new Engineering Research Program, NSF has helped to establish that have great technological potential. Centers were funded by NSF in 1988. and enhance experimental computer The awards bring to 15 the number of They are: research facilities at four more cam iVlaterials Research Groups funded by • University of Minnesota/Engineer puses throughout the United States. NSF since the program began in 1985. ing Research Center for Interfacial The goal of this program is to stimu A materials research award to Engineering, which will focus on ways late experimental computer research Rhode Island's Brown University is to improve products and manufactur and greater faculty and graduate dy on how suppoitiiig a three-year stU' ing processes whose success depends student participation at institutions materials deform and fracture. Re on the chemical and physical phe with an already active core of com search focuses on understanding the nomena that occur between matter in puter and engineering researchers. effects of temperature and stress rates different gas, liquid, or solid states. Universities receiving this type of on materials, and the relationship of • North Carolina State University/ NSF support included Brown, Illinois, microscopic activity to large-scale, Engineering Research Center for North Carolina, and the University of easily visible deformities. Scientists at Advanced Electronic Materials Process California at Berkeley. The facilities the University of California at San ing (research on low-temperature focus on such computer research Diego have embarked on a study of processing techniques that will aid in issues as understanding the funda the microscopic properties of mag the development and manufacture of mental nature of parallel processing. netic materials, including those used the next generation of silicon and for storing computer data on tape and compound semiconductors). Simulating Air Pollution disk, Montana State University's grant • Texas A&M University-University Despite costly efforts to mieet is directed toward better understand of Texas at Austin/Engineering federal standards for air quality, many ing of gallium arsenide, a compound Research Center for Offshore Technol U.S. cities were not expected to meet used to make integrated circuits im ogy, an effort to learn how best to these guidelines in 1988. How can printed on computer chips. A grant to build structures for the recovery of oil new strategies for air pollution control the University of Michigan helped be swiftly identified and implemented establish a group to study ways of and other resources at ocean depths greater than 2,000 feet. on a limited budget? Enter the super computer. 34 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Researchers Gregory J. McRae, Armistead G. Russell, and Jana Miliord from Carnegie Mellon University used the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center to solve more than 500,000 equations; they simulated, on a Cray-X/MP 48, the evolution of ozone and 30 other chemicals that pollute the air over Los Angeles. About 70 test cases were studied, each corresponding to different environmental conditions associated with the city. The entire project, which took only weeks on the Cray, would have required several years on a more conventional computer. Results of the computer study were startling. Researchers found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, unhealthy levels of ozone in the atmosphere do not necessarily de crease if certain types of industrial emissions are reduced. The relation ship between the amount of pollution and emissions from power plants, automobiles, refineries, and other sources is so complex, the supercom puter simulation demonstrated, that, in some cases, strategies for reducing particular pollutants could actually cause air quality to deteriorate in neighboring areas. The study also found that due to the complicated interaction between nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions in producing pollution, efforts that focus only on control of hydrocarbons are inadequate to reduce pollution. The project offered akernatives for the future. If a fuel such as methanol were substituted for gasoline in a significant number of Los Angeles vehicles, air pollution in the city could be markedly lowered. The supercom puter study showed that conversion to Supercomputer simulations of air pollution in Los Angeles methanol, even without the addition of other control strategies, could be an effective strategy to improve air quality. ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 19 35 S. Shapiro, S. Teukolsky, Cornell Black Hole Cinema International News At the Cornell University supercom A maverick approach that leads to a puter, Saul Teukolsky and Stuart new direction in research, a fresh Shapiro from Cornell have developed analysis that sparks new work on an a computer code that tracks the evolu old problem—the flow of scientific tion of a massive star cluster using ideas and the possibility for meaning Einstein's equations of general relativ ful collaboration know no geographic ity. The equations, which are highly boundary, even among investigators nonlinear and difficult to solve, are in countries thousands of miles apart. necessary to describe the motions of In an effort to boost cooperation stars that move in a strong gravita between nations, NSE sponsors a tional field at nearly the speed of light. number of research activities with Scientists watch the computer screen other countries. as simulations of unstable star clusters In 1988, NSF renewed research ties undergo catastrophic collapse into with Poland and established the first black holes, objects whose gravita U.S. research agreement with Czecho tional field is so intense that not even slovakia since World War II. The light can escape its tug. The collapse agreements enable American scientists of star clusters to form supermassive and engineers engaged in NSF- black holes may explain the origin of supported research to seek Founda quasars, powerhouses of energy that tion funds for collaborations with are the most distant objects ever Polish or Czechoslovak researchers. glimpsed in the universe. Using the The "memoranda of understanding" supercomputer simulation and color that NSF has negotiated—five years graphics, the entire collapse process with the Polish Academy of Sciences can be viewed on a movie screen— and three years with the Czechoslovak the ultimate space adventure film Academy of Sciences—are expected to come to life. make it easier for U.S. researchers to launch and maintain international col Communicating Information laborations with scientists from these About Risk countries. With support from NSF, the Carne gie Mellon University has established a center for improving the way compa nies, workers, the public, and regula tory agencies communicate about and handle health and safety hazards. Experts in engineering, psychology, Birth of black holes and quasars. Researchers and economics conduct basic research used the Cornell University supercomputer to on how people perceive and consider generate this simulation of the collapse of an risks. Scientists hope that when unstable star cluster to a supermassive black communication about risk is tailored hole. Such catastrophic events may power to a person's value system, more quasars, the most energetic objects in the people will absorb and act on infor universe. Spherical light plashes generated by mation that could prolong or save the computer from the cluster's center initially their lives. Communication studies at escape from the cluster, but they are even the center range from the use of seat tually trapped by the strong gravitational field once the black hole forms and all the stars are belts and highway safety to radon in consumed. homes and cancer risks from chemi cals in the environment. 36 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION New Intemational Links: Japanese and U.S. Researchers In the past four decades, large numbers of Japanese investigators have come to the United States each year to participate in research visits, while few American researchers have made reciprocal visits to Japan. During 1988, both NSF and various agencies of the Japanese government took several steps to counter this imbalance. Through its Japan Initia tive, the Foundation offers the follow ing: 1. Funds for long-term research in fapan. Recipients of these grants, which run from 6 to 18 months, will be accommodated in Japanese gov ernment, university, and industry labs. 2. Fellowships to study the fapanese language in tbe United States. This program also supports the develop ment of improved course materials for teaching Japanese. 3- Opportunities for American re searchers at fapanese research insti tutes, including corporate facilities. 4. Funding for survey teams to visit fapan and report on Japanese techni cal and scientific advances. The Foundation already helps support a three-year pilot program at MIT that provides intensive training in technical Japanese; the 1988 summer workshop was geared to computer scientists and electrical engineers who have a working knowledge of the language. In addition, NSF supported the initial phases of an effort by Johns Hopkins University to set up a Japa nese-American Mathematics Institute. Its goal was to bring Japanese mathe matical talent to this country for up to a year at a time to participate in special research activities. Finally, under an agreement between NSF and the Japanese Institute for New Gen eration Technology (ICOT), NSF also supports U.S. scientists and engineers conducting joint research in advanced computer technologies at ICOT for six months to a year. Chapter 5 Awards/Organizational News Awards possibility that scientists may one day custom design andbodies to boost Alan T. Waterman Award production of vital chemicals used in Named for NSF's first director, tfiis medicine and industry. annual award goes to an outstanding In addition to his work on anti science, mathematics, or engineering bodies that act as catalysts, Schultz researcher who is 35 years of age or (who previously received an NSF younger and has had a doctoral Presidential Young Investigator degree for no more than five years. Award) has been studying the possi Peter Schultz, a professor of chem bility of creating new enzymes that istry at the University of California at could cut the genetic material DNA at Berkeley, received the 1988 award. At specific sites along the length of the 31, Schultz has already solved a bio molecule. The invention of new logical puzzle whose answer had enzymes to cut DNA at any desired eluded scientists for more than 40 location would greatly expand the years. In the 1940's, Linus Pauling possibilities for genetic engineering demonstrated that certain proteins, and genome mapping. known as enzymes, can speed up or catalyze chemical reactions. Chemists Vannevar Bush Award have long suspected that antibodies, proteins manufactured by the immune The National Science Board, the system, might play a similar role. But NSF's policy-making body, grants this ; no one had been able to prove this prestigious award to people who have hypothesis. made outstanding contributions to the Schultz and his Berkeley research nation in science, engineering, and group, along with an independent technology. The award is named for team of scientists from the Scripps the engineer and World War II science Clinic in San Diego, were the first to administrator who prepared the show that certain types of chemical federal report recommending estab reactions can indeed be speeded up lishment of the National Science Foun by antibodies—^which were produced dation. in response to chemicals specifically In 1988, the Vannevar Bush Award designed by these research groups. went to Glenn T. Seaborg, a Nobel The accomplishment offers the Laureate who is a major figure in chemistry and nuclear research, science education, and science policy. Seaborg was recognized for contribu tions spanning nearly half a century. In the early 1940's, Glenn Seaborg was one of a cadre of young scientists at the Berkeley campus who had gathered around Ernest O. Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron. Lawrence's cyclotron made possible experiments to determine if chemical elements heavier than uranium could be produced. Uranium was number 92 on the periodic chart and the weighti est element then known. In 1940, Lawrence's research team identified a new heavy element, number 93, Peter Schultz which was named neptunium. Later that year, Seaborg and his colleagues 38 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Distinguished Public Service Awards Two members of the United States Congress (both since retired) received NSF's Distinguished Public Service Award in 1988. They were Senator Lawton Chiles (D-Florida), then head of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Congressman Manuel Lujan, Jr. (R-New Mexico), then ranking minority member of the House Science, Space, and Technol ogy Committee. This award is given periodically to Glenn T. Seaborg persons who have distinguished Manuel Lujan, Jr. themselves through their leadership, public service, and dedication to the pushed farther, identifying and chem education, increase international support of American science and ically separating element number 94, cooperation in science, and develop engineering and of education in those which they called plutonium. national policy in areas such as space fields. The award is the highest honor Seaborg left Berkeley for the Uni exploration and energy research and conferred by NSF on people not versity of Chicago in 1942 to oversee development. employed by the Foundation. the production of plutonium for the Both Chiles and Lujan retired from Manhattan Project. During the postwar the Congress in October 1988. years, he resumed his research at Berkeley. Seaborg and his coworkers Presidential Teaching Awards synthesized and identified nine additional heavy elements. They also Each year, the Presidential Awards discovered many radioactive isotopes for Excellence in Science and Mathe of lighter elements, many of which matics Teaching go to outstanding have been used for industrial and U.S. high school or middle school medical applications. Along with teachers of math and science. The these research efforts, Seaborg sought award is intended to encourage such to educate the public about nuclear teachers to enter and remain in those power and to advocate peaceful uses fields. NSF established the honor in for nuclear energy. cooperation with the White House As Chairman of the Atomic Energy and scientific and professional organi Commission (1960-71), Seaborg was zations in 1983- instrumental in negotiations leading to Lawton Chiles Some 1988 awardees are shown the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 below. and the Nonproliferation Treaty of 1969. Since 1971, when he became Throughout his senatorial career, University Professor of Chemistry at Lawton Chiles sought to improve UC/Berkeley (the highest distinction America's scientific and technological bestowed by University of California position. He was elected in 1970 to regents on a faculty member), Seaborg the U.S. Senate, where he emphasized has continued his research on the stronger education programs—a key chemistry of the heavy elements. to developing future scientists—as Additionally, he has launched an well as support for biotechnology. ongoing national campaign to stress Manuel Lujan, elected to Congress the importance of basic research and in 1968, was appointed to the Joint graduate education. Since I966, he Committee on Atomic Energy. During has been President of Science Serv his tenure, he sought to improve the ices, Inc., which administers the nation's technical base, strengthen and annual Westinghouse Science Awards broaden science and engineering program for outstanding high school seniors. ANNUAL REPORT. FISCAL YEAR 1988 3 9 Toye's Distinguished Executive Award recognized her long-term career and accomplishments in the federal government, which began with a management internship at the U.S. Information Agency in 1965. Toye joined NSF in 1973, where she held Award-winning teachers. Science teacher Carey S. Inouye, from lolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii, is shown with two students. The group photo shows awardees and students from St. John's School in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Math teacher Santiago Garcia is in the center; science teacher Adele Gomez is at right. Equal Opportunity rate of minority science and engineer Achievement Award ing students into graduate degree programs and research/education This award by the NSF Director career paths. recognizes employees who have demonstrated an exceptionally high Honors to NSF commitment to promoting equal Distinguished Lecturers opportunity within the Foundation, as well as in the scientific and engineer NSF has inaugurated a staff lecture ing communities. series that brings to Washington some In late 1988 this award went of the best minds currently engaged in to three people who have showed scientific and engineering research. special dedication and commitment: Speakers during the first year of the series included Rosalyn S. Yalow, Henry N. Blount, III— for his vigorous who shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in support of affirmative action within physiology or medicine for her work NSF's chemistry division and his own on the development of radioimmu program, as demonstrated by Research noassay methodology and its applica Opportunity Awards (ROAs) to initiate tion to biomedicine; Arno A. Penzias, and sponsor targeted developmental who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in sabbaticals, and particularly his physics for his discovery of evidence creation of the "macro-ROA" award to supporting the "Big-Bang" theory of groups that focus on involving the universe's origin; Lawrence H. minority students and faculty. Summers, the first economist to win Alice Moses — for her past and the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award; and continuing contributions to the cause Jacqueline K. Barton, a Waterman Kenneth B. Foster of increasing minority participation in Awardee who has earned international science and engineering, and particu acclaim for her creative use of inor many posts in the ocean sciences larly for her role as an advocate of ganic chemistry to design molecules division. As NSF's Controller, Toye increased science education programs that recognize and modify DNA. oversees preparation and allocation for minority students across the All of the speakers received Distin of the Foundation's annual budget, nation. guished Lecmrer certificates from NSF which now approaches $2 billion. TH^C*-»:>**'C ^-r^T^^-r^ ^rUt^U ^^«f.=...c CU^^ to honor their participation in this 1 WOLCl a IXW VVlll'wil 'wWllli^lS Lll.^ foseph Reed— for his enthusiastic prestigious series. rank of Meritorious Executive, also support of NSF's goal of more fully honored his long record of public incorporating minorities into the Presidential Awards service. Foster's career began at the science and engineering infrastructure Naval Research Laboratory in 1946; he for NSF Staff of the nation, and for his outstanding has headed NSF's financial manage efforts in a pilot project to enhance Sandra D. Toye, the NSF Controller, ment division for some 20 years. substantially the pipeline "throughput" and Kenneth B. Foster, head of NSF's Under Foster's leadership, the division financial management division, re has been cited as an example of the ceived Presidential Rank awards in way imaginative use of automation 1988. and microcomputers can save time and dollars. 40 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Arrivals and Departures NSF welcomed two new assistant directors in 1988. William A. Wulf, a computer scientist and AT&T Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia, was ap pointed the new Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE directorate). Wulf s special interest in computer science research has been the con struction of systems—programming languages, operating systems, and the computer architecture that executes them efficiently. Wulf succeeds C. Gordon Bell. John A. White, an engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, became Assistant Director for Engi neering. White, who has been hon ored as both a teacher and an engi neer, is the Regents' Professor of Engineering at Georgia Tech's School of Industrial and Systems Planning. He replaces Nam P. Suh, who served as assistant director for more than three years and has returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Board News: New Chairman and Vice Chairman Mary L. Good and Thomas B. Day were elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, of the National Science Board, the policy-making body of NSF. Good, who has served Erich Bloch John H. Moore on the board since 1980, is Senior Vice President, Technology, at Allied- Signal Corporation. She was Boyd Professor of Chemistry at the Univer sity of New Orleans, 1974-78, and Boyd Professor of Materials Science at Louisiana State University, 1978-80. Since 1978, Day has been President of the San Diego State University. Prior to that appointment, he was Vice Chancellor for Academic Planning and a special assistant to the Chancellor at the University of Maryland in College Park. Mary L. Good Thomas B. Day ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 41 Appendix A National Science Foundation Senior Staff and National Science Board Members (Fiscal Year 1988) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIION NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD JAMES B. HOLDERMAN, President, University SENIOR STAFF (addresses as of Sept. 30, 1988) of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (as of September 30, 1988) JAMES L. POWELL, President, Reed College, Portland, OR Terms Expire May 10, 1990 Director, Erich Bloch FRANK H. T. RHODES, President, Cornell PERRY L. ADKISSON, Chancellor, Texas A&M University, Ithaca, NY Deputy Director, University System, College Station, TX John H. Moore HOWARD A. SCHNEIDEllMAN, Senior Vice ANNELISE G. ANDERSON, Senior Research President for Research and Develop Senior Science Advisor, Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford ment and Chief Scientist, Monsanto James F, Hays University, Stanford, CA Company, St. Louis, MO General Counsel, CRAIG C. BLACK, Director, Los Angeles County Charles H. Herz Museum of Natural History, Terms Expire May 10, 1994 Los Angeles, CA Director, Office of Legislative and Puhlic Affairs, Raymond E. Bye, Jr. RITA R. COLWELL, Director, Maryland WARREN J. BAKER, President, Califomia Biotechnology Institute and Professor of Polytechnic State University, San Luis Controller, Office of Budget and Control, Microbiology, University of Maryland, Obispo, CA Sandra D. Toye College Park, MD ARDEN L. BEMENT, Jr., Vice President, Director, Office of Audit and Oversight, THOMAS B. DAY, (Vice Chairman, National Technical Resources, TRW, Inc., Jerome H. Fregeau Science Board), President, San Diego Cleveland, OH* State University, San Diego, CA Director, Office of Information Systems, D. ALLAN BROMLEY, Director, Wright Nuclear Constance K. McLindon JAMES J. DUDERSTADT, President, University Structure Laboratory, Yale University, of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI New Haven, CT* Director, Office of Science and Technology Centers Development (Acting) K. JUNE LINDSTEDT-SIVA, Manager, Environ DANIEL C. DRUCKER, Graduate Research William C. Harris mental Sciences, Atlantic Richfield Professor, Department of Aerospace Company, Los Angeles, CA Engineering, Mechanics and Engineering Assistant Director for Biological, Behavioral, Science, University of Florida, and Social Sciences, KENNETH L. NORDTVEDT, JR., Professor of Gainesville, FL David T. Kingshury Physics, Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT CHARLES L. HOSLER, Senior Vice President for Assistanl Director for Computer and Research and Dean of Graduate School, Information Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University William A. Wulf Park, PA Terms Expire May 10, 1992 Assistant Director for Engineering, ROLAND W. SCHMITT, President, Rensselaer John A. White Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY FREDERICK P. BROOKS, JR., Kenan Professor Assistant Director for Geosciences, of Computer Science, Department of (Two vacancies) Rohert W. Corell Computer Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC *NSB Nominee, pending U.S. Senate Confirma Assistant Director for Mathematical and tion as of late October 1988 Physical Sciences, F. ALBERT COTTON, W.T. Doherty-Welch Richard S. Nicholson Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Director, Laboratory for Member Ex Officio Assistant Director for Science and Engineering Molecular Structure and Bonding, Texas Education, A&M-Uni versity, Cdllege Station.^Hf— ERICH BLOCH, Director, National Science Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Foundation, Washington, DC MARY L. GOOD, (Chairman, National Science Assistant Director for Scientific, Technological, Board), Senior Vice President, Technol and Intemational Affairs ogy, Allied-Signal Corporation, Inc., Richard J. Green Morristown, New Jersey THOMAS UBOIS, Executive Officer, National Science Board, National Science Assistant Director for Administration, JOHN C. HANCOCK, Executive Vice President, Foundation, Washington, DC Corporate Development and Technol Geoffrey M. Fenstermacher ogy, United Telecommunications, Inc., Westwood, KS 48 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Appendix B Patents and Financial Report for Fiscal Year 1988 PATENTS AND INVENTIONS RESULTING FROM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED BY NSF During fiscal year 1988, the Foundation received 178 invention disclosures. Allocations of rights to 63 of those inventions were made by September 30,1988. These resulted in dedication to the public through publication in 23 cases, retention of principal patent rights by the grantee or inventor in 40 instances, and transfer to other government agencies in 4 cases. Licenses were received by the Foundation in 49 patent applications filed by grantees and contractors who retained principal rights in their inventions. FINANCIAL REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1988 (DOLIARS IN MILLIONS) Research and Related Activities Table 1. Biological, Behavioral, and Social Sciences, Appropriation Fiscal Year 1988 Fund Availability (Dollars in Millions) Fiscal year 1988 Appr(5priation $1,453.00 Unobligated balance available, start Numher of Awards Amount of year 1.26 Adjustments to prior year accounts 4.77 Molecular Biosciences 609 $ 44.49 Fiscal year 1988 availability $1,459.03 Cellular Biosciences 835 53.88 Biotic Systems and Resources 768 58.66 Obligations Behavioral and Neural Sciences 770 43.59 Total, all directorates: 1,373.80 Social and Economic Science 493 30.10 Program Development and Instruinentauon and Resources 279 34.36 Manageinent 84.47 Total 3,754 $265.08 Subtotal, obligations 1,458.27 Unobligated balance available, end of year .62 Table 2. Computer and Information Science Unobligated balance lapsing .14 and Engineering, Fiscal Year 1988 Total, fiscal year 1988 availability (Dollars in Millions) for Research and Related Activities $1,459.03 Number of Awards Amount U.S. Antarctic Program Activities Computer and Computation Appropriation Research 301 $ 19.85 Information, Robotics, and Fund Availability 251 17.73 Fiscal year 1988 appropriation $124.80 Microelectronic Information Unobligated balance available, start Processing Systems 177 13.29 of year .00 Advanced Scientific Computing 29 44.70 Adjustments to prior year accounts .02 Networfcing and Communications Fiscal year 1988 availability $ 124.82 Research and Infrastructure 82 11.47 Cross-Disciplinap' Activities 75 16.87 Science and Engineering Education Activities Total 915 $123.91 Appropriation Fund Availablity Fiscal year 1988 appropriation $ 139.20 Unobligated balance availat)le, start of year .06 Acijustorents to prior year accounts .44 Fiscal year 1988 availability $ 139.70 SOURCE: Fiscal Year 1990 Budget to Congres,s—ju.stiilcation of E.stimate.s of Appropriations ANNUAL REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 49 Table 3. Engineering, Fiscal Year 1988 Table 6. Science and Engineering Education, (Dollars in Millions) Fiscal Year 1988 (Dollars in Millions) Number of Awards Amount Number of Chemical, Biochemical, and Thermal Awards Amount Engineering 529 $ 29.03 Research Career Development 246 $ 34.02 Mechanics, Structures, and Materials Materials Development, Research, and Engineering 472 26.18 Inforinal Science Education 149 37.81 Electrical, Coinmunications, and Teacher Preparation and Systems Engineering 405 23.39 Enhancetnent 340 45.53 Design, Manufacmring, and Computer- Smdies and Program Assesment 25 3.24 Integrated Engineering 212 15.36 Undergraduate Science, Engineering, Eiaierging Engineering Technologies ... 219 16.63 and MathemaUcs Education 469 19.03 Critical Engineering Systems 345 25.09 Total 1,229 $139.63 Cross-Disciplinary Research 94 36.39 Total 2,276 $172.07 Table 7. Scientiflc, Technological, and Intemational Affairs, Fiscal Year 1988 Table 4. Geosciences, Fiscal Year 1988 , —... (Dollars in MUlions) Number of Number of Awards Amount Awards Amount Industrial S&T Innovation 223 $ 17.37 Atmospheric Sciences 609 $ 96.15 Itrtertratl. Coop. Sci. Activities 449 10.66 Earth Sciences 748 51.26 Policy Research and Analysis 12 .85 Ocean Sciences 858 134.95 Science Resources Studies 35 4.01 Arctic Itesearch 86 8.29 Research Initiation and Improvemetit .. 101 17.16 Total 2301 $290.65 Total 820 $ 50.05 Table 5. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Table 8. U.S. Antarctic Program, Fiscal Year 1988 Fiscal Year 1988 (Dollars in Millions) (Dollars in Millions) Number of Number of Awards Amount Awards Am(3unt U.S. Antarctic Research Program 168 $ 13.52 Mathematical Sciences 1,332 $ 63.76 Operations Support 16 85.25 Astronomical Sciences 314 85.79 Major Con.struction and Procurement .. 4 25.90 Physics 579 117.90 Totai 188 $124.67 Chemistry 1,087 94.03 SOURCE: Fiscal Year 1990 Budget to Congress-Justification Materials Research 853 110.55 of Estimates of Appropriations (Quantitative Total 4,165 $472.03 Program Data Tables). 50 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION _ REPORT, FISCAL YEAR 1988 51