Trump Budget Cuts NSF by 11%

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

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> From: FYI <fyi () aip-info org>
> Date: May 26, 2017 at 10:44:45 AM PDT
> To: farber () central cis upenn edu
> Subject: Trump Budget Cuts NSF by 11%
> Reply-To: FYI <re-1ZJN-4YPPY-E29DH7-C0BTF () aip-info org>
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> Number 68: May 26, 2017
> Trump Budget Cuts NSF by 11%
> President Trump is requesting an 11 percent funding decrease for the National Science Foundation in fiscal year 2018, 
> which would bring its budget to $6.7 billion. Research directorate leaders were provided flexibility in determining 
> how to distribute the cuts, leading to a range of proposals.
> In his first budget request to Congress, President Trump is seeking an 11 percent decrease for the National Science 
> Foundation below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level. The $6.7 billion proposal is the first indication of the Trump 
> administration’s plans for the agency, as it was not directly mentioned in the blueprint the administration released 
> in late March. The administration is also seeking steep cuts for most other science agencies as part of a broader 
> reduction in non-defense spending.
>  
> The chart below depicts the major changes the president is proposing for NSF. Budget information for additional 
> accounts is available in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker and the full NSF budget document is available here.
>
> Research & Related Activities
>
> The bulk of the $819 million cut to NSF would fall on the Research and Related Activities account, which would 
> decrease 11 percent below fiscal year 2017 levels to $5.4 billion. The cut is distributed in each research 
> directorate and division in different proportions between research grants, facilities operations, and education 
> programs.
>   
> During the NSF budget overview briefing on May 23, NSF Director France Córdova emphasized that “tough choices” had to 
> be made while preparing the request, saying,
>
> This request protects NSF’s core values as an agency, including cross-directorate participation. … We’ve carefully 
> looked at all our programs and taken the approach to reset some of our investments closer to the levels you would 
> have seen in NSF’s budget a decade ago.
>
> Some of the crosscutting programs across the foundation would receive major cuts, including several interagency 
> initiatives. For example, the Understanding the Brain program, which houses NSF’s contribution to the BRAIN 
> Initiative, would decrease by over 20 percent and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) 
> would be cut by nearly 40 percent. The Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water program would be cut by 70 
> percent below the fiscal year 2016 level. The Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Program would receive a 13 percent decrease 
> in support, but would still be expected to maintain its number of teams and sites and expand to 10 nodes in 2018.
>
> Several major facilities supported by Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate would receive increased levels of 
> support for operations and maintenance, including the Gemini Observatory, Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), and 
> Large Hadron Collider (LHC), while the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) would receive its 
> fiscal year 2016 level of support. Other facilities, such as the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), 
> would ramp down, largely in line with existing plans, though the schedule for shutting down CHESS would accelerate by 
> one year. Funding for the Arecibo Observatory would decrease by 13 percent to just under $8 million. NSF is currently 
> soliciting proposals for operations of the facility over a five year period during which NSF would ramp down its 
> support to $2 million per year. A $1.3 million decrease below fiscal year 2016 levels proposed for the National 
> Optical Astronomy Observatory would be offset by an anticipated increase in Department of Energy support for NOAO’s 
> Mayall Telescope as the “preferred platform” to carry out a dark energy science survey with the Dark Energy 
> Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), currently under construction at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
>       
> Within the Geosciences Directorate, support for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) would fall $16 
> million below fiscal year 2016 levels, and the Ocean Observatories Initiative would see a 24 percent reduction. 
> Within the Office of Polar Programs, $285 million is proposed for Polar Facilities and Logistics, which supports U.S. 
> research infrastructure in the Arctic and Antarctic as well as enabling partnering federal science agencies research 
> in the polar regions. Funding would prioritize the implementation of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernization for 
> Science (AIMS) project at McMurdo Station as well as the continued development of plans to upgrade satellite 
> communications systems and replace the Palmer Station pier.
>       
> Major Research and Facilities Construction
>
> The request would continue support for the construction of two major telescopes — the Daniel K. Inouye Solar 
> Telescope (DKIST) and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) — as well as the first of three new regional class 
> research vessels. A $26 million decrease in the Major Research and Facilities Construction account aligns with the 
> foundation’s plans for these projects.
>
> Education & Human Resources
>
> Funding for Education and Human Resources would be cut by 14 percent to $761 million, necessitating a shift toward 
> partnerships with other research directorates to fund educational programs. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program 
> (GRFP) and NSF Research Traineeship (NRT), both supported by the research directorates as well, would receive 
> decreases of more than 25 percent, and the GRFP would halve the number of new participants to 1,000. The STEM + 
> Computing (STEM+C) Partnerships program would receive a $20 million or 38 percent reduction.
>       
> Some programs that promote inclusion in STEM education would see cuts, including the Louis Stokes Alliances for 
> Minority Participation and Tribal Colleges and Universities Program. However, the INCLUDES program, one of NSF’s 10 
> “big ideas,” would see a slight increase.
> Contact the Author
>
> Alexis Wolfe
> American Institute of Physics
> awolfe () aip org
> (301) 209-3182
> More From FYI
>
> Trump Budget Cuts DOE Office of Science by 17%, Prioritizes Advanced Computing
>
> President Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget requests a 17 percent cut for the Department of Energy Office of Science. 
> Within that, it boosts advanced computing, slashes biological and environmental research nearly in half, and cuts the 
> four other primary research programs by just under 20 percent each.
> Read More >
>
> Trump Budget Slashes Science, Confrontation with Congress Looms
>
> President Trump’s official fiscal year 2018 budget request, which calls for deep funding cuts to most science 
> agencies and many other non-defense programs, has received a chilly reception in Congress, setting the stage for a 
> possible confrontation in the fall.
> Read More >
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