House Committee Considers NSF Budget Request

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing on the Budget Proposal for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Fiscal Year 2019 on 15 March. NSF Director Frances Cordova and National Science Board Chairwoman Maria T. Zuber testified. Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) has been critical of the peer-review process at the agency since 2013 when he assumed the chairmanship of the committee. He used the hearing as another platform to criticize some of the grants included in NSF’s research portfolio. Smith argued, “I have been critical of the NSF for funding too many projects that seem marginal or frivolous. When the NSF spent $700,000 on a Climate Change Musical or $1.5 million to study pasture management in Mongolia, it reduced investments in projects that could yield groundbreaking new knowledge and discoveries.” Dr. Maria Zuber, Chairwoman of the National Science Board, acknowledged Smith’s concerns. She said, “I would be remiss, Chairman Smith, if I didn’t thank you for holding us to the highest standards for transparency and accountability.” Smith once again attacked the social sciences, and said, “I am concerned that there are still too many projects being funded in the social, behavioral and economic sciences that are not worthy of taxpayers’ dollars.” Cordova responded by noting that the online description for each NSF award would now include a sentence that the research “...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news