The authors express reservations about additional federal funding for the National Science Foundation, including new funding for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs, provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more than 50 years, American political, business, military, and academic leaders…

A federal committee has found that there is almost no evidence to judge whether the more than $3-billion the federal government spends annually to improve science and mathematics education is effective. The committee's report calls for greater assessment and coordination of such programs. The committee, known as the Academic Competitiveness…

House Democrats recently unveiled draft legislation for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Widely touted as an economic stimulus package, the $825 billion draft legislation included as much as $142 billion for education. This includes the creation of a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to assist state governments in…

This brief document reports on Federal support to individual universities and colleges both for science/engineering (S/E) and non-S/E activities. The study, the only source of data on total Federal obligations to individual academic and nonprofit institutions, is carried out annually by the National Science Foundation (NSF), as a result of a…

This data brief presents the federal academic science and engineering obligations data obtained from 18 agencies that participated in the fiscal year 1999 Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions. Data from this annual survey allow federal Science and Engineering (S&E) support to be…

Federal civilian agency support for engineering education in 1980 is described. The support is placed in categories, current concerns about the supply of engineers and conditions of engineering schools are related to the support, and the changes made by the fiscal year 1982 budget are identified. It was found that 38 programs in 11 federal…

Congressman Doug Walgren (D-PA) comments on various issues related to science and engineering education, suggesting that there is a major deterioration for the entire educational enterprise, particularly in the technical areas. Focuses on National Science Foundation (NSF) programs, funding, and current legislative recommendations. (Author/JN)

Presents excerpts from Donald McCurdy's testimony to the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives. Includes discussions involving budget cuts in science education funding and the potential consequences of same; suggests best expenditures of science education research funding. (DS)

This report contains a proposed agenda for the comprehensive study of United States science policy which the Committee on Science and Technology expects to perform during the 99th Congress. The proposed agenda was developed by the committee's Task Force on Science Policy in response to the charge to focus on the issues of maintaining America's…

The United States has long been known as a world leader in scientific and technological innovation. To help maintain this advantage, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on education programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for many years. However, concerns have been raised about the nation's…

The "Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005" created two new grant programs for undergraduates: the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) program and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (National SMART) Grant program. The ACG program is intended to encourage students to take challenging courses in high school and thus…

Recorded in this document are hearings before the Committee on Science and Technology (U.S. House of Representatives). The central issues addressed in the hearings were whether the need for long-term steadiness in technology investment is holding its own against short-term budget expendiencies, and in particular, whether the budget stress is…

Although the crisis in precollege science and mathematics education has passed, various efforts are underway to improve the quality of education in these areas and to resolve existing problems. Several of these efforts are discussed, including the role of the National Science Foundation, industry role, and others. (JN)

Discusses priorities in the Reagan administration's science policy, including an emphasis on basic research and the concomitant training of students. New programs for fiscal year 1985 emphasize engineering education and research, as well as improved interactions between universities, federal laboratories, and industry. (Author/JN)

These hearings focused on the role that the National Science Foundation (NSF) should play in a national effort to improve mathematics and science (M/S) education in elementary and secondary schools. The impact of past NSF activities, current crisis in M/S education, role of organizations in M/S education, government role, federal legislation, and…