Centers

Centers

NSF supports a variety of individual centers and centers programs. The centers play a key role in enabling the U.S. to achieve its goals, particularly through their encouragement of interdisciplinary research and the integration of research in education programs. While the programs are diverse, the centers share a commitment to:

Addressing scientific questions and research and technical problems with a multidisciplinary, long-term, coordinated research effort. Center programs involve a number of scientists and engineers working together on fundamental research addressing the many facets of a complex problem;

Including a strong educational component to aid the training of this nation's next generation of scientists and engineers and to encourage students of all ages to participate in science and engineering; and

Coordinating with industry to ensure that research is relevant to national needs and that knowledge quickly migrates into the private sector.

The centers and center programs are listed below.

                    (Millions of Dollars)

The FY 1997 Request for centers is $209 million, an increase of 3.6 % over the FY 1996 Estimate. NSF expects to support 176 centers by the end of FY 1996. No new center programs will be initiated in FY 1997. There will, however, be competitions within some of the existing center programs possibly leading to some turnover within the programs. Funding for the Minority Research Centers of Excellence will increase by 27% to establish two additional centers. Support for the National High Field FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry Center will be reduced by 20 percent, reflecting decreases in instrumentation costs. Support for all other centers and centers programs is stable.

1995 Estimates for Selected Centers

                             (Millions of Dollars)

Total Number of Participating Institutions: all academic institutions which participate in activities at the centers.

Number of Partners: the total number of non-academic participants, including industry, states, and other federal agencies, at the centers.

Leveraged Support: funding for centers from sources other than NSF.

Number of Participants: the total number of people who utilize center facilities; not just persons directly supported by NSF.