Educating for the Future

America's system of higher education sets a world-leading standard for excellence and inclusiveness. Yet even this outstanding system faces challenges in preparing students for dealing with the rapidly changing scientific and technological landscape expected in the 21st century. NSF is addressing these challenges by supporting innovative, systemic approaches to education and training at all levels, and especially through activities that link learning and discovery.

Integration of Research and Education. This core strategy from the Foundation's strategic plan has emerged as a key touchstone for all NSF investments. Educating today's students in a discovery-rich environment will better prepare them to meet tomorrow's challenges. Likewise, history has shown that research in an education-rich environment yields an exceptionally dynamic and diverse enterprise. FY 1998 highlights include:

• The CAREER program (Faculty Early Career Development), which provides a framework for junior-level faculty to link their research activities with their teaching and mentoring responsibilities. Support for the CAREER program totals more than $82 million in FY 1998, a 21 percent increase over FY 1997. NSF nominates selected awardees for the prestigious Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers in order to recognize both the outstanding character of their research and their commitment to education.

• The REU program (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) will significantly expand in FY 1998, increasing by 11 percent to almost $30 million. It is one of NSF's most popular and successful programs, as it provides opportunities for several thousand undergraduate students each year to participate in ongoing research projects at sites throughout the nation.

• The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program, a new cross-Foundation activity funded at $20 million, will merge features of the ongoing Research Training Groups program in the biological sciences with the Graduate Research Traineeships program. This experimental effort reflects a shift from the diffuse support of graduate education through research grants to more focused and flexible approaches - as was recommended in recent reports by the National Science Board and the National Academy of Sciences.

NSF also remains a participant in the interagency Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) initiative.

Systemic Reform. NSF's systemic reform activities are well-established at the K-12 level, where they will remain a high priority with support approaching $160 million. FY 1998 will see the development of focused systemic reform efforts at the undergraduate and graduate levels that will involve all parts of the Foundation. Experimental activities in FY 1996 and FY 1997 - such as the Institution-wide Reform of Undergraduate Education and the Recognition Awards for the Integration of Research and Education - have set the stage for an enhanced effort.

Challenges to Learning. Just as the information age creates challenges and opportunities for the research component of science and engineering, it creates challenges and opportunities for learning. Formal education systems have changed little while the workplace and other aspects of life have been transformed and redesigned. In conjunction with the KDI effort described above, NSF will explore how individuals and groups of individuals learn, both inside and outside formal education systems, as well as how technology might be used to change the patterns of traditional education.

EPSCoR. EPSCoR (the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) is a Foundation-wide investment pursued in cooperation with state governments that helps to broaden U.S. capabilities in science, engineering, and technology. In FY 1998, NSF funding for EPSCoR totals more than $38 million. Improved linkages between EPSCoR and other NSF-supported research and education activities is expected to result in an additional $8-10 million directed to research in EPSCoR states. This funding is intended to enable researchers and educators supported through EPSCoR to participate more fully in other Foundation-wide activities.

Return to the Overview Highlights Section

Next Section: Facility Investments