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NSF Funding Profile

The Number of Requests for Funding is a count of all proposals and requests for additional funding on continuing awards. Additional funding on continuing awards is contingent upon availability of funds and whether the results achieved are determined to warrant further support. Dollars Requested includes all dollars associated with the requests for funding.

Total Number of Awards is a count of the awards funded in the fiscal year. It includes both new awards and the second and subsequent years of a continuing award.

Approximately half of the awards that are supported in a particular fiscal year are competitively reviewed in that year through NSF's merit review process. The other awards are continuations of projects that were competitively reviewed in a prior year. The funding rate is the number of competitive awards made during a year as a percentage of total proposals competitively reviewed. It indicates the probability of winning an award when submitting proposals to NSF.

The annualized award size displays the annual level of research grants provided to awardees by dividing the total dollars of each award by the number of years over which it extends. Both the average and the median annualized award size for competitively reviewed awards are shown.

Average duration is the length of the award in years. The duration calculation is limited to research projects and excludes other categories of awards which fund infrastructure-type activities such as equipment and conference awards, which do not require multi-year support.

The Quantitative Data Tables, provided under a separate tab, are based on all proposals and awards, including competitive awards, contracts, cooperative agreements, supplements and amendments to existing grants and contracts.

NSF FUNDING PROFILE

   

FY 2001
Actual

FY 2002
Estimate

FY 2003
Estimate

Number of Requests for Funding 1

43,515

44,550

45,900

Dollars Requested (in millions) 1

$28,784

$28,910

$30,000

Total Number of Awards

20,923

21,590

22,050

Statistics for Competitive Awards

Number

9,925

10,430

10,630

Funding Rate

31%

32%

32%

Statistics for Research Grants  

Number of Research Grants

6,220

6,390

6,580

Median Annualized Award Size

$84,612

$86,000

$87,400

Average Annualized Award Size

$113,601

$113,000

$125,000

Average Duration (yrs.)

2.9

3.0

3.0

1FY 2002 and FY 2003 data do not include requests for funding for H-1B scholarship activity.

 
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National Science Foundation Summary of FY 2003 Budget Request to Congress NSF Logo