France Córdova, director of the National Science Foundation, unveiled 9 big, broad ideas that will guide the agency’s research agenda for the next few decades. For Dr. Córdova, this election year is a key moment for NSF to engage in the national dialogue on the critical issues, challenges and problems facing the U.S. “This comes at a time of transition,” Dr. Córdova stated while speaking to the National Science Board, NSF’s oversight body, on May 6, 2016. “So that makes it a great opportunity for NSF to present a menu of the things it can do.”
The nine big ideas illustrate the next steps the type of basic research NSF funds can take if support is increased, whether by the federal government, industry, or foundations. Below is a list of the big ideas, six of which are research-related and the final three are process-related:
RESEARCH
- Harnessing data for 21st century science and engineering
- Shaping the human-technology frontier
- Understanding the rules of life (i.e., predicting phenotypes from genotypes)
- The next quantum revolution (physics)
- Navigating the new Arctic (including a fixed and mobile observing network)
- Windows on the universe (multimessenger astrophysics)
PROCESS
- More convergent research
- Support for mid-scale infrastructure (costing tens of millions dollars)
- NSF 2050 (i.e., a common fund to seed large, ambitious projects)
Dr. Cordova stated that research scientists will play a huge role in showing the nation’s new leaders the importance of supporting NSF’s vision. “We want people to think about what’s missing, and how they would fill those gaps,” she says. She encourages scientists to submit highly ambitious proposals and proposals that don’t easily fit within existing categories.
Click here to read the Science article about NSF’s long-term vision
