engineering, and many parts of computer science remain closely linked with mathematics. Consistent and dramatic increases in computing power have encouraged mathematicians to tackle long-standing problems, formulate and solve new problems, devise new numerical methods, and produce software. Graduate programs that combine mathematics with various scientific fields have been initiated. Thus, the growing roles of mathematics in science, engineering, and medicine are formally recognized and encouraged in many places, as discussed in section 3.2.1. The emerging role of mathematics in business, finance, and modern management has also been spawned by new mathematical methods and greater computer power.
4.4. Adequate Funding
The three factors already mentioned explicitly rely on sustained funding for mathematical research, which comes from various sources, both public and private. Funding for individual faculty members gives them time to concentrate on research, and it supports graduate students; funding for conferences, workshops, summer schools, and other infrastructure facilitates interactions that are central to a thriving mathematical research community. These have greatly increased the exchange of information through personal discussion in mathematical research over the last two decades.
The predominant element in funding of United States mathematics research has been the strong commitment to intellectual excellence by private and public universities. To preserve and build research quality, universities have been willing to expend financial resources to hire and support the world's best mathematicians, as noted above in the discussion of the diversity of US mathematical research. That has occurred since World War II. Before then, mathematics professors were expected to focus on teaching, and research was considered an attractive sideline except at a few elite institutions, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Berkeley. Today, many institutions still focus on teaching, but almost 50 focus on research as well.
The second-most important element is support by the federal government. Federal funding for mathematics began during World War II when the United States Office of Scientific Research and Development recruited mathematicians and other scientists to work on applied problems of military significance. Soon after the war, the US government established the Office of Naval Research, the NSF, and other agencies to support scientific research. At the same time, existing government research laboratories were enlarged, and new ones were created. Today, the leading agencies supporting basic research in mathematics are NSF, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the National Security Agency. In the decentralized American system, federal funds have played a vital role in promoting communication and enabling institutions to maintain world-class research by individual faculty and small research groups.
In addition, faculty at state universities receive research funding from the states, and some private universities offer extra research support for faculty who do not receive federal funding. Several private foundations—such as Sloan, Guggenheim, Ford, and Packard—offer awards for junior faculty, senior-faculty sabbaticals, and special projects.
