• The role of technological innovation in the apparent resurgence in American industrial performance during the 1990s though this is no better understood or quantified than the apparent decline in American industrial performance during the 1970s and 1980s.

• Changing patterns of federal research and development spending following the end of the Cold War characterized by decreases in defense R&D and an acceleration of the long-term growth of federal spending on biomedical research.

• A difficult job market for many new science Ph.D.s in some fields in the early 1990s, characterized by increased numbers of recent Ph.D.s in postdoctoral positions and increased numbers of others working outside of their fields.

• Substantial increases in the number of Ph.D.s awarded in the United States since the mid-1980s, due largely to increases in the number of non-U.S. citizens earning Ph.D.s from U.S. institutions.

• An increase in the percentage of Ph.D.s in science and engineering holding positions outside of educational institutions, with more than half of Ph.D.s so employed for the first time in 1991.

• Trends suggesting an increasing number of intra- and inter-sectoral alliances in research and development.

• Anecdotal information suggesting that an increasing percentage of research, especially ''cutting-edge" research, is inter- or multidisciplinary in nature.

• The emergence of new fields, such as biotechnology and information technology, that have changed our perceptions of the way scientific research is conducted and translated into practical innovations.

• The emergence of a global economy and the globalization of the science and engineering enterprise.

In light of these and other developments and their potential for raising important policy issues, SRS asked the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake a review of the SRS portfolio of data collection, acquisition, and analysis activities and to assist SRS in revising these activities to meet the information needs of policymakers, managers, educators, and researchers. The scope of this study was developed through discussions among SRS, the NRC's Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, and the NRC's Committee on National Statistics.

The Committee to Assess the Portfolio of the Science Resources Studies Division of NSF was charged with identifying gaps in NSF surveys and providing prioritized recommendations for addressing those data and information gaps. Potential means for filling these gaps could include recommending new questions for existing surveys, advocating the development of new surveys, suggesting ways for SRS to combine its data with those from other sources in creative ways, and proposing new approaches to data analysis that would benefit those who need these data and information. Other ways to address such gaps include in-depth study of emerging issues to better understand these phenomena and the data about them that would be useful to collect in the future. The committee was also charged with looking for SRS activities that are obsolete and could be discontinued.

The committee convened for this study included experts in a range of fields. The committee members brought expertise in R&D economics, labor economics, graduate education, statistics, and survey methods. They also brought experience in federal