NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This study was supported by Contract No. SRS-9802651 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
Committee to Assess the Portfolio Of the Science Resources Studies Division of NSF
Janice Madden,
University of Pennsylvania
(Chair)
Paul Biemer,
Research Triangle Institute
Bronwyn Hall,
University of California, Berkeley and Oxford University
T. R. Lakshmanan,
Boston University
Eduardo Macagno,
Columbia University
Robert H. McGuckin,
The Conference Board
John McTague,
Ford Motor Company (retired)
David Mowery,
University of California, Berkeley
Julie Norris,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paula Stephan,
Georgia State University
Staff
Peter H. Henderson, Study Director,
Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
Constance F. Citro, Senior Program Officer,
Committee on National Statistics
Margaret Boone, Consultant
Martha Bohman, Administrative Assistant,
Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
Edvin Hernandez, Administrative Assistant,
Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
Margaret Petrochenkov, Publications Specialist,
Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
1998-1999 Advisory Committee
M. R. C. Greenwood,
University of California, Santa Cruz
(Chair)
John D. Wiley,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
(Vice Chair)
Ronald G. Ehrenberg,
Cornell University
Carlos Gutierrez,
California State University
Stephen J. Lukasik, Independent Consultant
William H. Miller,
University of California, Berkeley
(ex officio)
Claudia Mitchell-Kernan,
University of California, Los Angeles
Edward Penhoet,
University of California, Berkeley
Tadataka Yamada,
SmithKline Beecham Corporation
A. Thomas Young,
Lockheed Martin Corporation (retired)
Charlotte Kuh, Executive Director
Marilyn Baker, Associate Executive Director
Committee on National Statistics
1998-1999
John E. Rolph,
University of Southern California
(Chair)
Joseph Altonji,
Northwestern University.
Julie Davanzo,
The RAND Corporation
William Eddy,
Carnegie Mellon University
William D. Kalsbeek,
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Roderick Little,
University of Michigan
Thomas A. Louis,
University of Minnesota
Charles F. Manski,
Northwestern University
William Nordhaus,
Yale University
Janet Norwood,
the Urban Institute
Edward B. Perrin,
University of Washington
Paul Rosenbaum,
University of Pennsylvania
Franscisco Samaniego,
University of California, Davis
Richard Schmalensee,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Andrew A. White, Acting Director
Acknowledgements
This report has benefited from input from various individuals. The committee thanks Bennett I. Bertenthal, former NSF Assistant Director for the Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, for sharing his insights with the committee and providing support for this study. The committee acknowledges division and program managers in the Division of Science Resources Studies who made presentations to the committee: Jeanne E. Griffith, former Director; Alan R. Tupek, former Deputy Director; Ronald S. Fecso, Chief Mathematical Statistician; Jennifer S. Bond, Director, Science and Engineering Indicators Program; Mary J. Golladay, Director, Human Resources Statistics Program; John E. Jankowski, Director, Research and Development Statistics Program; and Rolf F. Lehming, Director, Integrated Studies Program. The committee also acknowledges SRS staff who participated in focus groups for this study: Carolyn B. Arena, Richard J. Bennof, Joan S. Burrelli, Mary V. Burke, Lawrence Burton, Joanne P. Carr, Deborah A. Collins, Eileen Collins, John R. Gawalt, Tanya R. Gore, Julia Harriston, Jennifer R. Held, Susan T. Hill, Anne M. Houghton, Theodosia L. Jacobs, Jean M. Johnson, Kelly H. Kang, Ann T. Lanier, Mary M. Machen, Ronald L. Meeks, Richard E. Morrison, Melissa F. Pollak, Alan I. Rapoport, Lawrence M. Rausch, Mark C. Regets, Steven Payson, R. Keith Wilkinson, and Raymond M. Wolfe.
The committee also acknowledges those who made presentations at the workshop or made themselves available for interviews: James Adams, University of Florida; Thomas Arrison, National Research Council; John Auerbach, Council on Competitiveness; Wendy Baldwin, National Institutes of Health; Arthur Bienenstock, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; John Birge, University of Michigan; William Blanpied, National Science Foundation; Erich Bloch, Council on Competitiveness; William Boesman, Congressional Research Service; Joseph Bordogna, National Science Foundation; John Boright, National Research Council; Lewis Branscomb, Harvard University; Marta Cehelsky, National Science Board; Jasemine Chambers, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Elinor Champion, U.S. Bureau of the Census; Joseph Cark, American Chemical Society; Mary Clutter, National Science Foundation; Linda Cohen, University of California, Irvine; Robert W. Correll, National Science Foundation; Brenda Cox, Mathematica Policy Research; Robert Dauffenbach, University of Oklahoma; Denice Denton, University of Washington; Paul Doremus, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Steve Eule, Committee on Science, U.S. House of Representatives; Irwin Feller, Pennsylvania State University; Michael Finn, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education; Clifford Gabriel, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Catherine Gaddy, Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology; Howard Garrison, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology; Fred Gault, Statistics Canada; Gerald Hane, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Sarah Horrigan, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Susanne Huttner, University of California System; Adam Jaffe, Brandeis University; Ronald Jarmin, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Bureau of the Census; Joseph Jasinski, IBM Research; Gretchen Jordan, Sandia National Laboratories; Thomas Kalil, National Economic Council, Executive Office of the President; Philip Kiko, Committee on Science, U.S. House of Representatives; Kei Koizumi, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Stephen J. Lukasik, Independent Consultant; Pete Maggiore, State of New Mexico; Shirley Malcom, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Daniel Malkin, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Dominique Martin-Rovet, Embassy of France; Bernard McDonald, National Science Foundation; Ray Merenstein, Research! America; Susan Mitchell, Mathematica Policy Research; Duncan Moore, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Julia Moore, National Science Foundation; Stephen Nelson, American Association for the Advancement of
Science; Janet Norwood, The Urban Institute; Sumiye Okubo, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce; Linda Parker, National Science Foundation; David Radzanowski, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; J. Thomas Ratchford, George Mason University; Proctor Reid, National Academy of Engineering; Sherwin Rosen, University of Chicago; Michael Seiverts, National Science Foundation; Leslie B. Sims, University of Iowa; Deborah Stine, National Academy of Sciences; Michael Teitelbaum, Sloan Foundation; Charles Vest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; James Voytuk, National Research Council; Katherine Wallman, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Daniel Werfel, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; James D. Wilson, Committee on Science, U.S. House of Representatives; and Patrick Windham, R. Wayne Sayers and Associates. The committee also wishes to thank the Council of Graduate Schools for its help in organizing two sessions at its summer workshop for graduate deans in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1998 where this study was also discussed.
This report has been reviewed by persons chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's Report Review Committee. The purposes of this independent review are to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the study committee in making its report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards of objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following for their participation in the review of this report: Richard Attiyeh, University of California, San Diego; Daniel Berg, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Julie Da Vanzo, the RAND Corporation; William F. Eddy, Carnegie-Mellon University; Michael Finn, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Technology; Christopher Hill, George Mason University; C. Dan Mote, University of Maryland, College Park; and the report review coordinator, A. Thomas Young. Although those persons have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, responsibility for the final content of this report rests solely with the study committee.
The project and production of the report was aided by the invaluable help of National Research Council professional staff, principally Peter Henderson, study director, Education and Career Studies Unit, Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, and Constance Citro, senior program officer, Committee on National Statistics. Peter devoted countless hours to organizing the wide ranging ideas of the committee into a coherent structure and to crafting prose that appropriately transmitted the nuances of complex committee discussions. His patience and energy were critical to the creation of a committee consensus. Margaret Boone of Policy Research Methods, Inc., Thomas Arrison of the NRC's Policy Division, and Dr. Citro conducted interviews and focus groups for this study. Edvin Hernandez ably organized meetings of the study committee. Martha Bohman provided administrative support for the study.
The committee also wishes to express its thanks to Charlotte Kuh, executive director of OSEP, and Marilyn Baker, associate executive director of OSEP, for their valuable insights on the issues the study addresses.
Janice Madden
Chair
Committee to Assess the Portfolio of the Science Resources Studies Division of NSF
List of Tables
2-1 |
Fiscal 1999 (estimated) and 2000 (requested) Budgets for Major Federal Statistical Agencies (millions of dollars) |
|||
3-1 |
Biological Science Fine Field Categories in the 1997 Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), the 1997 Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSPSE), and the 1997 National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) |
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3-2 |
Time Elapse for SRS Surveys between Reference Month and Data Release Month (data displayed by calendar year of reference month) |
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4-1 |
Full-Time Graduate Students in Science and Engineering Fields, by Mechanism and Source of Financial Support, 1997 |
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4-2 |
Employed Doctoral Scientists and Engineers by Sector of Employment, 1987-1995 |
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5-1 |
Federal Obligations to Universities and Colleges for Research Compared to Federally-Funded Research and Development Expenditures, by Field, 1993 and 1997 |
List of Figures
2-1 |
Organization of the Division of Science Resources Studies |
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3-1 |
Survey Reference Data and Data Release Date for the 1995 and 1997 Cycles of the Survey of Doctorate Recipients |
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5-1 |
Distribution of Combined Industry and Federal Agency Spending on Research and Development across R&D Categories, 1975-1997 |
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5-2 |
Percentage of Total Industrial R&D Performed by Manufacturing and Service Firms, 1973-1994. |
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5-3 |
Federally-Funded R&D for National Defense and Civilian Functions, Fiscal Years 1955-2000 (millions of constant 1992 dollars) |
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5-4 |
Federal Civilian Research and Development Funds, by Budget Function, Fiscal Years 1961-1998 (millions of constant 1992 dollars) |
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5-5 |
SRS Data on Federal Obligations to Universities and Colleges for Research Compared to SRS Data on Federally-Funded Academic Research and Development Expenditures, 1971-1997 |
List of Boxes
2-1 |
Principal Surveys in the SRS Human Resources Statistics Program |
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2-2 |
Definitions of Research and Development |
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2-3 |
Principal Surveys in the SRS Research and Development Statistics Program |
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2-4 |
SRS Issue Briefs Published in Fiscal Year 1999 (through May 1999) |
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2-5 |
National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators—1998, Contents |
|||
D-1 |
Illustrative Approximate Sample Sizes for Estimates of Scientists and Engineers: NSF SESTAT, March CPS, ACS |
Abbreviations in the Report
AEA
American Economics Association
AAAS
American Association for the Advancement of Science
AGS
Association of Graduate Schools
AAU
Association of American Universities
BLS
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
CATI
Computer-assisted telephone interviewing
CGS
Council of Graduate Schools
CNSTAT
NRC Committee on National Statistics
COSEPUP
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy
CPST
Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology
CRADA
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
CRS
Congressional Research Service
DARPA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DOD
U.S. Department of Defense
DOE
U.S. Department of Energy
DDP
Doctorate Data Project
ETS
Educational Testing Service
FFRDCs
Federally funded research and development centers
FS&T
Federal science and technology (budget)
FTE
Full-time equivalent
GRE
Graduate Record Examination
GSPSE
Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering
HRS
Human Resources Statistics
IPEDS
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
IT
Information Technology
NAS
National Academy of Sciences
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NCES
National Center for Education Statistics
NCRA
National Cooperative Research Act of 1994
NEC.
Not elsewhere classified
NEH
National Endowment for the Humanities
NIH
National Institutes of Health
NRC
National Research Council
NRSEP
National Register of Scientific and Engineering Personnel
NSCG
National Survey of College Graduates
NSCRG
National Survey of Recent College Graduates
NSB
National Science Board
NSF
National Science Foundation
OMB
U.S. Office of Management and Budget
OSTP
U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy
PI
Principal Investigator
PRA
NSF Division of Policy Research and Analysis
R&D
Research and Development
RD-1
Survey of Industrial Research and Development
RDS
Research and Development Statistics
RJV
Research Joint Venture
S&E
Science and Engineering
SBE
Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
SED
Survey of Earned Doctorates
SESTAT
Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System
SDR
Survey of Doctorate Recipients
SRS
Division of Science Resources Studies
STEP
NRC Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy
STPDS
Scientific and Technical Personnel Data System
WebCASPAR
Web-based Computer-Assisted Science Policy Analysis and Research System