NSF receives $3 billion in stimulus package funds

Arden Bement Jr., director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), has received a $3 billion fillip as part of President Obama’s stimulus package. This additional money, together with a promise made by President Bush, and supported by President Obama, to double the NSF budget over ten years, makes Bement a powerful individual in U.S. science decision making. New Scientist editor Jeremy Webb asked him about the stimulus package and how life has changed under the Obama presidency. Here are the first three questions and answers:

As far as your work goes, what are the differences between the Bush and Obama administrations?

Pace and intensity. The Obama administration understands the role of science in dealing with national problems. It’s built into their priorities and the people they have appointed to get the agenda moving.

You have just received a huge amount of money to help get the US economy going. But basic research takes years to turn into products. How is that one-off sum going to help the economy?

The graduate students and post docs that we will fund need to avail themselves of services, whether it’s food, transportation or medical services. They spend the money they get from us. That money will be passed around the local economy creating fluidity, which is what the economy needs. That’s short term.

Long term, there is a recurring return as these people use the knowledge they have acquired during their research. Education keeps paying us back and these people will help us to move out of recession.

How are you going to use all that money?

We haven’t had the money in the past to fund all our good research proposals. This gives us a one-time opportunity to clear the backlog.