SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES (SBE)at the National Science Foundation

Judy SunleyDeputy Assistant Director, SBE

Standing Committee for the Social Sciences16 April 2010

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NSF in a Nutshell• Independent federal agency created by

Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…"

• Annual budget of about $6.9 billion – funds approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities

• Most of the funds go to peer reviewed grants to individuals or small groups of investigators -- currently about 10,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years

• NSF also provides funding for research centers, instruments, surveys, and facilities

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NSF OrganizationNSF LEADERSHIP: Director / Deputy Director – National

Science BoardSEVEN RESEARCH DIRECTORATES:

Biological SciencesComputer and Information Science and EngineeringEngineeringGeosciencesMathematics and Physical SciencesSocial, Behavioral and Economic SciencesEducation and Human Resources

FOUR OFFICES:Office of Polar ProgramsOffice of Integrative Activities Office of International Science and EngineeringOffice of Cyberinfrastructure

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SBE in a Nutshell

• Assistant Director: Myron Gutmann• Annual budget of $255 million• Funds approximately 58% of federally funded basic

research in SBE fields in academic institutions• Most of the funds go to peer-reviewed grants to

individuals and small groups – approximately 4800 proposals and 1200 awards in a typical year, including dissertation improvement grants

• Also provide funding to major surveys; collect data on the science and engineering enterprise

• SBE Advisory Committee made up of external researchers

• Programs reviewed every three years by an external Committee of Visitors

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NSF SBE: Who We Are

• Two Research-Oriented Divisions• Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences• Social and Economic Sciences

• Science Resources Statistics• SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities

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BCS Programs• Archaeology & Archaeometry• Cognitive Neuroscience • Cultural Anthropology• Developmental & Learning Sciences• Documenting Endangered Languages • Geography & Spatial Sciences• Linguistics• Perception, Action, & Cognition• Physical Anthropology • HOMINID• Social Psychology .

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SES Programs

• Decision, Risk, & Management Sciences• Economics• Innovation and Organizational Sciences • Law and Social Science • Methodology, Measurement & Statistics• Political Science • Science, Technology and Society• Sociology

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Science Resources Statistics•Serves as the nation's primary source of data

and analysis on the science and engineering enterprise

•Designs, supports, and directs about 11 periodic surveys as well as a variety of other data collections and research projects; each year SRS produces about 30 publications

•Publications include congressionally mandated▫Science and Engineering Indicators▫Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in

Science and Engineering

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SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities•Science of Science and Innovation Policy•Science of Learning Centers•Research Experiences for

Undergraduates•Minority Postdoctoral Fellowships•Catalyst funding for interdisciplinary

work

Science of Science & Innovation Policy

• Supports research designed to advance the scientific basis of science and innovation policy

• Develops, improves and expands models, analytical tools, data and metrics that can be applied in the science policy decision making process

• Contributes to interagency efforts to develop a new area of social science research.

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Science of Learning Centers•Currently have 6 large-scale, long-term

centers that create infrastructure needed to advance Science of Learning research

•Program is very broadly conceived, includes learning in humans, animals, and machines

•Key elements▫ Developing network of centers▫ Cross-center student organization▫ Evaluation

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SBE Office of the Assistant DirectorCoordinating SBE’s participation in NSF-wide and crosscutting activities, including:• Cyber-based activities• Sustainability (Environment, Climate Change, Energy)• Human and social dimensions of nanoscale technology• Learning Systems• Workforce development activities• International partnering

Work in the interagency environment• SBE Sciences in the Federal Arena• Science of Science Policy

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Cyber-based activities•Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation

▫Complex systems; data-intensive science; virtual organizations

•Cyberinfrastructure▫DataNet▫PetaScale Applications▫Virtual Organizations

•Computer and Information Science▫Creative IT▫Social and Computing Systems

Sustainability

•Climate Research Investment▫Water▫Climate Modeling

•SBE-based▫Decision Making Under Uncertainty▫Coupled Natural and Human Systems▫Urban Long-term Ecological Research

Areas▫Environment, Society, and Economics

STAR METRICS• Interagency partnership to develop metrics related to

outcomes of science and technology investments.▫ Leadership from OSTP, NIH, NSF

• Bring together as partners▫ Agencies▫ Universities▫ Researchers in the science of science and innovation

policy• Make use of

▫ Administrative data from the agencies and universities▫ Data enclave available to all partners▫ Public datasets on publications, patents, etc.▫ New mechanisms for describing and assessing

investment portfolios

Suggestions for European Partnering• Set up a science of science policy working group

in Europe – counterpart to the interagency working group in the US.

• Create a research program comparable to the Science of Science and Innovation Policy program at NSF.

• Collaborate on an infrastructure similar to that of the STAR METRICS program

• Contribute to mechanisms for developing unique researcher ids

Contact Information

•Judy Sunley, Deputy AD, SBE•jsunley@nsf.gov•703-292-4561

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