NSF Cuts Back On Faltering Science, Technology Centers

The agency's plans to fund up to 80 facilities at universities now seem doomed by harsh criticism and funding shortages WASHINGTON -- The National Science Foundation has decided to give its controversial science and technology centers program a rest -- a move that may please longtime critics of the program but disappoint those scientists who had hoped to land centers on their own campuses. A cornerstone of the effort by former NSF director Erich Bloch to safeguard U.S. scientific eminence and

Jeffrey Mervis

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A cornerstone of the effort by former NSF director Erich Bloch to safeguard U.S. scientific eminence and at the same time shore up the country's high-tech economy, the program is now limping through a delayed second round of awards. NSF of officials have no plans right now for a third round, and there is not expected to be any money for new science and technology centers (STCs) in the 1992 budget being proposed this week by President Bush. In fact, the centers, once one of the most popular programs of the foundation, are now, according to foundation spokesman Alan Levitt, "a matter of mostly local interest."

Bloch introduced the concept of science and technology centers in January ( 1987 as a network of up to 80 university-based, interdisciplinary centers that would unleash the creative talents of thousands of scientists. Although NSF was to provide the bulk of the funding, states ...

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