NSB report's ambiguity and a lack of consensus on implementation hamper foundation's strategic planning
In the face of congressional pressures and a climate of unease among university-based researchers, the National Science Foundation and its oversight body, the National Science Board, are wrestling to develop a plan for implementing policy recommendations set forth in a report by a special NSB commission on the agency's future.

Their efforts are being complicated by lack of consensus about how to interpret the commission's findings in areas such as the relationship of basic and applied science, grant allocations, science education, and NSF's role in developing a national science and technology policy. There has also been disagreement between NSB and NSF director Walter E. Massey over the role the science board should play in shaping specific agency policy initiatives.

Following are excerpts from the report, "A Foundation for the 21st Century: A Progressive Framework for the...

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