THE MAA WASHINGTON REPORT
The MAA has retained Lewis-Burke Associates as its Washington representative. From time to time, edited versions of the reports sent to MAA by Lewis-Burke will be posted on this site.
December 2, 2004: Lower NSF Budget Finalized for FY2005
September 16, 2004: New NSF Director Nominated
July 26, 2004: Status Report on Federal Research and Educational Issues
July 23, 2004: CNSF Responds to Budget Cut Proposal
July 21, 2004: Budget cuts proposed for NSF and NASA
May 28, 2004: Federal FY2006 budget may include NSF and NIH cuts.
April 8, 2004: American Institute of Physics opposes transfer of Math and Science Partnership program from NSF.
April 2, 2004: Chronicle reports minimal budget growth expected at NSF
March 23, 2004: Science Policy Committee meets with Congressional Staffers
March 11, 2004: Congress considers futher cuts in FY2005 budget.
February 12, 2004: NSF Director Colwell Resigns
February 10, 2004:
LBA Synopsis of the Mathematical Impact of President
Bush's FY2005 Budget Proposal
February 4, 2004:
LBA Summary of President Bush's FY2005 Budget Proposal
February 3, 2004: FY 2004 Budget Process Completed: NSF and Education
Department Budgets Rise
January 16, 2004:
FY04, FY05 Budgets and Possible Shift of Mathematics Partnership Program
HOW TO TRACK THE PROGRESS OF LEGISLATION
The American Association for the Advancement of Scence (AAAS) maintains a website where you can track the progress of various authorization and appropriation bills. See http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/approp04.htm
The Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), to which MAA belongs, publishes periodic summaries of federal research allocations and proposals, and the reports are available at http://www.cnsfweb.org.
Another useful tool in following the progress of proposed legislation can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov where you can search for a bill by its reference number or by key words.
SPECIAL PROGRESS NOTES
March, 2004: An AAUP Committee has published a report on academic freedom issues associated with the USA Patriot Act.
2003: MAA is a co-signer with other professional societies of a letter that supports significant increases in the NSF budget. The text of the letter is available here
December 2002: National Science Board Recommends NSF Budget Emphasize S&E Infrastructure
November 2002: An NSF reauthorization bill has passed and would, if implemented by subsequent appropriation bills over the next several years, significantly increase the NSF budget.
September 2002: Senate commitee Press release on the bipartisan "Technology Talent Act."
NSF Beat is a column by Sharon Cutler Ross on NSF funding and new programs.
The CBMS2000 report on undergraduate programs in the mathematical sciences is now available at http://www.ams.org/cbms/. The report presents longitudinal data on mathematical sciences enrollments, majors, curriculum, and faculty. In addition, the CBMS2000 report studies the spread of calculus reform, distance learning, dual enrollments, the mathematical education of pre-service K-8 teachers, and the educational background of faculty teaching undergraduate statistics. Mathematics departments in two- and four-year colleges and universities will receive copies of the report, and individuals may purchase hard copies from the American Mathematical Society, or may down-load the report from the web site above.
ENROLLMENTS: Upper division undergraduate
enrollments and bachelors degrees awarded have declined. These phenomena
continue the pattern of decline over more than a decade. Lower division
mathematics enrollment have increased.
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT in mathematics has also
declined along with decline in upper division enrollments and degrees, in terms
of tenure and tenure-track positions. Employment of temporary, part-time, and
full time non-tenure track employment in mathematics has increased.
DISPARITY in the scope and range of programs
for majors in mathematics between bachelors-only and doctoral granting programs
that has always existed, may be growing to the point where a two separate but
unequal systems for undergraduate mathematics education may be developing.
[Source: Preliminary Report of CBMS2000 Survey,
The Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences
has just completed a report titled the Mathematical Education of Teachers. This
report is designed as a resource for mathematics faculty in colleges and
universities involved in education of elementary and secondary teachers of
mathematics.
A pending bill would replace the Department of Education's research arm
with a separate academy for educational research, would create
federal standards for federally sponsored educational research and would
do away with the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics Consortia and Eisenhower
Clearinghouses.
Further details of the proposal are available from
http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=34oeri.h21
Congress Passes Bill to Overhaul Federal Education Research:
Congress has approved legislation that replaces the Department of
Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement with a
more independent Institute of Education Sciences.
The new institute will attempt to shake out the most effective
teaching methods through scientifically sound studies.
"Without sound science to back the claims of increased academic
achievement, schools are often disappointed," said Representative
Michael Castle (R-Delaware), who sponsored the legislation.
The institute will be overseen by a new National Board for Education
Sciences. The members of the board, as well as the institute's
director, will be appointed by the president.
The institute's findings will be compiled and distributed to
educators and policy makers by a Knowledge Utilization Office.
The American Educational Research Association praised the
legislation, saying it provides political independence for the
institute and "improves prospects for developing a culture of
research that has been lacking" in education studies.
Abstract from the NASSMC Briefing Service (NBS) that is supported by
the National Security Agency (NSA) and ExxonMobil Foundation,
Saturday, October 26, 2002. Full article is in the Chronicle of
Higher Education (Daily News), October 21, 2002.
"Having
a science policy at all implies that we have a systematic way of ordering the
opportunities so finite resources can be invested to best effect." -- John
Marburger
John Marburger, Director, OSTP and Science Advisor
to the President sets forth the policy position behind the priorities expressed
in the budget document.
William Kirwan President of the Ohio State
University, sets forth a perspective -- relating particularly to mathematics -
on how the current social context impacts on the profession and sets forth an
action agenda in response.
Committee on the Profession
Resolution on Regularity in Offering Dual
Enrollment Mathematics Courses,
May 29, 2002
Committee on the Profession Resolution on
Departmental Staffing,
May 29, 2002
On behalf of the MAA Committee on Science Policy and The Committee on the Profession, the Content Editor of the MAA Science Policy page is Ken Millett of University of California, Santa Barbara while the Web Editor is Sarah J. Greenwald of Appalachian State University. Please send comments, suggestions, or corrections about this page to millett@math.ucsb.edu