National Science Board meets in Houston, tackles policy issues

Abstract

The National Science Board (NSB), the governing body of the National Science Foundation, held its first off-site meeting in Houston just over a week ago. The board, which usually meets at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Va., intends to hold at least one meeting a year at another location. The meetings, which will focus on important national science policy topics, are a way of getting input from communities outside the Washington area. In Houston, NSB looked at two topics—a working paper on priorities in government funding of scientific research, and graduate and postgraduate education. The brief working paper finally has been accepted by the group and, after minor editing, probably will be sent to White House science adviser John H. Gibbons for comment. By its next meeting in mid-November, NSB expects to be able to decide about making it public. However, NSB, which has been working on the document for about one and a half years, ...