Federal agencies that support the chemical sciences see boosts across the board.

Each year, the U.S. Congress goes through the task of modifying and voting on 13 complex appropriations bills, based on the budget put together by the president’s administration, that provide much of the funding for the basic operation of the country. For fiscal year (FY) 2002 (which began on October 1), these bills account for about $686 billion. More than $99 billion of the pot goes to support federally funded R&D programs, including those in the chemical sciences.

FIGURE 1: Federal agencies’ share of support for chemistry research* in the FY 1999 budget Total, all agencies: $814,936,000 * Includes basic and applied research, but not development. Source: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 1999, 2000, and 2001; www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf01328/ htmstart.htm.

Approximately three-quarters of federally funded chemistry R&D is financed through the Department of Energy (DOE), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Defense (DOD). Much of the rest of chemical science support comes from the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Figure 1 shows the different agencies’ share of chemical research support in FY 1999, the most recent breakdown available. R&D funding for most of these agencies (except NIH, NASA, and DOD) was scheduled for reduction from 2001 levels under the Bush administration’s budget plan for 2002, a move that would likely have led to a decline in support for research in the chemical sciences. However, because of a range of factors, including political differences and changes in priorities after September 11, 2001, all of the federal agencies mentioned have received at least moderate boosts in R&D funding, with the most significant gains going to NIH (up 15.8%) and DOD (up 17.3%).

Taking a closer look at the three biggest chemistry contributors from the government assures one further that publicly funded chemists, generally, will see improvements in 2002. Within the NIH, much of the basic chemistry is supported through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Center for Research Resources, which received 12% and 23.8% increases from 2001, respectively. In the NSF, the Mathematical and Physical Sciences research division got an 8.4% raise, bettering the NSF overall increase of 7.6%. And the Science division of the DOE, another important chemistry-funding arm, showed a 2.1% upsurge (see figure 2).

Obviously, these numbers don’t tell the whole story, particularly of how various subsets of chemical research will be affected, but overall, things are looking up.