FRONT COVER

Support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been the backbone of America's science and engineering research enterprise for more than fifty years. In fact, NSF is the only federal agency that supports all fields of fundamental science and engineering research and education. NSF-supported research has underpinned multitudinous discoveries--the Internet, Web browsers, Doppler radar, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, DNA fingerprinting, and bar codes--to name a few. These diverse examples underscore NSF's significant contributions to American innovation, and illustrate the agency's critical role in the President's American Competitiveness Initiative.

Executive Summary [Next]