NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

June 3, 1998

                FEDERAL OBLIGATIONS FOR ACADEMIC
             SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DECLINE IN 1996

   In 1996, federal obligations for academic science and
engineering (S&E) revealed a yearly decline for only the fourth
time since 1963, the year NSF first
began surveying this form of government investment in S&E.  The
information is based on the most recent data from NSF's annual
Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to
Universities, Colleges and Nonprofit Institutions, summarized in
a new Data Brief by NSF's Division of Science Resources Studies.
   The government's overall $14.3 billion dollars obligated for
fiscal 1996 in academic S&E activities was $23 million lower than
the previous year, a decline of two-tenths of one percent.
Adjusted for inflation, the 1996 obligations were two percent
lower than in 1995.
   Of the six major categories in federal obligations toward
academic science and engineering, only two increased for 1996 in
current dollars, a modest 1.3 percent in research and
development, and just over one percent in "other S&E," which
includes a range of miscellaneous activities.
   The survey data was compiled from 18 federal agencies that
provide nearly all of the academic S&E support to universities,
colleges and nonprofit institutions.  [Bill Noxon]
   For the entire data brief, see:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/db.htm