Clinton's economic stimulus bill finally passed, but without supplemental funding for NSF or NIST. NIST still stands to do well in FY'94. The President is asking for $535M, a 39% increase over the current year. The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is the biggest winner at $200M, a 200% increase -- over 100 new grants could be awarded. NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) is to get $30M, a $12M increase. NIST's own research labs in Maryland and Colorado are to get $241M, up $48M. Clinton envisions a continued high rate of growth over the next four years, with NIST reaching almost $1.4B in FY'97. [Audrey T. Leath, (202) 332-9662, FYI #58, 4/23. dbworld, 4/27/93.]

Clinton's budget calls for a 2.3% increase in DOD R&D, but most of that is in 6.3 funding. The ground-based Strategic Defense Initiative did very well, with Lockheed, Boeing, and TRW to benefit from a proposed $4B/year for four years. Basic research (6.1) gets a 0.6% increase, and 6.2 will decrease 10%. The $54M cut in 6.2 would take out ONR's postdoc fellowship program (with 82 postdocs) and the Independent Exploratory Development program. [Francis Slakey ([email protected]), WHAT'S NEW, 4/30/93.]

Clinton's FY'94 budget request includes $1B for High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) plus $96M for Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications; $1.5B for Global Change Research; $1.4B for Advanced Manufacturing Technology; over $2B for Advanced Materials and Processing; $4.3B for Biotechnology Research; and $2.3B for Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education. The initiatives were developed through the 16-agency Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET), chaired by OSTP director Gibbons. The six initiative are summarized in a budget supplement, "FCCSET Initiatives in the FY 1994 Budget," available from OSTP. HPCC money is intended to "network the nation" (but don't count on grant funding to network more than our six supercomputer centers). [The White House ([email protected]), 4/22/93. Tim Finin.] (It's often easiest to get grants for proposed work in one initiative related to the goals of another initiative.)

The budget request for NASA is $15B, up $1B from FY'93. Daniel Goldin is suggesting investment in new technologies at the expense of the space station and human space flight. Clinton wants $4B for new technologies. [Audrey T. Leath ([email protected]), FYI #55, 4/21.] Chief Scientist Lennard Fisk says that there will be greater use of smaller missions. Within the Office of Mission to Planet Earth, the Earth Observing System Data Information System will increase from $131M to $183M; Mission Operations and Data Analysis will increase from $148M to $161M; and Modeling and Data Analysis will increase from $43M to $45M. [Richard M. Jones ([email protected]), FYI #56 & 57. sci.research, 4/28/93.]

NASA is requesting application ideas for internet access to its remote-sensing databases. Projects can be commercial or educational and might also involve NOAA, EPA, DOE, DEd, DOI/USGS, and USDA. Respond by 5/5 to [email protected] or to Ernie Lucier, (202) 358-3098 Fax. [Tricia Porth ([email protected]), 4/27/93.]

NASA is sponsoring an information-retrieval study using its RECON database. Participation will take 2-3 hours. Contact [email protected]. [IRLIST, 4/27/93.]