{"id":479,"date":"2018-03-09T15:41:05","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T20:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/?p=479"},"modified":"2018-03-12T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T21:02:07","slug":"act-today-to-help-ensure-adequate-federal-funding-for-math-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/2018\/03\/09\/act-today-to-help-ensure-adequate-federal-funding-for-math-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Act Today to Help Ensure Adequate Federal Funding for Math Research!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

This post is a “call to action” and if you are going to act, you need to do so asap (ideally by March 12<\/strong>)! I hope the following explains what<\/strong> I am asking you to do, and also how<\/strong> you can easily do this (perhaps skip ahead to the 3 steps “What exactly do you do?”, then return and read the red<\/span> text).<\/p>\n

The American Mathematical Society’s priority for Congressional appropriations is for robust and sustained National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. The total amount we are requesting for FY2019 is $8.45 billion; this is the same amount as the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF). CNSF is\u00a0an alliance of over 130 science related organizations committed to increasing the national investment in science.<\/span><\/p>\n

To arrive at this funding amount, we are using $8 billion as a base funding level, which is the CNSF community target funding level for FY2018.\u00a0 As we have done in previous years, we are using\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>guiding principle found in both the “Restoring the Foundation” <\/em>report (American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2014), and in “Innovation: An American Imperative<\/a><\/em>,” which calls for\u00a0four-percent real growth (which is four-percent plus inflation).<\/span><\/p>\n

As you probably know, the NSF is an independent agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.” Flat funding, as the President requests, will inhibit our national competitiveness and continue to jeopardize America\u2019s role as an innovation leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

Representatives G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and David McKinley (R-WV) have teamed-up again this year and are writing the FY19 NSF “Dear Colleague Letter<\/a>.” This letter will be sent to Representatives John Culberson and Jose Serrano, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations<\/a> subcommittee,<\/a> and key decision-makers<\/a> in this process to allocate funds to the NSF.<\/span><\/p>\n

The deadline for sign-on is Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 1:00 p.m<\/strong>. Members of Congress interested in signing on to the FY19 NSF Dear Colleague Letter should contact Dennis Sills in Representative Butterfield\u2019s office at dennis.sills@mail.house.gov<\/a> or Christopher Buki in Representative McKinley\u2019s office at Christopher.buki@mail.house.gov<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The level of support for the National Science Foundation is a key factor by which the nation’s commitment to science\u00a0can be measured\u00a0and as such makes the annual appropriations process a high priority for the AMS Office of Government Relations. Approximately 64% of total federal support for academic research in mathematics comes from the NSF (making math one of the most NSF-dependent fields).<\/span><\/p>\n

What exactly do you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 1. Find your Representative(s): https:\/\/www.house.gov\/representatives\/find-your-representative<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 2. Go to your Representative’s website to see how to send a letter to them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Step 3. Take the text that appears above in <\/strong>red<\/strong><\/span> and edit to craft a letter to your Representative in the House (if you live and work in different districts, hit both). At the least, add in a sentence or two at the beginning saying your name, your institution, and point out the fact that you are a mathematician (if you are an AMS member, mention that too).<\/em> If you have or have recently benefitted from NSF funding, I encourage you to add a bit about it. Alternatively, if your department has benefitted in some broad way (e.g. as an REU site), add a sentence or two about the program and its importance to training the next generation of mathematicians. At the end, thank your Rep for his\/her attention and consideration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you would like, you could add this example to your letter: At the most recent AMS\/MSRI Congressional briefing in December, we highlighted NSF-funded mathematical research that improves cybersecurity. At our June 2017 briefing, we highlighted NSF-funded mathematical research that has brought revolutionary changes to MRI technology, saving lives and money. You can read about these, and other Congressional briefings on mathematics here: http:\/\/www.ams.org\/government\/outreach\/CongressBriefingAMSMSRIdec2017<\/a><\/p>\n

Feel free to email me (kxs@ams.org) if you have questions, or want help.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is a “call to action” and if you are going to act, you need to do so asap (ideally by March 12)! I hope the following explains what I am asking you to do, and also how you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,8,10],"tags":[47,11],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-appropriations","category-congress","category-nsf","tag-appropriations","tag-nsf-budget"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8sfLS-7J","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/capitalcurrents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}