National Science Foundation
![National Science Foundation's former headquarters in [[Arlington County, Virginia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/NSF_building.jpg)
The
U.S. National Science Foundation (
NSF) is an
independent agency of the
United States federal government that supports fundamental
research and
education in all the non-medical fields of
science and
engineering. Its medical counterpart is the
National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about $9.9 billion (fiscal year 2023), the NSF funds approximately 25% of all federally supported
basic research conducted by the
United States' colleges and universities. In some fields, such as
mathematics,
computer science,
economics, and the
social sciences, the NSF is the major source of federal backing.
NSF's director and deputy director are appointed by the
president of the United States and
confirmed by the
United States Senate, whereas the 24 president-appointed members of the
National Science Board (NSB) do not require U.S. Senate confirmation. The director and deputy director are responsible for administration, planning, budgeting and day-to-day operations of the foundation, while the NSB meets six times a year to establish its overall policies. The current NSF director is
Sethuraman Panchanathan.
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