More NSF grant applications

A recent National Science Foundation report shows that the agency once again received a record number of grant applications in fiscal year (FY) 2007.  The report, prepared for the National Science Board, indicates that in FY 2007, "NSF received a total of 44,577 proposals, the highest number of proposals to date. This is a 5 percent increase over the number of proposals received in FY 2006 and a 50 percent increase from the 29,508 received in FY 2000."  The average duration of grants awarded remains at about three years and the average annualized award size increased slightly to $146,200.

NSF made 11,463 awards in FY 2007 resulting in an agency-wide funding rate of 26 percent. However, the Biological Science Directorate (BIO) remains well below this average mark, and is the lowest in the NSF.   Many programs within BIO have single digit success rates.  In 2006, the BIO-wide success rate was a mere 14 percent.

For additional information about NSF funding for biology, please visit the AIBS Public Policy Office Federal Budget Resource at http://www.aibs.org/public-policy/budget_source.html and download a free fact sheet at

http://www.aibs.org/public-policy/resources/Bio_funding_March_2008.pdf .