Evaluation of NSF's Program of Grants and Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE)

131 Pages·2009·1.16 MB·English

by  Committee to Evaluate the NSF's Vertically Integrated Grants for Research and Education (VIGRE) Program

Evaluation of NSF’s Program
of Grants for Vertical
Integration of Research
and Education in the
Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE)
Committee to Evaluate the NSF’s Vertically Integrated Grants for Research and Education
(VIGRE) Program
Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research
Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy
of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen
for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation under Contract Number DMS-0650370. Any
opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-14186-4
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-14186-9
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Suggested citation: National Research Council. 2009. Evaluation of NSF’s Program of Grants for Vertical Inte-
gration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE). Washington, D.C.: The National
Academies Press.
Copyright 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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COMMITTEE TO EVALUATE THE NSF’S VERTICALLY INTEGRATED GRANTS FOR
RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (VIGRE) PROGRAM
WILLIAM E. KIRWAN, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, Chair
EFRAIM ARMENDARIZ, University of Texas at Austin
JOHN A. BURNS, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
C. HERBERT CLEMENS, Ohio State University
DONA L. CRAWFORD, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
CHRISTINE M. CUMMING, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
LAWRENCE CRAIG EVANS, University of California at Berkeley
CHARLES L. FEFFERMAN, Princeton University
MARTIN GOLUBITSKY, Ohio State University and Mathematical Biosciences Institute
MARK L. GREEN, University of California at Los Angeles
LEO P. KADANOFF, University of Chicago
DANIEL L. SOLOMON, North Carolina State University
LYNN ARTHUR STEEN, Saint Olaf College
KAREN L. VOGTMANN, Cornell University
ERIC W. WELCH, University of Illinois at Chicago
SHMUEL WINOGRAD, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Staff
SCOTT WEIDMAN, Director, Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications
NEAL GLASSMAN, Senior Program Officer
JOHN SISLIN, Program Officer
BARBARA WRIGHT, Administrative Assistant
BOARD ON MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS
C. DAVID LEVERMORE, University of Maryland, Chair
MASSOUD AMIN, University of Minnesota
TANYA STYBLO BEDER, SB Consulting Corporation
MARSHA J. BERGER, New York University
PHILIP A. BERNSTEIN, Microsoft Corporation
PATRICIA FLATLEY BRENNAN, University of Wisconsin
EMERY N. BROWN, Massachusetts General Hospital
GUNNAR E. CARLSSON, Stanford University
BRENDA L. DIETRICH, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
DEBRA ELKINS, Allstate Insurance Company
SUSAN J. FRIEDLANDER, University of Southern California
JOHN GEWEKE, University of Iowa
DARRYLL HENDRICKS, UBS Investment Bank
PETER WILCOX JONES, Yale University
KAREN KAFADAR, Indiana University
CHARLES M. LUCAS, AIG (retired)
DONALD G. SAARI, University of California at Irvine
J.B. SILVERS, Case Western Reserve University
GEORGE SUGIHARA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego
Staff
SCOTT WEIDMAN, Director
NEAL GLASSMAN, Senior Program Officer
BARBARA WRIGHT, Administrative Assistant
For more information on the Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications, see its Web site
at http://www.nationalacademies.org/bms, write to BMSA, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street,
N.W., Washington, DC 20001, call [phone], or send e-mail to
Preface
The National Science Foundation (NSF) requested that the National Research Council’s (NRC’s)
Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications assess NSF’s program, Grants for Vertical
Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE). The NRC established a
study committee with the following charge:
1. Review the goals of the VIGRE program and evaluate how well the program is designed to address
those goals;
2. Evaluate past and current practices at NSF for steering and assessing the VIGRE program;
3. Draw tentative conclusions about the program’s achievements based on the data collected to date;
4. Evaluate NSF’s plans for future data-driven assessments and identify data collection priorities
that will, over time, build understanding of how well the program is attaining its goals; and
5. Offer recommendations for improvements to the program and NSF’s ongoing monitoring of it.
Through four meetings over the course of nearly 2 years, the Committee to Evaluate the NSF’s Vertically
Integrated Grants for Research and Education (VIGRE) Program collected and analyzed a broad range
of inputs to develop this consensus report.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and
technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report
Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the
report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge.
The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the delibera-
tive process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
James A. Carlson, Clay Mathematics Institute,
Richard T. Durrett, Cornell University,
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iii PREFACE
Michael E. Fisher, University of Maryland,
Irene M. Gamba, University of Texas at Austin,
Roger E. Howe, Yale University,
Leon M. Keer, Northwestern University,
Sallie Keller-McNulty, Rice University, and
Thomas M. Liggett, University of California at Los Angeles.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions,
they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of
the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Ronald G. Douglas, Texas A&M
University, College Station, and by John C. Bailar, University of Chicago. Appointed by the NRC, they
were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out
in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered.
Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the
institution.
The committee thanks the members of the National Research Council staff who provided extensive
input during the project. Thanks are also extended to all presenters who participated in the committee’s
meetings for sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding the VIGRE program. The committee
would also like to thank all those who responded to its requests for information, including mathematics,
applied mathematics, and statistics department chairs, and the experts who conducted site visits. James
Maxwell of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) graciously provided AMS data and assisted the
committee in contacting department chairs. Henry Warchall of the National Science Foundation answered
many questions posed by the committee and provided key data.
William E. Kirwan, Chair
Committee to Evaluate the NSF’s Vertically Integrated
Grants for Research and Education (VIGRE) Program
Contents
SUMMARY 1
1 INTRODUCTION 7
Committee’s Charge, 8
Evaluation of the Scope and Approach, 8
Sources of Information, 10
Outline of the Report, 19
2 BACKGROUND OF THE VIGRE PROGRAM 21
Funding for Mathematical Sciences in the 1980s and 1990s, 22
Students in the Mathematical Sciences, 29
Redefining Mathematical Sciences Programs, 33

3 THE VIGRE PROGRAM 35
Evolving Goals of the VIGRE Program, 37
Key Components of the VIGRE Program, 39
Structure of the VIGRE Program, 42
Grant Duration, 43
Awardees to Date, 43
4 ADMINISTERING, MONITORING, AND ASSESSING THE PROGRAM 47
Proposal and Award Review Process, 50
Structure of Annual and Final Reports, 54
5 PROGRAM ACHIEVEMENTS 57
Challenges to Identifying Achievements, 57
Some Effects of VIGRE Awards, 59
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