Senate Majority Leader Hands NSF a Gift to Serve the Exceptionally Gifted

摘要

The budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) has traditionally been free of congressional earmarks. But buried in the $410 billion federal spending measure enacted last week is a provision that gives NSF $3 million this year "to establish a mathematical institute devoted to the identification and development of mathematical talent." The directive, which is backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), is aimed at serving supersmart children whose needs aren't being met in school.rnAs it happens, a proposal to create a national program along those lines has just been submitted to NSF as part of a competition to choose a new batch of university-based mathematical research institutes.