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CRA Bulletin
August 6, 2004
- NSF and NASA Lose in House VA-HUD Approps Markup
- PITAC Cyber Security Subcommittee "Town Hall" Highlights
- CS Undergraduates See Increase in Starting Salaries
- NSF Reports on Academic R&D Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2002
- Growth Among Computer/Math Sciences Workforce in late 1990s
- Conference Support for Minority Students in CSE and their Mentors
- CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series Accepting Host Applications
- CRA Posts Research & Development Overview Information
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NSF and NASA Lose in House VA-HUD Approps Markup
A House Appropriations subcommittee approved significant cuts in funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in July, making good on a warning issued earlier this year that science funding was going to be "challenging" given the budget constraints placed on the committee by the Administration and Congressional leadership.
The cuts were included in the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bill one of 13 appropriations bills Congress must pass each year to fund the operations of government.
The bill calls for a $74 million cut to NSF's research account in FY 2005, a decrease of 1.7 percent from the FY 2004 appropriations and $194 million less than the President requested for the agency in February. NASA would see a $229 million decrease for FY 2005 compared to FY 2004, $1.1 billion below the President's request.
For more: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000120.html
PITAC Cyber Security Subcommittee "Town Hall" Highlights
The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee's (PITAC) Subcommittee on Cyber Security met on July 29, 2004 "town hall" style at the GOVSEC conference in Washington, DC to hear from ITAA head Harris Miller, Joel Birnbaum, head of the CSTB study on "Improving Cyber Security Research in the US", and to take public input as it continues its work towards producing a report on the current state of Federal cyber security R&D. More information at: http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000123.html.
CS Undergraduates See Increase in Starting Salaries
Average starting salary offers to college graduates are on the rise, according to the Summer 2004 Salary Survey, which was recently published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Graduates with computer science and information sciences and systems degrees saw healthy increases in their average starting salaries. Computer science graduates have an average starting salary this year of $49,691, up 4.8 percent from last year at this time. Information sciences and systems graduates are enjoying an even larger increase—their average salary rose 8.2 percent to $43,053. Computer engineering graduates saw a decrease of 0.3 percent to $51,572.
The NACE press release is at http://www.naceweb.org/press/display.asp?year=&prid=194
NSF Reports on Academic R&D Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2002
Highlights include:
- Total R&D expenditures for computer sciences at universities and colleges were $1.126 billion in 2002.
- Ranked by expenditures, the top ten institutions accounted for 48% of computer sciences R&D.
- R&D in computer sciences represent 3.1% of total science and engineering R&D expenditures at universities and colleges.
- Computer sciences received 3.53% of total Federal funding for science and engineering R&D at universities and colleges in 2002.
- Science and engineering fields at universities and colleges received 60% of their R&D funding from the Federal government. Computer sciences, however, received 68% of its R&D funding from the Federal government.
The full report, Academic Research and Development Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2002, is available at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf04330/htmstart.htm
Growth Among Computer/Math Sciences Workforce in late 1990s
A recent NSF survey of U.S.-trained doctorate holders employed in the U.S. reveals that between 1995 and 2001, the S&E doctoral labor force became less concentrated in education and more concentrated in industry, and that the median salary of computer and mathematical sciences doctorate holders increased 15 percent in constant dollars.
Among 575,000 total S&E doctorate holders in the workforce in 2001, about 46 percent worked in education, 45 percent in industry, and 10 percent in government. In recent years, the doctoral S&E workforce has expanded. Over the period from 1995 to 2001, the S&E doctorate workforce grew in all sectors of the economy, but employment in industry increased the most.
The numbers of doctoral-level workers increased from 1995 to 2001 in each of the five broad S&E fields. The increases were greatest in computer and mathematical sciences (26 percent increase), life sciences (23 percent), and engineering (27 percent). The numbers of doctorate holders in physical sciences and social sciences in the workforce increased by 10 and 15 percent, respectively.
| Median annual salaries of full-time employed science and engineering doctorate holders (constant 2000 dollars) | ||||
| All Employment Sectors | Education | Government | Industry | |
| All science and engineering fields | ||||
| 1995 | 70,000 | 60,400 | 70,900 | 83,800 |
| 2001 | 77,000 | 63,000 | 78,000 | 92,000 |
| Computer/mathematical sciences | ||||
| 1995 | 69,700 | 61,100 | 76,700 | 89,500 |
| 2001 | 80,000 | 65,000 | 90,000 | 100,000 |
The NSF InfoBrief, Employment Sector, Salaries, Publishing, and Patenting Activities of S&E Doctorate Holders, is online at http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/infbrief/nsf04328/start.htm
Conference Support for Minority Students in CSE and their Mentors
Attending a professional conference is both exciting and challenging for students. To help students break through the ice and learn to enjoy conferences, the Coalition to Diversify Computing is offering support for minority students to attend technical conferences with their mentors. Students and mentors will attend a professional conference as a team, providing the opportunity for the students to benefit from introductions to key researchers at the conference while they gain insight from their mentors into the dynamics of a professional event. Each team will consist of at least one student (up to three students may apply) and one mentor. Next Application Deadline: September 15, 2004. For more information, visit the CDC web site: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Outreach/CDC/news/conf_support2004.html.
CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series Accepting Host Applications
The Distinguished Lecture Series sends faculty and industry researchers to campuses to encourage women and minorities to attend graduate school. The visits include a technical talk as well as a variety of "recruiting" events: lunches with female undergraduates, panel discussions about graduate school, meetings with faculty interested in recruiting/retention, and meetings with female graduate students. In some instances, the speaker brings a graduate student to speak to and motivate the students.
Applications are now being accepted to host recruitment events designed to attract female students to graduate school. The next deadline (for 2004-2005 events) is September 15th. Apply at http://www.cra.org/Activities/craw/projects/applicationsDLS.html.
CRA Posts Research & Development Overview Information
CRA's website now has an overview of R&D information for the U.S., including academia, industry, and federally-funded research.
The information is available at http://www.cra.org/info/research/