Appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice Science and Related Agencies April 10, AAA Executive Director William Davis offered formal testimony in support of the Obama Administration’s request for an appropriation of $7.4 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Davis noted that while NSF provides only 21 percent of the total federal budget for basic research conducted in U.S. colleges and universities, the agency supports over half, or 57 percent, of all federal support committed for research in the social sciences. Thus, for disciplines like anthropology, political science and grant support provided by NSF has great significance.
Davis also noted that the NSF has, in the past, provided support to the American Anthropological Association for the development of a museum exhibit (RACE: Are We So Different?) currently traveling the country which serves as a tremendous stimulus to public discussion and public education on the science, history and lived experience of race.
