Morris Aizenman Senior Scientist Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences

1. Physics and Engineering Sciences Committee April 2010 Morris Aizenman Senior Scientist Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences National Science Foundation

2. FY 2011 and FY 2012 Budget Environment • President and Congress • recognize basic research and NSF’s central role in supporting the sciences, but … • The Budgetary Environment • Federal Budget Deficit • National Priorities – the Economy, War on Terrorism, Homeland Security, Energy, Climate • President’s Goal: Maintain level funding for discretionary funding for FY 2011, FY 2012, FY 2013

3. FY 2011 NSF Request

4. FY 2011 NSF R&RA Request

5. MPS FY 2011 Budget Request Discovery +6.7% Average annualized increase 5%

6. MPS FY 2009 ARRA $490M total investment in MPS R&RA + $146M MREFC • Research and Education grants - $402M • Close to 400 new PIs • 85 CAREER awards • Major investments in GRF, REU, post-doc programs • Over 70 energy and over 25 climate awards • Facilities and Instrumentation support - $88M • 10 MPS-supported user facilities received funding, for operations, maintenance, safety upgrades, saving jobs • Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) • $146M in MREFC construction • Tremendous boost for solar astronomy

7. Budget Summary $1.41B budget requested for FY 2011 for MPS • Sustaining research in fundamental science • AST, CHE, DMR, DMS, PHY • Supporting young researchers • REU to CAREER • Investing in national priorities • SEBML, SEES

8. MPS Core Programs • Support researchers to investigate • Structure/evolution of the universe, fundamental particles, processes of matter • Behavior and control of molecules at nanoscale, complexity of their chemical interactions in materials and life processes • New mathematical structures and theories, connections to computation, experiment, observation • Fundamental for advances in all science, medicine, industry, technology

9. Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) SEES request: $110.50 M MPS is partnering with other NSF Directorates to invest in climate and energy research • Energy • Energy Storage • New battery materials could “charge in seconds” • SOLAR program • Novel earth-abundant materials for solar energy harvesting, creating efficient solar cells • Efficient materials for direct conversion of photons into hydrogen via water electrolysis • Climate • New algorithms improve atmospheric and ocean simulations with parameterized uncertainties in physical processes, which typically hamper climate change predictions

10. MPS/MPSAC Working Groups • Climate • Energy • Broadening Participation • Computation • Life Sciences • SEBML/QIS • Matter by Design • Facilities • Fundamental Science

11. Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Will be the world’s most advanced radio telescope: unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution Premier tool to study the first galaxies (~500 Myr after the Big Bang) in the universe, whose light has been stretched to sub-millimeter wavelength Three telescopes already operating; 16 by 2011; over 5 dozen when complete by late 2012

12. The Long Baseline Experiment NOvA (off-axis) MINOS (on-axis) Homestake DUSEL 735 km Mega-Detector at DUSEL:CP violation, Proton Decay, Supernovae High Intensity Neutrino Beam 1300 km Fermilab The configuration of a Mega-Detector at Homestake, greater than 1,000 km from a high intensity source, offers a discovery opportunity that is unique in the world. Discussions with international parties have begun.

13. Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will produce an wide-field astronomical survey of our universe using an 8.4-meter ground-based telescope. The camera will have 3200 Megapixels making it the world’s largest digital camera. It will produce 30 Terabytes of data nightly with nearly instant alerts issued for objects that change in position or brightness.

14. Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes The Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) The 20-Meter Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)