Findings and Recommendations - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 109

Partnerships between EAR and Other Agencies
In Chapter 1 , the case was made that basic research in Earth science is
relevant to societal needs in five specific areas of application: (1) discovery, use
and conservation of natural resources; (2) characterization and mitigation of
natural hazards; (3) geotechnical and materials engineering for commercial and
infrastructure development; (4) stewardship of the environment; and (5)
terrestrial surveillance for global security and national defense. Although the role
of NSF is to fund basic research, it is the mission of other federal agencies to
apply this research to national problems. Most federal agencies support a mixture
of basic and applied research in areas specifically related to their respective
missions, but in many cases the basic research components are not the principal
thrust or are narrowly constrained. 36 Even among the few agencies with strong
basic research programs, such as the USGS, none rivals EAR in the breadth and
depth of the Earth science it sponsors. Therefore, the effective translation of basic
research to practical applications requires meaningful collaborations between
NSF and mission-oriented agencies, especially when the applications are based on
an understanding of the complex natural systems obtained through a broad
spectrum of multidisciplinary research.
Disciplinary identification and organization under the NSF framework are a
prerequisite for effective interagency collaborations. For example, the committee
has already pointed out that the absence of a programmatic home for soil science
in EAR has made the evaluation and funding of basic soil science difficult, even
though this field is quite relevant to research programs in several NSF divisions,
as well as to applied research in other federal agencies, particularly the USDA
and USGS. The committee's recommendation for accommodating soil science
more formally in a geology core program is aimed in part at franchising soil
scientists so that they can more effectively participate in wider initiatives.
Indeed, the deep intellectual connections made through fundamental research
furnish very effective pathways for broadening communities beyond the narrow
specialties of individual researchers and focused research groups. This
perspective motivates the committee's optimism that a rich spectrum of
collaborations among geobiologists, geochemists, hydrologists,
geomorphologists, and soil scientists on problems of the Critical Zone will lead to
practical benefits for society. It also illustrates why EAR should take the lead in
forging partnerships in Earth science between NSF and mission-oriented federal
agencies.
EAR has a long history of partnerships with a number of agencies, primarily
USGS, DOE, and NASA, on joint research projects and equipment
36 N. Metzger and R.N. Zare, Science, v. 283, p. 642-643, 1999.