Earth Science Programs - Basic Research Opportunities in Earth Science - page 117

Appendix A
Earth Science Programs
NSF EARTH SCIENCE DIVISION
The Earth Science Division (EAR) of the National Science Foundation
(NSF) supports research in the solid-Earth sciences—geology, geochemistry,
geophysics—and continental hydrology. EAR is part of the Geosciences
Directorate of NSF, along with the Ocean Sciences Division (OCE) and the
Atmospheric Sciences Division (ATM).
EAR supports both long-term core programs and fixed-term special
emphasis areas. The core programs provide a mechanism for funding unsolicited
proposals from individual investigators or small groups of investigators (two to
four principal investigators [PIs]). They include disciplinary research programs
(geology and paleontology, geophysics, hydrologic sciences, petrology and
geochemistry, and tectonics), multidisciplinary research programs (continental
dynamics), education and human resources, and instrumentation and facilities. A
brief description of the core programs and their FY 1999 budgets is given in
Box A. 1 .
Special emphasis areas are chosen periodically, usually in response to
national research initiatives identified by NSF or science advisory committees.
They are announced separately from the core programs and have defined goals
that are evaluated by special criteria in addition to the standard NSF requirements
for scientific excellence. The core programs are “taxed” to pay for these special
emphasis areas. EAR is currently supporting two special emphasis areas in the
solid-Earth sciences (Active Tectonics [AT] and Cooperative Studies of the
Earth's Deep Interior [CSEDI]), along with several other