Institutional Grants

In the third year of the National Science Foundation's Institutional Grants Program, NSF has announced awards totaling more than $7.6 million to 397 institutions of higher education for the direct support of scientific activities. Reports from colleges and universities concerning the results of their participation in the program in previous years indicate that the grants have raised standards of scientific instruction and research for increasing numbers of students and science faculty members. The majority of the grants have provided support for the research of younger faculty members, purchase of essential scientific equipment for teaching and research, improvement of science libraries, and strengthening of undergraduate programs in the sciences. Although the grants must be used in support of activities in the sciences, the schools themselves decide how best to apply the funds received under the program. More than two thirds of the new grants were for $10 000 or more, and 22 schools received maximum grants of $75 000.