Washington

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been put in charge of three new programmes in this week's budget proposal. But, despite being the only government agency praised for its financial management in a much-trumpeted recent White House assessment, it gets little financial reward.

The NSF — which funds most non- biomedical university research in the United States — receives an increase of 5% in the budget proposed by its director, Rita Colwell. Government officials acknowledge that this is really worth just 3.4% when its new responsibilities are taken into account.

Under the proposal, the NSF will take charge of the Sea Grant programme, transferred from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the environmental education programme at the Environmental Protection Agency; and a new water-quality programme to replace the toxic-substances hydrology programme at the US Geological Survey.

Apart from the new arrivals, the big winner at the NSF is the mathematics division (see Nature 414, 676; 2001), whose grant budget will grow by $30 million to $180 million. Other agency divisions, including astronomy, physics and chemistry, see their budgets fall by a few percentage points.

Two new major research projects that have been on hold for a year get the go-ahead in the budget. EarthScope, a network devoted to earthquake detection and research, will receive $35 million and two prototype sites for the National Ecological Observatory Network will get $12 million (see Nature 410, 854; 2001). Continued building of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array is allocated $30 million.

And the impoverished graduate students supported by the foundation can look forward to an increase in their annual stipends, from $21,500 to $25,000.