Stanford Chemistry Professor Richard N. Zare '61, who chairs the National Science Foundation's (NSF) overseeing body, the National Science Board (NSB), says he wants to change the undirected and inefficient way government research money is distributed.

"We have not been able to devise a good way to allocate resources across different scientific and engineering disciplines," Zare says. "What we see is a lack of coordination [among funding agencies]."

The NSB analyzed such problems in-depth in a December paper titled "Government Funding of Scientific Research," although it stopped short of coming up with solutions.

However, professors at Harvard express skepticism about changes to the current funding system.

"I think that here is a sufficient level of directedness and that anything additional could [stifle] fundamental research," says Professor of Chemistry Eric N. Jacobsen.

Zare says one problem of science research is that various agencies often allocate money for the same project.

Zare points to the case of neutron experiments. Neutron sources are useful to biological and biochemical scientists, who are largely funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), but the Department of Energy (DOE) builds the neutron sources and the NSF funds the use of the facilities.

"This is a problem that involves three agencies," Zare says. "It's possible for each one to think they've made good plans, but [then] find out that it's not possible to use the facility well. That's very sad."

The NSB paper suggests no specific action to take but merely assesses the danger of research duplication and "gaps" in the nation's overall research program.

It concludes that federal agencies and other "stake holders" in science funding should coordinate their agendas to ensure that money for science is used effectively. Harvard Reactions

Harvard Professors agree that the complex system for the various funding agencies can be difficult to navigate, and that funding decisions are often irrational.

"In the research we do, part of the people are funded by NSF and part by [the DOE]," says Professor of Physics Melissa Franklin. "All the database are different. It seems kind of bizarre."

Franklin says funding cuts can affect scientists differently depending on which agency they are affiliated with.

"Particle physics started taking cuts a few years ago whereas DOE didn't," she says. "It's not really fair."

Despite the attempts of the federal government through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office for Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to help agencies coordinate their budgets and to ensure that they fund projects within their jurisdiction, Zare says a lack of communication still plagues the federal research funding system.