NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION COLLEGE SCIENCE INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM.

SEC. 6403. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION COLLEGE SCIENCE INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM. (a) Purpose.— It is the purpose of this section to assist in revitalizing the Nation’s academic instructional instrumentation at colleges. (b) Establishment of Program.— To carry out this purpose, the National Science Foundation shall establish and carry out the College Science Instrumentation Program, under which awards are made only to two-year and community colleges and four-year, non-Ph.D. degree-granting institutions or consortia thereof for the purchase of instructional instrumentation. (c) Projects and Funding.— (1) The College Science Instrumentation Program established by the National Science Foundation pursuant to subsection (b) shall be carried out, through projects— (1) which involve the purchase and replacement (as appropriate) of specific instructional instrumentation at the institutions involved, and (2) for which funds are awarded in response to specific proposals submitted by such institutions or consortia thereof on a competitive basis in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Director of the Foundation with the objective of carrying out the purposes of this Act. (2) The regulations so prescribed shall contain such terms, conditions, and guidelines as may be necessary in the light of that objective, but shall in any event provide that— (A) funds to carry out the program will be awarded to an institution or consortia thereof after a comprehensive review using established Foundation procedures, and (B) the funds so awarded to any academic institution will be in an amount equal to not more than 50 percent of the cost of the purchase and replacement involved (with the funds required to meet the remainder of such cost being provided by the institution involved or from other non-Federal public or private sources). (d) Criteria for Awards.— The National Science Foundation will evaluate proposals on the basis of the following criteria: (1) Performance competence.— This criterion relates to the capacity of the investigator or investigators, the technical soundness of the proposed approach, the adequacy of the institutional resources available, and the proposed recent research/ science education performance. (2) Intrinsic merit.— This criterion relates to the quality, currency, and significance of the scientific content and related instructional activity of the project within the context of undergraduate science, mathematics, and engineering education. (3) Utility or relevance.— This criterion relates to the impact the project will have at the proposing institution, and the relevance of the project in the local context. 102 STAT. 1545 (4) Effect on the infrastructure of science and engineering.— This criterion relates to the potential of the proposed project to contribute to better understanding or improvement of the quality, distribution, effectiveness of the Nation’s scientific and engineering research, education, and manpower base. (e) Consultations.— In prescribing regulations and conducting the program under this section, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall consult with the Secretary of Education and other related agencies. (f) Authorization of Appropriations.— Such sums shall be available for the College Science Instrumentation Program subject every year to the authorizations and appropriations for the National Science Foundation.