National Science Foundation Steps Up Its Push for Interdisciplinary Research

By Paul Basken

For universities worried about securing federal research money at a time of tightening budgets, the National Science Foundation has a simple message: Collaborate.

In the same week President Obama is unveiling his budget recommendations for the 2013 fiscal year, the NSF is sending a top official to U.S. campuses urging even greater attention to promoting interdisciplinary practices in research.

The official, Myron P. Gutmann, is a professor of history at