tural Experiment Station (SAES) or with Mc- 

 Intire-Stennis funds at a State Forestry Research 

 Organization (SFRO). 



Agriculture estimates obligations of $194 million 

 for basic research in 1977, 70 percent of which is 

 reported as intramural.- This percentage reflects 

 the efforts of Agriculture employees, wherever 

 located. The largest component of this basic re- 

 search is the $115.9 million of the Agricultural 

 Research Service (ARS), whose work is 94.5 per- 

 cent intramural, the balance being performed 

 mostly in foreign countries. The intramural work 

 is performed at seven large research centers as 

 well as at many other locations. Two of the re- 

 search centers are for work on animal disease, 

 four are large regional centers for research on 

 utilization and handling of agricultural products, 

 and one is the internationally recognized Beltsville 

 Agricultural Research Center. Each facility, ex- 

 cept Beltsville, is managed by the appropriate re- 

 gional director, of whom there are four who re- 

 port to the Administrator in Washington. The 

 Administrator himself handles the Beltsville facili- 

 ty, where he has about half his staff. The other 

 half is with him at headquarters and includes sci- 

 entists in each major scientific discipline. At each 

 level, laboratory directors are appointed by the 

 next higher echelon with the assistance of a peer 

 review panel. Programmatic decisionmaking is 

 vested with the laboratories but is subject to re- 

 view by the 67 science-oriented coordinators of 

 the corresponding subject matter National Re- 

 search Programs (NRP's). The coordinators also 

 make recommendations for program emphasis or 

 reorientation. 



The second largest sponsor of basic research in 

 Agriculture is the Cooperative State Research 

 Service (CSRS), which uses the SAES's and the 

 SFRO's and consequently reports a figure of only 

 4 percent intramural — this presumably being the 

 management cost. The Forest Service (FS) is next 

 with $24.8 million, of which 81 percent is intra- 

 mural. Again, this figure represents Agriculture 

 employee scientist-years regardless of where the 

 work is performed. Schools of forestry comprise 

 two-thirds of the locations where the scientists 

 work, but there are also eight regional forestry 

 experiment stations, the Forest Products Labora- 

 tory in Madison, Wis., and the Institute of Tropi- 

 cal Forestry in Puerto Rico. The directors of 

 these laboratories are appointed by the Chief of 

 the Forest Service. They prepare the budgets that 

 determine their programs and submit these to 

 Washington for approval. Headquarters may 



change the submission. Each director has the dis- 

 cretion to make shifts of up to 5 percent within 

 the approved budget.^ 



Department of Commerce 



The Department of Commerce classifies 77 per- 

 cent of its $25 million 1977 basic research pro- 

 gram as intramural. 



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- 

 istration (NOAA), with $11.8 million, does more 

 basic research than any other part of Commerce, 

 and essentially all of this is intramural. NOAA 

 operates: (1) the Atlantic Oceanographic and Me- 

 teorological Laboratory and the Pacific Marine 

 Environmental Laboratory, which do basic re- 

 search in both meteorology and oceanography; (2) 

 the Air Resources Laboratory, which is chiefly 

 concerned with air pollution; (3) the National 

 Hurricane and Experimental Laboratory and the 

 National Severe Storms Laboratory; (4) the Geo- 

 physical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, which stud- 

 ies the general circulation of the atmosphere; and 

 (5) the Environmental Research Laboratories 

 (ERL). 



ERL manages all the NOAA laboratories. 

 Selection of a laboratory director involves the 

 Administrator of NOAA and any Assistant Ad- 

 ministrator involved with the particular laborato- 

 ry. Although laboratory programs are determined 

 fairly rigidly, each laboratory has a small amount 

 of seed money to permit starting promising new 

 projects. ERL has additional seed money, which 

 other laboratories may request. Arrangements for 

 the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory are 

 interesting. Space is rented from Princeton Uni- 

 versity and a computer is rented from industry. 

 Princeton University also receives funds for re- 

 search, which permits its faculty to interact with 

 the laboratory, but the laboratory personnel are 

 civil service employees of ERL/NOAA. 



The second largest basic research program in 

 Commerce is that of the National Bureau of 

 Standards (NBS). With $6.5 million estimated 

 1977 obligations. NBS has a large array of labora- 

 tories in Gaithersburg, Md., and a relatively small 

 laboratory in Boulder, Colo. It reports 92 percent 

 of its basic research as intramural. NBS is a Gov- 

 ernment bureau and its Director is appointed by 

 the President with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate. The Director of NBS, however, also is 

 director of the laboratories. 



-All such percentages in this chapter are computed from data in 

 Federul Funds. Vol. XXVI (NSF 77-317). Appendices C and D, 

 chiefly Table C-30, which is reproduced herein as Appendix D. 



'Except as otherwise indicated, information in this and all 

 subsequent paragraphs was obtained either from agency submis- 

 sions or by informal communications from agency representa- 

 tives to NSB staff. 



242 BASIC RESEARCH IN AGENCY LABORATORIES AND FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS 



