In Pursuit of the Commonwealth

The presence of the Directorate for the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) enriches the routes through which the National Science Foundation (NSF) can serve humankind. The staff of the Directorate shares with all of NSF the conviction that in science and engineering research and education lie the prospect of improved wealth and well-being of the nation. That conviction underscore the efforts of the three units that comprise the Directorate: the Division of International Programs (INT), the Division of Science Resources (SRS), and the Division of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (SBER). This review traces the paths that SBER has taken and those to be planned, in its pursuit of the conviction.

“Change,” the watchword of the 1990s, translates for SBER into “consolidation.” The Division results from the merger of three units, housed until December, 1991, in the Directorate for the Biological, Behavioral, and Social Sciences. The merger in January, 1993, into a single Division — of the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Science, the Division of Social and Economic Sciences, and the Office of Studies on Science, Technology and Society — aimed to consolidate links among fields that examine human beings and the worlds they create. The change acknowledged that the puzzles which engage researchers and the problems that plague our populace time and again transcend traditional disciplinary lines. The consolidation aimed, too, to enable SBER to address with force issues identified in other directorates. Signs exist of significant progress toward both objectives.

The Division remains committed to the support of research and education that is at the forefront. The research portfolio consists of projects on topics that investigators identify, and projects on selected themes. In Foundation parlance, the former represents “curiosity-driven research” and the latter, “strategic research.” Among the current strategic themes or initiatives are several common across the science and technology agencies of the Federal government; efforts specific to NSF; and still others contained within SBER.

With reference to strategic research and NSF, SBER has two roles. The first: To ensure that initiatives, wherever they originate, incorporate and increase our understanding of human processes. The second: To provide the community of social and behavioral scientists opportunities to identify, develop and pursue panoramic problems to which research on basic processes can speak. The development of an SBER initiative on the civil infrastructure illustrates the first role; support of the Human Capital Initiative demonstrates the second.

The Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) Initiative has its root in an effort that the Directorate for Engineering launched in 1992. Concerned about the fragility and deterioration of the highways, airports, and water systems in the United States, that Directorate convened a group of scholars to contemplate the research that might contribute to the renewal of the infrastructure. As that Directorate proceeded to sketch the issues and research needs, the importance of human elements became ever more apparent. SBER has now joined with Engineering, to assure the holistic approach that infrastructure renewal demands.

SBER participation is premised on the belief that the civil infrastructure systems of the future will not be like those of the past and that governments, engineers, construction firms, and public and private organizations will need to learn to manage resources in different ways. The emphasis on systems management within a different technological universe requires different decision and management tools. Location and siting decisions require the use of emerging Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. Financing public infrastructure construction requires a better understanding of the problems of public finance during times of budget stringencies. Legal restrictions on new approaches to construction could seriously curtail experimentation. In all these areas, research supported by SBER will provide information that is vitally important to the success any attempt to rebuild the nation’s public infrastructure.

The Human Capital Initiative proved appropriate for SBER to consider, given the extensive outreach that produced the initiative as well as the breadth and timeliness of its concerns. A proposal from the American Psychological Society to support further development of the initiative won endorsement from both within and outside of SBER. The scholars who reviewed it commented favorably, not just on the attractiveness of it ideas, but on the quality of the plan for tackling them. Consequently, SBER awarded a grant to help APS organize workshops through which a concrete research agenda would evolve.

The Human Capital Initiative meshes well with the emphasis of NSF on interdisciplinary research, partnerships with other agencies and organizations, and the enhancing of human capabilities. Moreover, the initiative complement the SBER endeavor to move cognitive science forward. Aware of the part that human reasoning plays in counties arenas, the predecessor Division launched an initiative to elucidate that phenomenon. That initiative began in 1992 with a set of workshop to assess developments in cognitive science and the niche NSF might fill. The workshops produced recommendation that formed the basis for a Foundation-wide effort to reveal the processes through which both biological and artificial systems handle complex information. Planning for that effort continues in 1993; increased support for interdisciplinary projects is expected for 1994.

We anticipate that initiatives will continue to emerge in NSF, augmenting the curiosity-driven research that will remain our insignia. We anticipate, too, that the problem to which the initiatives speak will demand knowledge about humans — their behavior, predilections and products. Hence, we invite the views and participation of the community of psychologists to give us confidence that the paths we follow lead to significant ends, that we recognize the accomplishments past research has brought and that we promote conceptual and methodological advances able to address contemporary issues and those not yet fathomed.