In early May 2005, academic psychologists and NAS members Susan Carey (Harvard University), Duncan Luce (University of California, Irvine, and recent Medal of Science recipient), and Richard Shiffrin (Indiana University) visited the National Science Foundation accompanied by Federation staff.  Also with us was Philip Zimbardo (Stanford University), who was in DC for the annual meeting of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP), in the role of CSSP Executive Board Chair.  We arranged this visit to NSF in order to meet NSF Director Dr. Arden Bement and thank him for his support of the behavioral sciences.  

Also present at this meeting were Wanda Ward (Acting Director of the Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences Directorate - SBE) and David Lightfoot (newly-appointed Director of SBE, scheduled to begin his duties on June 1).  We began by acknowledging Bement’s support to us all, thanked Ward for her service during this past year while serving as the Acting Director of SBE, and welcomed Lightfoot to the Directorate, offering support and help to him as he begins his tenure at NSF.  From there, these four outstanding behavioral scientists briefly described some of their NSF-funded work. 

Duncan Luce discussed his long history of work in mathematical psychology, focusing on his decision-making under conditions of uncertainty research, for which he has been continuously funded by NSF.  Phil Zimbardo then spoke about several of his current areas of interest, including research on social psychology and terrorism, addressing several areas in which he hoped NSF would be able to increase their involvement.  The group then began a brief discussion about the effects of NIH reorganization on NSF, focusing on methods of alleviating the financial burden on the SBE Directorate, which is bearing the brunt of the increased numbers of grant proposals for work that was formerly funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.  It was apparent that Dr. Bement was aware of the situation, and we plan on following up with him to emphasize our concerns and propose some potential solutions to this situation.  We believe that this exchange raised greater awareness of the important work going on in behavioral science labs, thanks to federal dollars.