ICF Macro Awarded Two National Science Foundation Contracts to Collect Data from Science and Mathematics Programs and Research and Engineering Centers

CALVERTON, MD, January 12, 2009—ICF Macro was awarded two contracts by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to collect data on the performance and effectiveness of 10 programs promoting the study and professional pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at academic institutions across the United States. ICF Macro was awarded $11 million over a four-year period to collect data on the effectiveness of mathematics and science education and research for the NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and $2.6 million over a five-year period to support NSF program management at engineering centers for the NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC).

ICF Macro has supported EHR and EEC since 1998, maintaining and supporting multiple web-based systems that collect data on individuals’ progress in education and research for EHR and from program awardees on their center’s funding, personnel, institutions, research, and outputs for EEC. ICF Macro oversees the conduct of annual surveys to collect results data from program awardees and manages all aspects of the data collections, including updating the systems for each data collection cycle and preparing trend analyses at the close of data collection. During a decade-plus working relationship with NSF, ICF Macro has been awarded multiple contracts totaling $30 million to carry out these tasks for EEC and EHR.

“Federal agencies committed $28.7 billion to 1,226 academic institutions for science and engineering (S&E) activities in FY 2006,” said Lea Mesner, a ICF Macro vice president. “This includes grants to individuals and academic institutions, from elementary through graduate levels, to promote and improve education and research in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering. Macro’s partnership with NSF is vital to this effort, as it allows NSF to track how the funding is spent and gauge the progress of the efforts the funding supports. As a result of this initiative, the numbers of students, teachers, and researchers in science, mathematics, and engineering has grown considerably, supporting the quality of the United States’ science, mathematics, and engineering talent and helping maintain a competitive edge in these important fields.”

About ICF Macro
ICF Macro delivers research-based solutions to complex problems, combining a high level of expertise and state-of-the-art tools and techniques to provide answers that are on time and on target. We work with clients to develop the right questions and the right tools for the job, whether they are surveys, focus groups, onsite investigations, or tightly controlled comparative studies. The collective knowledge and expertise of our staff span virtually every area of public policy and social concern.

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