This award will permit the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to manage U.S. dues for the membership of the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) in the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) for the 12-month period beginning January 1, 1988. The National Science Foundation (NSF) also provides funding to the NAS for the U.S. Advisory Committee for ICSU and the U.S. National Committees for 20 constituent unions. The Division of International Programs coordinates NSF's activities in fostering international scientific cooperation, including providing broad access by U.S. scientists and engineers to the benefits of selected nongovernmental international organizations. ICSU, with its worldwide representation of scientific fields, is among the more important of these for U.S. scientists and engineers. CODATA is an interdisciplinary scientific committee of ICSU that seeks to improve the quality, reliability, management, and accessibility of data of importance to all fields of science and technology. Because all major industrialized nations are members of CODATA, and all major scientific unions are represented, CODATA provides a unique forum for U.S. scientists and engineers to advance their international interests in a wide range of disciplines and to help solve associated data problems. In consideration of the merit of CODATA as a way of providing opportunities for cooperation in a multinational and multidisciplinary context, and of the highly satisfactory management of U.S. participation in ICSU overall through the NAS, the program manager recommends an award.
