The Challenge of Coordinating "Big Science"

Recent years have seen an increase in cross-agency research and development projects. These initiatives are large and significant in national policy. They include: information technology, nanotechnology, climate change, global change, and bioterrorism. For example, global change has grown to involve eighteen federal agencies and departments, including entities within the executive office of the president. The aim of these and other interagency programs is to draw on the special skills of each organization and weave them into a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. The term "distributed" science is used to describe the approach. The total funding of five multiagency science initiatives in the FHY 2003 budget is $6.7 billion.