NSF wants universities to share rotator costs

The National Science Foundation has announced changes to the rules governing the salaries of faculty members on short-term appointments to the agency, in a bid to reduce costs.

The agency has decided that universities should pay 10 percent of the salaries of the so-called rotators, who spend up to four years at the NSF’s headquarters as temporary program officers, helping to make funding decisions.

Rotators make up about one-third of the NSF’s program officers. The system is traditionally thought of as a benefit all around: the NSF gets input from working researchers, the rotators learn more about the NSF and build new relationships, and universities get a stronger tie to a major funding source.