The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency whose mission includes support for all fields of fundamental science and engineering, except for medical sciences. NSF is tasked with keeping the United States at the leading edge of discovery in areas from astronomy to geology to zoology. So, in addition to funding research in the traditional academic areas, the agency also supports “high-risk, high pay-off” ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects. NSF ensures that research is fully integrated with education so that today’s revolutionary work will also be training tomorrow’s top scientists and engineers.