USFRS History

The US Foundation for Radio Science, Inc., was established in August 2025 in the State of Maryland, with the intent to become a nonprofit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (the application is currently in process). The founding Directors recognized the need to establish this corporation when the US National Science Foundation (NSF) discontinued funding the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in early 2025. For many years, NSF funded NASEM to appoint and oversee the many US National Committees (USNCs) that support several International Unions.

The US National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science (USNC-URSI) has been an active participant in URSI since its founding in 1922. NASEM (and its predecessor organizations) had been managing the private funds that USNC-URSI has used to operate the National Radio Science Meetings (NRSMs) and cosponsor the annual summer symposia with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society (IEEE AP-S). Without NASEM to administer these funds, a new foundation was needed to take over the financial oversight of these activities.