USFRS History

The US Foundation for Radio Science, Inc., was established in August 2025 in the State of Maryland as a nonprofit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code. 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 (NAS) in early 2025. For many years, NSF funded NAS to act as the adhering body to many international Unions, including URSI. NAS appointed and oversaw the many US National Committees (USNCs) that support these 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. NAS (and its predecessor organizations) managed the private funds that USNC-URSI uses to operate the annual National Radio Science Meetings (NRSMs) in Boulder, Colorado, and cosponsor the annual summer symposia with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society (IEEE AP-S). With NAS no longer able to administer these funds, a new foundation was needed to take over the financial oversight of these activities.

USFRS leaders met with the President and Past-President of URSI at the January 2026 NRSM to outline the changes that were to come. In January and February 2026, USFRS Directors met with representatives of NSF and NAS to map out a transition path where USFRS would assume the role of US adhering body to URSI, replacing NAS. The result was the creation of a partnership between NSF and USFRS, which is expected to be formalized in a Memorandum of Intent in the spring of 2026. NSF will continue to pay the annual US dues to URSI, while USFRS will assume the logistical and financial oversight of the USNC-URSI.

On 18 February 2026, NAS formally withdrew as the US adhering body to URSI. USFRS Directors immediately sent a formal request to the URSI President to assume that role and inform him USFRS would assume oversight of the USNC-URSI moving forward. The URSI President and Secretary General responded jointly on 3 March 2026, formally recognizing USFRS as the US adhering body to URSI.