Alan T. Waterman, the first director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), often said that a sound federal policy for basic scientific research should have three elements: a research-projects system, fellowship and other education programs, and support for the development of research institutions. Reflecting on the independent federal agency's first decade of operations, Waterman thought it had done well in providing the first two elements but not the third: “.… the inadequacy of the resources available to our educational institutions is a national problem,” he wrote, “and one which the federal government must help to meet.”