Act (GPRA) of 1993. The NSF plan avoided prescriptive quantitative metrics and retained a discipline-based organization focused on funding excellent basic research, with expert peer review evaluation as the main criterion for success. On the programmatic side, the agency realigned and re-competed the NSF Supercomputer Centers, in response to rapid changes in scientific computing, and the NSF Science and Technology Centers. NSF also established the CAREER program for young investigators and began implementation of the first federal agency electronic system for proposal submission and review. During Lane's tenure, the NSF created the major research equipment budget line, which supported several construction projects, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), the first GEMINI telescope, and the new Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station, part of the U.S. Antarctic Program. In response to employee needs, NSF established the first child-development center for its personnel. In April 1998, at one of Lane's last Congressional hearings as NSF Director, when asked to speculate on the future, he said: "If I were asked for an area of science and engineering that will most likely produce the breakthroughs of tomorrow I would point to nanoscale science and engineering, often called simply 'nanotechnology'." White House Office of Science and Technology Policy In August 1998, Lane was appointed President Bill Clinton's science advisor, a dual position as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House OSTP, the latter requiring Senate confirmation. As science advisor to President Clinton, Lane worked to promote the Administration's science and technology initiatives and, specifically, championed the advancement of basic scientific research in the U.S. During Lane's tenure, the White House OSTP dealt with policies related to stem cell research, food safety, missile defense, climate change, the U.S. space program. (e.g., launch of the first elements of the International Space Station), and the Human Genome Project, (e.g., release of the first draft sequence of the human genome), the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and international cooperation in science and technology. Current work Serving until the end of the Clinton administration, Lane returned to Rice in 2001 as the institution's first University Professor, also serving as Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Senior Fellow of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. He retired from his faculty positions as Malcolm Gillis University Professor and Professor of Physics and Astronomy on January 1, 2015. Lane continues to serves as Senior Fellow in