Update on Research Funding via Federal Agencies December 01, 2021
Research Development's Strategic Intelligence team monitors the federal budget and funding landscape and produces this memo on a bi-weekly basis to share information that may impact ASU research.
Science Policy Legislation
ENSURING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN MICROELECTRONICS
https://science.house.gov/hearings/ensuring-american-leadership-in-microelectronics
The House Science Committee is holding a hearing on Thursday, December 2nd, on “ensuring American leadership in microelectronics.” While the Senate has proposed to allocate $52 billion to the initiative over five years via the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, the House has yet to follow suit.
Congress the Week of November 22, 2021
https://www.aip.org/fyi/fyi-this-week/week-november-22-2021
The House and Senate return this week to a large helping of pressing legislative business. Most immediately, the stopgap measure currently funding the federal government expires on Dec. 3, and Congress is expected to pass another to buy time to complete negotiations on the federal budget for fiscal year 2022. The next stopgap is likely to last a few weeks, though the lack of progress on a final deal has led some lawmakers to suggest Congress may ultimately resort to a full-year stopgap that would mostly leave agency budgets at their current levels for the rest of the fiscal year.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Two Upcoming Events on Using Cohort Models to Enhance Diversity
The NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD) Office is hosting a seminar and virtual forum on faculty cohort recruitment programs and other evidence-based strategies as tools to foster diversity. The first event will be on December 8, while the second will be in February 2022 (date TBD). Both events are open to NIH staff and the public.
Former DARPA director: Biden’s new science agency should be independent, not an NIH office
The former director of DARPA, the Pentagon’s high-stakes research arm, says that for an equivalent health care agency to succeed, it should be fully separated from the National Institutes of Health.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
US-Switzerland science agencies sign collaboration to advance research and innovation efforts
https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/announcements/111921.jsp
The U.S. NSF and the Swiss National Science Foundation, or SNSF, signed a memorandum of understanding on 11/19/2021 to foster and support collaborative international research. The new agreement establishes the framework to identify and develop mechanisms that encourage collaboration between the U.S. and Swiss research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed.
High-speed internet could be coming to Antarctica
https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/23/22765471/antarctica-internet-mcmurdo-station-research
On a volcanic rock just off the coast of Antarctica, McMurdo Station sees up to 1,000 visitors in the Antarctic summer from October to February, who travel here to conduct research on topics ranging from climate to ocean science – but it is currently lacking high-speed internet. Earlier this year, the NSF began seriously exploring the possibility of building a fiber optic cable that would travel along the seafloor from Antarctica to neighboring New Zealand or Australia. The next step in making Antarctica’s high-speed internet upgrade a reality is a formal desktop and engineering design study that NSF will be conducting with assistance from the Department of Defense.
Department of Commerce (DOC)
FY22 Budget Outlook: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
https://www.aip.org/fyi/2021/fy22-budget-outlook-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration
Outside of the regular appropriations process, NOAA will receive additional funding through special spending legislation. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Congress just passed will provide nearly $3 billion for NOAA across five years, allocated mostly to environmental protection and restoration activities. The latest version of House Democrats’ Build Back Better Act, which they aim to pass using Congress’ reconciliation process, would provide a further $9.2 billion over five years, of which $860 million is split between research grants, data and computing infrastructure, and climate education and services.
Department of Defense (DoD)
The NDAA Likely Won't Become Law Until 2022. That's "Not the End of The World."
It’s looking more and more likely that the annual defense policy bill will not become law in 2021. A Senate motion to end debate on the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act failed on Monday by a vote of 41-51; it needed 60 ayes to set up a vote for final passage. All Republicans who voted rejected the procedural step forward. They were joined by five liberal lawmakers...“The likelihood of the NDAA being pushed into January is getting higher and higher, which is not the end of the world,” said Todd Harrison, the director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Department of Energy (DoE)
U.S. Department of Energy Announces $45 Million in Carbon Storage Technologies for Building Materials
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced up to $45 million to support the development of technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structures. With carbon storing building materials often being scarce, expensive, and geographically limited, DOE is pioneering technologies that overcome these barriers to lower or eliminate emissions associated with their production. This will also increase the total amount of carbon stored in buildings to make them net carbon negative and contribute to President Biden’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. **FOA
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
REQUEST A TECHWATCH MEETING WITH BARDA AND INTERAGENCY PARTNERS
https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/Request-BARDA-TechWatch-Meeting/
BARDA is opening TechWatch again to all threat areas; including COVID-19 technologies! Submit your TechWatch request now for the opportunity for the U.S. government experts to discuss your product, technology or capabilities and explore potential partnering opportunities.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet Earth
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-spacex-launch-dart-first-test-mission-to-defend-planet-earth
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, launched on 11/24/2021 at 1:21 a.m. EST on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART will impact a known asteroid that is not a threat to Earth. Its goal is to slightly change the asteroid’s motion in a way that can be accurately measured using ground-based telescopes.
US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
USDA Begins Accepting Applications for $1.15 Billion in Loans and Grants to Help People Living in Rural Communities Get Access to High-Speed Internet
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on 11/24/2021 that the Department has begun accepting applications for up to $1.15 billion in loans and grants to help people in rural areas get access to high-speed internet. This announcement comes on the heels of the recently enacted Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides another nearly $2 billion in additional funding for the ReConnect program. USDA anticipates issuing a new Notice of Funding Opportunity to make the additional funds in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law available in 2022.