Update on Research Funding via Federal Agencies February 23, 2022
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
Congress races to clinch government funding deal
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/595016-congress-races-to-clinch-government-funding-deal
Congressional negotiators are moving quickly to try to finalize work on a sprawling package to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, though sticking points remain. Lawmakers have roughly three weeks to finish crafting — and ideally pass — a bill to fund the government through Sept. 30, after advancing the latest stopgap last week. That bill, which extends funding through March 11, marked the third time Congress has had to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded in the 2022 fiscal year. And while leaders have struggled to reach a broader, bipartisan agreement, negotiators are hopeful it'll be the last short-term fix.
Senate Clears A Third Stopgap FY2022 Funding Bill
https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/senate-clears-a-third-stopgap-fy2022-funding-bill/
On 2/17/2022, the Senate passed a new Continuing Resolution to keep the government operating through March 11. On 2/9/2022, top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees signaled that they agreed on a framework for all the bills and expect to pass them in a single “omnibus” package by the new deadline. This is the third CR for FY2022. The Fiscal Year 2022 began on 10/1/2021, but Congress has yet to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills. President Biden has not yet submitted his FY2023 request. It was due the first Monday in February, but considering the FY2022 funding levels are not settled, the delay is unsurprising.
Semiconductor Experts to Testify on Workforce Strategies
https://www.aip.org/fyi/fyi-this-week/week-february-14-2022
On Tuesday (2/15), the House Science Committee held a hearing on how to strengthen the U.S. microelectronics workforce, building on a hearing it held in December at which witnesses stressed the importance of federal support for semiconductor workforce-development programs. The committee has supported Congress’ recent semiconductor R&D push and developed provisions for the America COMPETES Act of 2022 that would supplement the CHIPS for America Act by expanding microelectronics research programs at the Department of Energy. The witnesses for this week’s hearing are Osama Awadelkarim, director of a nanotechnology education center at Penn State University; Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley; and Shari Liss, executive director of the SEMI Foundation, an industry-backed nonprofit organization that supports semiconductor workforce-diversity initiatives.
U.S. scientific research agencies tighten foreign affiliation rules
https://rollcall.com/2022/02/15/u-s-scientific-research-agencies-tighten-foreign-affiliation-rules/
U.S. research institutions and universities are gearing up to implement steps announced last month by the Biden administration to ensure that scientists seeking federal grants are not beholden to foreign governments or interests. The Government Accountability Office, which examined research security programs across federal grant-making institutions, noted in a 2020 report that in addition to financial conflict-of-interest issues, agencies also needed to consider nonfinancial interests that applicants may have with foreign institutions. Universities and researchers are waiting to see what types of nonfinancial interests might be included as federal agencies develop procedures, which may include a researcher getting an award or a plaque as a token of recognition.
President Biden announces OSTP leadership
President Joe Biden announced that Dr. Alondra Nelson will perform the duties of director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Dr. Francis Collins will perform the duties of Science Advisor to the President and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology until permanent leadership is nominated and confirmed. These appointments will allow OSTP and the President’s Science and Technology agenda to move seamlessly forward under proven leadership. Collins and Nelson replace outgoing Eric Lander, who resigned following accusations of bullying.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Connecting with Hispanic-Serving Institutions on a Proposed New NSF Directorate
https://www.nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=304445&org=NSF
The National Science Foundation (NSF) invites administrators and faculty from Hispanic-Serving Institutions to participate in a discussion about the concept of a new NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) that was included in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 President’s Budget Request for NSF. This discussion will be held virtually on February 25, 2022, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET.
NSF Continues Roadshow on Proposed Tech Directorate
https://www.aip.org/fyi/fyi-this-week/week-february-21-2022
As NSF works to build support for its proposed Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), the agency is kicking off a series of outreach sessions with administrators and faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and two-year institutions. Each event will include a focus on the TIP Directorate’s Regional Innovation Accelerators, which would seek to expand community capacity to conduct “use-inspired research, solutions-oriented” projects in a range of technology areas, such as artificial intelligence, quantum information science, advanced wireless, advanced manufacturing, and semiconductors, as well as other priority research areas such as climate change. The agency has requested $200 million in fiscal year 2022 to create up to 20 such accelerators, anticipating each would receive $10 million per year over 10 years.
‘Big Research’ splits over R&D packages
There is a split within academia on the wisdom of the Senate bill’s plan to set aside 20 percent of NSF’s research dollars for states that have historically received little R&D funding, primarily rural states. The Senate bill puts the program on track to expand nearly tenfold, to just under $2 billion per year — but doesn’t add any extra research dollars to NSF’s overall pot. The provision was spearheaded last year by Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee. The change is likely to funnel more federal research funding into universities in Mississippi and other rural states, but that money will likely come out of the pockets of research institutions in states like Massachusetts, California and Washington.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
DARPA screening for "risk" in researchers' foreign affiliations
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has implemented a review process for fundamental research projects that assesses risks posed by funding applicants’ affiliations with organizations in countries of concern...In conjunction with the memo announcing the program, the agency released a “risk rubric” that summarizes types of foreign affiliations and associations that would lead it to assign projects risk ratings ranging from “low” to “very high.”...The DARPA policy arrives at a time when many researchers are on edge due to the Justice Department’s high-profile prosecutions of scientists who allegedly failed to disclose ties they maintained with Chinese institutions. University officials have aired concerns that the situation has been exacerbated by ongoing uncertainty about how science agencies will use the information disclosed to them, pointing in part to the DARPA policy.
Department of Defense (DoD)
Defense appropriations likely to exceed fiscal 2022 NDAA levels
https://rollcall.com/2022/02/11/defense-appropriations-likely-to-exceed-fiscal-2022-ndaa-levels/
There is speculation that national defense and related programs would see a $30 billion boost above President Joe Biden’s budget request, or $5 billion more than even the fiscal 2022 defense authorization law outlined. Key congressional staff disputed that figure, which would amount to a nearly 6 percent boost for Pentagon and other security accounts compared with fiscal 2021. But Senate Appropriations ranking member Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., confirmed the final package would contain “more” defense spending than the 5 percent boost over the prior year contemplated in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Department of Energy (DoE)
DOE Optimizes Structure to Implement $62 Billion in Clean Energy Investments from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
The DOE announced on 2/9/2022 an organizational realignment to ensure that the Department has the structure needed to effectively implement the clean energy investments in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020. The new organizational structure establishes two Under Secretaries: one focused on fundamental science and clean energy innovation and the other focused on deploying clean infrastructure—supporting DOE’s ongoing work to achieve carbon-free electricity in the U.S. by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050.
Senate hearing addresses $8B for clean hydrogen R&D hubs
This week (Feb. 17), the Senate energy committee discussed new funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) implementation of hydrogen research and development projects using funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The infrastructure act provides DOE with $8 billion to create four regional clean hydrogen hubs, as well as $1 billion for clean hydrogen electrolysis demonstration projects and $500 million for R&D on the manufacturing processes and recycling methods for clean hydrogen development. During the hearing, witnesses spoke to the importance of innovation for helping to drive down costs while creating economic opportunities, and a DOE representative announced a forthcoming request for information (RFI) on the programs.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Why Musk’s biggest space gamble is freaking out his competitors
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/12/elon-musk-space-freaking-out-competitors-00008441
Elon Musk pledged that his spaceship, Starship, will make its first journey in the coming months. But NASA officials - and their longtime aerospace contractors - are watching with a mix of awe and horror. NASA and its major industry partners are simultaneously scrambling to complete their own moon vehicles: the Space Launch System mega-rocket and companion Orion capsule. But the program is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule - and, many would argue, generations behind SpaceX in innovation. That makes Starship, which conducted a successful flight to the edge of space last year, especially threatening to the contractors and their allies in Congress.
NASA outlines concerns about Starlink next-generation constellation in FCC letter
In a letter to the FCC on 2/8/2022, NASA says that SpaceX’s proposal for a second-generation Starlink constellation with 30,000 satellites could lead to a “significant increase” in potential collisions in low Earth orbit and interfere with the agency’s launches and scientific activities.