Update on Research Funding via Federal Agencies June 15, 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
STEM Education Budget: FY22 Outcomes and FY23 Request
https://www.aip.org/fyi/2022/stem-education-fy22-outcomes-and-fy23-request
Congress provided steady or increased funding for major STEM education programs across the federal government in fiscal year 2022, though the levels generally fall short of the Biden administration’s budget request and initial proposals put forward by House and Senate appropriators. The administration is once again requesting large boosts for STEM education programs in fiscal year 2023, seeking particularly large increases for diversity and inclusion initiatives across science agencies. Highlights for selected programs are summarized.
Biden’s $52 Billion Chips Plan Stuck: Lawmakers Eye Election
Long-stalled legislation to boost US semiconductor manufacturing and strengthen competitiveness against China risks collapsing in Congress, with Republicans growing skeptical of the measure as midterm elections near and Democrats focusing instead on gun violence. Time is running short for Congress to act on it before lawmakers depart for a summer recess and then the campaign trail, with many issues unresolved. The legislation would provide billions of dollars to boost research and development with an eye toward creating new technologies to help the US stay ahead of a rising China. A key portion of the bill would appropriate $52 billion for domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Supporters say that without passage, the US will fall further behind other countries in making the components of everything from fighter jets to vacuum cleaners, putting it at the mercy of overseas supply chains...Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat who faces a tough re-election contest, said he’d like the White House to get more involved, especially with the House.
Appropriations Committee Announces Fiscal Year 2023 Markup Schedule
Beginning this week, the House Appropriations Committee is holding a series of meetings to advance its fiscal year 2023 spending proposals for federal agencies, despite Democratic and Republican leaders not yet agreeing on budget limits for the year. Subcommittee and Full Committee markups for the 12 annual appropriations bills are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, June 15, and conclude on Thursday, June 30. The subcommittees with jurisdiction over most non-defense science agencies will advance their proposals next week and the full committee will take them up the following week. The proposals will be subject to significant revision, as any final legislation will require the support of at least 10 Republican senators to avoid a filibuster.
Guidance On Scientific and Technological Cooperation with the Russian Federation for U.S. Government and U.S. Government Affiliated Organizations
On 6/11/22, the White House announced that the U.S. government has taken active measures to limit bilateral science and technology research cooperation with the Russian government. Consistent with U.S. domestic and international law, they will wind down institutional, administrative, funding, and personnel relationships and research collaborations in the fields of science and technology with Russian government-affiliated research institutions and individuals who continue to be employed by or work under the direction of those institutions. The White House had been silent on the subject of restricting scientific exchange with Russia until now.
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Broadening Participation in STEM - Introducing GRANTED
https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/broadening-participation/introducing-granted
For FY2023, NSF is developing a new initiative: Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED). GRANTED focuses on addressing systemic barriers within the nation’s research enterprise by improving research support and service capacity at emerging, developing and underserved research institutions. Funding opportunities through the initiative will focus on partnerships, leveraging existing talent among research support staff at more well-resourced institutions to build capacity at emerging and developing research institutions.
Researchers criticize Senate plan to steer more NSF funding to 'have not' states
Top research universities in just a handful of U.S. states conduct the majority of research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), while institutions in half the country receive only crumbs.
The U.S. Senate wants NSF to correct that longstanding geographic imbalance. But its solution—to immediately allocate 20% of NSF’s budget to what is currently a small program serving those have-not states—is drawing fierce opposition from many universities and nearly 100 members of Congress.
“Arbitrarily walling off a sizable percentage of a science agency’s budget from a sizable majority of the country’s research institutions would fundamentally reduce the entire nation’s scientific capacity,” 18 senators and 78 members of the House of Representatives warned in a letter opposing the Senate plan that was released last week. NSF would be forced to shrink existing programs, they say, a move that would hurt many less research-intensive institutions located outside of have-not states. There are better ways to address the current geographic imbalance, they add.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
DARPA budget request seeks to bolster ‘critical’ defense technologies
DARPA’s detailed fiscal 2023 budget plan was released April 25, nearly a month after the Department of Defense unveiled its top-level spending request. The budget proposal shows a $250 million increase over the $3.8 billion Congress appropriated for DARPA in fiscal 2022, largely driven by an $883 million ask for microelectronics, $414 million for biotech programs and $412 million for AI efforts.
Department of Defense (DoD)
2023 Science, Technology Budget a Mixed Bag
Basic research for the entire Defense Department is nearly $2.4 billion, a 4 percent increase... Microelectronics — particularly onshoring — 5G, hypersonics, directed energy and integrated sensing and cyber top the list based on funding.
Department of Energy (DoE)
DOE Applied Energy Budget: FY22 Outcomes and FY23 Request
https://www.aip.org/fyi/2022/doe-applied-energy-budget-fy22-outcomes-and-fy23-request
For fiscal year 2023, the administration is again requesting exceptionally large increases for some programs, especially those in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Unlike last year, the administration also seeks a major expansion of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy and proposes that it house efforts previously envisioned for a separate climate-oriented ARPA, which Congress ultimately declined to create.
DOE Launches Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's $8 Billion Program for Clean Hydrogen Hubs Across U.S.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released a Notice of Intent (NOI) to fund the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s $8 billion program to develop regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) across America. H2Hubs will create networks of hydrogen producers, consumers, and local connective infrastructure to accelerate the use of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier. The production, processing, delivery, storage, and end-use of clean hydrogen, including innovative uses in the industrial sector, is crucial to DOE’s strategy for achieving President Biden’s goal of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Psyche launch delay forcing revamp of rideshare mission
https://spacenews.com/psyche-launch-delay-forcing-revamp-of-rideshare-mission/
A delay in the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is forcing Janus, another asteroid mission hitching a ride to revise its plans. NASA selected Janus as one of three missions in its Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration, or SIMPLEx, program of low-cost planetary science smallsat missions, with a cost cap of $55 million each. All three have now suffered issues with their plans to launch as rideshare payloads. There are no plans, though, to take Janus off the Psyche launch and find an alternative means to space.
2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey: Astrobiology and Other Emerging Priorities
Released this spring, the latest decadal survey for planetary science is the first to also assess astrobiology as a distinct but related field. The topic occupies three full chapters and features in others, reflecting the increasing importance of the search for life beyond Earth in motivating the selection and design of planetary science missions.
The survey report also offers strategies for interweaving scientific research with crewed space exploration and for defending the Earth from asteroids and other near-Earth objects (NEOs). These two subjects have recently grown in prominence as NASA’s Artemis campaign has put plans in motion for landing astronauts on the Moon and as planetary defense has become a more important focus within NASA’s Planetary Science Division.
In addition, this is the first iteration of the survey to examine in detail the state of the planetary science profession, following the lead of last year’s survey for astronomy and astrophysics. The report calls for urgent attention to improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, finding there has been a “shocking” lack of progress in increasing the field’s racial and ethnic diversity over the past decade.
Department of Transportation (DOT)
President Biden and U.S. Department of Transportation Announce $450 Million to Fund up to 35 University Transportation Centers
As part of its University Transportation Centers (UTC) program, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking applications from universities for up to 35 UTC awards, with total funding of $450 million for the 5-year period from 2022 through 2026. Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), DOT intends to select up to five National UTCs, 10 Regional UTCs, and up to 20 Tier 1 UTCs, each of which will conduct a combination of research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer and implementation activities. This NOFO is open through 8/25/22. Letters of Intent are requested by 7/1/22.