Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2023-51

NSF: Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI); Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG); Partnerships for Research Innovation in the Mathematical Sciences (PRIMES); Partnerships in Astronomy & Astrophysics Research and Education (PAARE); Partnerships for Research and Education in Physics (PREP); Emerging Mathematics in Biology (eMB); Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM); NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM); Improving Undergraduate STEM Education - Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (IUSE-AID)

NIH: Centers of Excellence for Translational Research (CETR) (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed); Undergraduate Research Education Program (UP) to Enhance Diversity in the Environmental Health Sciences (R25); BRAIN Initiative: Brain-Behavior Quantification and Synchronization – Transformative and Integrative Models of Behavior at the Organismal Level (R34)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Minerva Research Initiative - University Research; DEVCOM ARL HBCU/MI Research Partnerships; Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2024; The Department of Defense (DOD) Fiscal Year 2025 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

Department of Energy: Early Career Research Program; Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Studies 4 (SEEDS 4); Grid-Enhancing Data Analytics Demonstrations for Operations, Monitoring and Control; Bioimaging Research Approaches for the Bioeconomy & the Environment

NASA: ROSES 2023: A.6 Carbon Monitoring System; ROSES 2023: A.58 Advanced Information Systems Technology; MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO)

National Endowment of Humanities: Collaborative Research; Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence

House lawmakers press for transparency in NIST’s new AI grant funding: House lawmakers from the Science, Space and Technology Committee intend to learn more about how the new Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute within the National Institute of Standards and Technology will function, particularly regarding the risks associated with fledgling AI systems.  A Dec. 14 letter from a bipartisan group spearheaded by Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., to NIST Director Laurie Locascio expresses concern about the AISI potentially funding organizations outside of the government where research transparency is not guaranteed. “We applaud the NIST for its important efforts to guide the responsible development and deployment of trustworthy artificial intelligence,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, the current state of the AI safety research field creates challenges for NIST as it navigates its leadership role on the issue.” NIST’s leadership as the federal government’s AI research and standards quarterback was cemented in President Joe Biden’s October AI executive order, which delegated multiple new tasks and initiatives under the purview of the agency. AISI is one of the new initiatives within NIST that aims to help drive both AI innovation and policy at a federal level. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Government’s quantum efforts are shifting to a near-term strategy: Proposed updates to the federal government’s legal framework on quantum technology and agency research and development efforts have both moved to prioritize the near-term impacts of what has long been seen as a still-emerging technology. On Thursday, government officials spoke in Palo Alto about the growing presence of quantum information systems research and development at a federal level, illuminating both the congressional and agency-led initiatives that stand to push the government’s QIST agenda further. Featured in a plenary meeting discussion hosted by the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, Alan McQuinn, a staff member on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, detailed the strong bipartisan effort to reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative Act.  McQuinn said that as the House worked to update the bill, which was passed in committee and is eligible to go to the House floor for a vote in the coming months, lawmakers intend the legislation to more broadly update the government’s quantum efforts. Following over 3,000 comments from stakeholders on the legislation, McQuinn said the reauthorization adds updates to scientific definitions and focuses on investing in near-term quantum sciences applications. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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First CHIPS Act award signals start of U.S. semiconductor push: The Commerce Department chose a major defense hardware maker as recipient number one of CHIPS For America grant money, which certainly will go across multiple industries that are of importance to public sector. t admittedly is not science to categorize companies in the government technology market, but in the bigger picture I tend to think of them in three buckets. One of course is the contractors whose majority of revenue is in direct government work. A second being companies that are global and commercial in nature, but have a significant portfolio of direct government contracts. The third is vendors in the channel largely without prime government contracts, but whose primary customers are in the first two categories and implement technologies for government environments. Few technology areas cut across all three of those categories like computer chips, given how just about everything of importance in the world runs on them. That shortage is why the Biden administration and Commerce Department in particular are undertaking the $52 billion "CHIPS For America" program to revitalize semiconductor research, development and manufacturing in the U.S.

BAE Systems Inc. is official recipient number one of those grants, having been awarded $35 million this week to modernize a microelectronics center in Nashua, New Hampshire, that produces chips for big-ticket defense programs such as the F-35 fighter jet.

IBM, Micron, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron and others are involved in a separate $10 billion initiative to build a new semiconductor R&D complex in Albany, New York. That facility will be a centerpiece of New York state's push to get some of the funding.

All three categories of companies, including and especially the vendors, are represented in both of those announcements. That is a reminder of how important chips are to the economy and society, plus highlight the industrial capacity many believe is needed to boost production. More information is posted on the NextGov website.