President Biden is expected to nominate Arati Prabhakar to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Alondra Nelson has been running OSTP on an interim basis since Eric Lander’s resignation earlier this year. She has served in prior Democratic administrations, as the director of the National Institute of Science and Technology under Bill Clinton and as the head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under Barack Obama.
Category: Biden Administration
ARPA-H Established Within NIH as Independent Entity
Earlier today, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra formally unveiled the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA) as an independent agency within the NIH. Along with that announced, Adam H. Russell was named as the Acting Deputy Director of the new organization.
The creation of ARPA-H, modeled on its counterparts at the Department of Defense (DARPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), has been a priority of the Biden Administration.
Read more about today’s announcements here.
FY2023 NOAA Congressional Budget Justification Available
Yesterday, NOAA made available its Congressional justification document for its FY2023 budget request. The document, available here, calls for:
- A total of $774.8 million for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the research office within NOAA.
- Within OAR, climate research programs would be funded at $256.6 million and climate cooperative institutes would be funded at $108.7 million.
- The base Sea Grant program would receive $76.3 million and the Sea Grant Aquaculture program would receive $13.3 million.
- Within the National Ocean Service, the IOOS Regional Observation Network would receive $40.5 million under the budget proposal.
NSF Hosts Virtual Grants Conference
The National Science Foundation will host a virtual grants conference the week of June 6-10, 2022.
The conference will cover:
• New programs and initiatives
• NSF Directorate sessions
• Future directions and strategies for national science policy
• Proposal preparation and the merit review process
• Award management topics
Sign up here to be notified when registration is open.
House Passes Omnibus, FY22 Chart Now Available
Yesterday the House passed an omnibus appropriations package for FY22, following negotiations between House and Senate appropriators. The final package includes modest increases for key scientific and higher education accounts. The Senate is expected to vote on the package quickly to send it to the President’s desk. Current government funding is set to expire on Friday, so another short continuing resolution will be necessary to allow the Senate to clear procedural steps.
A chart tracking key accounts relevant to UW is available here. Our office will post detailed updates as information becomes available. We will also discuss appropriations in more detail during our town hall on March 24th at noon PT (register here).