DIVISION B- Research & Innovation

DIVISION B: Research & Innovation

DIVISION B: Research & Innovation

The America COMPETES Act of 2022 includes a suite of bipartisan science, innovative and technology bills led by: the National Science Foundation for the Future Act, the Department of Energy Office of Science for the Future Act, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology for the Future Act as well as several provisions to strengthen and expand our nation’s STEM workforce to better represent the diversity of our nation.

Department of Energy Science for the Future

Provides comprehensive authorization for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Office of Science accounts for over half of DOE’s non-defense R&D budget and supports a wide range of research facilities and activities that are critical to U.S. competitiveness and to enabling our clean energy future.
Ensures Office of Science construction projects and upgrades of major scientific user facilities have the resources they need to be completed on time and on budget and that program funding ensures support for core research is able to grow annually, independent of each project schedule.
Invests in the fight against climate change – supporting research to advance the next generation of energy storage, solar, hydrogen, critical materials, fusion energy, manufacturing, carbon removal, and bioenergy technologies, among many other areas.
Revitalizes nanoscience centers and bolsters support and guidance for research in emerging areas, including quantum information science and artificial intelligence.
Prepares the next generation of diverse clean energy researchers, scientists, and professionals.
Ensures coordination and collaboration with other relevant programs supported by DOE as well as with other relevant federal agencies.

National Institute of Standards and Technology for the Future

Supports important research and standards support for industries of the future, including quantum information science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, engineering biology, advanced communications technologies, semiconductors and more.
Authorizes a significant increase in funding and expansion of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, including to address the resilience of domestic supply chains, and authorizes two new competitively awarded Manufacturing USA Institutes.
Supports agency activities for software supply chain security to address SolarWinds style cyberattacks
Expands NIST testing and standards activities for biometric identification systems, including facial recognition systems, helping to identify and mitigate bias in such systems.
Expands NIST’s greenhouse gas measure activities to help governments and organizations accurately measure emissions at a local scale.
Authorizes funding to help NIST address its large construction and maintenance backlog.

National Science Foundation for Future

In carrying out its fundamental science and engineering mission over the past seven decades, the National Science Foundation has delivered enormous benefits to society and to our national competitiveness. This bill builds on that legacy and moves the NSF forward by comprehensively reauthorizing it and establishing a new directorate, the Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions (SES), to accelerate collaborative, purpose-driven R&D to advance solutions to pressing societal challenges including climate change and environmental sustainability, global competitiveness, cybersecurity, national security, STEM education and workforce, and social and economic inequality.
- The House bill takes a “do no harm” approach to NSF’s seventy-year-old fundamental research and education mission, structuring the SES so that the NSF’s ongoing work is not put at risk by the creation of a new Directorate while also encouraging collaboration across the agency.
- The SES is formulated in this bill support new kinds of partnerships with the private sector, local communities and other diverse stakeholders use real-world problems as the inspiration for scientific research which will both strengthen our national competitiveness and ensure the benefits of technological leadership are enjoyed by more Americans.
Increases overall funding for the National Science Foundation and directs investments in critical researchenabling infrastructure, including the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure program, support for helium conservation equipment and a roadmap for meeting the research community’s growing need for advanced computing capabilities.
Supports the next generation of diverse STEM teachers, researchers, scientists, and professionals:
- Pre-K-12: Establishes a new initiative to support translational research and development to help scale up effective pre-K-12 STEM education innovations
- Undergraduate: Supports R&D to improve the alignment of undergraduate STEM education and training with workforce needs
- Graduate: Expands requirement for funding proposals to include a mentoring plan for graduate students and supports activities to help graduate students explore workforce opportunities in STEM fields

Bioeconomy Research and Development

Establishes a National Engineering Biology Research and Development Initiative to advance engineering biology research and to support risk research to address ethical, safety, security and other societal implications of engineering biology.
Requires an external review of ethical, legal, environmental, safety, security and societal issues related to engineering biology research and development by the National Academy of Sciences

Broadening Participation in Science

STEM Opportunities: Empowers Federal agencies and universities to identify and lower barriers to the recruitment, retention and advancement of women, minorities and other groups underrepresented in STEM studies and careers. Requires agencies to collect comprehensive demographic data on the grant review process and STEM faculty at U.S. universities. Provides supports for grant recipients who also have caregiving responsibilities.
Rural STEM Education Research: Provides for research and development to increase access to STEM education in rural schools and to provide teachers with the resources they need to teach more effectively. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to develop a prize competition to advance research and development of creative technologies for expanded broadband access.
MSI STEM Achievement: Provides for increased transparency, accountability and accessibility of Federal STEM education and research funding for MSIs – opening up greater opportunities for students to access STEM education and related careers.
Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science: Directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to issue uniform guidance to all Federal science agencies to implement reporting requirements for all grantees and to update these policies going forward – making clear that sexual harassment should be considered as important as research misconduct.

Other Science and Technology Provisions

Supporting Early-Career Researchers: Establishes a two-year pilot program within the NSF to support early career scientists to conduct research at the institution of their choice.
National Science and Technology Strategy: Directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to complete a comprehensive quadrennial review of the nation’s innovation landscape enabling a cross-cutting national science and technology strategy.
Energizing Technology Transfer Act: Allows universities and private sector companies the opportunity to capitalize on the Department of Energy’s research to accelerate the commercial application of clean energy technologies.
Regional Innovation Act: Establishes a regional technology and innovation hub program at the Department of Commerce – incentivizing collaborative partnerships between local governments, colleges and universities, private industry, non-profits and community organizations to promote and support regional technology and innovation hubs.
Microelectronics Research for Energy Innovation: Requires the Department of Energy to establish a program on the development, demonstration and commercial application of microelectronics to drive the nation’s global competitiveness in the field of microelectronics. Establishes up to four Microelectronic Science Research Centers to conduct mission driven research to address foundational challenges in the design, development and fabrication of microelectronics to facilitate the translation of research results to industry.