Nonetheless, the legislation raises serious questions. The new version creates a Chief Diversity Officer at NSF and invests in programs to support a diverse STEM workforce, in addition to building research capacity at a wide range of emerging research institutions. Provisions were removed which would have created a new Senate confirmed Deputy Director and Advisory Council, altering the governance structure of NSF, and renamed the agency. This new version of the bill incorporates important changes requested by the research advocacy community. Senators Schumer and Young first introduced the Endless Frontier Act in 2020. In addition to $100 billion for NSF, the fund would include over $12 billion for technology and manufacturing programs at the Department of Commerce. However, it requires that the new directorate use at least 15 percent of its funding to partner with the other directorates on basic and use-inspired research with implications for technology development.įunding for the new directorate would be held outside of NSF in an “Endless Frontier Fund” managed by the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The bill does not directly authorize funding increases across the other research directorates, including the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and Education and Human Resources Directorates which are underfunded. It would invest $100 billion over 5 years in a new Directorate for Technology and Innovation within NSF, focused on translational research to bridge the gap between basic science and technology commercialization.

Should it pass, the bill would have major implications for the National Science Foundation (NSF).

On April 21, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Todd Young (R-IN), Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) reintroduced the Endless Frontier Act, a $100 billion dollar proposal to ramp up investment in technology research and development aimed at countering China and ensuring American leadership in innovation.

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