The US research enterprise too heavily centers on elite research institutions, and fails individual researchers with bold ideas, suggests the White House Office of Science and Technology in a new report. The office recommends sweeping changes to where federal funding is spent and how it should be awarded.
Released on July 21, the Science: A New Golden Age report seeks to update Vannevar Bush’s landmark 1945 report Science: The Endless Frontier for the modern era. In the report, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios argues that today’s scientific landscape — shaped by AI, global competition, and private-sector investment — requires a fundamental redesign of how the federal government funds research.
Also on July 21, Kratsios and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought jointly published a memorandum on the Trump administration’s R&D budget priorities for fiscal year 2028. The memo instructs science agencies to incorporate the administration’s priorities into their forthcoming budget requests, as well as develop implementation plans within 90 days for a series of “R&D priority practices.” Those include:
Developing new research funding mechanisms; Identifying and supporting top tech talent through, for example, early career and STEM-learning opportunities; Boosting the “science of science-funding” to evaluate which programs have the greatest impact; And collaborating with industry to drive greater private investment in R&D.
The memo directs agencies to rebalance their portfolios toward foundational research, and prioritize physical science over life science. Many of the administration’s priorities, including AI and nuclear fission, are dependent on computer science, physical science, and engineering, but the report notes that the latter two fields’ share of the federal research portfolio has declined over time, even as their strategic importance has grown.
So the new drug and cancer vaccine clinical trials at the not for profit major cancer centers will be cancelled, and instead YouTube influencers claiming ivermectin cures all cancer will get their funding.
Oh wait - physical science, so more money to oil and gas executives and tech bros?“Individual researchers”? Like those with fringe ideas that prevent them from joining those elite research institutes? Or like those who “prove” links between vaccination and autism, or “prove” that horse dewormer ist a genuine cure-it-all?
More money to corruption!
“individual researchers with bold ideas” will mysteriously turn out to be republican techbros
Horse trans, get 'em while they’re hot
I mean:
“Released on July 21, the Science: A New Golden Age report seeks to update Vannevar Bush’s landmark 1945 report Science: The Endless Frontier for the modern era. In the report, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios argues that today’s scientific landscape — shaped by AI, global competition, and private-sector investment — requires a fundamental redesign of how the federal government funds research.”
sooooo. in 1945 a report talking about ai and global competition was written. was this written by ai (the government thing or its press release)
I’d guess that the 1945 report was sound, although I haven’t read it. Vannevar Bush was a bright guy who came within a hair of predicting the modern Web at around the same time. He almost certainly didn’t mention AI in his report, since even expert systems and such were science fiction back then.
The press release and the modern report? Both total garbage, I’m sure, regardless of whether they were written by an LLM or an overworked intern.
The memo directs agencies to rebalance their portfolios toward foundational research, and prioritize physical science over life science.
I mean yeah, why not. Listening to Peter Thiel’s hand puppet has certainly made America great so far.
Who needs funding for life science research when we got parasites and diarrhea outbreaks? Every American a walking incubator at this point.
