White House Proposes Experimental Tests of Scientific Grantmaking Rules
White House Proposes Experimental Tests of Scientific Grantmaking Rules
On July 21, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy published the Science: A New Golden Age report and a memorandum on research and development budget priorities for fiscal year 2028. Agency heads with research and development budget authority of at least $3 billion in fiscal year 2026 must submit an action plan to the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Office of Management and Budget within 90 days. Agencies should incorporate these priorities into their fiscal year 2028 budget requests.
The US federal government spends about $200 billion a year on research and development. The report proposes testing the rules the government uses to select recipients of scientific funding.
To do this, the memorandum calls on agencies to expand metascience, the study of how agencies select and review applications, award grants, and obtain results. It proposes linking application data, reviewer scores, grant decisions, and subsequent outcomes in a single system. Agencies could then test an alternative selection method on part of the federal research portfolio and compare its subsequent outcomes with those produced by the standard method.
The proposals include portable fellowships that remain with researchers when they move to another organization, as well as rapid grants for preliminary and exploratory work. A rapid grant application would require only a few pages, and the decision would be made in less than a month. A “golden ticket” would allow an agency’s technical reviewer to recommend an unconventional application that the review panel did not support. The memorandum proposes studying, piloting, and evaluating new mechanisms, including the “golden ticket.”
AI for science can quickly propose a molecular target, a material, or an explanation of a biological process. A laboratory can then run an experiment to test the prediction. Science has already warned that AI may produce more science than people have time to verify. The report proposes combining models with open data, robotic laboratories, and reproducibility packages, which contain the data, code, and analysis conditions needed for another laboratory or program to reproduce a result.
The Genesis Mission is a federal AI for science program that brings together data, computing resources, and research instruments. In March, Argonne presented more than a dozen Genesis projects, including AI for enzyme research and a network of autonomous laboratories. On July 22, the White House announced more than $5 billion in federal commitments and 278 selected projects under the Genesis Mission.
One of the Genesis Mission’s goals is to “help Americans live longer, healthier lives.” To pursue this goal, the US Department of Health, Department of Energy, and Department of War plan to integrate data on molecules, genes, organismal traits, treatments, and real-world clinical practice. The aim is to identify new uses for existing drugs and bring new therapies to patients more quickly.