CGS Sends Letter to White House on the Implementation of CHIPS and Science Act

On October 20, CGS sent a letter to Dr. Arati Prabhakar, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on the importance of investing in graduate education when implementing the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The CHIPS Act is said to be an “historic” and “once-in-a-generation investment in the nation’s semiconductor industry and scientific research and innovation enterprise. CGS shares this point of view and believes that the CHIPS and Science Act is a necessary step in the authorization of scientific research and education programs.

Like previous COMPETES Act legislation, the CHIPS Act authorizes robust increases in federal funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and other federal research agencies. The CHIPS Act also authorizes programs that promote the growth of the STEM and semiconductor workforces, as well as federal programs that benefit graduate STEM education and broadens access and participation for underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines. To broaden participation and access of women and underrepresented minorities, the CHIPS Act includes increased federal funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority-Serving Institutions, and emerging research institutions. The CHIPS Act also authorizes significant investments in the research infrastructure at these universities.

The Coalition for National Science Funding sent letters to appropriators and the administration regarding funding for the National Science Foundation. In the letter to appropriators, the coalition states the importance of completing appropriations for FY 2023 before the end of the calendar year and to fund NSF at the highest level possible, using the recently passed CHIPS and Science Act as a guide. The federal government is currently running on a continuing resolution after Congress did not pass appropriations by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2022.

The letter to the Biden Administration requests $15.65 billion in NSF research and education investments in FY 2024 as authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act. CNSF writes in the letter, “NSF needs funding to expand the geography of innovation and enable increased research capacity at emerging institutions, and many worthy STEM education and broadening participation programs are authorized that would help meet the Administration’s critical equity goals. New research infrastructure and instrumentation will require substantial investments and help address the Administration’s priorities in open science and community-engaged R&D. All of these new efforts must coexist with strong funding for NSF’s critical existing research, education, and infrastructure programs that power our STEM research and education ecosystems.”