By Eliana Perlmutter
A new administration and Congress in Washington, D.C., mean new priorities for the federal agencies that support applied math and computational science. Over the last few months, the SIAM Committee on Science Policy has been championing federal support for these research areas. President Biden supports research and development funding at non-defense agencies; this is reflected in his first budget proposal to Congress, which was released with full details on May 28, 2021. The Biden administration’s policy and budget priorities include public health, climate and clean energy, innovation, education, and racial equity.
In April, the SIAM Committee on Science Policy and Science Policy Fellowship recipients conducted virtual meetings with congressional offices to advocate for robust funding to support applied mathematics and computational science research at the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), and National Institutes of Health (NIH). SIAM representatives also engaged in discussions about agency updates with relevant federal agency leaders, including Juan Meza, Director of the Division of Mathematical Sciences at NSF; Barbara Helland, Associate Director of the Office of Science’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program at DOE; Bindu Nair, Director of DOD’s Basic Research Office; and Jean-Luc Cambier, Program Director of DOD’s Basic Research Office.
After these discussions about the Biden administration’s initial plan and priorities, the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget request offered additional details. Unrestrained by legally imposed budget caps for the first time in a decade, President Biden proposed an 18 percent boost in discretionary spending for a total of $1.522 trillion. This budget is a sharp contrast to the Trump administration, which prioritized defense spending and proposed major cuts to other domestic programs. Overall, the FY 2022 budget would significantly increase funding for research and development programs that are of interest to the mathematics and computational science communities. The notable exception is a 13 percent proposed cut to basic research within the DOD Science and Technology (S&T) programs. Some budget proposals require the creation of new agencies, which will be a bigger lift in the narrowly divided Congress. Other proposed increases are consistent with existing legislation to invest in research and development for national competitiveness.
Though the budget proposal would increase funding for fundamental research at key science agencies, it focuses primarily on use-inspired research, translation, and the development and deployment of technology. For example, the proposal would establish a new NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP); create a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) within NIH; allocate $500 million for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C); and increase funding for applied energy development and demonstration projects at DOE by $5.8 billion. The budget proposal would also continue to grow investments that began under the Trump administration for emerging technology areas, such as quantum information science (QIS), artificial intelligence (AI), microelectronics, and advanced computing.
The Biden administration proposes major increases across NSF in both administration research and education priority areas, as well as core programs. Overall, Research and Related Activities would grow by 18 percent from the FY 2021 estimated level, while Education and Human Resources would grow by 16 percent. The budget request recommends an increase of $110 million—or seven percent—for the Mathematical & Physical Sciences Directorate and an increase of 16 million—or 6.5 percent—for the Division of Mathematical Sciences. If enacted by Congress, the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Computer & Information Science & Engineering Directorate would see an increase of $22 million, or 9.4 percent. Across both the new Directorate for TIP and existing NSF directorates, NSF would continue to prioritize critical technologies like AI, QIS, wireless research, advanced manufacturing, and biotechnology while simultaneously adding additional priorities in climate change and clean energy research.
The Biden administration’s FY 2022 budget request would provide the DOE’s ASCR program office with $1.04 billion, a $25 million—or 2.5 percent—increase from the FY 2021 enacted level. As the demands of the Exascale Computing Project (ECP) continue their planned decrease, the request for ASCR re-emphasizes foundational research to advance AI, QIS, and strategic computing initiatives that will increase the competitive advantage of U.S. industry. It also includes a new focus to address climate change and develop a clean energy future. Within ASCR, the proposal would provide the Mathematical, Computational, and Computer Science Research account with a $33 million—or 12.7 percent—increase above the FY 2021 enacted level. This account includes $51 million—a five percent increase—for Applied Mathematics Research activities that conduct basic research in scalable algorithms and libraries; multiscale and multi-physics modeling; and integration of scientific modeling, data, and AI/machine learning with advanced computing to promote efficient data analysis.
The request also recommends $86 million—a 12.9 percent increase—for Computational Partnerships, which primarily support the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program and in FY 2022 would support plans for the transition of mission-critical ECP applications into SciDAC. Furthermore, the administration would provide an unspecified increase for the Computational Science Graduate Fellowship program to fund additional fellows and expand participation from members of underrepresented groups.
The budget request suggests funding basic research (6.1) at DOD at $2.3 billion, which is a 13 percent decrease from the FY 2021 enacted level. Overall, the S&T accounts (6.1-6.3) would see a $2.1 billion decrease; the administration instead prioritized advanced technology research and prototyping. This reflects DOD’s overall FY 2022 goal to deliver fieldable capabilities to troops more quickly and efficiently. The Army, Navy, and Air Force basic research accounts would respectively decrease by $79 million, $48.3 million, and $45.6 million when compared to FY 2021 enacted levels. Given these and other DOD cuts, the administration’s flat toplines for defense spending, and razor-thin Senate and House voting margins, Congress will likely struggle to add appropriations to make up for requested cuts.
The budget request would fund NIH at $52 billion in FY 2022, an increase of $9 billion—or 21 percent—above the FY 2021 enacted level. $6.5 billion of this proposed increase would help establish ARPA-H, the aforementioned entity within NIH that would use nontraditional research and development approaches to invest in highly innovative science that has the potential for transformative breakthroughs. If established, ARPA-H could reshape the nation’s biomedical research enterprise. The Biden administration would also invest in new research priorities that are related to climate change’s impacts on human health, in addition to research that aims to eliminate health disparities and improve health equity.
Given the whole-of-government interest in climate change, SIAM convened a task force to draft recommendations for Congress and federal agencies about areas of research and education that are related to climate change, environmental resilience, and clean energy and would benefit from involvement of the applied math and computational science communities. The resulting task force report includes recommendations for many agencies that are related to climate, energy, and resilience—including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Transportation—as well as agencies like NSF and DOE that are historically more connected to applied mathematicians and computational scientists. The timing of this report aligns with federal agency planning to develop and implement initiatives—such as a new internal NSF climate committee—that progress President Biden’s climate agenda, as well as efforts by the Democratic-led Congress to advance climate legislation while in the majority and in control of the presidency.
The FY 2022 budget request formally initiated the congressional appropriations process. However, the timing of passing final FY 2022 appropriations remains uncertain. Furthermore, the late start to the appropriations process increases the likelihood of a stop gap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, to avoid a government shutdown and continue to fund federal agencies beyond September 30 — the end of FY 2021. SIAM will stay abreast of the FY 2022 appropriations cycle and its impact, advocate for strong funding for applied mathematics and computational science programs at relevant agencies, and keep members informed.
Eliana Perlmutter is a government relations associate at Lewis-Burke Associates LLC.