WEEK OF OCT 14, 2024

What’s Ahead

An anechoic chamber — A National Institute of Standards and Technology anechoic chamber, designed to obtain accurate measurements of the radiofrequency waves used in wireless communications.

NIST

White House releases National Spectrum Research and Development Plan

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy published its National Spectrum Research and Development Plan on Oct. 9. The strategy outlines priorities for fundamental and applied spectrum research, as well as strategies for the public and private sector to work together to maximize the usefulness of the U.S.’s finite radio frequency spectrum, which is used in a wide range of wireless communications.

Most of the goals described in the strategy support the goal of dynamic spectrum sharing – an emerging technology that would allow users in the same geographic area to use the same electromagnetic frequency without interfering with each other. Dynamic spectrum sharing was identified as a critical area of development in the National Spectrum Strategy published in November 2023.

The strategy also identifies several interagency “spectrum R&D accelerators” including data collection, spectrum sharing simulation environments, and testbeds. The report does not, however, share details on where these accelerators should be based nor how they would be funded.

While the Biden administration has expressed a desire to more effectively manage finite spectrum bands, Congress has yet to reinstate the Federal Communication Commission’s spectrum auction authority, which lapsed in March 2023. Earlier this year, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, introduced a bill that would use spectrum auction funds to finance CHIPS and Science Act programs . The bill has not made any progress since April.

OSTP releases prelude to National Science and Technology Strategy

The Office of Science and Technology Policy released its first Quadrennial Science and Technology Review on Sept. 30. The report is the prelude to the National Science and Technology Strategy that OSTP is set to produce in conjunction with the National Science and Technology Council. Both documents are requirements created by the CHIPS and Science Act. The review finds that the U.S. science and technology ecosystem is “robust” and “unparalleled in size, scope, and impact” but is increasingly challenged by growing competition from China and deteriorating research infrastructure.

The report details the distribution of the federal R&D budget, which in 2023 consisted of $97 billion for research (both basic and applied) and $98 billion for development. It adds that inadequate funding for facility modernization and upkeep has led to significant infrastructure challenges at U.S. research facilities, echoing the findings of other reports on this topic. National security, climate change, public health, and AI are recommended as areas of future R&D focus. The report asserts that “the most pressing strategic challenge to our national security is from powers that layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy.” It goes on to specifically highlight China as “the only competitor to the U.S. with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to advance that objective.”

Experts discuss priorities and challenges ahead for NDEA 2.0

Plans to create a national STEM talent strategy modeled on the National Defense Education Act of 1958 are taking shape, but plenty of work remains to make an NDEA 2.0 a reality, members of the National Academies Board on Higher Education and Workforce acknowledged during an open meeting on Oct. 11.

Darío Gil, chair of the National Science Board and director of IBM Research, said during the meeting that the forthcoming administration change presents a “moment of opportunity to address the domestic STEM talent crisis.” Gil said the National Science Board plans to complete a draft proposal for an NDEA 2.0 this December.

“We have seen growing bipartisan interest from Congress, and I think the next administration, regardless of election outcome, could embrace it,” Gil said. He said the scale of the current talent gap is so large that “half measures and band-aids are not going to meet the moment,” adding that NSB is “imagining legislation on the scale of $20 billion over five years.”

While members of the National Academies workforce board expressed broad support for an NDEA 2.0, some acknowledged the challenge of securing sufficient funding and garnering bipartisan support for diversity initiatives. To build support for an NDEA 2.0, board members suggested focusing on industry workforce needs, securing match funding from states, and highlighting the need for the U.S. to push back against competition from China.

Hurricanes disrupt research and NASA probe launch

NASA delayed the launch of its Europa Clipper probe due to Hurricane Milton last week. The probe was originally set to launch on Oct. 10, but the agency postponed the launch and closed Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the storm. The launch was rescheduled for today and is in progress as of publication. Europa Clipper is slated to arrive in the Jupiter system in 2030 to study the icy moon Europa. NASA hopes the mission will confirm research indicating that Europa possesses a subsurface saltwater ocean, which would be among the top candidates in the solar system for harboring extraterrestrial life.

Hurricanes Milton and Helene forced university closures across southern states over the past two weeks and disrupted research at numerous institutions, including the National Centers for Environmental Information. No new hurricanes are presently forecast to form or make landfall in the U.S., but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted in May that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which runs until Nov. 30, would be “above normal.” Both Milton and Helene formed and strengthened unusually quickly, with both making landfall as Category 3 and Category 4 hurricanes, respectively, just days after being first detected.

Also on our radar

The National Academies will hold a summit this week on preventing sexual harassment in higher education. The agenda includes a session examining the impact of collective bargaining efforts by graduate students.

CERN announced last week that it will extend the Large Hadron Collider’s current research run and delay a planned shutdown by seven and a half months. The shutdown, which will be used to deploy upgrades to the LHC, has also been extended by four months, meaning the LHC’s next research run will not begin until mid-2030.
The National Science Foundation is holding its annual conference dedicated to its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) this week. Some members of Congress have criticized a restructuring of the program in recent months.
OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar said it is time for the U.S. government to “go big” on R&D spending during a conversation with the American Enterprise Institute on Oct. 8. Prabhakar explained that, without sufficient funding for research, agencies such as NIST (which she once led) cannot complete much-needed construction work, and the potential of AI and other emerging technologies cannot be fully realized.