Science Policy News from AIBS

Action Alert: Urge Your Representative to Support Robust NSF Funding

The House of Representatives has begun debating funding levels for federal programs for fiscal year (FY) 2027. Please show your support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by asking your Representative to sign a Dear Colleague Letter in support of robust funding for the agency in 2027.

NSF is the primary federal funding source for fundamental biological research at our nation's universities and colleges, allocating nearly 94% of its budget directly to research projects, facilities, and STEM education. In recent years, however, NSF funding has failed to keep pace with our nation's competitiveness needs. While the landmark CHIPS and Science Act demonstrated a bipartisan commitment to advancing U.S. science and innovation, actual appropriations continue to lag significantly behind authorized levels. Continued failure to meet these targets results in billions of dollars in lost opportunities for American discovery.

An effort is now underway in the House of Representatives to build support for the agency. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) is circulating a Dear Colleague Letter calling on Congress to provide robust funding for NSF in FY 2027 to ensure the U.S. remains a global leader in science and engineering.

Please take a few moments to ask your Representative to sign the Fitzpatrick Dear Colleague Letter. The deadline for Representatives to be added to the letter is COB on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. We have included a template letter for your convenience but you are encouraged to personalize the message.

Take action.

AIBS Endorses Bipartisan America's Living Library Act

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) has endorsed the America's Living Library Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Todd Young (R-IN) and Representatives Stephanie Bice (R-OK) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). The legislation recognizes biological data as a strategic national resource and aims to leverage the vast biodiversity of U.S. public lands to drive scientific and economic innovation.

The bill stems from a recommendation by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), on which the bill's lead sponsors serve as Commissioners. The NSCEB identified that while the U.S. National Park System covers 85 million acres of diverse climates and biodiversity, the nation has yet to fully leverage this wealth of biological data for innovation and national security.

Introduced last week, the bill would establish the America's Living Library Project, a pilot program within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to systematically collect, catalog, and sequence genomic data from species throughout the National Park System. By creating a publicly available, AI-ready database of genomic information from animals, plants, fungi, and microbes, the initiative will provide the foundational data necessary to fuel breakthroughs in medicine, agriculture, and industrial production.

AIBS joins a broad coalition of supporters, including the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), ConservAmerica, Ginkgo Bioworks, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the Natural Science Collections Alliance. The legislation is also cosponsored by Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chris Coons (D-DE), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

National Science Board Discusses NSF Staffing, Funding Priorities

At its February 25 meeting, the National Science Board, which sets policy for the National Science Foundation (NSF), received a briefing from agency leadership outlining significant operational changes and evolving funding priorities.

NSF officials told the board that the agency is seeking to rebuild its workforce after substantial reductions over the past year. According to Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham, staffing has fallen to roughly 1,300 employees--about a 35% decline compared with the previous year--which he said is "too low." He said "almost all" of NSF's staffing cuts "came through voluntary actions." While NSF hopes to hire additional staff, leaders indicated that any increases will likely align with the lower staffing levels envisioned in the Administration's FY 2026 budget request.

During the briefing, Cheatham and Acting NSF Director Brian Stone also described a shift in the agency's research priorities toward Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Information Science, reflecting direction from the White House. NSF has created a new interdisciplinary funding category called "frontier initiatives," which currently includes initiatives in those two areas. The officials indicated that these priorities are shaping staffing decisions as well, with contract extensions for temporary program officers--known as "rotators"--focused on individuals working in those fields.

Another operational change discussed at the meeting is a planned reduction in the number of NSF grant solicitations. The agency intends to cut the number of targeted funding opportunities from roughly 200 annually to 100 or fewer. NSF leaders said broader solicitations could reduce administrative burden for both staff and applicants. However, some board members expressed concern that consolidating solicitations could result in fewer scientists receiving awards overall, potentially limiting opportunities for early-career researchers.

An insightful exchange occurred when board member Roger Beachy, a plant virologist, asked how NSF might respond to a board recommendation to invest more in research aimed at lowering food costs. Stone suggested that the agency's ability to influence funding directions has shifted, emphasizing that NSF is now focused on demonstrating how its programs align with Administration priorities rather than independently pushing new research areas.

The meeting also highlighted the broader operational challenges facing the agency, including the absence of a Senate-confirmed director and the continued displacement of NSF staff from their former headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.

White House Delays Release of FY 2026 Science Funding

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reportedly delaying the release of congressionally appropriated fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding to several federal science agencies, slowing research spending even after Congress rejected proposed sweeping budget cuts. The delays have affected the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), raising concerns about disruptions to grantmaking and research operations.

The FY 2026 appropriations bills providing funding for NSF and NIH were signed into law on January 23 and February 3, respectively. However, NIH has not yet received authorization to spend its research funding, while NSF received approval to release research funds only recently. Typically, once appropriations legislation is enacted, agencies receive automatic 30-day spending authorizations while OMB reviews their detailed spending plans. This year, revised OMB guidance has limited those interim funds largely to essential expenses such as salaries and basic operations, slowing the release of research funding. According to Nature, OMB has not indicated when full funding authority will be granted.

The slowdown is already affecting research activity. NIH has issued roughly one-third as many new and competing grants in FY 2026 as it had at the same point in previous years, reflecting both delays in the release of appropriated funds and disruptions earlier in the fiscal year. Furthermore, delays in posting new funding opportunities at NIH are raising concerns that some major research programs may not be renewed until the next fiscal year. The slowdown stems from stricter internal approval requirements for Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) and a sharp reduction in the number of solicitations issued since 2025. Only 84 NOFOs have been posted over the past year, down from 787 the previous year, leaving hundreds of planned opportunities still in limbo. Researchers and former officials warn the combined disruptions could delay programs by a year or more and create funding gaps for large research initiatives.

At NASA, OMB has also imposed an unusual restriction preventing spending on ten specific science programs--including missions related to planetary exploration and Earth science--until the agency provides additional details on how the funds will be used. Advocacy groups and former officials described the move as atypical, noting that Congress had approved funding for the missions.

House Agriculture Committee Advances Farm Bill

The House Agriculture Committee has approved a new five-year farm bill that includes several provisions affecting federal agricultural research programs and priorities. The measure, titled the Food, Farm and National Security Act (H.R. 7567), passed the committee on March 5 by a 34-17 vote with support from all Republicans and seven Democrats. The bill now moves forward in Congress, with the Senate expected to develop its own version.

While much of the debate around the bill centered on pesticide regulations, nutrition programs, and renewable energy policy, the legislation also outlines updates to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research programs. It would reauthorize the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA), which funds high-risk, high-reward agricultural research that may be too uncertain for private investment. Although authorized at $50 million annually, the program has historically received far less funding through appropriations.

The bill would expand support for specialty crop research by allowing USDA to waive matching fund requirements for certain grants and by encouraging research focused on mechanization and automation. Other provisions emphasize environmental and climate-related research, including studies on soil health, drought and flooding impacts on agriculture, and the potential use of biochar to improve soil productivity while storing carbon. The proposal also calls for the creation of a national biochar research network to "understand how to use biochar productively to contribute to climate mitigation, crop production, resilience to extreme weather events, ecosystem and soil health, natural resource conservation, and farm profitability."

The bill would establish an Office of Biotechnology Policy at USDA, as recommended by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, to coordinate the department's efforts to advance biotechnology through research, development, regulations, labeling, commercialization, and trade. It also authorizes a new Center of Excellence focused on the development of "animal and plant biotechnologies that will increase agricultural productivity."

Additional research priorities include studying the effects of wildfire smoke on crops, improving long-term health of white oak trees used in products such as whiskey barrels, and advancing precision agriculture technologies that use satellite imagery and data analytics to optimize farm inputs. During committee markup, lawmakers also adopted an amendment directing the USDA to make food loss and waste a priority within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, the department's flagship competitive grants program.

Despite bipartisan support for several research provisions, the broader bill faces an uncertain path forward amid disputes over pesticide liability protections, renewable energy policies, and changes to nutrition assistance programs. The Senate Agriculture Committee has not yet released its own proposal, and negotiations between the chambers are expected before a final bill can be enacted.

NIST Proposes Restrictions on Foreign Researchers

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is reportedly considering new restrictions on foreign researchers working in its laboratories, raising concerns across the research community about potential impacts on scientific collaboration and workforce capacity.

According to reporting by the Boulder Reporting Lab, the agency has begun implementing measures that would limit international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to a maximum of three years at NIST. The move could affect nearly 500 foreign graduate students, postdoctoral assistants, and research scientists working at NIST facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado.

Reports also indicate that some foreign researchers have already faced new access restrictions, including limits on entering laboratories during evenings and weekends unless escorted by a federal employee. Researchers from certain "high-risk" countries--including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea--have been informed that their lab access is under review and could be terminated if they have worked at NIST for more than three years.

On February 17, NIST stated the policy is still under development and is intended to align with its updated research security guidance and a presidential memorandum focused on safeguarding U.S. science. However, scientists and former agency officials warn the restrictions could disrupt ongoing projects and reduce research capacity if large numbers of international researchers are forced to leave before completing their work.

Following the reports, Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter to NIST Acting Director Craig Burkhard seeking clarification about the policy and its implementation. The lawmakers requested documentation of the proposed changes and details on how the policy has been communicated internally, noting that a three-year limit could effectively prevent foreign students from completing doctoral research at NIST. The letter also criticized the agency for failing to respond to earlier inquiries sent in late January with a February deadline.

S&E Indicators Report Highlights Growth, Challenges in U.S. STEM Talent Pipeline

The recent Science and Engineering (S&E) Indicators release, STEM Talent: Education, Training, and Workforce, produced by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, provides a comprehensive snapshot of the U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) ecosystem using federal labor data, education surveys, and international assessments.

The report shows that STEM occupations remain a major component of the U.S. economy, with about 36 million workers--roughly one-quarter of the national workforce--employed in STEM fields in 2023. STEM jobs grew by 26% between 2013 and 2023, far exceeding the 9% growth seen in non-STEM occupations, and are projected to continue expanding over the next decade. In 2023, median earnings for full-time STEM workers ($76,000) were also higher than for non-STEM workers ($55,000). The indicators highlight the continued importance of international talent in the U.S. STEM workforce, with foreign-born workers representing about 22% of STEM employment.

The education pipeline feeding the workforce shows uneven recovery from pandemic-era disruptions. U.S. students have not fully rebounded in mathematics performance, with international assessments placing U.S. students in the middle tier for science but in the lower tier for math. Because high school mathematics achievement is strongly associated with later STEM degree completion, these trends may influence future workforce supply.

At the postsecondary level, STEM degree production continues to grow, particularly in science and engineering fields. Computer and information sciences saw especially rapid expansion at the bachelor's and master's levels. The United States remains the leading destination for internationally mobile students, although total international enrollment declined by 3% between 2017 and 2023 as other countries intensified talent recruitment.

Overall, the report portrays a STEM system that is expanding but faces persistent pressures across the education and training pipeline, reinforcing the importance of sustained investment in talent development from early education through advanced training.

UGA Bioinformatics Doctoral Student Selected for AIBS & SURA Public Policy Fellowship

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Southeastern Universities Research Association are pleased to announce that Olivia Asher has been selected for the 2026 AIBS & SURA Public Policy Fellowship. This professional development opportunity provides young scientists with valuable first-hand experience in science policy.

Olivia Asher is a Ph.D. candidate in bioinformatics at the University of Georgia (UGA), where she uses genomic sequencing and computational analysis to understand the interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, their microbiome, and their plant hosts. Passionate about public service and science-informed policy, she has gained significant experience collaborating with local advocacy group Science for Georgia on data center regulation and serving as a Policy and Event Coordinator for the Coalition of Athens Scientists, where she helped organize a town hall for local mayoral candidates. To further sharpen her advocacy skills, she completed the AIBS Writing for Impact and Influence course in 2025. The communication techniques she refined in this course directly led to her publishing a guest column in The Red and Black, a local newspaper in Athens.

Ms. Asher will work closely with AIBS and SURA policy staff in Washington, DC, this summer to gain first-hand experience with science policy and advocacy efforts that inform federal decision-making. Learn more.

Short Takes

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting comments on its Research Traineeship program monitoring system. Deadline to submit comments is March 31, 2026.
The NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) is holding a virtual office hour on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 1:00 PM ET with staff from the NSF Division of Grants and Agreements. Join the program to learn the ins and outs of award administration.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has established a new Science, Technical, and Innovation Board, which combines the mission and scope of the former Defense Science Board and Defense Innovation Board.
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) Opportunity Alliance (SOA) is organizing a webinar on March 26 at 12-1:30 PM ET, titled "From Risk to Resilience: Practical Guidance for Mission Driven Organizations to Sustain STEMM Education and Workforce Efforts." The program will cover law- and practice-informed guidance for continuing efforts to increase access to and success in STEMM education and careers. Register here.
A new national survey by Research!America found broad bipartisan support for scientific and medical research. Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say it is important for political candidates to champion faster medical progress; 7 in 10 report they would be more likely to support a candidate who favors increased funding for medical and health research; 92% of Americans support federal investment in basic scientific research; and nearly 7 in 10 believe Congress should increase taxpayer funding for science and technology. Among respondents aware of canceled grants and budget cuts affecting research, 83% said they are concerned about disruptions to scientific progress.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted along party lines last week to advance President Trump's nomination of Steve Pearce, a former Republican Representative from New Mexico, to serve as Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). If confirmed, Pearce would oversee the management of millions of acres of public lands. During his confirmation hearing, Pearce said he would not pursue policies he previously supported--such as large-scale public land sales and national monument rollbacks--but those assurances did not win support from Democrats.
A new analysis by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service finds that federal science agencies lost nearly 95,000 employees between September 2024 and December 2025--a drop of about 12%--based on workforce data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Environmental and public lands agencies collectively lost about 20% of their workforce, food and agriculture agencies saw staffing decline by about 22%, biomedical research and health agencies saw a 7% drop, while agencies focused on scientific discovery and innovation lost 13% of staff.