Today’s cover image and subtitle are brought to you by the latest developments in the Genesis Mission, the US Federal Government’s big effort to apply AI towards R&D. The first round of projects were announced this week and the NIH has announced it’s own version, the Bio Genesis Mission. Somebody get Ge Ikari on the line.
All sorts of updates this week, including a new vision from OSTP, potential grant cancellations, the end of “disparate impact” in Title VI regulations, and new investigations into medical school admissions.
Federal Research Policy
On Tuesday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published, Science: A New Golden Age, a new comprehensive report which “lays out a vision and policy framework for American research and development.”
As summarized by The New York Times, Science, Nature and others, included in the vision described by the report is shifting the balance of federal research funding away from research universities and towards industry.
The report was accompanied by a memo cowritten by OSTP Director Michael Kratsios and OMB Director Russ Vought, which lays out the administration’s research and development priorities for the 2028 fiscal year.
Like federal budget requests, congress does not have to follow the vision outlined in these documents. So it is not immediately clear what their impact will be. Federal agencies have until October to respond.
The President ordered a review of the National Academy of Sciences on social media on Sunday. The point of contention is the Academy’s recent report on attribution science.
Last Friday, a federal judge ruled that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cannot cancel active research grants solely because of a shift in the administration’s priorities (i.e. “does not effectuate program goals”). This specific ruling does not reinstate any cancelled grant, but may make it easier for universities that have lost grants to appeal to other federal courts.
Science is reporting that the NIH cancelled at least one grant last week, citing that it was not in alignment with agency priorities. The report states that the agency has plans to cancel several more grants.
In other news, the American Association of University Professors published a report entitled Extorted Compliance: A Threat to Institutional Autonomy, Academic Freedom, and Shared Governance.
Higher Education
The Department of Education announced today that it has removed disparate impact from Title VI regulations. Effective immediately, federal investigators will no longer be ably to use statistical disparities alone to support discrimination findings and will instead have to prove intentional discrimination through other means.
The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it has found UC San Diego’s medical school “used race in its admissions process in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The department has stated that it will file suit if it determines that the institution has failed to return to compliance following settlement negotiations.
The New York Times reported on this investigation back March, along with investigations into Ohio State University and Stanford University’s medical schools. The DOJ typically does not comment on open investigations.
Today the Department of Education announced five new investigations into medical school admissions.
The DOJ also announced a new investigation into Harvard University’s financial aid practices this week.
Public Health
The CDC has again updated its page on vaccines and autism The page now includes a bullet point reading “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”