A proposed clawback of already distributed research funds comes as the US agency struggles with a squeezed budget and a backlog of grant applications.
THE WEEK OF APRIL 6, 2026
- Trump budget repeats call for science cuts - NIH and NSF issue fewer grants - Jefferson Lab contract winner announced
NSF announces new initiative to launch and scale a new generation of transformative independent research organizations to advance breakthrough science
The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) on Friday announced the launch of a new initiative designed to launch and scale a new generation…
National Science Foundation Fostering Interdisciplinary Networks to Develop Emergent and Responsive Solutions Foundry (NSF FINDERS FOUNDRY)
NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.
Intro to NSF Tech Labs: Session II
Intro to NSF Tech Labs: Session I
National Data Platform Receives NSF Category I Award to Expand AI-Ready Data Infrastructure for U.S.
UC San Diego researchers will lead a collaborative project to expand a national platform connecting data, computing and AI resources to empower nationwide researchers and educators.
TechAccess: AI-Ready America
NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.
The Rise of Large Language Models and the Direction and Impact of US Federal Research Funding
Federal research funding shapes the direction, diversity, and impact of the US scientific enterprise. Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly diffusing into scientific practice, holding substantial promise while raising widespread concerns. Despite growing attention to AI use in scientific writing and evaluation, little is known about how the rise of LLMs is reshaping the public funding landscape. Here, we examine LLM involvement at key stages of the federal funding pipeline by combining two complementary data sources: confidential National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposal submissions from two large US R1 universities, including funded, unfunded, and pending proposals, and the full population of publicly released NSF and NIH awards. We find that LLM use rises sharply beginning in 2023 and exhibits a bimodal distribution, indicating a clear split between minimal and substantive use. Across both private submissions and public awards, higher LLM involvement is consistently associated with lower semantic distinctiveness, positioning projects closer to recently funded work within the same agency. The consequences of this shift are agency-dependent. LLM use is positively associated with proposal success and higher early-stage publication output at NIH, whereas no comparable associations are observed at NSF. Notably, the productivity gains at NIH are concentrated in non-hit papers rather than the most highly cited work. Together, these findings provide large-scale evidence that the rise of LLMs is reshaping how scientific ideas are positioned, selected, and translated into publicly funded research, with implications for portfolio governance, research diversity, and the long-run impact of science.
Seth Bannon on Twitter / X
There are some exceptionally good ideas here for reforming and accelerating science.Some of my favorite proposals:Apply the scientific method to science funding (track applications, reviewers, funding decisions, and outcomes, then experimentally test which grantmaking methods… https://t.co/Q0JmqTBPYm— Seth Bannon (@sethbannon) July 22, 2026
America’s Seed Fund – NSF SBIR/STTR | NSF SBIR
America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation (NSF SBIR/STTR) supports startups with research and development funding to create technologies.
National Science Foundation Fostering Interdisciplinary Networks to Develop Emergent and Responsive Solutions Foundry (NSF FINDERS FOUNDRY)
To save a PDF of this solicitation, select Print to PDF in your browser's print options.
National Science Foundation Fostering Interdisciplinary Networks to Develop Emergent and Responsive Solutions Foundry (NSF FINDERS FOUNDRY)
To save a PDF of this solicitation, select Print to PDF in your browser's print options.
Spending deal comes with a bonus: Blocking political control of grants
Congress pauses the OMB's attempt to rewrite how research is funded.
NSF and NVIDIA award Ai2 a combined $152M to support building a national level fully open AI ecosystem | Ai2
Ai2 has been awarded a combined $152 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and NVIDIA as part of a jointly funded project to advance our research and develop truly open AI models and solutions that will accelerate scientific discovery.
This is more than the NSF social sciences division - now on the chopping block - awarded in grants last year. Think about that: a single AI company has the money to fund more social science research than the US govt.
Hetan Shah
Anthropic AI research fund offers $5m - $30m for social science research on themes of AI impact on workers; transition initiatives; income support; building worker stakes; and wider evidence on public investments. Total fund of $200m available anthropic.com/news/economic-futures-researc…
