Interview
Inside Trump's Science Agenda: Anti-Science Claims, Fauci's Damage, DEI & China w/ Michael Kratsios
- The administration anticipates releasing the "Science, A New Golden Age" report and aims to align all federal agencies to create an ecosystem prioritizing the scientific method and direct support for top scientists tackling hard problems.
- Plans include redirecting capital across organizations and time horizons, challenging the efficacy of current S&T budgets, and potentially disrupting, freezing, or terminating $3 billion in unspent active grant funds in 2025, including grants approved in areas deemed non-scientific.
- A specific target is set to redirect funding away from climate research utilizing the RCP 8.5 scenario and away from $8 billion of past NSF spending attributed to DEI initiatives, which the administration views as politicized.
- Strategic goals include winning the fusion race by 2035, returning American astronauts to the moon by 2028, deploying a space nuclear reactor by 2028, establishing moon base elements by 2030, and creating a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028 via a Department of Energy directive.
- The administration intends to utilize AI through the "Genesis Mission" to double scientific output, focusing AI applications on material science, chemistry, math, and physics, while returning federal focus to basic, early-stage, pre-competitive R&D where private incentives are low.
- New mechanisms at the National Science Foundation and NIH include "meta science" units to test funding allocation, "golden tickets" allowing unilateral evaluator selection, fast-track six-month grants, and three-to-five-year grants for long-term ideas.
- To rebuild the talent pool, the administration plans to offer portable early-career fellowships, restore programs for gifted K-12 students, allow legal pathways for young scientists to remain in the US, and initiate four-year PhD programs in partnership with industry to accelerate graduates into the workforce.
- The outlook emphasizes a decentralized agency model over top-down approaches like those of the PRC, cites the median age of 71 for intramural NIH researchers as a driver for hiring young talent, and seeks to restore trust in science following the COVID era.
- Implementation requires the top five research agencies to submit reports within 90 days on budget alignment, with the administration aiming to prove the new ecosystem's success within the next two years to ensure political viability before a potential 2028 election.