Expanding geographic and institutional diversity in research

It is the sense of Congress that— To the maximum extent practicable, not less than— To the maximum extent practicable, not less than— The Director shall consider prioritizing funding and activities that enable sustainable growth in the competitiveness of EPSCoR jurisdictions, including— The Director shall achieve the percentages specified in this paragraph to the maximum extent practicable, consistent with the National Science Foundation merit review process. In the case of an award to a consortium, the Director may count the entire award toward meeting the funding requirements of subparagraph (A) if the lead entity of the consortium is located in an EPSCoR institution 11 So in original. Probably should be followed by a period. Beginning with the fiscal year 2023, the Director shall submit to Congress a report describing— Not later than December 31, 2026, the Director shall submit to Congress a report containing an analysis of the impacts of the requirements under subparagraphs (A) and (B). The report shall include— The Director shall ensure eligibility for current EPSCoR jurisdictions for five years from August 9, 2022, after which the Director shall determine whether new eligibility criteria should be developed based on the findings in the report required under subparagraph (G). Not later than December 31, 2028, the Director shall report to Congress regarding any new eligibility criteria determined under clause (i), any changes to jurisdictional eligibility based on such criteria, and the necessity and practicality of continuing or modifying the requirement under subparagraph (A) given any such changes to eligibility. The report shall include an analysis of options to support regions in non-EPSCoR jurisdictions, adjacent to EPSCoR jurisdictions, that historically receive disproportionately low levels of funding from the Foundation, including, if appropriate, options to expand the EPSCoR program or to establish new programs. The Director shall make awards on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to eligible institutions to implement and study innovative approaches for building research capacity in order to engage and retain students from a range of institutions and diverse backgrounds in STEM. In this subsection the term “eligible institution” means an institution of higher education that, according to the data published by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, is not, on average, among the top 100 institutions in Federal research and development expenditures during the 3-year period prior to the year of the award. The activities under this subsection shall be focused on achieving simultaneous impacts at the student, faculty, and institutional levels by increasing the research capacity at eligible institutions and the number of undergraduate and graduate students pursuing STEM degrees from eligible institutions. In carrying out this program, the Director shall— require the awards funded under this subsection to support research and related activities, which may include— In making awards under this subsection, the Director may also consider— The Director shall ensure the awards made under this subsection are complementary and not duplicative of existing programs. The Director shall submit a report to Congress after the third year of the program that includes— There is authorized to be appropriated to the Director $150,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2023 through 2027 to carry out the activities under this subsection. The Director shall establish a five-year pilot program for awards to research partnerships that involve emerging research institutions and may involve institutions classified as very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education at the time of application. In carrying out this program, the Director shall— Funds awarded to emerging research institutions under this subsection may be used to build research capacity, including through support for faculty salaries and training, field and laboratory research experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, and maintenance and repair of research equipment and instrumentation. The Director shall submit a report to Congress after the third year of the pilot program that includes—