INFORMS Open Forum

Good afternoon INFORMS members, 

Here are a few key updates to share with you from Washington this week.

Congress

• INFORMS submitted testimony on May 7^th to the House Appropriations Committee regarding Fiscal Year 2027 funding for the National Science Foundation. You can read that testimony here.
• Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing: A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the National Institutes of Health
• May 21, 2026 at 10 am ET
• Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building 124; also livestreamed on committee website
• Witness: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH Director
• House Appropriations Committee: Committee Releases FY27 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill
• Access the full bill here; a summary of the bill is here
• Appropriations resource – AAAS FY 2027 R&D Appropriations Dashboard

Federal Agencies 

• National Science Foundation's (NSF)  National Science Board (NSB) report: The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2026

• Related article – Science: In unreleased document, fired U.S. science board issues stark warning about keeping pace with China

• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) press release: ARPA-H Launches New Program to Deliver Rigorous, Gold-Standard Research Faster
• Related program: Intelligent Generator of Research (IGoR) program
• Read full notice of application solicitation here.
• Submit applications here.
• A Solution Summary is due on June 25, 2026, 12:00PM ET; a Full Proposal is due: August 6, 2026, 12:00PM ET
• For more information, email igor@arpa-h.gov. 
• Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy: Public Access to Scholarly Publications and Digital Scientific Research Data

 

In The News 

• Inside HigherEd: After Board Wiped Out, 13 Former NSF Leaders Call for New Members, Director
• Read the former NSF leaders' letter to the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Senate leaders here (google drive link)
• Politico: White House distances itself from tighter AI regulation

As always, I will continue tracking these and other developments and sharing updates relevant to the INFORMS community.

Best regards,

Jeff Cohen

P.S. If you want to get more involved in or learn more about INFORMS advocacy and public relations efforts, please reach out to me at: jcohen@informs.org

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Jeffrey M. Cohen, MBA | PhD Candidate
Chief Strategy Officer
INFORMS
jcohen@informs.org
linkedin.com/in/jmcsc
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