H. R. 4346—192 
Subtitle E—Fundamental Research 
SEC. 10341. BROADER IMPACTS. 
(a) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 120 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall enter into an agreement 
with a qualified independent organization to assess how the Broader 
Impacts review criterion is applied across the Foundation and make 
recommendations for improving the effectiveness for meeting the 
goals established in section 526 of the America Creating Opportuni-
ties to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, 
and Science Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1862p–14). 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—The Director shall make awards on a competi-
tive basis, to institutions of higher education or non-profit organiza-
tions (or consortia of such institutions or organizations) to support 
activities to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and availability 
of resources for implementing the Broader Impacts review criterion, 
including— 
(1) training and workshops for program officers, merit 
review panelists, award office administrators, faculty, and stu-
dents to improve understanding of the goals and the full range 
of potential broader impacts available to researchers to satisfy 
this criterion; 
(2) repositories and clearinghouses for sharing best prac-
tices and facilitating collaboration; and 
(3) tools for evaluating and documenting societal impacts 
of research. 
SEC. 10342. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Director should continue 
to identify opportunities to reduce the administrative burden on 
researchers. 
SEC. 10343. RESEARCH ETHICS. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) a number of emerging areas of research have potential 
ethical, social, safety, and security implications that might be 
apparent as early as the basic research stage; 
(2) the incorporation of ethical, social, safety, and security 
considerations into the research design and review process for 
Federal awards, may help mitigate potential harms before they 
happen; 
(3) the Foundation’s agreement with the National Acad-
emies to conduct a study and make recommendations with 
respect to governance of research in emerging technologies is 
a positive step toward accomplishing this goal; and 
(4) the Foundation should continue to work with stake-
holders to promote best practices for governance of research 
in emerging technologies at every stage of research. 
(b) INCORPORATION OF ETHICS CONSIDERATIONS.—Drawing on 
stakeholder input, not later than 24 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Director shall revise proposal instructions 
to require that ethical and societal considerations are to be included 
as part of a proposal for funding prior to making the award, where 
such considerations are applicable. Such considerations shall be 
evaluated by the Director in the review of proposals, taking into 
account any relevant input from the peer-reviewers for the proposal, 
and shall factor into award decisions, as deemed necessary by
H. R. 4346—193 
the Director. When incorporating such considerations, proposers 
may include, as appropriate— 
(1)(A) any readily foreseeable or quantifiable risks to 
society, including how the research could enable products, tech-
nologies, or other outcomes that could intentionally or uninten-
tionally cause significant societal harm; or 
(B) an assertion that no readily foreseeable potential eth-
ical, social, safety, or security implications are apparent; 
(2) how technical or social solutions can mitigate such 
risks and, as appropriate, a plan to implement such mitigation 
measures; and 
(3) how partnerships and collaborations in the research 
can help mitigate potential harm and amplify potential societal 
benefits. 
(c) GUIDANCE.—The Director shall solicit stakeholder input to 
develop clear guidance on what constitutes a readily foreseeable 
or quantifiable risk as described in subsection (b)(1), and to the 
extent practicable harmonize this policy with existing ethical poli-
cies or related requirements for human subjects. 
(d) RESEARCH.—The Director shall make awards, on a competi-
tive basis, to institutions of higher education or non-profit organiza-
tions (or consortia of such institutions or organizations) to support— 
(1) research to assess the potential ethical and societal 
implications of Foundation- supported research and products 
or technologies enabled by such research, including the benefits 
and risks identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1); and 
(2) the development and verification of approaches to 
proactively mitigate foreseeable risks to society, including the 
technical and social solutions identified pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1). 
(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Director shall encourage recipients 
to update their consideration of potential risks and benefits as 
appropriate as part of the annual reports required by all awardees 
under the award terms and conditions. 
SEC. 10344. RESEARCH REPRODUCIBILITY AND REPLICABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with existing Federal law for pri-
vacy, intellectual property, and security, the Director shall facilitate 
public access to research products, including data, software, and 
code, developed as part of Foundation-supported projects. 
(b) DATA MANAGEMENT PLANS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall require that every 
proposal for funding for research include a machine-readable 
data management plan that includes a description of how the 
awardee will archive and preserve public access to data, soft-
ware, and code developed as part of the proposed project. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the requirement in 
paragraph (1), the Director shall— 
(A) provide necessary resources, including trainings 
and workshops, to educate researchers and students on 
how to develop and review high quality data management 
plans; 
(B) ensure program officers and merit review panels 
are equipped with the resources and training necessary 
to review the quality of data management plans; and
H. R. 4346—194 
(C) ensure program officers and merit review panels 
treat data management plans as essential elements of 
award proposals, where appropriate. 
(c) OPEN REPOSITORIES.—The Director shall— 
(1) consult with the heads of other Federal research agen-
cies, as appropriate, and solicit input from the scientific commu-
nity, to develop and widely disseminate a set of criteria for 
trusted open repositories to be used by Foundation-funded 
researchers, accounting for discipline-specific needs and nec-
essary protections for sensitive information; 
(2) work with stakeholders to identify significant gaps in 
available repositories meeting the criteria developed under 
paragraph (1) and options for supporting the development of 
additional or enhanced repositories; 
(3) make awards on a competitive basis to institutions 
of higher education or non-profit organizations (or consortia 
of such institutions or organizations) for the development, 
upgrades, and maintenance of open data repositories that meet 
the criteria developed under paragraph (1); 
(4) work with stakeholders and build on existing models, 
where appropriate, to establish a single, public, web-based point 
of access to help users locate repositories storing data, software, 
and code resulting from or used in Foundation-supported 
projects; 
(5) work with stakeholders to establish the necessary poli-
cies and procedures and allocate the necessary resources to 
ensure, as practicable, data underlying published findings 
resulting from Foundation-supported projects are deposited in 
repositories meeting the criteria developed under paragraph 
(1) at the time of publication; 
(6) incentivize the deposition of data, software, and code 
into repositories that meet the criteria developed under para-
graph (1); and 
(7) coordinate with the scientific publishing community 
and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agen-
cies to support the development of voluntary consensus stand-
ards around data archiving and sharing. 
(d) RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND EDUCATION.—The Director 
shall make awards, on a competitive basis to institutions of higher 
education or non-profit organizations (or consortia of such institu-
tions or organizations) to— 
(1) support research and development of open source, 
sustainable, usable tools and infrastructure that support 
reproducibility for a broad range of studies across different 
disciplines; 
(2) support research on computational reproducibility, 
including the limits of reproducibility and the consistency of 
computational results in the development of new computation 
hardware, tools, and methods; and 
(3) support the education and training of students, faculty, 
and researchers on computational methods, tools, and tech-
niques to improve the quality and sharing of data, code, and 
supporting metadata to produce reproducible research.
H. R. 4346—195 
SEC. 10345. CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH. 
The Director shall make awards, on a competitive basis, to 
institutions of higher education or non-profit organizations (or con-
sortia of such institutions or organizations) to support research 
to improve our understanding of the climate system and related 
human and environmental systems. 
SEC. 10346. SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND ECONOMIC SCIENCES. 
The Director shall— 
(1) actively communicate opportunities and solicit proposals 
for social, behavioral, and economic science researchers to 
participate in cross-cutting and interdisciplinary programs, 
including the Convergence Accelerator and agency priority 
activities, and the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure program; 
and 
(2) ensure social, behavioral, and economic science 
researchers are represented on relevant merit review panels 
for such activities. 
SEC. 10347. MEASURING IMPACTS OF FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEARCH 
AND DEVELOPMENT. 
The Director shall make awards on a competitive, merit- 
reviewed basis to institutions of higher education or non-profit 
organizations (or consortia of such institutions or organizations) 
to support research and development of data, models, indicators, 
and associated analytical tools to improve our understanding of 
the impacts of Federally funded research on society, the economy, 
and the workforce, including domestic job creation. 
SEC. 10348. FOOD-ENERGY-WATER RESEARCH. 
The Director shall make awards on a competitive basis to 
institutions of higher education or non-profit organizations (or con-
sortia of such institutions or organizations) to— 
(1) support research to significantly advance our under-
standing of the food-energy-water system through quantitative 
and computational modeling, including support for relevant 
cyberinfrastructure; 
(2) develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve 
understanding of the behavior of food-energy-water systems 
and increase decision support capability; 
(3) support research that will lead to innovative solutions 
to critical food-energy-water system problems; and 
(4) grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and 
managing the food-energy-water system, through education and 
other professional development. 
SEC. 10349. BIOLOGICAL FIELD STATIONS AND MARINE LABORA-
TORIES. 
The Director shall continue to support enhancing, repairing 
and maintaining research instrumentation, laboratories, tele-
communications and housing at biological field stations and marine 
laboratories. 
SEC. 10350. SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION. 
In accordance with section 263 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the Director shall carry 
out activities in support of sustainable chemistry, including—