Journal of Science Policy & Governance
Volume 25, Issue 01 | October 28, 2024

Policy Analysis: Analysis of Historical Federal R&D Priorities: The OMB-OSTP Memorandum and the R&D Section of the Analytical Perspectives in the President's Budget

Casey Roepke1, Brian Zuckerman2
  1. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 
  2. Institute for Defense Analyses, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
​​
​Corresponding author:  [email protected]​​​
Keywords: science policy; management of science and technology; Executive Branch; federal budget
https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG250114 ​

Executive Summary

Each year, the directors of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) jointly produce a memorandum of research and development priorities and how those priorities align with the fiscal year budget. This memo guides the actions of executive branch departments and agencies towards the administration’s science and technology priorities. By presenting these priorities yearly, these memoranda serve as a record of the science and technology priorities of respective Presidential administrations and, in turn, can reflect a changing science and technology policy landscape over the duration of several Presidential terms. This paper assesses how science and technology policy priorities, as established in these memoranda, are reflected in the Presidential budget within and across administrations. Additionally, this paper compares and analyzes priority topic areas from the OMB/OSTP memos with another representation of science and technology areas of emphasis: the research and development (R&D) section of the Analytical Perspectives in the President’s budget. The Analytical Perspectives document highlights items from the Presidential budget requests. This paper discerns the extent to which these two sources of priority-setting become aligned in order to identify trends in which science and technology topics are prioritized by the White House across time and administration. This study addresses two core research questions: 1) How do science and technology priorities change over time, both across and/or within Presidential administrations?; and 2) To what extent, if any, are the ideas in the OMB/OSTP science and technology priorities memoranda and the Analytical Perspectives documents aligned?

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Casey Roepke, M.Sc. Casey Roepke is currently an ORISE Science, Technology, and Policy Fellow in the Department of Energy's Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, supporting the Vehicle Technologies Office. Previously, she worked as a Science Policy Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, gaining experience providing policy research and analysis for Federal agencies and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is passionate about equitable, sustainable energy technology and a diverse STEM workforce. Casey received her bachelor's degrees in Physics and Politics from Mount Holyoke College and her master's in Applied Physics from the University of Strathclyde. 

Brian Zuckerman, Ph.D. Brian Zuckerman has expertise in the areas of program evaluation and scientometrics. His work focuses on federal R&D program performance and agency-wide research portfolios. Brian has also analyzed federal R&D data systems and statistical data collection programs. Before joining STPI, he was a principal at the Center for Science and Technology Policy of Abt Associates Inc. He is a past co-chair of the Research, Technology, and Development Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association. Brian holds a bachelor’s in chemistry from Harvard College and a doctorate in technology, management, and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Acknowledgements 
The authors would like to acknowledge funding from STPI's CRP program for enabling this research. We are grateful to Kristen Kulinowski, Bill Brykczynski, Walter Valdivia, and Mark Mancuso for providing invaluable feedback on early drafts. We would additionally like to thank Kei Koizumi for his encouragement and support of this project.

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