Sec. 401. National Science Foundation activities
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Consistent with the research plan in section 102, the Director shall support research and STEM education and related activities in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems, components, and related technologies, including competitive awards or grants to institutions of higher education or eligible nonprofit organizations (or consortia thereof). In carrying out the activities under subsection (a), the Director— shall support fundamental research on the underlying technologies for advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems, components, and related technologies, which may include— improving the safety and reliability of operation systems; developing and improving autonomous control systems, including real-time control and autonomous decision-making; incorporating the use of artificial intelligence into systems; improving or developing materials for advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems; understanding safety and sustainability of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems as a part of a transportation system, including the impacts of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems on ground transportation; developing and improving communications systems, including multivehicle coordination and task and path planning; and understanding the human-drone interface; shall support research and development of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system enabled uses, which may include— creating new sensing tools to improve understanding, prediction, and detection of severe weather and natural hazards, including wildfires; enabling advanced air mobility; monitoring and surveying infrastructure; disaster reconnaissance, including the collection of data to model and simulate disasters and assist responders; and improving the reliable use of advanced sensing systems in rural and agricultural settings; shall support research on data modeling and validation of the use of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems; shall support research and development on security, including the cybersecurity, of advanced air mobility systems and unmanned aerial aircraft systems; shall support research on the ethical use of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems, including protection of individual privacy; shall support research on workforce impacts and opportunities associated with advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems; shall support age-appropriate middle school and high school level STEM education research and related activities related to advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems and related technologies, which may include— supporting curriculum development relating to advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system applications, including developing place-based learning curriculum, particularly for students in poor, rural, and Tribal communities; utilizing advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems technologies to advance the engagement of students, including students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM, in STEM through providing before school, after-school, out-of-school, or summer activities; developing professional development resources for STEM educators in utilizing advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems technologies and applications in their curriculum and in formal and informal education settings, including through distance-delivered courses; connecting relevant STEM curriculum to the design, construction and demonstration of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems; and designing advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system related activities designed to help students make real-world connections to STEM content and educate students on the relevance and significance of STEM careers; shall support undergraduate and graduate education and workforce development research and related activities related to advanced air mobility, unmanned aircraft systems, and related technologies, which may include— supporting curriculum development relating to advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems applications and technologies; supporting hands-on research opportunities at institutions of higher education, research institutions, including National Labs, and industry for undergraduate and graduate students relating to advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems applications and technologies; facilitating participation in collegiate level advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems robotic competitions; and ensuring that students pursuing master’s degrees and doctoral degrees in fields relating to advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems are considered as applicants for scholarships and graduate fellowships under the Graduate Research Fellowship Program under section 10 of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 ( 42 U.S.C. 1869 ); shall support activities to develop a skilled technical workforce for supporting and operating advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems, which may include supporting national centers focused on educating and training the skilled technical workforce in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system applications and technologies through the Advanced Scientific and Technical Education Program as authorized by the Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992 ( 42 U.S.C. 1862i ), including by— expanding educational resources to address current workforce demands in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system applications and technologies; developing curriculum for community and technical colleges to train and upskill the skilled technical workforce in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system applications and technologies; engaging the skilled technical workforce community in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft system applications and technologies; and in partnership and consultation with industry and labor organizations, employing activities to increase the visibility and utility of careers in advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft applications and technologies; shall engage veterans and departing members of the Armed Services in activities mentioned in paragraphs
(7)and (8); may support one or more Institutes as described in section 201(a) for the purpose of advancing the field of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems; may support prize competitions pursuant to section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 ( 15 U.S.C. 3719 ); shall ensure all activities under this section are subject to the data management policies of the Foundation; shall apply lessons learned from unmanned aircraft systems research, development, demonstration, and testing to advanced air mobility systems; and may conduct any other activities the Director finds necessary to meet the goals laid out in subsection (a). As part of the activities under subsection (a), the Director shall support public-private partnerships to support domestic development of advanced air mobility and unmanned aircraft systems in the United States and address pre-competitive industry challenges. There are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry out this section— $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; $52,500,000 for fiscal year 2025; $55,125,000 for fiscal year 2026; $57,881,775 for fiscal year 2027; and $60,775,863 for fiscal year 2028. In this title, the term Director means the Director of the National Science Foundation.
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