Lamar Smith, a Republican Representative from Texas who has been critical of the National Science Foundation’s grant-making process since he became chairman of the House science committee at the beginning of 2013, has listed 13 more NSF research grants that he intends to ask his staff to look into.
Smith identified the most recent group of grants that he will examine in a letter to the NSF on 10 February, raising the number of grants that he has asked to review to more than 60. Smith has said he is concerned that the NSF is spending money on research that has little scientific merit or does not serve US national interests.
Past objects of his attention have included a number of social science projects and research that takes place outside of the US. More than half of the grants members of his staff have already reviewed met one or both of those criteria, but the most recent list is not heavy on either.
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