NSF Replaces 37 Divisions With Five AI and Quantum Priority Clusters
March 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Claire Cummings
The National Science Foundation is dismantling its traditional divisional structure and replacing it with clusters organized around five White House priority areas: artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, nuclear energy, and translational science. The reorganization represents the most significant structural change to the $8.75 billion agency in decades.
How Grant Review Is Changing
Program officers now have expanded authority to fast-track proposals in priority areas without convening external review panels—and to reject proposals in non-priority fields without sending them out for peer review. For researchers in AI and quantum computing, this could mean substantially faster funding decisions. For those in other disciplines, it raises serious questions about access to one of the nation's most important basic research funders.
The agency is also cutting its Senior Executive Service positions from 143 to 59 and declining to renew contracts for 300 "rotators"—scientists on temporary leave from universities who serve as program officers. Only rotators with skills supporting AI and quantum priorities will stay. Their home institutions now face the financial burden of reabsorbing hundreds of returning faculty.
Congress Preserved the Budget, Not the Mission
Despite President Trump's proposal to slash NSF by 55% to $4 billion, Congress enacted $8.75 billion for FY2026—essentially flat with prior years. That funding supports nearly 10,000 new competitive awards. But with the agency's research portfolio narrowing to five focus areas, the distribution of those awards will shift dramatically.
What Researchers Should Do
Scientists in AI, quantum, biotech, and nuclear energy should lean into the new structure. The cluster model favors applications that explicitly connect to priority areas, and expedited review could cut months off typical timelines.
Those in non-priority disciplines—social sciences, environmental research, fundamental physics—need to diversify their funding strategy now. NSF may still fund some work in these areas through its existing pipeline, but the structural signals point toward contraction.
Tracking how these changes affect specific solicitations matters more than ever. Granted monitors NSF funding opportunities in real time. Deeper analysis of which programs are expanding and which face cuts is available on the Granted blog.