NASA announced the programs Oct. 8 in conjunction with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Golden Age Summit in Washington. One initiative focuses on how the agency evaluates research proposals; the other would bring a small group of doctoral researchers into NASA mission work.
A metascience push
The first program would establish a coordinated metascience initiative within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA says it plans to expand its use of dual-anonymous peer review so proposals are judged on their scientific merit rather than the identities of the researchers.
The agency said this approach is intended to improve the reliability, efficiency and transparency of its scientific practices while giving unconventional ideas a fairer hearing. NASA began piloting dual-anonymous review during the first Trump administration, so the announcement expands an existing experiment rather than starting from scratch.
Ten Genesis Mission Fellows
The second program would support 10 Genesis Mission Fellows. NASA described them as accelerated doctoral students with combined expertise in “super intelligence,” or SI, and science or engineering.
NASA said the fellows will work directly on mission areas and conduct research at agency laboratories, with an emphasis on SI-enabled scientific discovery. The fellowship model is based on NASA’s Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology program.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman framed both efforts as ways to change how the agency evaluates ideas and invests in early-career researchers. The announcement lays out the program designs, but not application timelines or selection criteria.
