The National SMART grant was introduced to help maintain the edge that United States has in the fields of Science and Technology.
[4] In August 2006, The Chronicle of Higher Education noted that evolutionary biology had been removed from the list of qualifying majors.
[5] This caused concern among some scientists and educators, who feared that the omission was deliberate and politically motivated.
The Department of Education has denied this, stating that the major was removed from the list inadvertently, and that it would correct the omission.
[7] According to the Binghamton University website, "The SMART Grant program is only funded through the 2010-11 academic year.