Volume 36 (2017)
Events Calendar
AERA Centennial Lecture: Deborah Lowe Vandell – The Opportunities and Challenges of Early Child Care and Education, February 22, 2017, Oklahoma City, OK American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, March 15-18, 2017, Seville, Spain Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, March 16-19, 2017, Toronto, Canada Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, March 21-25, 2017, Kansas City, MO AERA Centennial Lecture: Charles Payne – The Limits of Schooling, the Power of Poverty, March 23, 2017, Detroit, MI COSSA 2017 Science Policy Conference & Social Science Advocacy Day, March 29-30, 2017, Washington, DC Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, March 29-April 1,…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 36 Issue 3
Featured News 2017 COSSA Science Policy Conference Keynote Announced COSSA in Action NIH’s Bill Riley Answers “Why Social Science?” COSSA Joins Scientific Community in Call for End to Travel Ban Federal Agency & Administration News NSF to Host The Arc of Science: Research to Results on February 15 NIH’s All of Us Research Program Issues Funding Opportunity NSF Releases 2017 Report on Underrepresented Groups in Science and Engineering National Institute on Aging Seeks Input on Timely Data Sharing Publications & Community Events National Academies’ Gulf Research Program Sponsoring Summer Training Course on Scientific Synthesis Alliance for Integrative Approaches to Extreme…
2017 COSSA Science Policy Conference Keynote Announced
University of California, Berkeley sociologist Arlie R. Hochschild will deliver the keynote address at the 2017 COSSA Science Policy Conference and Social Science Advocacy Day. Hochschild’s most recent book Strangers in their own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, was a finalist for the 2016 National Book Award. According to the publisher’s website, the book “goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that many on the political right have been duped into voting against their interests. In the right-wing world she explores, Hochschild discovers powerful forces—fear of cultural eclipse, economic decline, perceived government betrayal—which override self-interest, as progressives see…
COSSA Joins Scientific Community in Call for End to Travel Ban
On January 31, COSSA joined over 170 other leading scientific organizations on a letter to the Trump Administration calling for it to rescind its January 27 executive order that placed a hold on legal travel to the for citizens of seven countries. The letter states that the undersigned organizations “are deeply concerned that this Executive Order will have a negative impact on the ability of scientists and engineers in industry and academia to enter, or leave from and return to, the. This will reduce U.S. science and engineering output to the detriment of America and Americans.” The letter is available…
NSF to Host The Arc of Science: Research to Results on February 15
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), of which COSSA is a member, are hosting The Arc of Science: Research to Results on Wednesday, February 15. The Capitol Hill event will highlight NSF-funded researchers and include remarks from Dr. France Cordova, the Director of NSF and leadership from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. See the invitation for details and to register. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
NIH’s All of Us Research Program Issues Funding Opportunity
The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program (formerly the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program) within NIH Office of the Director has issued a new funding opportunity for organizations interested in helping engage volunteers. The funding opportunity is open to national and regional organizations, as well as local community groups. The program is designed to support activities to promote enrollment and retention in the All of Us Research Program across diverse communities. All of Us, unlike the majority of NIH-supported research, is not focused on a particular disease or population. The program is intended to “serve as a…
NSF Releases 2017 Report on Underrepresented Groups in Science and Engineering
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) released the 2017 edition of Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. The Congressionally-mandated report, which is released every two years, compiles data on the “participation of these three groups in science and engineering education and employment.” It reports on data across five categories: enrollment, field of degree, occupation, employment status, and early-career doctorate holders. The report digest, as well as more information on data sources and links to download the data in full are available on the NSF website. Back to this issue’s…
National Institute on Aging Seeks Input on Timely Data Sharing
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking input from the scientific community on “ways to enhance the timely sharing of high-quality data generated by NIA-funded studies.” Accordingly, the Institute has issued a request for information (RFI) (NOT-AG-17-001) regarding “unique considerations” that might exist for this research as well as what the extramural research community believes are “the primary characteristics of successful data-sharing resources and strategies.” The information received by the institute will be used to inform its future policy development. Comments are due April 15, 2017. For more information and/or to comment…
National Academies’ Gulf Research Program Sponsoring Course on Scientific Synthesis
The Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is sponsoring a hands-on course on data science run by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. This intensive training is designed to help established researchers, as well as early career researchers gain skills in data management, data science, and scientific synthesis. See the website for details about the program and how to apply. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
SBM Hosts NIH Good Clinical Practice for Social and Behavioral Research Training Course
The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), a COSSA member, is hosting a free National Institutes of Health (NIH) training and certification course for good clinical practice in behavioral and social science research at the request of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. The Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, developed the training material which is comprised of nine video modules. As previously reported, all NIH-funded investigators and staff who are involved in applying for, conducting, overseeing, or managing clinical trials are required, effective January 1, 2017, to…
Alliance for Integrative Approaches to Extreme Environmental Events Accepting Nominations for Steering Committee
The Alliance for Integrative Approaches to Extreme Environmental Events, a new organization of stakeholders seeking to improve our understanding, prediction of, and response to extreme environmental events, is soliciting applications and nominations for individuals to serve as inaugural members of its steering committee. Read on for more details on how the Alliance and how to submit nominations. Applications are due on February 28, 2017.
Funding Opportunity Announcements
AHRQ: Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA): Implementation and Evaluation of New Health Information Technology Strategies for Collecting and Using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (NOT-HS-17-006) Belmont Forum: Transformations to Sustainability (T2S) NIH opportunities: NCI: Activities to Promote Technology Research Collaborations (APTRC) for Cancer Research (Admin Supp) (PA-17-143) NIAAA: Public Policy Effects on Alcohol-, Marijuana-, and Other Substance-Related Behaviors and Outcomes (R21) (PA-17-132), (R03) (PA-17-134), (R01) (PA-17-135) NIDCD: Improving Outcomes for Disorders of Human Communication (R01) (PA-17-139), (R21) (PA-17-140) NIH: All of Us Research Program Engagement Partners (OT2) (OT-PM-17-002) NIMH/NIDA: Innovations in Mechanisms and Interventions to Address Mental…
Events Calendar
Webinar: Social Science in the Age of Trump: What We’d Like to See, February 9, 2017, 12:00 p.m. (EST) The Arc of Science: Research to Results, February 15, 2017, 4:30-7:00 p.m. (EST), Washington, DC AERA Centennial Lecture: Deborah Lowe Vandell – The Opportunities and Challenges of Early Child Care and Education, February 22, 2017, Oklahoma City, OK American Psychosomatic Society Annual Scientific Meeting, March 15-18, 2017, Seville, Spain Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, March 16-19, 2017, Toronto, Canada Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, March 21-25, 2017, Kansas City, MO AERA Centennial Lecture: Charles Payne – The Limits of…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 36 Issue 2
Featured News HOT TOPIC: HHS Announces Final Changes to Human Subjects Research Regulations COSSA in Action Introducing Why Social Science? Early Bird Registration Extended for COSSA Science Policy Conference Congressional News Confirmation Hearings Continue for Trump Cabinet Nominees Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Director to Stay with Trump Administration—For Now OBSSR Director Discusses Implications of the New NIH Clinical Trials Policies for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Nancy Rodriguez Leaves National Institute of Justice 2017 Matilda White Riley Early Stage Investigator Paper Awards: Call for Papers Publications & Community Events Community Launches the Alliance for Integrative Approaches to Extreme…
HOT TOPIC: HHS Announces Final Changes to Human Subjects Research Regulations
During the final days of the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the final text for its changes to the Common Rule, the regulations that govern research with human subjects, completing a revision process started in 2011. The Common Rule, which was last updated in 1991, affects research supported by 16 federal departments and agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Defense, Education, Commerce, Labor, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the National Science Foundation. Overall, the changes look to be a positive development for the social and behavioral science research…
Early Bird Registration Extended for COSSA Science Policy Conference
COSSA has extended early bird registration for the 2017 Science Policy Conference & Social Science Advocacy Day until January 31! Take advantage of this discount AND your member discount code (below) to get the lowest available registration rate. Register before rates increase on February 1! Confirmed speakers include John Sides of the Washington Post’s popular Monkey Cage blog, who will speak about how to bring social science findings to the masses. Planned sessions also include panels on advocating for social science from home, tips for communicating with the media, and social science student organizing on campus, among other topics. Stay…
Confirmation Hearings Continue for Trump Cabinet Nominees
The first three weeks of the 115th Congress has been busy as the Senate begins the process of confirming President Trump’s cabinet nominees. Hearings this week included South Carolina Congressman and nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney and Georgia Congressman and nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (which includes the National Institutes of Health), Tom Price. The committee vote on Betsy DeVos, billionaire philanthropist and nominee for Secretary of Education has been delayed as Senators continue their vetting process. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
NIH Director to Stay with Trump Administration—For Now
On January 19, the last day of the Obama Administration, Science and other media outlets reported that National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins will continue as the agency’s director for the foreseeable future. As previously reported, in December, the Republican leadership of the committees with jurisdiction over the NIH sent a letter to the Trump transition team endorsing his retention as the NIH’s director. Had he not been asked to stay, Collins’ resignation would have automatically taken effect on January 20. It remains unclear, however, if Collins is among the 50 Obama Administration officials reportedly asked to continue…