Volume 37 (2018)
William Bryan Nominated to Lead DHS Science and Technology
William Bryan has been nominated by President Trump to serve as the Under Secretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Bryan is currently the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology. If confirmed, Bryan will serve as the science and technology advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security and lead the research, development, innovation, and testing activities to support the department’s operations and first responders across the country. Bryan is a U.S. Army veteran who has previously held leadership roles at the Departments of Energy and Defense and served…
Puerto Rico’s Statistical Agency Spared from Reorganization (For Now)
Legislators in Puerto Rico have backed away from a plan to dismantle Puerto Rico’s statistical agency, the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (PRIS). The proposal had been included in drafts of a government reorganization bill being considered by the commonwealth’s Legislative Assembly; it would have moved the independent agency to the Department of Economic Development and Commerce and outsourced many of its activities to the private sector. COSSA joined a letter led by the American Statistical Association (ASA), a COSSA governing member, to call for PRIS to maintain its independence. The provision was ultimately removed in the final conferenced version…
International Natural and Social Science Bodies Merge to Form “International Science Council”
Two international science organizations, the International Council for Science and the International Social Science Council, have merged to form the International Science Council (ISC), whose mission is to “act as the global voice for science.” ISC’s membership consists of international scientific unions and associations and over 140 national and regional scientific organizations (including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences). In an opening address at ISC’s inaugural General Assembly in Paris, Catherine Brechignac, Secretaire Perpetuel of the French Academy of Sciences (a past president of the natural science-focused International Council for Science) said that the merging of the two organizations reflects…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 13
Featured News Trump Administration Releases Proposal to Reorganize the Federal Government COSSA in Action COSSA Seeks Fall Interns Letters & Statements Congressional News Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science Bill Federal Agency & Administration News Full Implementation of Common Rule Delayed through January 2019 Emilda Rivers Appointed to Lead NCSES Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Fellowships & Professional Development Community News & Reports Innovation: An American Imperative Releases Progress Report Academies Report Recommends Strategies to Address Sexual Harassment in Academia Recent Reports Open Positions Fellowships & Professional Development Events Calendar
Trump Administration Releases Proposal to Reorganize the Federal Government
The Trump Administration released its comprehensive plan to restructure and reorganize the federal government on June 21, Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century, which includes proposals to make major changes to the federal bureaucracy and social safety net programs. This plan continues efforts by the Administration to restructure and reduce the size of the federal government. Implementing the majority of the reforms proposed would require Congressional action—and are therefore unlikely to be realized—but they provide clear insight into the priorities of the Administration and serve as a blueprint for possible actions over the next few years. The plan proposes…
COSSA Seeks Fall Interns
COSSA is accepting internship applications for the 2018 fall semester. The opportunity is open to undergraduate students who wish to learn about advocacy/lobbying, policy impacting social science, and/or non-profit organizations. Responsibilities include conducting research to assist COSSA staff with their lobbying activities and coverage of events, such as Congressional hearings, federal agency advisory committee meetings, community and coalition events, which may result in a written product, such as a contribution to the COSSA Washington Update. More information is available in the internship description. Applications will be evaluated as they are received, so apply now! Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science Bill
On June 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Bill; the bill was marked up in subcommittee on June 12. The CJS bill serves as the vehicle for annual appropriations for the National Science Foundation (NSF), Census Bureau, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), and many other federal departments and agencies. The House Appropriations Committee passed its bill on May 17. Read COSSA’s full analysis of the House bill here. At a Glance… The Senate CJS bill includes $8.1 billion for NSF in FY…
Full Implementation of Common Rule Delayed through January 2019
On June 19, the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule adopting a proposal released in April to delay the compliance date for revisions to the Common Rule (the set of regulations governing research involving human participants) by six months. COSSA submitted comment on this proposal asking that the implementation of the new regulations not be delayed any further than is necessary. The new compliance date for the majority of the new regulations is now January 21, 2019. However, beginning on July 19, 2018, institutions (on a study-by-study…
Emilda Rivers Appointed to Lead NCSES
Emilda B. Rivers has been appointed to lead the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), the principal statistical agency housed within the National Science Foundation (NSF), effective June 24. Prior to her appointment, Rivers was NCSES’ Acting Division Director, following the retirement of the previous director, John Gawalt. Rivers has been with NCSES since 2003, serving as Deputy Division Director and leading its largest division, the Human Resources Statistics Program. She has also worked for the Census Bureau and the Department of Energy. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Academies Report Recommends Strategies to Address Sexual Harassment in Academia
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has released a new consensus study report, Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report details the impacts of sexual harassment in terms of damage to research integrity and loss of talent and argues that institutions should view sexual harassment as “equally important as research misconduct in terms of its effect on the integrity of research.” The report makes seven broad recommendations for how academic institutions can better address and prevent sexual harassment: address gender harassment (sexist hostility and crude behavior); move beyond legal…
Innovation: An American Imperative Releases Progress Report
In celebration of the third anniversary of Innovation: An American Imperative, a group of the endorsing organizations issued a report on the progress made by Congress on areas of focus highlighted in the original 2015 report. The Innovation Imperative effort brought U.S. industry, higher education, science and engineering organizations, including COSSA, together to urge Congress to enact policies and make investments to help ensure the United States remains the global innovation leader. The original statement on congressional progress provided seven areas of focus for congressional action moving forward: renewing the federal commitment to scientific discovery by ending sequestration level spending…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 12
Featured News NIH Releases Data Science Strategic Plan COSSA in Action Letters & Statements Congressional News Congress Moves Forward on FY 2019 Spending Federal Agency & Administration News Census Issues Request for Comment on Decennial Data Collection Minerva Initiative Releases 2018 Funding Opportunity Announcement, Topics of Interest BLS Releases New Data on the “Gig Economy” Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Recent Reports Open Positions Fellowships & Professional Development Community News & Reports NASEM Report Outlines Future of Graduate STEM Education New NASEM Report Identifies “Indicators for Monitoring Undergraduate STEM Education” Notices & Requests for Comment Recent…
NIH Releases Data Science Strategic Plan
On June 4, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released its first strategic plan for data science. The strategic plan will serve as a roadmap for modernizing the NIH-supported biomedical data science ecosystem and provide leadership within the broader biomedical research data community. NIH will begin implementing the plan over the next year and focus on usability of NIH-funded biomedical data sets and resources, integration of existing data management tools and development of new ones, and the growing costs of data management. NIH will seek community input during the implementation phase and plans to hire a Chief Data Strategist to…
Congress Moves Forward on FY 2019 Spending
With a little less than four months remaining in fiscal year (FY) 2018, Congress is behind schedule but well underway in their work to consider the spending bills for FY 2019. The House Appropriations Committee has approved seven of the twelve annual appropriations bills, including two important to social and behavioral science research. On June 8, the full House of Representatives approved a three-bill package of historically uncontroversial bills, kick-starting what is expected to be a busy summer of votes. On the other side of the Capitol, Senate appropriators have been slower to consider the FY 2019 appropriations bills, having…
Census Issues Request for Comment on Decennial Data Collection
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Census Bureau issued a request for comments on the 2020 Census on June 8. The request provides an opportunity for feedback on the Bureau’s proposed information collection activities associated with the 2020 Census, including the addition of a citizenship question (which COSSA opposes). Comments must be submitted by August 7, 2018. More information is available in the Federal Register notice.
Minerva Initiative Releases 2018 Funding Opportunity Announcement, Topics of Interest
The Minerva Research Initiative, the social science research program administered jointly by the Office of Basic Research and the Office of Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, has released its 2018 funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and 2018 topics of interest. The Minerva Research Initiative supports university-based, unclassified, research in areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security policy. Research topics of interest for 2018 include: sociopolitical (in)stability, resilience, and recovery; economic interdependence and security; alliances and burden sharing; fundamental dynamics of scientific discovery; adversarial information campaigns; automated cyber vulnerability analysis; and security risks in ungoverned and semi-governed spaces. White…
BLS Releases New Data on the “Gig Economy”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released new data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements, the first data of its kind released since 2005. The data includes totals for contingent workers (whose jobs are temporary or otherwise not expected to last), independent contractors, on-call workers, temp workers, and workers provided by contract firms. In addition to this data, BLS is testing questions on short-term work found through websites or mobile apps and expects to release data on this population in September. More information about the release is available on the BLS website.
NASEM Report Outlines Future of Graduate STEM Education
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently released a new consensus study report on Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, which outlines ways to better to prepare students from all backgrounds for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The study was written by a committee chaired by Alan Leshner, CEO Emeritus of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Burroughs Welcome Fund, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the Spencer Foundation. The report describes an ideal system of STEM graduate education and outlines…
New NASEM Report Identifies “Indicators for Monitoring Undergraduate STEM Education”
On May 21, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted a webinar to mark the release of a new report, Indicators for Monitoring Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education. The goal of the report was to improve undergraduate STEM education by developing metrics by which it can be measured. To do this, NASEM conducted a consensus study of indicators that would allow STEM education quality to be tracked over time. The report found that improving the quality and impact of undergraduate STEM education would require progress towards: (1) “increasing students’ mastery of STEM concepts and…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 11
Featured News House Panel Passes FY 2019 Funding for NSF, Census, NIJ COSSA in Action COSSA Presents Rep. Dan Lipinski with Distinguished Service Award Letters & Statements Congressional News House and Senate Committees Approve FY 2019 Agriculture Funding Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on 2019 NIH Budget Federal Agency & Administration News Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Open Positions Community News & Reports CNSF Hosts 24th Annual Capitol Hill Exhibition Funding Opportunities Open Positions Fellowships & Professional Development Events Calendar