Issue 23 (November 24)

On November 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of all 12 fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations bills; this is for the fiscal year that officially began last month on October 1. As previously reported, the House of Representatives passed 10 of its bills in July. The release of the Senate bills signals that lawmakers plan to negotiate final FY 2021 spending during this post-election lame duck session. Senators are not expected to take up the bills on the Senate floor; rather, their bills are meant as a jumping off point for negotiations with the House on a final deal.

As a reminder, the federal government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) until December 11, leaving just four weeks to complete the bills—likely through a large omnibus package. There are reports that a second CR may be needed to extend the deadline by another week, providing lawmakers additional time to complete their work on the FY 2021 bills.

Read on for COSSA’s full analysis of the Senate FY 2021 funding bills for federal agencies and programs important to the social and behavioral science research community. And take a moment to contact your lawmakers and urge their support for social science funding in the final FY 2021 appropriations bill.

The latest Why Social Science? post comes Jay Maddock, professor of public health at Texas A&M University, who wrote for The Conversation about what social science can tell us about pandemic fatigue— and how we can mitigate it. Read it here and subscribe.

On December 7, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be holding a public webinar on the Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) classification of NIH-funded research. The webinar, which will be led by Acting Director of ClinicalTrials.gov Rebecca Williams and NIH Technical Specialist at ICF International Elisa Golfinopoulos, will discuss an analysis from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on the challenges of reporting and registering results information of BESH on ClinicalTrials.gov and the broader implications of the NLM’s findings. The webinar will be streamed live on the NIH website.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it is accepting supplemental funding requests for current NSF grantees and research fellows under its Career-Life Balance (CLB) initiative. This initiative, which began in 2012, gives financial support to early-career researchers with the goal of preventing leaving the STEM workforce due to sudden increases in family care responsibilities and costs. The award requests may be for funding for up to six months of salary or up to a $30,000 stipend plus indirect costs. More information about the CLB initiative and instructions on submitting supplemental funding requests are available on the NSF website.

The Day One Project is seeking the science community’s input on the most important science and technology roles in government. An initiative of the Federation of American Scientists, the Day One Project seeks to involve the science and technology community in the presidential transition by “developing new proposals on key issues that can be useful to policymakers on the first day of a new presidential term and beyond.”

As part of an effort to identify the top 100 most important federal positions for science and technology, the project is seeking ideas for both what these roles are currently, as well as ideas for positions that could or should be created. In addition, the initiative is interested in identifying individuals who have the unique perspectives and scientific expertise necessary to fill these vital leadership roles.

Ideas must be submitted through Day One’s website by December 1, 2020.

On November 24, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) released its list of newly elected AAAS Fellows, a lifetime honor given to select AAAS members who have made significant contributions to the U.S. science and technology enterprise. Among the awardees chosen for 2020 is Dr. Edward Liebow, Executive Director of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and Chair of COSSA’s Board of Directors. Liebow is recognized for his “distinguished contributions to the field of applied anthropology, and particularly for exemplary administration of professional societies and non-profit research and policy institutions.” Liebow became AAA Executive Director in 2013 after an accomplished career with the Battelle Seattle Research Center conducting research and policy analysis on a variety of policy issues affecting disadvantaged communities. He was elected as Chair of COSSA’s Board of Directors in 2019. COSSA Executive Director Wendy Naus stated, “I cannot think of a social scientist more deserving of this honor. Ed Liebow is an accomplished researcher, thoughtful leader, and steadfast advocate for the social and behavioral sciences. The COSSA community congratulates you, Ed!”

More information about AAAS Fellows is available on the AAAS website.

The Day One Project is seeking the science community’s input on the most important science and technology roles in government. An initiative of the Federation of American Scientists, the Day One Project seeks to involve the science and technology community in the presidential transition by “developing new proposals on key issues that can be useful to policymakers on the first day of a new presidential term and beyond.”

As part of an effort to identify the top 100 most important federal positions for science and technology, the project is seeking ideas for both what these roles are currently, as well as ideas for positions that could or should be created. In addition, the initiative is interested in identifying individuals who have the unique perspectives and scientific expertise necessary to fill these vital leadership roles.

Ideas must be submitted through Day One’s website by December 1, 2020.