Search Results: AI
Preliminary Details of House Labor-HHS Bill Released
On July 7, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee passed its fiscal year (FY) 2017 appropriations bill for agencies and programs under its jurisdiction, which include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Department of Education, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), among others. While text of the draft appropriations bill was released to coincide with the Subcommittee markup, the Committee Report is not expected to be released until the bill is marked up by the full Appropriations Committee on…
Acting Agricultural Statistics Board Chair Named
The National Agricultural Statistics Service has named Joseph L. Parsons acting chair of the U.S. Department of Agricultureâs (USDA) Agricultural Statistics Board. The Agricultural Statistics Board âprepares and issues USDAâs official national and state forecasts and estimates relating to crop production, stocks of agricultural commodities, livestock and livestock products, dairy and dairy products, poultry and poultry products, agricultural prices, economic information, agricultural wage rates, chemical usage, and other such subjects.â Parsons currently serves as Director of NASSâ Information Technology Division and Chief Information Officer. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
NIJ to Host Seminar on Violence Against Indigenous Adults
On June 23, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) will host a Research for the Real World seminar on violence against indigenous adults to help improve awareness and understanding of American Indian and Alaska Native victims of crime. AndrĂ© Rosay, University of Alaska Anchorage, will present on a large-scale survey that examined violence and victimization experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native women and men. The seminar will be moderated by NIJ Director Nancy Rodriguez and a panel on policy and practice implications will include Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, Advisor on Violence Against Women in the Office of the Vice President; Joye…
Complete Archive of COSSA Washington Update Now Available
COSSA is pleased to announce that the first 25 volumes of the COSSA Washington Update are now available on the COSSA website, completing the online archive of the newsletter. The archive offers a unique window into nearly 35 years of social and behavioral science policy. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
Maureen Goodenow Appointed NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research
On May 18, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins announced the selection of Maureen M. Goodenow as NIH Associate Director for AIDS Research and Director of the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR). Goodenow, currently at the University of Florida, Gainesville, is a professor of pathology, immunology, and laboratory medicine, and the Director of the Florida Center for AIDS Research. She is expected to join the agency in July. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
Office of AIDS Research Issues RFI on Trans-NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research (OAR) in the Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) recently issued a request-for-information (RFI) (NOT-OD-16-089) seeking input on the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Trans-NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research. The 2018 Plan is âdesigned to identify and articulate possible future directions to maximize benefits of investments in HIV/AIDS research.â In August 2015, NIH issued ânew overarching prioritiesâ for the next three to five years for HIV/AIDS research in a Notice, NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding (NOT-OD-15-137). The Notice also outlined guidelines the agency…
National Childrenâs Study Archive Available to Investigators
The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development issued a Notice (NOT-HD-16-005) to alert investigators of the availability of the National Childrenâs Study (NCS) Vanguard Data and Sample Archive and Access System (NCS Archive). The NCS Vanguard served as a pilot for âa planned cohort study of environmental influences on child health and development.â The Vanguard pilot enrolled more than 14,000 participants in more than 5,000 families in 40 locations and followed them until 2014. It includes a collection of more than â14 million records and nearly 19,000 biological and 5,500 primary samples from which a…
President Obama Proclaims January 2016 National Mentoring Month
On December 31, President Obama issued a proclamation declaring January 2016 âNational Mentoring Monthâ to honor âall those who continuously strive to provide young people with the resources and support they need and deserve.â The proclamation announced the Administrationâs recommitment to âbuilding a society in which all mentors and mentees can thrive in mutual learning relationships.â To read the entire proclamation, go here. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
NIH Strategic Plan, PMI Cohort, HIV/AIDS, and Big Data Discussed at NIH Advisory Committee Meeting
The December 10-11 meeting of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) included an update on the progress of several high-profile initiatives NIH is developing, including the Congressionally-mandated NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, the Presidentâs proposed Precision Medicine Cohort Program, assessment of the NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities, and the NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2k) program.
NIH Blog Explains NIH Commons
Philip Bourne, Associate Director for Data Science (ADDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Vivien Bonazzi, ADDS Senior Advisor for Data Science Technologies and Innovation, recently penned a blog post explaining the NIH Commons, which is described by Bourne and Bonazzi as âa shared virtual space where scientists can work with the digital objects of biomedical research.â The ADDS office is responsible for leading the development and coordination of NIHâs data science vision (see Update, October 1, 2015). The blog post provides examples of current Commons initiatives and requests input from the scientific community on the Commonsâ concepts…
NIH Issues Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Research Priorities
In August, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a Notice, NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding (NOT-OD-15-137), outlining its overarching HIV/AIDS research priorities along with the guidelines the agency will use to determine AIDS funding for the next three to five years beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2016 (see related story). NIHâs Office of AIDS Research (OAR) is legislatively mandated to coordinate, plan, evaluate, and budget for the agencyâs AIDS research program (see Update, June 16, 2014). The notice highlights NIHâs overarching HIV/AIDS research priorities: Research to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS, including the development…
OAR Outlines Overarching AIDS Research Priorities; Studies of Behavior and Social Conditions with Multiple Negative Outcomes Deemed Low Priority
At the September 1 meeting of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) Council of Councils, Acting Associate Director for AIDS Research and Acting Director for the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) Robert Eisinger provided the Council with an update on OARâs activities, including the recent release of NIHâs high-priority areas of HIV/AIDS research and accompanying guidelines for determining funding for this research (see related story). Eisinger highlighted NIH director Francis Collinsâ August 12 statement extolling the âextraordinary progress that has been made in HIV/AIDS research over the past 34 years, transforming what…
NIH: AIDS Research Center/Developmental Research Centers on Mental Health and HIV/AIDS
The Division of AIDS Research (DAR) within the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking applications for Center Core grants to support an HIV/AIDS Research Center (ARC) (PAR-15-197) and applications to support Developmental AIDS Research Centers (D-ARC) (PAR-15-196). ARC supports innovative, interdisciplinary research in the areas of basic research, neuro-AIDS, behavioral and social, integrated biobehavioral, clinical, translational, and implementation science. D-ARC provides infrastructure support that facilitates the development of high impact science in HIV/AIDS and mental health that is relevant to the NIMH mission. NIMHâs intent is to support research that addresses…
ACS to Retain Marriage, Field of Degree Questions Proposed for Elimination
The Census Bureau will retain several questions in the American Community Survey (ACS) originally identified for removal: Person Question No. 12, undergraduate field of degree, and Person Question Nos. 21-23, which are related to marital history. The questions were proposed for elimination as part of the Bureauâs 2014 Content Review of the ACS and were released to the public for comment in the fall (see Update, November 3, 2014). COSSA objected to the removal of these questions in a written comment, as did many other organizations in the scientific community. According to Censusâ request to the Office of Management and…
APA Briefing Explains the Psychology behind False Confessions
The American Psychological Association (APA), a COSSA governing member, held a Congressional briefing on April 29, in conjunction with the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) Exhibition. The briefing featured Saul Kassin, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (also a COSSA member), who spoke about his research on false confessions. Kassin observed that it is often difficult for people to understand why someone would admit to a crime they did not commit. However, in his analysis of a database of convictions overturned by DNA evidence, Kassin found that more than a quarter of the wrongly…
RFI: Optimizing Funding Policies and Other Strategies to Improve the Impact and Sustainability of Biomedical Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a Request for Information (RFI), Optimizing Funding Policies and Other Strategies to Improve the Impact and Sustainability of Biomedical Research, soliciting input from the scientific community regarding the possible development of new policies and other strategies to improve the impact and sustainability of the NIH-funded biomedical research enterprise.
House Subcommittee Discusses CDC Budget; Director Questioned on Gun Violence, HIV/AIDS Research
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies met on March 25 to consider the administrationâs fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget proposal for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In attendance was CDC Director Thomas Frieden, accompanied by Beth Bell, Director of the CDCâs National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases, and Anne Schuchat, Assistant Surgeon General and Director of the CDCâs National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) praised the CDC in his opening statement for protecting public health in the U.S. and abroad. He…
Summaries Available from COSSA Annual Meeting
Thank you to all who attended the 2015 COSSA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC on March 9-10. Summaries and presentations from several of the sessions are available on the Annual Meeting webpage. Speakers included France Cordova, Director of the National Science Foundation, William Riley, Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, among others. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
NIH: BD2K Biomedical Science Training Coordination Center
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking applications for a coordination center designed to narrow the gap between the availability of biomedical big data and the ability of biomedical scientists to utilize such data accurately, effectively, and efficiently. The funding opportunity announcement, NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Biomedical Science Training Coordination Center (RFA-ES-15-004), responds to increasingly large, diverse, and complex biomedical datasets. These datasets tax conventional methods for sharing, managing, and analyzing data. Researchersâ abilities to capitalize on biomedical big data science-based approaches are limited by poor data accessibility and interoperability, the lack of appropriate tools, and insufficient…
COSSA Urges Census to Maintain Field of Degree, Marriage Questions in ACS
On December 9, COSSA submitted public comment to the U.S. Department of Commerce urging the decision to remove several questions from the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) be reversed. As previously reported, the ACS recently underwent a comprehensive review of its current 72 questions, which resulted in a proposal to remove questions deemed of âlow benefit.â COSSAâs comments outline the importance of Person Question No. 12âUndergraduate Field of Degreeâand Person Questions No. 21-23, relating to marital history, to the social science research community. The Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS), a COSSA sister organization, also submitted public comment. More information on the…