COSSA Member Spotlight
COSSA Members Advocate for Disabilities Treaty Ratification
In late July, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-6 to move the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on to the full Senate for ratification. The scientific community is mobilizing in support of the Convention, which, among other things, affirms statesâ responsibilities to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal opportunity to pursue and enjoy the benefits of scientific progress. COSSA endorsed a statement by the AAAS Board of Directors in support of ratification. In addition, several COSSA members are also urging the Senate to ratify the treaty: The American Statistical Association (ASA) released a…
New COSSA Member: American Academy of Arts & Sciences
We are delighted to welcome the American Academy of Arts & Sciences to the COSSA membership. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, the Academy is one of the nationâs oldest learned societies and serves as an independent policy research center, providing âauthoritative and nonpartisan policy advice to decision-makers in government, academia, and the private sector.â We are thrilled that they have joined the COSSA community. COSSA’s full membership list can be viewed online. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
Importance of Statistics Highlighted by ASA White Papers and International Year of Statistics Workshop Report
The American Statistical Association (ASA), a COSSA governing member, has released three white papers detailing how statistics can contribute to the Administrationâs research initiatives and priorities, particularly those of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Â The white papers focus on the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, the Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and climate change. Â In an overview of the white papers, ASA Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson observed that the papers share several common themes: