Executive Branch News
White House Outlines FY 2020 R&D Budget Priorities
On July 31, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Mick Mulvaney, with Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant Secretary to the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), issued a joint memorandum to federal agency and department heads on “FY 2020 Administration Research and Development Priorities.” The R&D memo lays out key White House priorities as agencies begin working on their budget submissions for the next fiscal year. The FY 2020 memo shares many priorities with the FY 2019 memo, including acknowledging the important role of science and technology to America’s global leadership and emphasizing national…
Census Bureau Seeks Input on 2020 Data Products
In order to inform its plans for 2020 Census data products, the Census Bureau is soliciting feedback on how data products from prior decennial censuses (including summary and detailed tables, national and state demographic profiles, and topical briefs) have been used. According to the Federal Register notice, privacy concerns may lead the Bureau to reduce the amount of detailed data released to the public, so input on how to prioritize products for the 2020 Census is being sought. More information, including specific questions of interest to the Bureau and a spreadsheet containing a complete list of data products and tables,…
NSF Prepares to Launch the 2026 Idea Machine
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is preparing to launch the NSF 2026 Idea Machine in late August. The NSF 2026 Idea Machine is a competition to help set the U.S. agenda for fundamental research in science and engineering. Participants in the Idea Machine have the opportunity to win prizes and receive public recognition by suggesting the research questions that need to be answered in the coming decade – these questions will become NSF’s next series of “Big Ideas.” This is an opportunity for researchers, the public, students and other interested parties to suggest pressing research questions. The window to submit…
Steven Dillingham Nominated to Lead Census Bureau
Dr. Steven Dillingham was nominated on July 18 by President Trump to serve as the Director of the Census Bureau within the Department of Commerce. Dillingham currently directs the Office of Strategic Information, Research, and Planning for the Peace Corps and previously led the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. He holds a Ph.D. in political science, as well as a law degree, an MBA, and a master’s degree in public administration. Given his record of leadership within the federal statistical system, Dillingham’s nomination is a welcome departure from the type of controversial, politically-motivated candidates the…
Draft Guidance Documents Related to Revised Common Rule Released
On July 20, the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released three draft guidance documents that relate to the three provisions in the revised Common Rule that institutions may choose to implement during the period between July 19, 2018 and January 20, 2019, when the revised Common Rule becomes effective (see COSSA’s coverage of the delay). The three draft guidance documents are: Scholarly and Journalistic Activities Deemed Not to be Research: 2018 Requirements When Continuing Review Is Not Required During the 6-Month Delay Period of July 19, 2018 through January 20, 2019:…
NSF Announces new STEM Education Advisory Panel
The National Science Foundation (NSF), along with the Department of Education, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the appointment of 18 members of the new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education advisory panel on July 11. The panel, authorized by the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act, was created to encourage U.S. scientific and technological innovations in education. Gabriela Gonzalez, deputy director of the Intel Foundation at the Intel Corporation, will chair the panel and David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, will serve as vice chair. More…
Arthur Lupia to Lead NSF’s Social Science Directorate
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it has chosen Dr. Arthur “Skip” Lupia to serve as the next head of its Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE), following the expiration of Dr. Fay Lomax Cook’s term. Dr. Lupia is currently the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is also the chairman of the board for the Center for Open Science and the chair of the National Academies Roundtable on the Communication and Use of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Lupia served on COSSA’s Board of Directors in 2014 and…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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.
National Science Board Elects New Leadership
On May 3, the National Science Board (NSB), the governing body of the National Science Foundation, announced that Diane Souvaine and Ellen Ochoa will serve as the Board’s new Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, for the 2018-2020 term. Souvaine has been a member of the NSB for ten years and most recently served as the Vice Chair. Souvaine is a professor of computer science at Tufts University whose research contributions include solving challenging problems in computational geometry and helping extend the results of straight-edged computational geometry into the curved world. Ochoa is an astronaut and the director of the Lyndon…
Common Rule Agencies Release Proposal for 6-Month Delay of Revisions, Optional Implementation of “Burden-Reducing” Provisions; Comments Sought for 30 Days
On April 20, the 17 agencies regulated under the Common Rule, the set of regulations governing human subjects research, released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would delay implementation of revisions to the Common Rule by an additional six months, setting a new compliance date of January 21, 2019. The stated rationale for the delay is to “provide additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements.” The Obama-era changes had been originally scheduled to go into effect on January 19, 2018 but were delayed by an Interim Final Rule announced in January 2018…
Psychologist Kristina R. Olson Receives Alan T. Waterman Award
On April 12, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that the 2018 Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation’s highest honor for early career scientists and engineers, would go to social and developmental psychologist Kristina R. Olson of the University of Washington. Olson is the first social scientist to receive the award since 2005 and is recognized for her “innovative contributions to understanding children’s attitudes toward and identification with social groups, early prosocial behavior, the development of notions of fairness, morality, inequality and the emergence of social biases.” More information can be found here. Olson and other awardees will be recognized…
NIH Launches HEAL Initiative to Address the Opioid Epidemic
On April 4, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new effort to accelerate progress toward addressing the opioid addiction crisis. The Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative will use the increase in NIH funding provided by the FY 2018 omnibus bill to nearly double funding for research on opioid misuse/addiction and pain compared to FY 2016 ($1.1 billion compared to $600 million). The initiative will fund research in two broad areas: (1) Prevent addiction through enhanced pain management, and (2) Improve treatments for opioid misuse disorder and addiction. Within the preventing addiction portfolio, NIH proposes to launch…
NIH Takes Next Steps in Agency Reorganization Plans
As part of the Trump Administration’s government reform agenda, including its comprehensive plan for reorganizing the executive branch and reducing the federal civilian workforce, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created an initiative called ReImagine HHS. As part of this initiative, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched Optimize NIH in December 2017 to improve organizational effectiveness and performance. NIH is working to equilibrate workload distribution across scientific review and grants and program management functions and anticipates that the Optimize NIH effort will be fully implemented over the next two to three years. Research functions are not…