New from COSSA
Early Bird Registration Opens for Social Science Advocacy Day
Early bird registration is now underway for COSSA’s 2019 Social Science Advocacy Day. COSSA’s annual spring event will be dedicated entirely to Social Science Advocacy Day in 2019. This year’s Social Science Advocacy Day will include a kickoff session featuring a special guest speaker (to be announced in the coming weeks), a half-day of intensive context setting and advocacy preparation, COSSA’s annual Celebration of Social Science Rooftop Reception, and a full day of meetings on Capitol Hill. Take advantage of our Early Bird discount and register by February 1 for only $75! Graduate and undergraduate students are eligible to register…
Register for January’s Headlines Webchat Featuring a Deep Dive on Advocacy Resources
COSSA members are encouraged to sign up for the monthly Headlines webchat on January 10 at 2:00 pm Eastern, in which COSSA staff will recap the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month and answer participants’ questions. The January chat will feature a deep dive discussion on COSSA’s legislative agenda for 2019 and resources for advocates. Individuals employed by or affiliated with a COSSA member organization or university can register for the webchat here. Back to this issue’s table of contents.
December COSSA Headlines to Feature OBSSR Director
COSSA members are encouraged to sign up for the monthly Headlines webchat on December 13 a 2:00 PM Eastern, in which COSSA staff recap the most important social and behavioral science news from the past month and answer participants’ questions. The December chat will feature a deep dive discussion with Dr. William (Bill) Riley, Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who will give an update on new initiatives at OBSSR and discuss the next steps for NIH’s controversial clinical trials policy. Individuals employed by or affiliated with a…
Save the Date: Social Science Advocacy Day 2019
COSSA’s annual Social Science Advocacy Day, the only annual, coordinated advocacy day in support of all of the social and behavioral sciences, will take place on April 30 and May 1, 2019. Open exclusively to participants affiliated with COSSA member organizations and universities, Social Science Advocacy Day brings together social scientists and other science advocates from across the country to engage with policymakers in Washington, DC. COSSA provides in-depth training and logistical support (including scheduling meetings with Congressional offices and providing an on-call expert to answer day-of policy questions), as well as polished, up-to-date materials to help advocates bring their…
Introducing HEADLINES: A Monthly Look at What’s New and Noteworthy in Social Science Policy
COSSA is excited to announce its newest program, exclusively for members—Headlines: A monthly look at what’s new and noteworthy in social science policy. Launching in November, Headlines will be a monthly webchat in which members will learn about the latest policy and funding developments impacting social science research. The COSSA team, joined by periodic special guests, will take participants behind the headlines and explain what they need to know. COSSA is excited to offer this interactive space for members to get the policy-related information they need when they need it. The first edition of Headlines will be two days after…
COSSA Encourages Response to NIH Clinical Trials RFI
As previously reported, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been taking steps in recent years to enhance its stewardship of and increase transparency over the clinical trials it funds. This has included the development of a new, expanded definition of the term “clinical trial,” which now applies to all research involving human subjects that involves a prospective experimental manipulation of an independent variable, and triggers the need for researchers to adhere to a number of new registering and reporting requirements using clinicaltrials.gov (see COSSA’s Hot Topic piece for details). Many basic behavioral and social science studies will be caught up in…
COSSA Seeks Interns for 2019
COSSA is accepting internship applications for the spring semester beginning in January 2019. The opportunity is best suited for 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…
COSSA Endorses Bill to Combat Sexual Harassment in Science
On October 2, COSSA released a statement in support of H.R. 7031, the Combatting Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2018. The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, would provide funding to the National Science Foundation to establish a grant program to study the causes and consequences of sexual harassment in the scientific workforce, efficacy of interventions, and methods of remediating the negative impacts of sexual harassment. This legislation would also direct data collection about sexual harassment in science and establish and interagency working group to…
COSSA and 25 Science Organizations Call for Removal of Census Citizenship Question
In a joint comment to the Department of Commerce, COSSA and 25 other science and research organizations urged the Department to remove the citizenship question from the 2020 Census. The letter, which was submitted in response to a federal request for input on data collection activities related to the 2020 Census, focuses on the science and research implications of the citizenship question, arguing that “the inclusion of a question on citizenship in the 2020 Census will increase the burden on respondents, add unnecessary costs to the operation, and negatively impact the accuracy and integrity of one of the most valuable…
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.
House Panel Passes FY 2019 Funding for NSF, Census, NIJ
On May 17, the House 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 May 9. 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 Senate has not yet released the details of its CJS bill. At a Glance… The House CJS bill includes $8.2 billion for NSF in FY 2019, which is 5.2 percent above the…
COSSA Presents Rep. Dan Lipinski with Distinguished Service Award
On May 17, following the 2018 COSSA Science Policy Conference and Social Science Advocacy Day, representatives of COSSA’s governing member associations presented the 2018 Distinguished Service Award to Representative Daniel Lipinski (D-IL). Lipinski, who serves on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, as Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Research, and holds a Ph.D. in political science, has been a strong advocate for scientific research at all levels and across all fields of study. He has worked productively with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to enact legislation that strengthens the U.S. scientific enterprise and has…
House and Senate Committees Approve FY 2019 Agriculture Funding
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have approved their fiscal year (FY) 2019 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bills. This bill contains funding for the two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistical agencies, the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), as well as the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which funds competitive research projects. The House bill (H.R. 5961) was approved by the subcommittee on May 9 and by the full committee on May 16. The Senate version of the bill, which does not yet have a…
CJRA and COSSA to Host “Ask a Criminologist” Panel on How the Opioid Epidemic and Police-Community Relations Impact Homicides
COSSA and the Crime & Justice Research Alliance (CJRA) (a collaborative effort of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the American Society of Criminology, both COSSA members) will host the third in a series of “Ask a Criminologist” Congressional briefings on Tuesday, May 22. This interactive briefing will explore key factors, including the opioid epidemic, that led to an increase in homicide rates in communities across the United States in 2015 and 2016 and share how criminologists have been using research and statistics to help policymakers identify and address these causes. The discussion will be moderated by CJRA Past…