A staple since COSSA’s earliest days, the biweekly COSSA Washington Update newsletter provides members and the public with comprehensive coverage of policy developments impacting social and behavioral science research.
CNSF Hosts Congressional Briefing on Undergraduate Learning During COVID-19
On October 22, the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), of which COSSA is a member, hosted a virtual briefing for Congressional staffers on undergraduate learning during COVID-19 and how funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) can address gaps in learning. The briefing featured presentations from Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at North Carolina A&T State University Adrienne Aiken Morgan and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Digital Innovation and Enterprise Learning at Northeastern University Kemi Jona. In addition, brief remarks were offered by Representatives G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Katherine Clark (D-CA). The briefing was moderated by Associate Executive Director of…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 39 Issue 20
Featured News Get Out the Vote with “Vote Science Strong” New from COSSA CJRA and COSSA to Host “Ask a Criminologist” Virtual Briefing on Police and Community Relations COSSA and NIH Minority Health Institute Discuss COVID-19 Response Congressional News FY 2021 Begins Under a CR; COVID Relief Negotiations Up in the Air House Science Committee Holds Hearing on Research Needs for Coping with Compound Crises House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Combatting Misinformation in the 2020 Election Executive Branch News Fight for Accurate Census Continues Even as Counting Wraps Up NIH Encourages Participation in Surveys on Impacts of COVID-19 on Extramural…
Get Out the Vote with “Vote Science Strong”
Research!America, a DC-based advocacy organization working in support of health and medical research, has partnered with several scientific organizations on a website aimed at equipping the scientific community with resources to help make informed decisions at the polls this November. Vote Science Strong seeks to make scientific research—across all domains—part of the conversation in this year’s elections. It includes several different tools to help scientists engage with candidates, such as through town hall meetings and social media, and includes factsheets on the benefits of research to various aspects of life. Help amplify science in this year’s elections by visiting Vote…
CJRA and COSSA to Host “Ask a Criminologist” Virtual Briefing on Police and Community Relations
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 next in a series of “Ask a Criminologist” Congressional briefings on Wednesday October 21 at 3:00 pm ET. This interactive briefing will focus on the intersection between law enforcement and residents during an extremely complicated time. Panelists will include Dr. Jennifer Cobbina, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University; Dr. Rod Brunson, Thomas O’Neill Chair of Criminology at Northeastern University; and Dr. Everette Penn, Professor of Criminal…
COSSA and NIH Minority Health Institute Discuss COVID-19 Response
On September 23 as a member of the steering committee of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, COSSA Executive Director Wendy Naus participated in a webinar (video recording) for Congressional staff featuring a discussion with Dr. Eliseo Perez-Stable, Director of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The webinar is the first in a series organized by the Ad Hoc Group and the Coalition for Health Funding aimed at raising the visibility of NIH’s individual institutes and centers on Capitol Hill, specifically as their work relates to COVID-19 response….
FY 2021 Begins Under a CR; COVID Relief Negotiations Up in the Air
Federal fiscal year (FY) 2021 officially began on October 1. As previously reported, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) last month keeping the government operating past the November elections until December 11; the President has since signed the CR into law. What this means for FY 2021 science funding is unknown. The lame-duck Congress will return after the election and may attempt to finalize FY 2021 spending, or pass another CR kicking the responsibility to the next Congress that will be seated in January. The fate of funding largely lies in the outcome of the Congressional and Presidential elections and…
House Science Committee Holds Hearing on Research Needs for Coping with Compound Crises
On September 30, the Environment Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a hearing on “Coping with Compound Crises: Extreme Weather, Social Injustice, and a Global Pandemic.” The hearing featured the testimony of Dr. Roxane Cohen Silver, Professor of Psychological Science, Medicine, and Public Health, University of California, Irvine; and Dr. Samantha Montano, Assistant Professor of Emergency Management, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, each who spoke about the need for rapid federal research funding to support social research in the immediate aftermath of disasters and other crises. Members of the committee from both sides of the aisle, including Environment…
House Elections Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Combatting Misinformation in the 2020 Election
On October 6, the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration (CHA) held a public hearing on voting rights and combatting misinformation during the upcoming 2020 election. The Committee heard testimony from Member of the Board of Elections of Cuyahoga County in Ohio Inajo Davis Chappel, Secretary of State of Colorado Jena Griswold, Commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Benjamin Hovland, and President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Spencer Overton. No Republican members of the Subcommittee attended the hearing. Witnesses and participating Members of Congress discussed various dangers of misinformation and its effect…
Fight for Accurate Census Continues Even as Counting Wraps Up
The 2020 Census has been sent to the Supreme Court yet again, this time over the Administration’s plans to end field enumeration and non-response follow-up efforts early and to rush the timeline for producing Constitutionally-mandated redistricting and reapportionment data. As previously reported, a federal judge required counting efforts for the 2020 Census to continue until the end of October. The Administration has appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court to allow it to end enumeration activities as soon as possible in order to shift the operation to producing data by the end-of-year statutory deadline. Many Census experts—including the Census Bureau…
NIH Encourages Participation in Surveys on Impacts of COVID-19 on Extramural Research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) plans to distribute a pair of surveys to gather data on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on extramural research, according to an October 5 blog post from Mike Lauer, NIH’s Deputy Director for Extramural Research. The first survey, the Institutions Survey, will attempt to understand challenges facing research institutions during the pandemic. The second survey, the Researchers Survey, will attempt to understand how the pandemic impacts individual researchers at NIH-funded institutions. Links to participate in the surveys will be sent to select email addresses at research institutions and will be open through the end of…
NIH Announces Modernization of Search and Analysis Tools
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have announced the launch of the new and modernized RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) website and simplified RePORTER search tool. The RePORT website was originally launched ten years ago as a platform to search for and analyze data about NIH research activities and included several tools such as RePORTER to quickly find relevant information about specific projects. Both the RePORT website and the RePORTER tool have been updated to be more user-friendly and better meet needs based on user feedback. New functions include a modified quick search, search result filters, data visualizations, improved…
Office of Evaluation Sciences Seeks Fellows for 2021
The Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) at the General Services Administration is currently accepting applications for a yearlong fellowship beginning in fall 2021 (based in Washington, DC with some flexibility based on the COVID-19 pandemic). OES is a team of applied researchers that works to build insights from the social and behavioral sciences into federal programs. OES designs, implements, and analyzes evidence-based interventions and randomized evaluations. Fellows shape their own high-impact portfolio of work, design and direct projects, and author academic publications. For 2021, applications are being sought for Fellows, more junior Associate Fellows, and Health Fellows with expertise in health policy….
Symposium Highlights New Social Science Research on COVID-19
On October 9, the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in collaboration with COSSA, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, the Federation Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and SAGE Publishing held a seminar on “Responding to COVID-19: Emerging Insights from Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.” The event included brief presentations from social scientists engaged in research on the impacts of COVID-19 and breakout sessions that paired these scientists and other experts with policymakers engaged in responding to the pandemic. The first session, focused on education…
Sunshine Hillygus Delivers 2020 Henry and Bryna David Lecture on Young Voter Behavior
On October 5, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) featured Dr. Sunshine Hillygus as the 2020 Henry and Bryna David Lecturer. A political scientist from Duke University, Dr. Hillygus spoke on the participation of young voters in the United States and how current barriers and opportunities to mobilize young voters could shape the nature of U.S. elections. The Henry and Bryna David Lecture honors a leading innovator in the behavioral and social sciences who is invited to deliver the eponymous lecture and publish an article in Issues in Science and Technology magazine based on that lecture. A…
Jennifer Richeson Receives 2020 SAGE-CASBS Award
SAGE Publishing and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University, both COSSA members, announced Jennifer Richeson, a social psychologist at Yale University, as the recipient of the 2020 SAGE-CASBS award. The SAGE-CASBS Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the behavioral and social sciences that advance our understanding of pressing social issues. According to the award announcement, Richeson’s “insights on how people experience, reason about, and respond to sociocultural diversity and racial discrimination significantly advance our understanding of intergroup relations.” Richeson will deliver an award lecture at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences…
AERA to Host Virtual Brown Lecture on the “Segregation Pandemic”
The American Educational Research Association (AERA), a COSSA governing member, will host its annual Brown Lecture in Education Research virtually on October 22 at 6:00 pm ET. The 2020 lecture is entitled “The Segregation Pandemic: Brown as Treatment or Placebo?” and will be delivered by William F. Tate IV, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of South Carolina, and a leading expert on the intersections between education, society, and public health. The Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research commemorates the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education and is designed…
NSF Seeking Comments on STEM Education Strategic Plan
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced it is accepting stakeholder comments on an upcoming Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan. This strategic plan, which is released roughly every five years, serves as a guide for developing STEM education programs at federal agencies as well as identifying areas for future improvement. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is a stated focus in this round of the Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan. NSF is seeking comments on the following issues: Future opportunities in STEM education; Developing STEM education digital resources; Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM; Engaging students where disciplines converge;…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 39 Issue 19
Featured News Administration Expands Ban on “Promotion” of Structural Racism/Sexism to Contractors, Grantees New from COSSA COSSA to Co-Host Symposium on “Responding to COVID-19: Emerging Insights from SBE Sciences” October COSSA Headlines to Feature Deep Dive on Presidential Election Polling “Why Social Science?” Focuses on Misinformation and Online Extremism Congressional News Congress Likely Averts Government Shutdown, CR through December 11 Executive Branch News ICE Proposes Major New Restrictions to International Student Visas With Days Left, Census Deadline Still in Flux NSF Seeking Comments on STEM Education Strategic Plan CIA Establishes First-Ever Federal Laboratory Science Community News National Academies’ Leaders Raise…
Administration Expands Ban on “Promotion” of Structural Racism/Sexism to Contractors, Grantees
As part of the Administration’s ongoing effort to crack down on perceived “political correctness” in government, President Trump issued an executive order on September 22 to “combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.” This order expands on a recent memorandum from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that required federal agencies to cease funding for training that addresses critical race theory and white privilege (see previous coverage). The executive order applies this prohibition to federal contractors and grant recipients. In addition, it expands the original OMB memo beyond employee training to require that federal…
COSSA to Co-Host Symposium on “Responding to COVID-19: Emerging Insights from SBE Sciences”
COSSA is collaborating with the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences; the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences; and SAGE Publishing to host a seminar bringing together policymakers and social science researchers working on pressing COVID-19 issues. The virtual event, “Responding to COVID-19: Emerging Insights from SBE Sciences” will take place on Friday, October 9 from 12:45-5:00 pm Eastern Time and will feature 3 public sessions highlighting emerging findings from policy-relevant social science research. More information on speakers…