A staple since COSSAâs 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.Â
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 Boardâs 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…
NSF and Air Force Sign Letter of Intent
On May 9, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and National Science Foundation (NSF) Director France CĂłrdova signed a Letter of Intent to create a new partnership for collaboration on science and engineering research to strengthen national security. The strategic partnership will focus on research in space operations and geosciences, advanced material sciences, information and data sciences, and workforce and processes. These common areas of interest will create opportunities for cooperation at all levels of research and a pathway between basic research supported by NSF and advanced technologies needed to support Air Force functions. The two agencies have already had initial…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 9
Featured News Recap of the 2018 COSSA Science Policy Conference COSSA in Action Social Science Advocates Take to Capitol Hill COSSA Submits Testimony in Support of Science Funding Letters & Statements Congressional News Senators Join Together in Support of the Institute for Education Sciences Federal Agency & Administration News Common Rule Agencies Release Proposal for 6-Month Delay of Revisions, Optional Implementation of âBurden-Reducingâ Provisions; Comments Sought for 30 Days Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Community News & Reports Funding Opportunities COSSA Member Spotlight Nomination Opportunities Events Calendar
Recap of the 2018 COSSA Science Policy Conference
COSSA held its 2018 Science Policy Conference and Social Science Advocacy Day on April 30-May 1 in Washington, DC. The conference and advocacy day brought together COSSA members and other stakeholders for a day of discussion about federal policy impacting our science followed by the only annual, coordinated advocacy day in support of all of the social and behavioral sciences. Plenary panels included âPost Truth: Communicating Facts, Not Fiction,â featuring feature William K. Hallman, Rutgers University; Cary Funk, Pew Research Center; and Melanie Green, University at Buffalo; âMe Too, Sexual Harassment in Science and the Academy,â featuring Elizabeth Armstrong, University…
Social Science Advocates Take to Capitol Hill
On May 1, 70 social and behavioral science researchers, stakeholders, and advocates met with their Members of Congress and staff to advocate in support of funding for federal agencies and programs that support social and behavioral science research. Advocates from 20 states converged on Capitol Hill, completing 79 individual meetings. Materials used to help articulate the value of social science research are available on the COSSA website, including fact sheets on COSSAâs FY 2019 funding requests. For more resources, and to participate in social science advocacy from home, visit COSSAâs Take Action page. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
COSSA Submits Testimony in Support of Science Funding
On April 26, COSSA submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The testimony calls for increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Institute for Education Sciences (IES), and International Education and Foreign Language Programs (Title VI and Fulbright-Hays). The following day COSSA submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for FY 2019. The testimony calls…
Senators Join Together in Support of the Institute for Education Sciences
On April 11, 19 Senators submitted a letter to the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations subcommittee, in support of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). IES is the research and development agency of the Department of Education and also houses the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The letter calls for Congress to appropriate $670 million for IES, providing critical support for NCES as well as the National Center for Special Education Research, Regional Education Laboratories, and the National Center for Education Research. Back to this issueâs table of contents.
Common Rule Agencies Release Proposal for 6-Month Delay of Revisions, Optional Implementation of âBurden-Reducingâ 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 âprovide additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements.â 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…
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 8
Featured News Psychologist Kristina R. Olson Receives Alan T. Waterman Award COSSA in Action Less Than Two Weeks Until COSSAâs Science Policy Conference and Advocacy Day Letters & Statements Congressional News Jerry Moran Tapped to Lead Senate CJS Subcommittee House Subcommittee Discusses 2019 NIH Budget Federal Agency & Administration News NIH Launches HEAL Initiative to Address the Opioid Epidemic NIH Takes Next Steps in Agency Reorganization Plans Nomination Opportunities Funding Opportunities Notices & Requests for Comment Community News & Reports Funding Opportunities Recent Reports COSSA Member Spotlight PAA Congressional Briefing Explores Factors Affecting Life Expectancy Nomination Opportunities Events Calendar
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 nationâs 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 âinnovative 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.â More information can be found here. Olson and other awardees will be recognized…
Less Than Two Weeks Until COSSAâs Science Policy Conference and Advocacy Day
There are less than two weeks left until the COSSA 2018 Science Policy Conference and Social Science Advocacy Day on April 30 and May 1. Register today to ensure you don’t miss the keynote address delivered by Barnard College President Sian Beilock, plenary panels on communicating and reestablishing trust in social science, and breakout sessions on using social and behavioral science research to address timely policy issues. Click here to see the full lineup of sessions and speakers and check the COSSA website for the most up-to-date information on the conference. Remember: COSSA members and students are eligible for discounts…
Jerry Moran Tapped to Lead Senate CJS Subcommittee
This week, following the retirement of Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Thad Cochran (R-MS), long-time appropriator Richard Shelby (R-AL) was approved by the Senate Republican Caucus to take the helm of the powerful committee. Shelbyâs promotion left a vacancy in the chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS), the subcommittee responsible for allocating money to the Department of Commerce, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Justice, and federal science agencies, including the National Science Foundation. Shelby selected Jerry Moran (R-KS) to lead the subcommittee. Moran, a lawyer and longtime state politician before his election…
House Subcommittee Discusses 2019 NIH Budget
On April 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) heard testimony from leadership of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the fiscal year (FY) 2019 NIH budget request. NIH Director Francis Collins, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Director Diana Bianchi, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, National Cancer Institute Director Norman Sharpless, and National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow all testified at the hearing. NIH was lauded for its accomplishments by members of both parties, further solidifying its position as a…
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 Administrationâs 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…
PAA Congressional Briefing Explores Factors Affecting Life Expectancy
On April 9, the Population Association of America (PAA), a COSSA governing member, hosted a Congressional briefing entitled Grave Consequences: Why Some Americans Are No Longer Living Longer on the decline of average life expectancy among some groups in the United States. COSSA was a co-sponsor of the event. Andrew Fenelon, researcher at the University of Maryland, spoke about the regional divergence in adult mortality. The Central South has a higher mortality rate than the rest of the country and has gotten worse over time, while the East Coast has shown significant improvements. Shannon Mannat, researcher at Syracuse University, presented…
COSSA Seeking Undergraduate Summer Interns
COSSA is accepting applications for its 2018 summer internship. 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 newsletter article. More information is available in the internship description. Applications will be evaluated as they are received, so apply now! Back to this issueâs table of contents.
COSSA Washington Update, Volume 37 Issue 7
 Featured News 2020 Census to Ask About Citizenship; COSSA Releases Statement and Action Alert COSSA in Action Science Policy Conference Program Taking Shape; Hotel Block Extended to April 6 COSSA to Present 2018 Distinguished Service Award to Rep. Dan Lipinski, NIHâs Bill Riley COSSA Seeking Undergraduate Summer Interns The American Statistical Association Answers âWhy Social Science?â Letters & Statements Congressional News Congress Approves Fiscal Year 2018 Funding; Cochran Retires House Members Join Together to Support NIH, Title VI International Education in Dear Colleague Letters Federal Agency & Administration News Office of Management and Budget Releases Presidentâs Management Agenda Nomination Opportunities…
2020 Census to Ask About Citizenship; COSSA Releases Statement and Action Alert
On March 26, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross directed the Census Bureau to include a question about respondentsâ citizenship in the 2020 Decennial Census. The decision was made in response to a request by the Department of Justice to add the question in order to support its enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, although it is unclear why current data is inadequate. Citizenship was last asked as part of the decennial census in 1950; since then it has been included on the census âlong form,â which later became the American Community Survey (these differ from the decennial census in that…
Science Policy Conference Program Taking Shape; Hotel Block Extended to April 6
More sessions and speakers have been announced for the COSSA 2018 Science Policy Conference and Social Science Advocacy Day. The conference will feature a keynote address delivered by Sian Beilock, President of Barnard College, plenary panels on âReestablishing Trust in Social Science & Dataâ and âPost Truth: Communicating Facts, Not Fictionâ and topical breakout sessions on the theme âWhy Social Science?â covering National Security, the Opioid Epidemic, Natural Disasters, and Criminal Justice. Check the preliminary agenda for the full lineup of presenters announced so far. Registration for the Conference is still open. Members and students are entitled to discounted registrationâemail…