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What’s Ahead
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| A chain of tropical cyclones imaged in 2019 by a geostationary weather satellite. (Image credit – Joshua Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory, NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) |
New Study to Advance ‘Systems Approach’ for Earth Science
A National Academies study committee tasked with envisioning a “systems approach” to Earth science is holding a kickoff meeting on Monday with its sponsors from the National Science Foundation. NSF has asked the committee to identify infrastructure, workforce, and computational capabilities needed to advance and integrate work across a range of fields. The project description states, “All major components of the Earth system will be considered including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and the individuals, institutions, and technologies that respond to and influence these dynamics as will their interactions and feedbacks through time.” The committee is co-chaired by George Hornberger, director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vanderbilt University, and Ruth DeFries, a professor of ecology and sustainable development at Columbia University in New York.
Nuclear Weapons Detection Study Launching
The National Academies is holding a kickoff meeting on Tuesday for a new study sponsored by the Department of Energy that will identify opportunities to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and fissile material through expanded R&D efforts, increased international engagement, and improved coordination between federal labs, industry, and academia. The study committee is chaired by Jill Hruby, a former director of Sandia National Labs who is now an independent consultant for the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonproliferation group. The final report from the study will be restricted, but a summary will be made public.
Planning Panel Seeks Unified Vision for Fusion and Plasma Science
A virtual workshop on Thursday will bring together researchers from across the plasma physics and fusion science communities as part of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee’s ongoing effort to develop a long-range strategic plan for the Department of Energy. This March, FESAC received a report on community priorities that presented distinct plans for “discovery” plasma science and fusion science and technology. FESAC’s planning subcommittee is now seeking to create a “merged vision and mission” from the two strands, with the workshop aiming to identify shared priorities, prioritization criteria, and strategies for developing a consensus plan. The workshop follows a series of focus groups held in June that included sessions dedicated to early career researchers, graduate students, women and trans and nonbinary physicists, and members of underrepresented minority groups. FESAC will discuss the workshop outcomes at its next meeting on Aug. 24.
NASA to Offer Update on Mars and Lunar Science Plans
NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee is holding a virtual meeting on Monday and Tuesday. Two sessions on Monday will address NASA’s Mars program and include a half-hour discussion of its future Mars Sample Return mission. The agency announced last week it has assembled an independent review board chaired by retired Orbital ATK President David Thompson to keep tabs on planning for the mission and to offer guidance. NASA will also discuss the progress of its lunar science program. The agency indicated last week that the program’s first two commercial robotic landers remain on track to launch in fall 2021 despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The program is expected to solicit proposals soon for its fifth lander as well as for instrument suites to be included on subsequent landers. There will be an additional session focused on VIPER, a robotic rover mission to search for signs of water ice in the lunar south pole region that NASA is currently aiming to launch in mid-to-late 2023.
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In Case You Missed It
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| A broken cable damaged about 250 aluminum panels in the primary radio reflector dish of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. (Image courtesy of Phil Perillat / NAIC-Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF) |
Cable Break Damages Arecibo Observatory
The iconic Arecibo Observatory was severely damaged on Aug. 10 when one of the cables supporting the platform suspended above the radio telescope’s aluminum reflector dish broke. The cable tore a 30 meter gash in the 305 meter diameter dish, which focuses radio waves on receiving equipment attached to the platform, and damaged a structure called the Gregorian dome that houses some of the equipment. Arecibo reports that telescope operations have been suspended pending repairs and that the cause of the break is unclear, as the cable was designed to last at least another 15 years. It is not yet known how long the repairs might take, what the cost will be, or who will foot the bill. Currently, the National Science Foundation is divesting its funding support for operations of the half-century-old facility and the University of Central Florida, which now manages it, is working to replenish that share of the budget through a patchwork of partnerships. Notably, the lead appropriator for NSF in the House, Rep. José Serrano (D-NY), has long been among the observatory’s strongest champions in Congress, though he is retiring after this year. Arecibo is still conducting repairs to damage inflicted by Hurricane Maria in 2017 using funding provided by Congress as part of an emergency relief package.
White House Updates R&D Priorities
On Aug. 14, the White House released its annual R&D priorities memorandum, which will shape federal agencies’ budget submissions for fiscal year 2022. The priorities are similar to those in last year’s memo, though they include a new focus on public health R&D in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The memo states that areas connected to “Industries of the Future,” such as artificial intelligence and quantum information science, “remain the administration’s top R&D priority.” As a further marker of its interest in these fields, last week the administration also released a summary of its proposals to increase federal spending on QIS and non-defense AI R&D. Other items again highlighted in the priorities memo are earth system predictability, disaster resilience, microelectronics, advanced military capabilities, ocean mapping, early-stage energy R&D, and space exploration.
Top DOE Official Taunts China Over Circular Collider Deferral
Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar tweeted on Aug. 12 that the Chinese government has decided to “abandon” the proposed Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) for at least five years. Citing a call with lab directors from around the world, he said China had chosen to “eliminate science facility projects greater than $1 billion due to budget constraints.” Dabbar proceeded to suggest that China could be pushing off the project because it lacks needed technological capabilities or “because they lack interest from the US or like-minded international partners who practice the principles of scientific integrity and transparency.” He then highlighted recent funding ramp ups for many of DOE’s major facility projects, including the LBNF/DUNE neutrino facility and the Electron-Ion Collider. DOE did not respond to a request from FYI for additional details about the call. This year, the Chinese government is due to complete its next five year plan, which is a mechanism it uses to prioritize science facility projects. The CEPC proposal was first advanced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of High Energy Physics in 2012 and would entail building a machine 100 kilometers in circumference. Although similar to the Future Circular Collider under consideration by Europe, its planners had envisioned beginning construction as soon as 2022. Asked for comment on the tweets, the director of the institute Yifang Wang told FYI via email, “I think it is not appropriate for us to respond [to] Paul Dabbar directly. There is also no need to argue whether we have the technology. The community knows everything.”
Loverro Faces Criminal Probe Over Lunar Lander Contract Scandal
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that federal prosecutors have opened a grand-jury investigation into whether Doug Loverro committed a criminal offense in his former role as head of NASA’s human exploration program while the agency was awarding contracts to develop crewed lunar landers. The conduct of concern involves Loverro contacting a senior Boeing official to inform the company, a longtime NASA contractor, that it would be eliminated from the contract competition if it did not revise its bid. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal reports that within days Boeing submitted a revised bid that was nevertheless rejected on the grounds it arrived too late for consideration. NASA ultimately awarded contracts this April that are together worth nearly $1 billion to teams led by Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Dynetics. Weeks later, Loverro resigned from NASA after only seven months on the job, citing a “risk” he had taken to advance the agency’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon in 2024. According to the Journal, Boeing has pushed out a number of mid-level officials over the scandal.
NSF Establishes New Physics Frontiers Centers
The National Science Foundation announced two new Physics Frontiers Centers last week. It will provide $13 million over five years to establish a Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures (CMAP) hosted by the University of Rochester and $11 million for a new Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS) at University of California Berkeley. CMAP is billed as NSF’s first major initiative in high energy density science and will use high-power lasers, pulsed power, and advanced x-ray technology to explore the properties of matter at “pressures strong enough to change the nature of atoms themselves.” N3AS will leverage capabilities at the nearby Lawrence Berkeley National Lab to model the merger of neutron stars, allowing scientists to address major questions in multi-messenger astrophysics. Last week NSF also granted a five year extension to the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, a Physics Frontiers Center established in 2001 at the University of California, San Diego that is now hosted by Rice University. NSF now supports eleven Physics Frontiers Centers, which aim to foster transformational research advances by providing resources not available to smaller research groups.
Postdoc Fellowship Bill Seeks to Blunt Pandemic Effects
Leaders of the House Science Committee introduced bipartisan legislation on Aug. 14 that would authorize the National Science Foundation to create a fellowship program specifically designed to help postdoctoral researchers weather the pandemic’s effects on job opportunities. The two year pilot program would award grants to “highly qualified early-career investigators to carry out an independent research program at the institution of higher education chosen by such investigator,” and the bill recommends Congress appropriate $500 million for the program over two years. In a statement, House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) wrote, “Even in normal times, postdoctoral research positions provide little job security, with most postdocs employed on two-year contracts. Now that the research job market has severely contracted, postdocs find themselves in a truly precarious position.”
Education Department Extends Foreign Influence Probe to Stanford
As part of its ongoing investigation into universities’ compliance with disclosure requirements for foreign gifts and contracts, the Department of Education sent a letter to Stanford University on Aug. 10 alleging it may have underreported contributions from China. It states for instance that Stanford has “extensive business interests and very deep entanglements” with the country, citing the creation of a research center at Peking University, which the letter characterizes as “purportedly for ‘collaboration’ with Chinese researchers.” It also asserts, “Any failure to diligently and transparently report foreign gifts and contracts to the department could jeopardize national security by facilitating unintentional or unchecked transfer(s) of critical research to hostile foreign actors, undisclosed foreign propaganda operations or influence on teaching and research, and the erosion of public trust in university research enterprise(s).” A spokesperson for Stanford told the Washington Examiner, “We believe the university is in compliance with Section 117 of the Higher Education Act and are surprised by the unfounded allegations in the letter to the contrary.” The letter’s aggressive rhetoric comes as congressional Republicans are pushing for further scrutiny of universities’ connections to China. On Aug. 3, the top Republicans on three House committees sent letters to six universities seeking records about their ties with China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia.
Six Former EPA Heads Urge ‘Reset’ for the Agency
Last week, six former administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency from both Republican and Democratic administrations published a letter calling for the agency to “reset” its course by committing to address climate change and environmental injustices as well as to guard against “political interference” in its scientific and economic analyses. The letter accompanies a new report from the Environmental Protection Network, a group of more than 500 former EPA career employees and political appointees, which offers detailed recommendations covering the agency’s ethical principles, regulatory agenda, communications efforts, and decision-making processes. Among its recommendations, the report calls for the agency to “restore science as the backbone of decision-making” by reversing course on its “inappropriately named ‘transparency’ rule” and taking steps to “rebuild” its research program and “restore the integrity” of its scientific peer-review processes. “Not everyone will agree with every recommendation,” the former administrators wrote, but called the report’s overall vision “essential to meet the environmental challenges of the 21st century.”
APS Names Physicist Jonathan Bagger as Next CEO
The American Physical Society announced last week that theoretical high energy physicist Jonathan Bagger will become its CEO starting at the beginning of 2021. Bagger currently leads the TRIUMF particle accelerator laboratory in Canada, though he has spent most of his earlier career in the U.S. After earning a doctorate in physics from Princeton University in 1983, Bagger worked at the SLAC National Accelerator Lab and Harvard University before settling at Johns Hopkins University, where he was a professor from 1989 until departing for TRIUMF in 2014. He has served as vice chair of the U.S. government’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel, and in 2001 he and Barry Barish co-chaired a major long-range planning effort for the field. More recently, he served as a member of the American Institute of Physics study on the pandemic’s impact on the physical sciences and as chair of the APS task force on expanding international engagement. Bagger succeeds Kate Kirby, who is retiring after more than a decade at the society’s helm.
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Events This Week Monday, August 17
Tuesday, August 18
Wednesday, August 19
Thursday, August 20
Friday, August 21
Monday, August 24
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Opportunities DOD Hiring Director for Technology ‘Horizon Scanning’
The Department of Defense is hiring a director of “Technology Watch/Horizon Scanning” in the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering. The position’s responsibilities include developing new analytic tools to track global technology trends, project the evolution of known technologies, and identify “the emergence of new scientific concepts and technology applications with disruptive potential.” Applications are due Aug. 21.
AAAS Seeking S&T Policy Fellowship Program Manager
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is seeking a program manager to oversee the day-to-day functions of the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowships. The manager will help to place fellows in executive branch offices, monitor their progress, and build connections with contacts in science, policy, and funding communities. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and at least five years of work experience in program coordination and management. Applications are due Sept. 6.
NOAA Seeking Input on Citizen Science Strategy
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Around the Web
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
Congress
- Improving the Endless Frontier Act (Issues in Science & Technology, perspective by Patrick Windham, et al.)
- HIBAR research: The ‘frontier’ is actually an ecosystem (Issues in Science & Technology, perspective by Marc-David Seidel, et al.)
- What does Congress want from NSF? A content analysis of remarks from 1995 to 2018 (Science Advances, paper by Arthur Lupia, et al.)
- New methods in creating transdisciplinary science policy research agendas: The case of legislative science advice (Science and Public Policy, paper by Karen Akerlof, et al.)
- Republicans introduce bill to defend universities conducting coronavirus research against hackers (The Hill)
- Democrats aren’t playing ‘hardball’ against Republicans, but against kids, laid-off workers, and science (Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY))
Science, Society, and the Economy
- Climate scientists feel your pain, Dr. Fauci (Newsweek, perspective by Michael Mann)
- Disease experts are now getting the climate science treatment (AGU, perspective by Dan Satterfield)
- In a polarized world, what does ‘follow the science’ mean? (Christian Science Monitor)
- In an increasingly unequal society, America’s science policies are a regressive force (Issues in Science & Technology, perspective by Barry Bozeman)
- How nine flawed policy concepts hinder the US from adopting the advanced-industry strategy it needs (ITIF, perspective by Robert Atkinson)
- Science policy for scientists: A simple task for great effect (PNAS, perspective by William Gaieck, et al.)
- Sheila Tobias on her nonscience path to becoming a science activist (Physics Today)
- Report finds Sandia S&T park spurs economic growth (Sandia National Lab)
- Community, science, and your neighbor: The US Department of Energy (DOE)
- Universities scrub names of racist leaders — students say it’s a first step (Nature)
Education and Workforce
Research Management
Labs and Facilities
Emerging Technologies
Space
Weather, Climate, and Environment
Energy
Defense
Biomedical
International Affairs
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