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What’s Ahead
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| A researcher operates a reactive ion etcher at the NASA Glenn Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory. (Image credit – NASA Glenn Research Center) |
Semiconductor Experts to Testify on Workforce Strategies
On Tuesday, the House Science Committee is holding a hearing on how to strengthen the U.S. microelectronics workforce, building on a hearing it held in December at which witnesses stressed the importance of federal support for semiconductor workforce-development programs. The committee has supported Congress’ recent semiconductor R&D push and developed provisions for the America COMPETES Act of 2022 that would supplement the CHIPS for America Act by expanding microelectronics research programs at the Department of Energy. The COMPETES Act, and a counterpart Senate bill, would also provide $52 billion in funding for initiatives authorized in the CHIPS Act to expand U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing. The witnesses for this week’s hearing are Osama Awadelkarim, director of a nanotechnology education center at Penn State University; Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley; and Shari Liss, executive director of the SEMI Foundation, an industry-backed nonprofit organization that supports semiconductor workforce-diversity initiatives.
‘Clean Hydrogen’ Also on Science Committee Agenda
The House Science Committee will turn to clean hydrogen R&D at a hearing on Thursday, following in the footsteps of a Senate hearing last week on the Department of Energy’s implementation of hydrogen demonstration projects authorized and funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The law provides DOE with $8 billion to establish four regional clean hydrogen production hubs, $1 billion for clean hydrogen electrolysis demonstration projects, and $500 million for R&D on manufacturing and recycling methods for clean hydrogen. Those efforts would supplement R&D conducted through DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies program, which has an annual budget of $150 million. Keith Wipke, manager of the hydrogen technologies program at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will be one of the witnesses at this week’s hearing. Also testifying are Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct; Rachel Fakhry, senior advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council; Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, vice president for research and partnerships at the University of Oklahoma; and Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power.
AAAS Kicks Off Annual Meeting
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is kicking off its annual meeting on Thursday as a virtual event, after canceling the in-person portion due to the omicron coronavirus variant. In another late-breaking change, AAAS announced on Feb. 7 that it had disinvited Presidential Science Advisor Eric Lander from speaking at the meeting following revelations that he had been verbally abusive to staff members at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. This year’s meeting centers on the theme of “empowering with evidence,” and several events will be open to the public. These include a science policy networking event and a keynote address by mRNA vaccine scientist Katalin Karikó, both on Friday, as well as a panel discussion on Sunday on the efficacy of current science communication efforts. The panel includes OSTP Deputy Director Jane Lubchenco and will be moderated by Science editor-in-chief Holden Thorp, who examined the question in a series of recent editorials. National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan will speak on Saturday as part of a session on efforts to develop a “workforce that works for all.” A full listing of science policy sessions is available here.
Physicists to Spotlight Shortfalls of Missile Defense Systems
The American Physical Society is hosting a webinar on Wednesday to highlight a new policy study that underscores difficulties of defending the U.S. against even limited numbers of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The study specifically assesses whether current and proposed missile defense systems are capable of intercepting ICBMs that North Korea might be able to develop within 15 years. It identifies challenges in fielding a sufficient number of interceptors to provide coverage against a salvo of ICBMs, as well as limitations of proposed interception methods, such as airborne lasers. The authors conclude that U.S. capabilities against relatively simple ICBMs “are low and will likely continue to be low for the next 15 years,” and they stress that defending against missiles from more sophisticated countries such as Russia or China would be far more challenging. The study was produced by a 13-member committee chaired by Frederick Lamb, a physics professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led a 2003 study sponsored by APS that also highlighted limitations of missile defense systems. (APS is an AIP Member Society.)
Fiscal Year 2022 Spending Negotiations Enter Home Stretch
Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced last week they had agreed on a “framework” for the legislation that will set federal agencies’ funding levels for the remainder of fiscal year 2022. As of Monday morning, the committees had not made details of the framework public, though the top Republican appropriator in the Senate indicated that defense spending will increase by more than 5% under the agreement. Democrats have advanced spending legislation that would provide double-digit percentage increases for several non-defense science agencies, and Republicans have insisted that, in aggregate, defense and non-defense programs should receive proportionally similar increases. The federal government has operated on stopgap spending measures since the beginning of the fiscal year last October, and the current stopgap expires on Friday. Congress is expected to pass legislation this week to extend funding through March 11 to give lawmakers time to finish negotiating agency-level budgets.
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In Case You Missed It
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| Presidential Science Advisor Eric Lander in a video released Feb. 3, discussing new measures to encourage international students and experts in STEM fields to work in the U.S. (Image credit – The White House) |
Science Advisor Eric Lander Resigns Amid Verbal Abuse Scandal
Late in the day on Feb. 7, President Biden accepted the resignation of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director and Presidential Science Advisor Eric Lander, who will depart no later than this Friday. On the morning of the seventh, the news outlet Politico published an article describing Lander’s repeated verbal abuse of OSTP staff members, based on accounts from 14 current and former staff members and a leaked recording of a briefing on an internal investigation into Lander’s conduct. The article showed that while investigators concluded in December that complaints made against Lander were credible, the White House had imposed minor corrective actions despite Biden’s public pledge to immediately fire appointees who demeaned others. Promoting inclusive and welcoming work environments has also been a major policy priority for OSTP and the scientific community, and the revelation of Lander’s behavior caused an immediate uproar. Although Lander apologized to his staff in the runup to the Politico article’s publication, in his resignation letter he conceded it would be untenable for him to remain. According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Biden did not ask for Lander’s resignation. On Feb. 9, two Republican leaders on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to White House Counsel Dana Remus suggesting that her office had started to receive complaints about Lander’s behavior even before his confirmation as OSTP director in May 2021, and they demanded an explanation of why he was not dismissed or sanctioned earlier.
DOE Reorganizes in Response to Infrastructure Act
The Department of Energy announced last week that it is reconfiguring one of its three under secretary positions and establishing several new offices to help manage the $62 billion it is receiving through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. What is now called the under secretary for infrastructure position will oversee the recently launched Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations as well as three new offices: a State and Community Energy Program, an Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, and a Grid Infrastructure Office, which will manage DOE’s new Building a Better Grid initiative. The position will also oversee the existing Federal Energy Management Program, Loan Programs Office, Office of Indian Energy, and Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. Kathleen Hogan, who was formerly a senior official in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has been named principal deputy under secretary for infrastructure, making her the most senior official in the under secretary’s office until a nominee is confirmed. Geri Richmond, who has been serving as under secretary for science and energy, will continue to oversee DOE’s science and applied energy R&D programs but with the new title of under secretary for science and innovation.
White House Updates Critical Technologies List
On Feb. 7, the White House released an updated list of “critical and emerging technologies” (CET) that the U.S. government considers “potentially significant” to national security. Among the additions to the list are advanced nuclear energy technologies, hypersonics, directed energy, and networked sensors. The new list also identifies relevant subfields for each of the 19 CET technologies. According to a press release, one intended use of the list is in the recently updated EB-2 visa National Interest Waiver process, which enables advanced-degree holders or persons with exceptional ability to bypass a requirement that they have a job offer in hand. A report accompanying the list states that it “should not be interpreted as a priority list for either policy development or funding.”
ARPA–H Proposal Debated at House Hearing
At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week, Health Subcommittee Chair Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said the committee is still working toward a proposal to establish an Advanced Research Project Agency for Health. Eshoo has advocated for creating the new agency outside the National Institutes of Health, and two former officials from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency reinforced that idea at the hearing, arguing it would help foster an appropriate institutional culture of innovation. Keith Yamamoto, special adviser to the chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, added that the arrangement would also help preserve NIH’s ability to support curiosity-driven research. However, Johns Hopkins University professor of medicine Brian Miller expressed skepticism about ARPA–H, arguing it would lack a clear mission and duplicate NIH efforts. He suggested that reforming NIH’s extramural grant program and reducing regulatory burdens would be a more effective way to advance biomedical innovation. Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) also expressed skepticism, raising concerns about NIH’s project oversight and remarking, “I’m not convinced that a brand new agency is the answer to or will be able to overcome the institutional, cultural, and bureaucratic barriers that are present at our federal scientific agencies.”
NASA Foresees Commercial Pathway for Earth System Observatory
At a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing last week, senators and witnesses discussed the potential, and the limits, of the agency’s increasing use of fixed-cost commercial services. NASA Science Mission Directorate head Thomas Zurbuchen said that the agency intends to purchase commercial satellites and instruments for its Earth System Observatory, a recently announced series of major missions with launches planned for later this decade. He remarked, “We fully expect in the next few months to actually make moves toward that. Before I do so, and before we really nail that down, I will follow the advice that came from our Large Mission Study and run an independent review on that entire architecture.” Zurbuchen also noted that the first launches are approaching for his directorate’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. While he observed that the commercially built and operated lunar missions will carry a higher risk of failure than ones developed through more traditional processes, he also stressed that their costs are “three to five times lower.”
The hearing also addressed the status of the Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program, which is likewise being handled through a commercial acquisition process. Bill Russell, a senior official at the Government Accountability Office, noted that HLS proposals NASA received included a number of immature technologies, which he said can take extra time to develop. Scott Pace, director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, said it is “disappointing” that NASA has selected only one supplier, SpaceX, to provide an HLS. He suggested that to avoid paying an “arbitrarily high premium” to secure redundancy by commercially acquiring a second lander, NASA may “need to consider using more traditional contracting.”
Mars Sample Return Contractor and Heliophysics Missions Selected
NASA announced on Feb. 7 that it has awarded a six-year, $194 million contract to Lockheed Martin to build the ascent vehicle for the agency’s planned Mars Sample Return mission. The vehicle is one part of a complex mission architecture that also involves a lander being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as a rover developed by the European Space Agency that will gather samples currently being cached by NASA’s Perseverance rover. The ESA rover will transfer the samples to the ascent vehicle, which will deliver them to an ESA-built spacecraft for transport back to Earth. It will be the first time a spacecraft has launched from another planet. All components of the mission are currently targeting a launch window in 2026. Separately, on Feb. 10 NASA’s Heliophysics Division announced two new missions through its Explorer program. The Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) will study the sun’s corona from Earth orbit and be developed by the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center with a budget of $192 million. HelioSwarm is a constellation of nine small-scale satellites that will travel together in a highly elliptical Earth orbit to study the solar wind. Managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center, it has a $250 million budget.
NIST Charts Course to Restart Research Reactor
NIST Center for Neutron Research Director Rob Dimeo offered an update last week on efforts to restart the center’s reactor, which has been kept offline following a radiation incident last February. NIST has traced the incident to errors made in securing fuel elements during a routine refueling operation. According to Dimeo, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still conducting an audit of proposed corrective actions and an independent review organized by NIST is expected to report back in about two weeks. He also said that a capability has been implemented for visually inspecting installed fuel elements that supplements the nonvisual checks reactor operators use to ensure the elements are properly latched. NIST expects to undertake an operation to filter radioactive fission elements from the reactor’s coolant in March. April continues to be the reactor’s earliest possible start date, but Dimeo said that timeframe is subject to change in the near future. He further explained that for the reactor to restart before the end of 2022, Congress must finalize NIST’s fiscal year 2022 appropriation in March so that the agency can hire staff members needed to complete corrective actions. He also stressed the urgency of bringing the reactor back online, noting it provides about 40% of the already-overtaxed U.S. capacity for neutron-scattering research, and he said that delays could jeopardize partnerships with the center’s commercial users. Delays past the end of the year would also extend the shutdown close to the start of a planned one-year shutdown to upgrade the reactor’s apparatus for producing low-energy “cold” neutrons.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Standard Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, February 14
Tuesday, February 15
Wednesday, February 16
Thursday, February 17
Friday, February 18
Sunday, February 20
Monday, February 21
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Opportunities State S&T Policy Fellowships Accepting Applications
Several state-based science and technology policy fellowships are accepting applications, including programs for New Jersey, Virginia, California, Idaho, and Missouri. Application deadlines vary for each program.
Academies Seeking Members for Earth Science Committees
The National Academies is accepting nominations for members to serve on four panels focused on Earth sciences. Nominations of experts in any field will be accepted, but are particularly sought from the fields of geodesy, soil science, environmental justice, governance and conflict resolution, water infrastructure, ecohydrology, minerals mining, and mining reclamation. Nominations are due Feb. 21
OSTP Hiring Ethics Attorney, Legislative Affairs Deputy
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is hiring a deputy director for legislative affairs to support its engagements with Congress and serve as an expert on climate and environment, energy, and healthcare policy issues. OSTP is also hiring an ethics attorney to provide legal support on issues including intellectual property, artificial intelligence, federal research, and national security. Applications for both positions are due Feb. 23.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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Around the Web
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
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Science, Society, and the Economy
- Shift in tax treatment for R&D expenses a hit to innovation (Roll Call, perspective by Sharon Heck)
- What does Janet Yellen mean by ‘modern supply-side economics’? (New York Times, perspective by Ezra Klein)
- Build Back American: Revitalizing domestic manufacturing and reducing US dependence on China (Center for American Progress, perspective by Mike Williams and Laura Edwards)
- Congress would rather spend money on China anxiety than climate change (New Republic, perspective by Kate Aronoff)
- The lessons of Silicon Valley: A world-renowned technology hub (CSIS, perspective by Gabrielle Athanasia)
- ‘Follow the science': As the third year of the pandemic begins, a simple slogan becomes a political weapon (Washington Post)
- The role of the scientist in a post-truth world (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, perspective by John Morales)
- The idea that there was ever a golden age of accurate information, especially about public health, is suspect (Bloomberg, perspective by Tyler Cowen)
- The chronic growing pains of communicating science online (Science, perspective by Dominique Brossard and Dietram Scheufele)
- Trinity College Dublin’s Schrödinger Theater to be renamed in light of revelations about the physicist’s abuse of young women and girls (University Times)
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