What’s Ahead

Official portrait of Joe Biden as vice president.
Official portrait of Joe Biden as vice president. (Image credit – David Lienemann / The White House)

Biden Administration Begins

When Joe Biden is sworn in as president on Wednesday, most of President Trump’s political appointees will have resigned, leaving day-to-day operations in the hands of career officials and a few holdover appointees. At the White House level, Biden has already selected staff members in science-related roles who will start work immediately, but the process of installing his full administration will take some time. It is common for new presidents to take months to name nominees for many top science leadership positions across the government, and most will require Senate confirmation, which stretches the timeline further. Meanwhile, Biden’s nominees for Cabinet jobs have already faced delays in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as the Senate awaits the changeover to Democratic control and sets its agenda for the trial on Trump’s second impeachment. Committees will hold their first nomination hearings this week, prioritizing positions such as treasury, defense, and homeland security secretary. Keep tabs on the changeover in science positions using FYI’s Federal Science Leadership Tracker.
Concerning near-term policy actions, Biden has said his top priority after taking office will be implementing new COVID-19 recovery measures, which include seeking additional economic relief from Congress and using federal powers to speed vaccine distribution. He also plans to halt and review regulatory actions currently in progress and to issue a large number of executive orders, which will reverse actions such as the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and some of Trump’s changes to visa and immigration policy. In addition, Biden plans to announce his own immigration reform proposal on Wednesday, which will include exempting doctoral graduates in STEM fields from visa limits.

Eric Lander Picked as Science Advisor, Joins Cabinet

On Jan. 15, Biden announced his selection of geneticist Eric Lander for the role of presidential science advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He also announced Lander will have a seat in his Cabinet, a move that is unprecedented in the history of White House science policy and has been under consideration since at least last April. Trained in mathematics, Lander refashioned himself as a geneticist and was a central figure in the international Human Genome Project, which was a top priority of U.S. science policy in the 1990s. In 2003, he founded, and since then has led, the Broad Institute, a leading genomics research center located at MIT and Harvard University. He also served as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology for the duration of the Obama administration. In a letter to Lander, Biden has asked him to “refresh and reinvigorate our national science and technology strategy,” outlining five priority issues, ranging from what lessons the pandemic offers for public health to how the U.S. can ensure it is a world leader in technology development, and how the benefits of science and technology can be broadly shared among Americans. While the OSTP director position requires Senate confirmation, the advisory position does not, meaning Lander can serve in that capacity immediately. As OSTP’s chief of staff, Biden has named Kei Koizumi, who held a senior staff position in the office under Obama. OSTP’s legislative affairs director will be Narda Jones, a senior staff member for the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Alondra Nelson Announced as OSTP ‘Science and Society’ Deputy

Alongside Lander, Biden has chosen sociologist Alondra Nelson as OSTP’s deputy director for science and society, a new role that reflects the priority he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are placing on issues such as social and economic equity and environmental justice. An expert on the intersections of genetics, race, and health, Nelson is currently president of the Social Science Research Council and a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Accepting her appointment on Jan. 16, she remarked, “When we provide inputs to the algorithm, when we program the device, when we design, test, and research, we are making human choices — choices that bring our social world to bear in a powerful new way. It matters who makes those choices, it matters who they’re thinking about when they do.”

Frances Arnold and Maria Zuber to Co-Chair PCAST

To lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Biden has chosen Frances Arnold and Maria Zuber. Arnold is a Caltech professor working at the interfaces of biology and chemistry, and a winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on the directed evolution of enzymes. She has founded three biotechnology companies in sustainable chemistry and agriculture and sits on the boards of directors of genetic sequencing company Illumina and Google parent company Alphabet. Zuber is a planetary geophysicist and vice president for research at MIT, overseeing a fleet of interdisciplinary research centers as well as the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Since 2012, she has been a member of the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation, and served as its chair from 2016 to 2018. She is also co-chair of a congressionally chartered science and security roundtable established this year by the National Academies.
Biden's “science team”: Eric S. Lander, Alondra Nelson, Frances H. Arnold, Maria Zuber, and Francis S. Collins.
A graphic introducing President-elect Biden’s “science team,” comprising leaders of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and National Institutes of Health. (Image credit – Biden-Harris Transition Team)

Francis Collins to Continue as NIH Director

Biden has elected to retain geneticist Francis Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health, a role he has held since 2009 when he was picked by President Obama. Previously, he led the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993 to 2008. As NIH director, Collins has overseen the agency’s development of the Cancer Moonshot initiative, which Biden spearheaded, as well as the BRAIN and Precision Medicine Initiatives. Collins was one of the few Obama appointees Trump retained and over the last several years he has responded to pressing issues such as research security and sexual harassment by agency grantees. This past year, the agency was also entangled in some of the scandals surrounding the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response, including the revocation of an NIH grant that funded collaborative activities with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority director’s reassignment to NIH, allegedly because he resisted pressure to back questionable treatments. Announcing Collins’ retention, Biden called him a “model public servant,” remarking, “I’ve known Dr. Collins for many years and worked with him closely. ... I want to thank him again for being willing to stay on, I know that wasn’t his original plan.”

Biden Adds to Climate and National Security Teams

Biden has continued to announce appointments of officials with climate policy portfolios, most of whom will work in the new White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy under incoming National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy:
  • Maggie Thomas, a former climate advisor to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), will be McCarthy’s chief of staff.
  • David Hayes, who worked as deputy secretary of the interior under Presidents Clinton and Obama, will be a special assistant to the president for climate policy.
  • Sonia Aggarwal, co-founder of the policy firm Energy Innovation, will be a senior advisor for climate policy and innovation.
  • Jahi Wise, formerly policy director of the Coalition for Green Capital, will serve as a senior advisor for climate policy and finance.
  • Jeff Marootian, who currently leads the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, will serve as a special assistant to the president for climate and science agency personnel in the Presidential Personnel Office.
Biden has also named additional members of his national security team:
  • Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall will be the White House’s Homeland Security Advisor. Sherwood-Randall began her career as a foreign policy aide to Biden during his time in the Senate and went on to serve in a variety of roles during the Clinton and Obama administrations, including deputy secretary of energy from 2014 to 2017.
  • Anne Neuberger will serve as deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology in the White House, a new role. Neuberger currently is director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, overseeing development of new defensive measures such as quantum-resistant cryptography.
  • Bonnie Jenkins will be nominated to serve as under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. Jenkins was a senior staffer for nuclear nonproliferation policy in the State Department during the Obama administration and is founder of the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation group.

In Case You Missed It

White House Office and Science Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier, left, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios pictured in May.
White House Office and Science Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier, left, and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios pictured in May. (Image credit – OSTP)

Trump Issues Research Security Directive

On Jan. 14, President Trump issued a national security presidential memorandum to shape ongoing efforts to better secure the U.S. research system against potential exploitation or undue influence by foreign governments. The memo was not posted as of Tuesday morning, but a summary indicates that it standardizes agency disclosure requirements for potential conflicts of interest and commitment, prohibits federal personnel from participating in talent recruitment programs sponsored by foreign governments, and requires agencies to “share information about individuals whose activities demonstrate an intent to threaten research security and integrity.” It also includes directives related to federal facility access, visa vetting, and the use of digital persistent identifiers for grantees. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier told FYI that the memo and an accompanying report on “recommended practices” for non-federal institutions constitute the long-awaited interagency guidance on research security. (Update: The memorandum is now posted here.)

Outgoing Administration Makes Final R&D Policy Moves

Aside from the research security directive, the Trump administration also made several other last moves in R&D policy this past week:
  • OSTP launched an interagency coordination office for AI research and strategy, as required by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act that Congress passed through the most recent National Defense Authorization Act.
  • OSTP released the first annual report on the National Quantum Initiative, outlining its budget across agencies and its marquee efforts such as the establishment of quantum information science centers.
  • The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued a report detailing a framework for creating “Industries of the Future Institutes,” which would aim to strengthen the feedback between basic and applied research and accelerate technology commercialization. PCAST first recommended establishing such institutes in a report released last July.
  • OSTP released an interagency orbital debris R&D plan aimed at managing the risks associated with increased space traffic. The plan outlines three R&D goals to address the issue: limit debris generation by design, improve debris tracking and characterization, and develop technologies and models to support the repurposing or remediation of orbital debris.
  • OSTP released a progress report on the development of emergency protocols for when an asteroid is projected to impact the Earth, including public notification procedures and benchmarks for assessing whether to attempt reconnaissance and deflection missions.
  • President Trump issued his seventh Space Policy Directive, providing guidance on strengthening U.S. space-based positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities, such as the Global Positioning System.

Rogue Climate ‘Flyers’ Prompt Firings and Investigation Calls

Two Trump administration appointees were ousted from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week after posting a set of nine “flyers” online that conveyed heterodox views on climate change and that claimed without authorization to be OSTP products, including by affixing the office’s seal. One of the two was the effort’s orchestrator, David Legates, a fringe climatologist the administration installed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year and later detailed to OSTP to oversee the forthcoming National Climate Assessment. The other was Ryan Maue, an author of one of the flyers who was recently appointed as NOAA’s chief scientist and was also detailed to OSTP. According to a spokesperson, OSTP Director Kelvin Droegemeier fired Legates and Maue after he learned about the documents through press inquiries. NOAA likewise disavowed the documents in a statement. Most of the flyers were written by longstanding opponents of the scientific consensus on climate change who do not hold government positions. The group apparently hoped the flyers would be published as official government documents that could be cited in the National Climate Assessment and in litigation against regulations. House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) has requested the Commerce Department inspector general, who has jurisdiction over NOAA, to investigate the conduct of Legates and Maue, noting it is a crime to misuse government seals. Five Democratic senators have likewise requested an investigation.

Academies Panel Urges Greater Attention to Student Mental Health

A National Academies report released last week calls on U.S. colleges and universities to pursue comprehensive, campus-wide action to address mental health issues among students and promote a “culture of well-being.” It states that the confluence of the coronavirus pandemic, the associated economic crisis, and the “national reckoning with racism” have led to an increase in student emotional distress, while also stressing that mental health problems were pervasive on campus before the pandemic, affecting nearly 40% of postsecondary students, according to a recent study. Among its recommendations, the report urges institutions to conduct regular assessments of student mental health and campus climate, review their leave of absence policies, increase student access to mental health services on and off campus, and provide training for faculty on how to create supportive learning environments. It also encourages institutions to work with insurance companies and regulators to increase reimbursements for student mental health services.

AAAS Pilots Article-Sharing Policy to Comply with Plan S

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the Science family of journals, announced last week that it will allow certain article authors to share their accepted manuscripts under a CC BY or CC BY-ND license. The pilot policy is designed to comply with the requirements of cOAlition S, a group of research funders that starting this year are mandating research they fund to be freely available upon publication, a platform known as Plan S. The AAAS policy specifically applies to authors funded by cOAlition S members that have adopted its Rights Retention Strategy, which aims to override certain restrictions on article sharing. cOAlition S is largely composed of European-based research agencies, but also includes the U.S.-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. While AAAS is embracing the Rights Retention Strategy, other scientific journal publishers have raised concerns about its potential impact on the scholarly publishing ecosystem. In December, a coalition of 17 physics societies including AIP issued a joint statement warning that the strategy could undermine the viability of hybrid journals. (FYI is published by AIP, a non-profit federation of scientific societies. AIP is partially supported by revenue generated from AIP Publishing, a wholly owned but independently operated subsidiary that produces scientific journals.)

Events This Week

Monday, January 18

Federal Holiday

Tuesday, January 19

AIAA: SciTech Forum
(continues through Thursday)
Senate: Hearing to review nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to be secretary of homeland security
10:00 am, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (342 Dirksen Office Building)
Senate: Hearing to review nomination of Avril Haines to be director of national intelligence
10:00 am, Intelligence Committee (215 Dirksen Office Building)
Senate: Hearing to review nomination of Anthony Blinken to be secretary of state
2:00 pm, Foreign Relations Committee (301 Russell Office Building)
Senate: Hearing to review nomination of Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense
3:00 pm, Armed Services Committee (106 Dirksen Office Building)

Wednesday, January 20

Inauguration Day

Thursday, January 21

Friday, January 22

Monday, January 25

Opportunities

AAS Hiring Public Policy Fellow

The American Astronomical Society is accepting applications for its John N. Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship. The position provides early career astronomers the opportunity to gain science policy experience by directly supporting the policy and advocacy activities of the society. The fellow will be responsible for developing relationships with relevant staff in Congress and the incoming Biden-Harris administration, authoring content for the AAS Policy Blog, and coordinating congressional visit days, among other duties. Applications are due March 1.

California S&T Policy Fellowship Accepting Applications

The California Council on Science and Technology is accepting applications for its year-long fellowship in the California State Legislature. The program aims to increase the capacity of the legislature to develop science-informed legislation, while also providing fellows with first-hand experience with the policymaking process. Scientists and engineers with a doctorate or equivalent degree are encouraged to apply. Applications are due March 1.

Tech and Security Fellowship Accepting Applications

The University of California San Diego is accepting applications for up to six postdoctoral fellowships focused on the relationship between technology and international security for the 2021-2022 academic year. The fellowship is organized in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab. Applicants must have completed a doctoral degree by Aug. 1. Applications are due Feb. 1.
For additional opportunities, please visit www.aip.org/fyi/opportunities. Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

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