
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) is Trump’s selection to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget.
(Image credit – greatagain.gov)
Welcome to the inaugural edition of FYI This Week! We have been working hard to develop a publication that will provide a panoramic picture of the week in science policy, posted every Monday morning. Each edition will include a look at the week ahead and a review of the week just passed. It will also list upcoming events, opportunities to get engaged, and links to articles from other publications. To receive each edition via email, sign up here .
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The FYI Team
Mike Henry, Mitch Ambrose & Will Thomas
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) is Trump’s selection to direct the White House Office of Management and Budget.
(Image credit – greatagain.gov)
On Tuesday morning, the Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing to consider President Trump’s nomination of Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to be director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Mulvaney is a fiscal conservative, a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, and a member of the Republican Study Committee, which has pushed for deep cuts in federal spending. In the past, he has also voted for large funding cuts to the NSF and DOE science budgets. Senators may ask Mulvaney about a recent report in The Hill about plans to dramatically shrink of the size of the federal government, including major funding reductions at the Departments of Commerce and Energy. OMB coordinates the president’s annual budget request and influences policy and funding priorities across the government.
The House is scheduled to vote on Tuesday afternoon on the bipartisan “DOE Research and Innovation Act,” sponsored by House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill would authorize research programs within DOE’s Office of Science and encourage lab-to-market commercialization of energy technologies. The bill also incorporates the “Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act,” reintroduced from the 114th Congress (see FYI 2016 #27 ). On Monday evening, the House is scheduled to consider a separate bill to require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop a plan to license the nation’s next generation of advanced nuclear reactors. The House passed similar legislation last year (see FYI 2016 #103 ).
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a business meeting on Tuesday morning to consider the nominations of billionaire Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary and Elaine Chao as Transportation Secretary. The committee will also consider a long list of bills, including the “Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act,” reintroduced from the last Congress, and two other reintroduced bills promoting the advancement of women in STEM fields: the “INSPIRE Women Act” (see FYI 2016 #38) and the “Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act.” The House passed the latter two by voice vote on Jan. 10.
The American Meteorological Society is holding its annual meeting this Sunday through Friday at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, and a number of policy sessions are on the agenda, including a town hall on the next National Academy of Sciences earth sciences decadal survey. See the “Events This Week” section for highlights.
On Saturday morning, the American Physical Society is hosting a policy-focused plenary session at the society’s meeting in Washington, D.C. The session will feature former Obama science advisor John Holdren, AAAS CEO and physicist Rush Holt, physicist congressman Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), and former director of the DOE Office of Science Cherry Murray. Additional policy-related events at the meeting are listed in the “Events This Week” section. UPDATE: Holdren is no longer listed as a speaker.
AAAS CEO Rush Holt and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Norm Ornstein are headlining a webinar on Thursday afternoon on the outlook for science in the new administration and Congress. Topics will include science policy in Trump’s first 100 days, an updated outlook for research funding, and how the new administration and Congress may handle science-based policymaking.
President Trump’s inaugural address was notable for its dark portrait of “American carnage” and for its combative promise to shift power from “Washington, D.C.” back “to the American people” and to put “America first.” However, a short passage focusing on science, technology, and medicine, struck a more traditional, optimistic tone, with Trump declaring, “We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.” The Washington Post reports that, in crafting the speech, Trump was “intrigued” by President John F. Kennedy’s call in 1961 for the nation to land astronauts on the moon by the end of that decade.
On Inauguration Day, the Senate voted 98 to 1 to confirm retired general James Mattis as Defense Secretary. Mattis now oversees a $580 billion Defense Department, including over $12 billion in basic and applied research and advanced technology development. In answers to written questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mattis said he would “establish a culture of innovation” across the DOD and prioritize S&T investments that are a part of the present Third Offset strategy (see FYIs 2016 #125 and #138 for more on the Third Offset).
Some of Trump’s other Cabinet nominees faced science-related questioning before Senate committees last week.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer reported that Yale University computer scientist David Gelernter met with Trump last Monday and is under consideration for the position of science advisor. Gelernter is known for his work in parallel computing, but his views on science policy are not well known. He has sharply criticized academia, writing a 2013 book entitled “America-Lite: How Imperial Academia Dismantled Our Culture (and Ushered in the Obamacrats) .” Princeton physicist William Happer also recently met with Trump. Happer served in DOE under President George H. W. Bush and has garnered criticism for arguing that climate change trends are overstated and that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is beneficial.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy organization, released a new report last week focused on preserving scientific integrity in the federal government. The report lists four key principles of scientific integrity in federal policymaking and warns the Trump administration against “abuses of science,” which the authors emphasize can take many forms. The report also reviews the Bush and Obama administrations’ records on scientific integrity.
Monday, Jan. 23 AMS: American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Wash., Registration required (continues through Friday)
—How Policy and Law Affect Early Career Scientists
, 12:15 pm PST
—A Snapshot of the Federal Policy Landscape
,1:30 pm PST
—Forecasting the Next Four Years: Priorities of the Next Administration and Congress
, 4:00 pm PST
Tuesday, Jan. 24 UPDATED -- Senate: Meeting to consider nomination of Rick Perry to be Energy Secretary and Ryan Zinke to be Interior Secretary
9:30 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee (366 Dirksen Office Building, DC)
Webcast available -- This meeting has been postponed to Jan. 31.
Senate: Meeting to consider nomination of Wilbur Ross to be Commerce Secretary
And markup legislation, including space weather and STEM bills
10:00 am, Commerce, Science, Transportation Committee (253 Russell Office Building, DC)
Webcast available
Senate: Hearing on nomination of Rep. Mick Mulvaney to lead OMB
10:30 am, Budget Committee (608 Dirksen Office Building, DC)
Webcast available
AIAA: Aerospace 101: Propelling America’s Economy and National Security
11:30 am – 1 pm (2325 Rayburn Office Building, DC)
Former NASA science associate administrator John Grunsfeld is among the panelists
AAAS: Roadblocks to Reform in the Biomedical Research Enterprise
4:00 – 5:00 pm, AAAS Auditorium (1200 New York Ave NW, DC)
DC Science Café: Saving Science From Itself
Featuring ASU professor Dan Sarewitz and FYI’s own Will Thomas
6:30 – 8:30 pm, Busboys & Poets (1025 5th Street NW, DC)
AMS: American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting cont.
—Earth Science Division Town Hall
, 5:30 pm PST
—Community Forum on the National Academies’ Decadal Survey, ‘Earth Science and Applications from Space
, 6:30 pm PST
Wednesday, Jan. 25 NSF: Mathematical and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee meeting
1:00 – 2:00 pm, NSF, Room 1235 (4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, Va.)
Thursday, Jan. 26 NSF: Astronomy & Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Friday)
9:00 am – 5:00 pm Thurs, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Fri, NSF (4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, Va.)
AAAS: Webinar: Outlook for Science in the New Administration and Congress
Featuring AAAS CEO Rush Holt and AEI Resident Scholar Norm Ornstein
2:00 – 3:00 pm
Friday, Jan. 27 Issues in S&T: Confronting Scientific Controversies: Do Facts Matter?
8:30 – 10:30 am, Arizona State University Washington Center (1834 Connecticut Ave NW, DC)
Saturday, January 28 APS: American Physical Society April Meeting, Marriott Wardman Park, Washington, DC, Registration required (continues through Tuesday)
—Science Policy in the 21st Century
, 8:30 – 10:18 am
—Nuclear Testing Limitations and Monitoring Low Level Radioactivity
, 1:30 – 3:18 pm
—Two Out of 535: The Role of Physicists in Policy
, 3:30 – 5:18 pm
—Stop by the ‘Contact Congress’ booth to sign your name to letters to your congressional delegation on the importance of federal funding for basic research
Sunday, January 29 APS: American Physical Society April Meeting cont.
—Manhattan Project Scientific Legacy
, 1:30 – 3:18 pm
—The Social Legacy of the Manhattan Project
, 3:30 – 5:18 pm
Monday, Jan. 30 APS: American Physical Society April Meeting cont.
—Future High Energy Hadron Colliders and Physics
, 10:45 – 12:30 pm
—The Roles of Physicists in International and Nonprofit Organizations
, 1:30 – 3:18 pm
Stanford: Climate Adaptation and Building Resilience
Featuring National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt
12:00 – 2:00 pm, National Press Club (529 14th St NW, DC)
Registration required, lunch provided
The American Meteorological Society Policy Program is recruiting volunteers to participate in Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill on March 20 and 21. The purpose of the visits is to provide members of Congress the best possible access to scientific information on climate science for making policy decisions. Applications are due Feb. 10.
The California Council on Science and Technology is accepting applications from scientists and engineers for its 2018 Science & Technology Policy Fellowship . Fellows spend one year in Sacramento serving the California State Legislature and must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in science or engineering. Applications are due Feb. 28.
AAAS is hiring a program director for the S&T Policy Fellowships Program. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent in a relevant field. Applications are due Feb. 12.
AIP is hiring a Science Policy Analyst to join the FYI team based in College Park, Md. The analyst will closely follow developments in federal science policy and contribute to FYI’s growing science policy news offerings. Review of applications is ongoing.
The American Geosciences Institute has an opening in its geoscience policy team for a full-time position that could be filled at a junior or senior level. The position is based in Alexandria, Va. Review of applications begins on Feb. 6.
Know of an upcoming science policy opportunity? Email us at fyi@aip.org.Know of an upcoming science policy event? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
NPR Science Friday: How Will Scientific Research Fare Under President Donald Trump?
Nature: Rumours swirl about Trump’s science adviser pick
Washington Post: As college leaders wonder what to make of Trump, one takes comfort on what he hasn’t said
MIT Technology Review: Will science have a seat at President Trump’s table?
The Hill: Congressional leadership and vision propels U.S. leadership in science (Maria Zuber, opinion)
Chemical & Engineering News: For U.S. science policy, big shift ahead
Eos: House Science Committee’s Climate Tweets Rile Scientists
Scientific American: Scientists Must Become More Involved in the Political Process (opinion)
Nature: Give the public the tools to trust scientists (Anita Makri, opinion)
Nature: Scientists on their hopes and fears for Trump administration
Nature: Scientists join massive protest against Trump
Washington Post: This group wants to fight ‘anti-science’ rhetoric by getting scientists to run for office
DOE: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz Exit Interview (audio)
DOE: The Way Forward on Nuclear Waste (Ernest Moniz, opinion)
ScienceInsider: Ten questions for Rick Perry, Trump’s pick for energy secretary
NPR: Scientists Concerned For Future Of National Labs As Rick Perry Seeks Top Energy Post
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: One scientist’s do-it list for presumptive Energy Secretary Perry (Jeff Terry, opinion)
SpacePolicyOnline: New satellites, new administration key topics of AMS meeting
Washington Post: NOAA and the new administration: Will Trump make America’s weather model great again?
SpacePolicyOnline: Benjamin Friedman to be Acting NOAA Administrator
NASA: NASA, NOAA Data Show 2016 Warmest Year on Record Globally
Washington Post: Trump nominees share a less urgent climate-change line
Reuters: ‘Pragmatic’ Trump might be persuaded on climate action: UK scientists
InsideClimate News: The Scramble to Protect Climate Data Under Trump
The Hill: Pruitt will put EPA back on track (Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), opinion)
SpaceNews: Trump administration assigns first political appointees to NASA
Nature: The $2.4-billion plan to steal a rock from Mars
Science: Your self-driving car could kill radio astronomy ($)
Discover: NASA Has the Asteroid Protection Plan, But Where’s the Money?
Scientific American: NIH Director Francis Collins to stay on, for now
Nature: Trump’s vaccine-commission idea is biased and dangerous (editorial)
ScienceInsider: Rigorous replication effort succeeds for just two of five cancer papers
DOD: Remarks by Secretary Carter at the Department of Defense Farewell
Gizmodo: At the last minute, Trump asks nuclear safety administrator to stick around after all
The Physics Teacher: The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship: Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice
The Royal Society: Theresa May makes science a Brexit priority
Nature: Brussels Declaration: Twenty-point plan for science policy
Canadian Science Policy Centre: Science Advice in a Troubled World (Peter Gluckman, opinion)
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