| |
What’s Ahead
 |
| Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visits West Virginia with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV). (Image credit – Office of Sen. Manchin) |
Granholm Appearing Before Senate Energy Committee
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is welcoming Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday to discuss the Biden administration’s first budget request for the Department of Energy. Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV) has expressed interest in questioning Granholm since an Appropriations Committee hearing in April on the administration’s multiyear American Jobs Plan, noting the roughly $200 billion dollars it proposes for R&D programs. Manchin was a key driver behind the Energy Act of 2020, including some of its most ambitious provisions calling for billions of dollars in spending on carbon capture R&D and demonstration projects. He also sought a more significant role for DOE in the Senate’s Endless Frontier Act, which ultimately was amended to shift some of its funding targets to the department, albeit without the detailed policy direction that would typically originate in Manchin’s committee. While Granholm is a vocal proponent of transitioning to a clean-energy economy and Manchin’s state has strong ties to fossil fuels, the two agree that communities vulnerable to the transition should be a policy focus — a message they reiterated on a visit Granholm made to West Virginia this month. That subject will also be discussed at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Landmark Competitiveness Bill Now in House’s Court
By a vote of 68 to 32 last week, the Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), a 2,376-page legislative package that aims to strengthen U.S. competitiveness with China. Marquee provisions would add a technology directorate to the National Science Foundation, appropriate $52 billion for a domestic semiconductor manufacturing initiative, and establish new controls on foreign involvement in the U.S. research system. House committees are already gearing up to consider their own counterpart bills in the coming weeks. This week, the House Science Committee is voting on bills specific to NSF and the Department of Energy and is preparing to introduce bills focused on the National Institute of Standards and Technology and regional innovation programs in the Commerce Department. Lawmakers are also beginning to anticipate that a conference committee will ultimately convene to resolve differences between the House and Senate efforts. The conference would also provide an opportunity to address matters left unresolved by the Senate, such as the debate over whether to expand foreign investment reviews to the higher education sector. The Senate was also unable to adopt a set of 42 amendments that were cleared for inclusion but were blocked by a senator critical of the overall bill.
Science Committee Revising NSF Bill Ahead of Vote
At a meeting on Tuesday, the House Science Committee plans to vote on an updated version of its National Science Foundation for the Future Act that will bring the bill a step closer to the Senate’s vision for the agency. One change would direct the new NSF directorate proposed in the bill to fund “technology research institutes,” a less-prescriptive version of the Senate’s proposal for the directorate to fund university technology centers. It also includes location-agnostic alternatives to the Senate proposal that at least 20% of all NSF funds go to EPSCoR jurisdictions, which comprise designated states that have historically received a small share of agency funds. The bill will still recommend Congress roughly double the agency’s current budget to $18 billion over five years, short of the Senate target, and the proposed directorate will still be focused on “societal challenges” rather than the Senate’s “technology focus areas.” At the same meeting, the committee also plans to approve its DOE Science for the Future Act, which proposes to increase the Office of Science budget by nearly 50% to $11 billion over the same period as the NSF bill.
NASA Head Faces Senate Spending Panel
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is appearing before Senate appropriators on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2022. The Biden administration is supporting the Artemis crewed lunar exploration program and has not explicitly abandoned the Trump administration’s goal of conducting a crewed landing in 2024. However, it is not requesting a dramatic funding increase in the current $928 million annual budget for the Human Landing System program, even though that is far less than what NASA has said it would need. At a House Appropriations Committee hearing last month, Nelson suggested that Congress could provide NASA $10.8 billion through the special infrastructure bill it is considering, of which half would go toward the Human Landing System. Among NASA’s science programs, the administration is seeking a 13% increase in the Earth Science Division’s annual budget to expedite mission development and a 19% increase for the Planetary Science Division, in part to make a quick start on the Mars Sample Return mission. The administration is also repeating the Obama and Trump administrations’ proposals to terminate the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airplane-mounted telescope that is expensive to operate but has influential supporters in Congress.
Key NOAA, NASA, NNSA, and DOD Nominees Near Approval
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will vote on Thursday to advance the nominations of Rick Spinrad to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Pam Melroy to be NASA Deputy Administrator. Neither faced resistance at their joint confirmation hearing last month. Last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced on a single voice vote the nominations of Jill Hruby and Frank Rose to the top two positions at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and Heidi Shyu to be under secretary of defense for research and engineering. The nominees now await a final vote by the full Senate.
|
|
In Case You Missed It
 |
| Leaders of the G7 countries and Queen Elizabeth II pictured in Cornwall, U.K., at the Eden Project, an environmental education center. (Image credit – Karwai Tang / G7 Cornwall 2021) |
G7 Countries Outline Shared Research Principles
At a summit over the weekend, leaders from the G7 group of countries agreed to increase cooperation on a variety of research and technology initiatives. Through a G7 Research Compact, the countries committed to a stance toward research that is “as open as possible and as secure as necessary.” They stress the benefits of removing barriers to sharing knowledge and data while also “recognizing the importance of research security in particular in cutting-edge fields.” The compact notes the countries have established a Working Group on the Security and Integrity of the Research Ecosystem that will develop a “common set of principles” for protecting research as well as “proposals for a virtual academy and toolkit” to educate researchers on security risks.
The compact accompanies the overarching communiqué adopted at the summit, which establishes priorities for cooperation on pandemic prevention, emissions reduction, supply-chain security, and space debris mitigation, among many other subjects. The countries also agreed to launch a global infrastructure-financing initiative called the Build Back Better World Partnership, which will focus on “climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.” Through a parallel summit in Brussels, Belgium, the countries of the NATO military alliance committed to launch a Defense Innovation Accelerator to speed adoption of emerging technologies and to expand NATO’s role in assessing the security impacts of climate change. In addition, the U.S. and U.K renewed their Atlantic Charter alliance and released a joint statement that includes a pledge to increase cooperation on science and technology.
Biden Administration Releases Technology Supply Chain Reports
Responding to an executive order issued in February, the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Defense, and Health and Human Services have compiled reports respectively analyzing the supply chains of four categories of “critical products”: semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, critical minerals and materials, and pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients. Totaling 250 pages, the reports broadly maintain that the risks of relying on foreign sources for these products can be mitigated by leveraging U.S. R&D capabilities to bolster domestic industry, but also that such efforts should be coupled with direct support for industry. The most significant actions identified along these lines would require congressional action, such as providing funding to implement the CHIPS for America Act, but the Biden administration also announced a number of immediate steps it is taking under its own authority. Alongside the supply chain reports, the DOE-led Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries released a National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries that outlines strategies for expanding the U.S. position in that market, which is itself predicted to grow dramatically this decade.
DOE Extending US Manufacturing Requirement to All R&D Funding
Among the immediate actions the Department of Energy announced in association with the supply-chain reviews is a new policy requiring its grant, R&D contract, and cooperative agreement awardees to “substantially manufacture” resulting innovations in the U.S. The department states it is implementing the requirement through a “determination of exceptional circumstances” under the Bayh-Dole Act, which permits agencies to restrict or eliminate the patent rights of federal funding recipients if it would serve the act’s broader goals. DOE previously made such a determination in 2013 to issue funding opportunity announcements and requests for proposals through its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy that require applicants to submit a “U.S. manufacturing plan.” Another such determination issued in 2020 covers quantum information science technologies. However, the department now states the domestic manufacturing requirement will apply to “all DOE science and energy programs.”
DOE Launches ‘Hydrogen Shot’ as Part of Clean Tech Initiative
The Department of Energy announced last week that it is launching an “Energy Earthshots Initiative,” an integrated effort across DOE’s science, applied energy, and innovation offices to address “technological challenges and cost hurdles” associated with the deployment of clean energy technologies. The first Earthshot will focus on reducing the cost of hydrogen produced using renewable energy, aiming to bring it from about $5 to $1 per kilogram over the next decade. As it works to define the scope and priorities of the initiative, the department is seeking input on “viable hydrogen demonstration and deployment projects,” including the associated scientific challenges, regional infrastructure considerations, and economic and environmental justice impacts. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposes to establish 15 clean hydrogen demonstration plants in “distressed communities” and spend $15 billion on clean energy demonstration projects more broadly. DOE’s budget request for fiscal year 2022 also proposes to ramp up funding for its crosscutting hydrogen program from $285 million to $401 million.
Florida Law Increases Scrutiny of Foreign Research Ties
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation last week that requires universities with research budgets above $10 million to more closely monitor foreign travel by their staff and implement screening procedures for foreign students and scholars involved in research projects. The legislation also requires universities to report more information on foreign gifts and contracts, and it prohibits public universities and state government agencies from entering into certain cultural exchanges with “countries of concern,” which include China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela. The legislation unanimously passed the Florida legislature, which started probing research security policies after Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa fired six scientists in 2019 for failing to disclose connections to talent recruitment programs supported by the Chinese government. The state of Tennessee enacted similar legislation last month that is narrower in scope, focusing on expanding foreign gift and contract disclosures and prohibiting universities from hosting Confucius Institutes, which are cultural education centers supported by the Chinese government.
NIST Reports Progress in Recovering From Reactor Incident
At an advisory committee meeting last week, Robert Dimeo, director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research, discussed progress in recovering from a February radiation incident that has kept the facility’s reactor shut down since then. He remarked it was “painful” that the incident was found to be due to a preventable error in latching a fuel element, but said it was also a “silver lining” in that underlying issues with procedures, training, and oversight could be identified and corrected. He reported that more than a dozen working groups are implementing corrective actions, and that he expects a detailed implementation plan to be submitted to him by Sept. 1 before NIST seeks permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart the reactor. Dimeo also said he expects all fuel elements to be removed from the reactor this summer and that NIST is aiming to filter radioactive fission products from the reactor’s coolant system in October. He did not speculate about when the reactor might restart. However, he noted that the facility accounts for about 40% of U.S. neutron scattering research and that NIST has worked to refer users to other facilities in the U.S., where all facilities were oversubscribed even before the incident, as well as abroad.
Asteroid-Detecting Space Telescope Moves Ahead
NASA announced on June 11 that it is advancing its NEO Surveyor mission into preliminary design, targeting a launch in the first half of 2026. Adapted from a prior mission concept called NEOCam, NEO Surveyor is a space-based infrared telescope designed to accelerate the search for asteroids and other near-Earth objects that could pose a threat to the planet. Although NASA first announced in 2019 that it would directly manage NEO Surveyor’s development, forgoing a mission selection competition, it was not prioritized in NASA’s fiscal year 2021 budget request and Congress directed the agency to propose adequate funding in fiscal year 2022. Accordingly, NASA is now seeking to increase the mission’s annual budget from $28 million to $143 million and anticipates spending a total of $840 million on the mission through fiscal year 2026.
|
|
Events This Week Monday, June 14
American Nuclear Society: Annual meeting
(continues through Wednesday)
Tuesday, June 15
Wednesday, June 16
Thursday, June 17
Friday, June 18
Monday, June 21
|
|
Opportunities Issues in Science and Technology Seeking Senior Editor
The magazine Issues in Science and Technology is seeking a senior editor with “broad knowledge of science policy issues and the global landscape of societally significant developments in science, technology, and innovation, as well as related scholarship.” This position is located in Washington, D.C., but remote candidates will be considered. Applications are due June 21.
OECD Seeking Feedback from Global Scientific Community
The OECD is seeking respondents for its 2021 International Survey of Science, which collects information on the issues relevant to the global scientific community to inform science policy, including working conditions and COVID-19 impacts. The survey “aims to provide a timely picture of the state of science to complement other available statistical evidence and indicators and provide new insights that inform science policy around the world.” The survey is available in multiple languages and the submission period closes at the end of June 2021.
AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship Application Now Open
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is accepting applications for its 2022-2023 S&T Policy Fellowship program. Fellows spend a year at a federal agency or congressional office in Washington, D.C., gaining experience in the policymaking process. Applicants must have a doctoral-level degree or a master’s degree in engineering with three years of engineering experience in order to qualify. Applications are due Nov. 1.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
|
|
Around the Web
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
Endless Frontier Act
Congress
Science, Society, and the Economy
Education and Workforce
Research Management
Labs and Facilities
Emerging Technologies
Space
Weather, Climate, and Environment
- Chief scientist: NOAA is '$12 billion agency trapped in a $5.5 billion budget’ (The Hill)
- ‘Oceanshot': Lawmakers, officials call for more sea study (Bloomberg)
- World Oceans Day: Harnessing the power of ‘blue carbon’ in mitigating climate change (IAEA)
- On World Oceans Day, we need a sea change (The Hill, perspective by Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI))
- New study calls for ‘national dialogue’ on future environmental satellites (SpaceNews)
- EPA chief emphasizes staffing, environmental justice in Appropriations testimony (The Hill)
- Biden DOE pick brings ‘energy justice’ activism to climate plans (NPR)
- Governing net zero carbon removals to avoid entrenching inequities (Frontiers in Climate, paper by Peter Healey, et al.)
- Climate policy models need to get real about people — here’s how (Nature, perspective by Wei Peng, et al.)
- UN: Climate and extinction crises must be tackled together (AP)
- US seeks to toss suit by some states over greenhouse-gas costs (Bloomberg)
- The risks of solar geoengineering research (Nature, perspective by Jennie Stephens, et. al)
Energy
Defense
Biomedical
- NIH releases a plan to confront structural racism. Critics say it’s not enough (STAT)
- AMA doctors meet amid vocal backlash over racial equity plan (AP)
- Promoting equity for women in medicine — seizing a disruptive opportunity (New England Journal of Medicine, perspective by Reshma Jagsi, et. al)
- FDA’s approval of Alzheimer’s drug leads to third adviser’s resignation (Wall Street Journal)
- What I learned in 33 years at the CDC (New York Times, perspective by Anne Schuchat)
- The CDC’s new leader Rochelle Walensky follows the science. Is that enough? (New York Times)
- The COVID lab-leak hypothesis: What scientists do and don’t know (Nature)
- Leading biologist dampens his ‘smoking gun’ COVID lab leak theory New York Times: China’s Shi Zhengli, at the center of a pandemic storm, speaks out (The Guardian, interview)
- The implications of the lab-leak hypothesis (New York Magazine, interview with Marc Lipsitch)
- Scientists fear future leaks as top-level labs proliferate (Financial Times)
- How to make biomedical research (and biosafety labs) less dangerous and more ethical, post-COVID-19 (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, perspective by Laura Kahn)
- Recent coverage of the pandemic’s origins has ensnared readers in semantic quibbles, side points, and distractions (The Atlantic, perspective by Daniel Engber)
- Elite journals under scrutiny over role in Wuhan lab leak debate (Times Higher Education)
International Affairs
|
|
|
| |
| |
|