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What’s Ahead
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| The NIST Center for Neutron Research in Gaithersburg, Maryland, opened an addition to its guide hall in 2012, expanding the reactor-based facility’s capacity and capabilities. NIST’s primary advisory committee will discuss the facility’s long-term future this week. (Image credit – NIST) |
Research Reactor Plans in Spotlight at NIST Advisory Panel Meeting
The principal advisory committee for the National Institute of Standards and Technology is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday morning, with much of the second day devoted to the NIST Center for Neutron Research. The future of the center’s research reactor, which is now a half-century old, has recently come up for discussion, following a routine National Academies review that recommended the agency begin planning for a replacement. An American Physical Society report published last year also recommended the U.S. begin designing and constructing a new generation of research reactors. (APS is an AIP Member Society.) One of the two chairs of the report, Julia Phillips, will address the NIST advisory committee. Other items on the meeting’s agenda include a briefing on Trump administration science and technology priorities by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier, an overview of NIST’s strategic planning, a discussion of NIST activities in artificial intelligence and quantum information science, and an update from NIST Director Walter Copan on the agency’s technology transfer policy initiative.
Grassley Continues Probe of ‘Foreign Threats’ to US Research
The Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday to discuss “foreign threats” to federally funded research, with a focus on the National Institutes of Health. Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has sent letters to NIH, the National Science Foundation, and the Defense Department seeking information about how they protect their grantmaking systems and funded research projects against potential exploitation by foreign actors, citing particular concerns about China. (The responses from NIH and NSF are posted here and here.) NIH Director Francis Collins subsequently told the Senate in April that there were 55 ongoing investigations of “institutions where we believe there may be investigators who are double dipping” by failing to disclose funding contributions from foreign entities, diverting intellectual property, or inappropriately sharing grant applications. Collins’ deputy, Lawrence Tabak, is among the witnesses. Tabak told FYI this February that NIH is focused on identifying “conflicts of commitment,” while stressing the concern is not unique to China and that “overwhelmingly foreign nationals make enormous contributions to the biomedical research workforce.”
Banking and Trade Panels Examining China’s Technology Investments
Two hearings this week will review China’s investments in advanced technologies and U.S. efforts to stem the transfer of sensitive technologies abroad. The Senate Banking Committee has invited the former head of the Commerce Department’s export control division, Kevin Wolf, to testify on the topic at a Tuesday hearing. The department is currently developing new export controls on “emerging” technologies in response to a provision in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. That law also expanded the purview of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which recommends whether certain transactions should be blocked on national security grounds. Separately, the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission is holding a separate hearing on Friday to examine China’s investment strategy in the domains of artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and new energy technologies.
Augustine to Address Impacts of US-China Competition on Research
Former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine is delivering the keynote address Tuesday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event titled “Collateral Damage? Research Collaboration in an Age of U.S.-China Competition.” A panel discussion will follow, focusing on ways to address national security concerns while ensuring the U.S. continues to attract top scientific talent from around the world. Augustine was co-chair of the influential 2005 “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” study and a follow-on 2014 report on “Restoring the Foundation” of the nation’s research enterprise. In April, Augustine sent letters to congressional leaders laying blame on the U.S. for not doing more to stay ahead in research, writing, “It was not China that reduced the nation’s investment in R&D; allowed the continuing decay of our pre-K–12 education system; reduced the number of foreign graduates from U.S. universities who can remain and work in America; or disinvested in our public universities.”
EPA Science Advisory Board to Consider Controversial Transparency Proposal
At a meeting of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board this week, the board will consider the agency’s proposed “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule, among other topics. The rule would require data and models underlying certain types of regulations to be made “publicly available in a manner sufficient for independent validation.” One year ago, the board released a letter criticizing the process EPA used to develop the rule, stating the agency neglected to gather input from the board and the scientific community. Some board members also warned the proposal is “highly controversial” and could potentially remove “legal, ethical, and peer-reviewed studies of health effects as sources to support the agency’s regulatory efforts.” EPA’s current administrator, Andrew Wheeler, has committed to finalizing the rule, which was first advanced by his predecessor, Scott Pruitt. The effort has caught the attention of House appropriators, who included language in their latest spending proposal for EPA directing the agency to not finalize the rule until it fully consults the Science Advisory Board. If the rule is implemented, EPA would also be directed to commission a National Academies study of its impact on the agency’s ability to use peer-reviewed studies.
Grid-Scale Storage Up Next in Senate Energy Innovation Hearings
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is continuing its recent run of hearings on energy innovation with a look at grid-scale energy storage on Tuesday. The witness panel will include four executives from industry and George Crabtree, the director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory. A number of committee members have cosponsored two recently introduced bills to promote grid-scale energy storage: the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act and the Promoting Grid Storage Act. Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Joe Manchin (D-WV) are not currently among them, but they have said they intend for the current spate of hearings to inform a major legislative push that aims to address climate change by encouraging the development and deployment of a wide array of clean energy technologies.
Science Committee to Examine Ocean Exploration and Biodiversity
The Environment Subcommittee of the House Science Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday on ocean exploration, focusing on the development of new ocean technologies and research strategies. The witnesses are Katy Croff Bell, founding director of the Open Ocean Initiative; Carlie Wiener, director of marine communications for the Schmidt Ocean Institute; Steve Barrett, senior vice president for business development for Oceaneering International; and David Lang, co-founder of Sofar Ocean Technologies. On Tuesday, the full committee will look at biodiversity loss and its causes. It is the House’s second hearing, following one convened two weeks ago by the Natural Resources Committee, responding to a major assessment by IPBES, an international scientific body. The assessment warned that some 1,000,000 species face extinction in the years ahead.
Space Force at Center Stage as House Unveils Defense Policy Bill
The House Armed Services Committee is holding open subcommittee meetings followed by a full committee meeting this week on this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a sprawling bill that Congress passes annually to update policy for the Defense Department and National Nuclear Security Administration. The Senate Armed Services Committee has already completed work on its version of the bill, which would implement President Trump’s proposal to establish a Space Force as a new service branch. Although the House committee has previously shown bipartisan support for a Space Corps, Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) has already objected to the Trump administration’s specific proposal. The NDAA, which traditionally addresses a wide variety of R&D policy matters, is also likely to continue to build on policies charted out in last year’s iteration that relate to the security of sensitive but unclassified research and technology.
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In Case You Missed It
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| Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), who chairs the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, is the lead sponsor of the newly introduced Security American Science and Technology Act. (Image credit – Office of Rep. Sherrill) |
Research Security Bill Introduced with Bipartisan Support
Leading members of the House Science and Armed Services Committees introduced legislation last week to address increased concern over espionage and other forms of foreign interference at U.S. universities. Called the Securing American Science and Technology Act, the bill would create an interagency working group administered by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy that would develop common definitions and best practices for research protection. It would also direct OSTP to partner with the National Academies to establish a standing forum for stakeholder discussion. Several university associations and scientific societies have endorsed the bill and urged the House to pass it “as soon as possible.” ScienceInsider has reported supporters of the bill are interested in attaching it to this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, a comprehensive defense policy bill that Congress passes annually.
IEEE Reverses Decision to Bar Huawei Researchers From Reviewing Papers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has rescinded its May 29 decision to restrict employees of the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from reviewing papers for the society’s journals. IEEE said its original decision stemmed from uncertainty about the effects of the Department of Commerce adding Huawei to the “Entity List,” which prohibits U.S. organizations from conducting certain types of business with the company without approval. In the follow-up announcement, IEEE stated it has received clarification from the department and that all members “regardless of employer” can continue to participate in the society’s activities.
Audits Track Trouble Spots in NASA Science Portfolio
On May 30, the Government Accountability Office released its annual review of NASA’s major projects, reporting continuing deterioration in cost and schedule performance, owing largely to last year’s delay of the James Webb Space Telescope. It also notes that as NASA’s portfolio of major projects continues to grow, the agency will either have to increase its requests for funding or continue to propose tradeoffs between projects, as it has in proposing to cancel the flagship Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope. The report states that budget uncertainties have led NASA to experience difficulties in implementing its plans. On May 29, the NASA Office of Inspector General released a report examining the agency’s plans for two multi-billion dollar missions to Jupiter’s moon Europa. It concludes that the Europa Clipper mission, which the agency aims to launch in 2023, faces significant management risks stemming from the availability of personnel, NASA’s acceptance of instrument cost proposals that were “far too optimistic,” and ongoing uncertainty about what launch vehicle will be used. The report dismisses the congressionally mandated goal of launching a follow-on lander mission in 2025 as “not feasible,” stating the mission would face even worse personnel shortages than the Clipper and that planning for a lander should take into account science gathered by the earlier mission. It also notes the lander mission was not recommended in the last planetary science decadal survey.
First Lunar Science Payload Missions Announced
On May 31, NASA announced the commercial providers that will fly scientific instrumentation and other small payloads to the Moon as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Orbit Beyond was awarded a $97 million contract to convey as many as four payloads to the Mare Imbrium by September 2020. Intuitive Machines was awarded $77 million to fly as many as five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum by July 2021. Astrobotic Technology was awarded $80 million to fly as many as 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis, a large crater, also by July 2021. NASA plans to select the payloads that will fly on each mission by the end of summer. The CLPS program aims to establish a new model for the agency in which commercial entities take the lead in designing, implementing, and flying small-scale missions.
Particle Physics Panel Evaluating P5 Progress
At its meeting last week, the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel reported it is conducting a simple but formal evaluation of the field’s progress in implementing recommendations made by the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) in 2014. Two components of the evaluation took place at the meeting: a self-assessment by the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, and a review of the “physics landscape.” Panel chair JoAnne Hewett said there will be a further component this fall to capture input from the physics community including the perspective of its younger members. She said the panel will deliver its findings late this year at its next meeting. Delivering DOE’s self-assessment, department official Glen Crawford said P5 has been “wildly successful beyond, I think, anything we could have hoped for at the time, beyond any previous long-range planning study.” Crediting it with helping secure recent budget increases for high energy physics, he called it “a model for such efforts across various parts of the government.”
Plan S Implementation Pushed Back
The coalition of research funding agencies behind the “Plan S” open access initiative has revised its core principles and delayed their implementation one year to 2021. First announced last year, Plan S aims to require scientific papers be made freely available to the public with no embargo period upon publication. While maintaining the commitment to immediate open access, the Plan S principles no longer include a specific cost cap on article publication charges and support more “transitional arrangements” for publishers to ease implementation, among other changes.
Defense Intelligence Chief Warns of Nuclear Tests by Rivals
Addressing an audience at the Hudson institute on May 29, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley said Russia may be conducting explosive tests as part of its efforts to modernize its nuclear arsenal. “The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero-yield’ standard,” he said, referring to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) agreement that any nuclear weapons experiments a nation conducts should not produce an explosive yield. Ashley did not elaborate on his claim, but experts have told reporters that, if the Russians are undertaking prohibited tests, they would entail very low yields. In addition to Russia, Ashley suggested that China could also be pursuing tests, pointing to its use of explosive containment chambers at its nuclear test site and its joining with Russia in “watering down” language in a United Nations statement affirming the zero-yield standard. Although the U.S. has not ratified the CTBT, its policy is to verify the integrity of its nuclear weapons using subcritical experiments and simulations rather than explosive tests.
White House Releases Spectrum R&D Reports
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released two interagency reports on May 30 that outline R&D priorities for wireless communications technologies and offer an impact assessment of emerging 5G technologies on spectrum use. The documents will serve as inputs to the development of a National Spectrum Strategy that encompasses “scientific research, technology, policy, legislation, and operations in key U.S. economic sectors.” Notably, the documents do not address the current interagency debate over the potentially severe impacts of a recent 5G spectrum auction on weather satellite observations.
Bipartisan Carbon Capture R&D Bill Introduced in Senate
On May 23, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the Launching Energy Advancement and Development through Innovations for Natural Gas (LEADING) Act. The bill would direct the Department of Energy to support research, development, and demonstration efforts that promote the commercialization of carbon capture technologies for natural gas-fired power plants. It also would require DOE to enter into cooperative agreements to pilot such technologies at three or more electricity generation facilities by the end of fiscal year 2025. The measure joins a separate bipartisan bill on carbon capture R&D introduced in February.
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Events This Week Monday, June 3
Tuesday, June 4
NIST: Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology meeting (continues Wednesday) NIST headquarters (Gaithersburg, MD) ORNL: Neutron Scattering User meeting (continues Wednesday) Oak Ridge National Lab (Oak Ridge, TN) House: National Defense Authorization Act Markups (continues Wednesday) Armed Services Committee NOAA: Commercial Remote Sensing Advisory Committee meeting 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, Herbert Hoover Building (1401 Constitution Ave. NW, DC) Senate: “U.S. Grid-Scale Energy Storage Deployment” 10:00 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee (366 Dirksen Office Building) Senate: “Confronting Threats From China: Assessing Controls on Technology and Investment, and Measures to Combat Opioid Trafficking” 10:00 am, Banking Committee (538 Dirksen Office Building) CANCELLED -- Senate: “Classified Briefing to Review the FY20 Budget Request for Nuclear Modernization Programs” 10:00 am, Appropriations Committee (217 Senate Visitor Center) House: “Nature in Crisis: Biodiversity Loss and its Causes” 10:00 am, Science Committee (2318 Rayburn Office Building) Senate: “Protecting U.S. Leadership and Expanding Opportunities for Licensing New Nuclear Energy Technologies” 11:30 am, Environment and Public Works Committee (406 Dirksen Office Building) NSF: Business and Operations Advisory Committee meeting 1:00 - 5:00 pm CSIS: “Collateral Damage? Research Collaboration in an Age of U.S.-China Competition” 2:00 - 4:00 pm, CSIS headquarters (1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available Senate: “The State of Patent Eligibility in America: Part I” 2:30 pm, Judiciary Committee (226 Dirksen Office Building)
Wednesday, June 5
EPA: Science Advisory Board meeting (continues Thursday) Sphinx on K (1315 K St. NW, DC) Webcast available House: “National Security Implications of Climate Change” 8:30 am, Intelligence Committee (1100 Longworth Office Building)
House: “Ocean Exploration: Diving to New Depths and Discoveries” 9:00 am, Science Committee (2318 Rayburn Office Building) Senate: “Foreign Threats to Taxpayer – Funded Research: Oversight Opportunities and Policy Solutions” 9:45 am, Finance Committee (215 Dirksen Office Building) Senate: “Classified Hearing to Review the FY20 Budget Request for Defense Innovation and Research Funding” 10:00 am, Appropriations Committee (217 Senate Visitors Center) CSIS: “Climate, Disasters, and Other Shocks: Are Countries Ready?” 10:00 - 11:30 am, CSIS headquarters (1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available DOE: “Clean Energy Systems: Pairing Renewables and Nuclear,” congressional briefing 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, 2168 Rayburn House Office Building NASA: “Writing Successful Mission Proposals: Observations From NASA” 2:00 pm MDT, University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) Webcast available Senate: “The State of Patent Eligibility in America: Part II” 2:30 pm, Judiciary Committee (226 Dirksen Office Building) Politics and Prose: “Double Jeopardy: Combating Nuclear Terror and Climate Change” 7:00 - 8:00 pm, P&P at the Wharf (70 District Sq. SW, DC)
Thursday, June 6
Friday, June 7
USCC: “Technology, Trade, and Military-Civil Fusion: China’s Pursuit of Artificial Intelligence, New Materials, and New Energy” 9:30 am - 3:30 pm, US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (215 Dirksen Senate Office Building) House: “Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Management, Storage, and the Need for Solutions” 11:30 am PDT, Oversight and Government Reform Committee JSPS: “Science in Japan Forum: New Eyes on the Universe” 1:00 - 5:30 pm, Cosmos Club (2121 Massachusetts Ave. NW, DC)
Monday, June 10
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Opportunities Input Sought on National Strategy for Quantum Information Science
The National Science and Technology Council has reopened its request for input on the federal investment strategy for quantum information science research and development in light of the passage of the National Quantum Initiative Act. The council is seeking comment on infrastructure needs, opportunities for industrial engagement, and workforce development strategies, among other areas. Submissions are due July 29.
NSF Accepting Comments on Updated Grants Manual
The National Science Foundation is accepting input on planned revisions to its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. Among the changes are clarifications to an existing requirement that grant applicants must disclose all sources of current and pending research support. Comments are due July 29.
EPA Seeking Nominees for Science Advisory Board
The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting nominations for appointment to its Science Advisory Board and the panel’s four standing committees. The committees span radiation science, chemical assessment, drinking water safety, and agricultural science. Nominations are due June 24.
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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