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What’s Ahead
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| Monica Bertagnolli speaking in her role as National Cancer Institute director at a town hall meeting in December 2022. (Image credit – NCI) |
Biden Nominating Oncologist Monica Bertagnolli to Lead NIH
The White House announced on Monday that President Biden is nominating National Cancer Institute Director Monica Bertagnolli to lead the National Institutes of Health. Before joining NCI last fall, Bertagnolli was chief of surgical oncology at the Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and a professor at Harvard Medical School. She also served as chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and championed initiatives to improve data infrastructure for clinical research. If confirmed, Bertagnolli will take over from Lawrence Tabak, who has been leading the agency on an acting basis since former director Francis Collins stepped down at the end of 2021. Unusually, Collins had served in the role for more than 12 years across three presidential administrations.
DOE Nominees Face Senate Committee Vote
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding a business meeting on Wednesday at which it will consider the nominations of David Crane to be under secretary for infrastructure at the Department of Energy and Jeff Marootian to lead the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The committee already approved their nominations in December on votes of 13 to 7 and 11 to 9, respectively, but the confirmation process reset when the new Congress convened in January. Resecuring committee approval would typically be pro forma given that Democrats retained control of the Senate. However, Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV) has recently reacted negatively to certain Biden administration policies on energy and the environment and just last week indicated he would not support any nominee for the Environmental Protection Agency in view of the agency’s advancement of a strict new rule governing power plant carbon emissions. EPA nominations, though, are handled by another committee and it is unlikely Manchin would call a vote for Crane and Marootian if he did not continue to support their confirmation. The committee will also consider an array of bills at the meeting, including one that would establish a Nuclear Fuel Security Program in DOE with the recommendation that Congress appropriate $3.5 billion to it immediately.
Senate Appropriators to Consider Priorities for US–China Rivalry
The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday to examine the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2024 budget request in the context of “U.S. security, competitiveness, and the path ahead for the U.S.–China relationship.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will testify. The hearing’s broader purpose is to consider spending priorities in view of bipartisan legislation that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to develop to reinforce the U.S. position in its strategic competition with China. Schumer has said the effort will have a strong focus on technology, potentially including measures to fund R&D in targeted areas and prevent the Chinese government from exploiting U.S. technological advances. This week’s hearing follows another on the same subject that the committee held behind closed doors last week with officials whose portfolios are focused on the Indo-Pacific region and export controls.
Nelson Completes Capitol Hill Tour in Defense of NASA Budget
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is appearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget request, following earlier visits with Senate and House appropriators and the House Science Committee. Nelson completed his own career as a senator as the Commerce Committee’s ranking Democrat and chaired its subcommittee on space policy for eight years. The discussion at this week’s hearing is apt to range across all NASA activities, with significant attention to human spaceflight, but Nelson may also address tensions in the agency’s science portfolio, including the growing costs of the Mars Sample Return flagship mission.
PCAST Examining Social Implications of AI
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is meeting on Thursday and Friday. The agenda includes a discussion on “the future of food” and two panels on artificial intelligence, one focused on enabling science needs and the second on AI’s impacts on society. PCAST has just announced a new working group on generative AI systems and is soliciting public input on the subject, which has recently gained a high profile through the release of applications such as ChatGPT.
Editor’s note: FYI is preparing to roll out new features and capabilities. We’d like to thank readers who volunteered to provide feedback on our new website. Be on the lookout for more information in the weeks ahead.
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In Case You Missed It
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| A map showing the 44 awardees of development grants from the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program. (Image credit – NSF) |
Regional Innovation Programs Ramp Up
On May 11, the National Science Foundation announced the first grants through its Regional Innovation Engines program, which was established last year and received congressional backing through the CHIPS and Science Act. Forty-four teams are each receiving up to $1 million over two years to develop proposals for one of the program’s main “Engine” grants, which can each have a value of up to $160 million over a period of up to 10 years. Activities eligible for support include “use-inspired” R&D, the translation of research outputs into practical applications, and workforce development. On May 12, the Commerce Department issued its first call for applications for its separate but similar Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, which was created by the CHIPS and Science Act and provided with $500 million in Congress’ appropriation for the current fiscal year. The call covers “phase 1” of the program, which will involve designating 20 hubs and separately awarding $15 million in project development grants, the recipients of which will be eligible to compete for larger grants in “phase 2,” which is expected to launch later this year. The program aims to develop supported hubs into preeminent industrial clusters in 10 technology focus areas identified in the CHIPS and Science Act.
DOE Launches Inertial Fusion Energy Program
Last week, the Department of Energy issued a funding opportunity through which it expects to award a total of $45 million to establish a series of multi-institutional “hubs” for inertial fusion energy R&D. It is the first solicitation from a new program in DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences program called Inertial Fusion Energy Science & Technology Accelerated Research (IFE-STAR) and is the start of a foray by DOE into R&D related to producing energy from inertial fusion methods such as laser-driven fusion. Most DOE inertial fusion research is funded through the National Nuclear Security Administration and is aimed primarily at obtaining data relevant to the long-term stewardship of nuclear warheads. Congress mandated the creation of an inertial fusion energy program through the Energy Act of 2020. DOE’s solicitation also notes that the move follows from a recommendation in a 2013 National Academies report that “a national, coordinated, broad-based inertial fusion energy program” be created once the threshold of fusion ignition is crossed — a milestone the National Ignition Facility achieved in December. DOE plans to provide $9 million for the program in 2023 and hopes Congress will appropriate the remainder in coming years.
DOD Releases Long-Awaited Science and Technology Strategy
The Department of Defense released a 12-page, public version of a document last week called the National Defense Science and Technology Strategy, which outlines policies needed to achieve its aims in 14 technology focus areas it has already identified. Congress originally directed DOD to produce the strategy in 2018, but the department did not do so under the Trump administration and the Biden administration did not release its overarching National Defense Strategy until last fall. The strategy emphasizes collaboration with the private sector and international partners and acknowledges that such efforts will require more extensive information-sharing, stating that DOD is “prepared to accept more risk to share more information with allies and partners who share with us and protect sensitive information.” It also stresses the need to support a “vibrant innovation ecosystem” and to devote resources to traversing the so-called “valleys of death” between R&D and prototyping and different scales of production. Addressing the “foundations” of R&D, it prioritizes support for DOD’s test and laboratory infrastructure and digital infrastructure, as well as for workforce development, specifically spotlighting the SMART scholarship-for-service program.
Science Committee Republicans Flag ‘Neglect’ of DOE Science Office
Last week, House Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) and seven other Republicans sent a letter to the Department of Energy expressing “serious concerns with DOE’s ongoing lack of robust and consistent support for its Office of Science.” The letter argues that the department’s latest budget request deprioritizes the Office of Science in favor of clean energy deployment activities, which it asserts are already “extremely well-funded” after DOE received a $100 billion infusion through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), of which only 2% went to the Office of Science. The letter further contends DOE’s “neglect” of the office is straining its workforce, pointing to the recent departures of five high-level career officials, only one of whom has been replaced.
The committee also held a hearing last week to examine DOE’s implementation of the IIJA, IRA, and the CHIPS and Science Act, at which Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond and Acting Under Secretary for Infrastructure Kathleen Hogan defended the strength of coordination between the department’s R&D programs and deployment activities. The hearing also addressed several other topics that have recently attracted congressional attention, including fusion energy development, the award of a grant to a company with extensive operations in China, and DOE employees allegedly owning stock in companies operating in areas related to the department’s work.
Lofgren Addresses NIST Infrastructure Woes
At a House Science Committee hearing last week, National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Laurie Locascio spotlighted the deterioration of facilities at her agency’s two main campuses, mentioning it in her opening statement before any other specific subject. Discussion at the hearing focused on other issues, including NIST’s central role in implementing the semiconductor initiatives in the CHIPS and Science Act. However, Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) devoted substantial attention to the matter in her opening statement, saying, “Congress and industry alike are asking NIST to take on more responsibility even as the agency faces a crisis of failing infrastructure and unmet maintenance needs. … This has been a problem decades in the making, and I think this committee, although we don’t do the appropriations, needs to focus and advocate for this need to be met.”
NOAA Head Weighs In on Agency’s Place in Commerce Department
House Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) asked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Rick Spinrad at a hearing last week how much time he spends meeting with Commerce Department leaders while developing NOAA’s budget request. Lucas said the question was related to his push to make NOAA an independent agency, but also made clear he did not expect Spinrad to take a stance on that issue at this time. Spinrad replied, “A lot,” adding that about half his calendar is dedicated to internal engagement, which includes discussions with officials at the Commerce Department and its various agencies. “I would say some of the most productive dialogues I’m having, for example, are with my counterparts at the Patent and Trademark Office, International Trade Administration, Economic Development Administration, and of course NIST and Census,” he said. Spinrad’s remarks reflected a more positive view than those offered at a hearing several weeks ago by Neil Jacobs and Tim Gallaudet, who each led NOAA on an acting basis for periods during the Trump administration. They both expressed deep frustration about their day-to-day interactions with the Commerce Department, and Gallaudet also condemned the department’s reallocation of portions of NOAA’s budget to other agencies. Asked by Lucas about whether he discusses such transfers with department leaders, Spinrad said that he does without elaborating further.
House and Senate Advance Array of Science Bills
On May 9, the House passed two bipartisan bills relating to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Coastal Communities Ocean Acidification Act and the Advanced Weather Model Computing Development Act, on votes of 351 to 58 and 356 to 50, respectively. The former requires NOAA to undertake studies of ocean acidification in concert with state and local governments, while the latter requires the agency to improve weather and climate modeling methods in collaboration with other federal agencies, the national labs, universities, and nonprofit organizations. At a meeting on May 10, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee advanced several research-related bills. The House Science Committee has previously advanced companion versions of two of them — the National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act and the NOAA Weather Radio Modernization Act — while the TORNADO Act, which would direct NOAA to improve its communication of weather hazard information, has no House companion. The House already unanimously passed a companion version of another bill the Senate committee advanced, the TRANQ Research Act, which would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to research processes for identifying and differentiating illegal drugs containing xylazine and synthetic opioids.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Standard Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, May 15
Tuesday, May 16
Wednesday, May 17
Thursday, May 18
Friday, May 19
Monday, May 22
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Opportunities NOAA Seeking Members for Science Advisory Board
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is soliciting nominations for its 15-member Science Advisory Board. The board is particularly seeking members with expertise in artificial intelligence for weather and climate research, environmental remote sensing, engineering for coastal resilience, social and behavioral sciences, and tropical cyclones. Committee members serve three year terms that can be renewed once. Nominations are due June 15.
NSF Soliciting Comments on Grant Manual Update
The National Science Foundation is seeking feedback on a draft update to its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. Some of the proposed changes address new research security requirements imposed by last year’s CHIPS and Science Act. Comments are due June 12.
NSF Seeking Input on Emerging Tech Career Pathways
The National Science Foundation’s Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate is seeking input on workforce development issues in emerging technology areas. Responses will inform the development of new funding opportunities aimed at increasing participation in STEM disciplines via both traditional and non-traditional pathways. Comments are due June 21.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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