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What’s Ahead
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| The House-Senate conference committee on pending competitiveness legislation met for the first time on May 12. (Image credit – Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee) |
COMPETES Negotiations Move Behind Closed Doors
Congress held a kickoff meeting last week for the conference committee that will aim to craft a compromise between the House’s America COMPETES Act of 2022 and the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Ninety of the 107 committee members appeared at the meeting to stake out priorities for the negotiations, which are expected to last for months, taking place mainly behind closed doors. Numerous Republican committee members argued that expanding research security policies is essential, accusing the Chinese government of systematic theft or exploitation of U.S.-funded R&D. Both bills already include many provisions on the matter and some Republicans expressed interest in expanding them in the final product. Among Democrats’ priorities, several members endorsed the House’s proposals to increase visa availability for advanced STEM degree graduates. However, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was adamant that such proposals be handled through separate immigration policy legislation. Members from both parties endorsed the semiconductor-sector funding included in both bills, but disagreements remain over whether Congress should also create an investment tax credit specific to the sector. While leaders of the Senate tax committee support the concept, the top House Republican for tax policy, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), argued the final bill should not include a tax policy section, “especially one favoring a single industry.” With the midterm elections fast approaching, negotiators may ultimately omit many of the more contentious proposals in the interest of reaching agreement more quickly.
Ukraine Aid Bill Heading to Biden Without Scientist Visa Measure
Last week, the House passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine and the Senate is expected to follow suit this week. Most of the funds are for economic and military assistance, including $414 million for research, development, test, and evaluation accounts at the Department of Defense. The package exceeds President Biden’s request last month for $33 billion to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion, but it does not adopt his proposal to create a fast-track visa process for Russian citizens with advanced degrees in STEM fields. The Biden administration argued the new visa pathway would help the U.S. “undercut Russia’s innovative potential.” Congress did not publicly debate the proposal.
NNSA, NIH, and NASA Budgets Up for Review
National Nuclear Security Administration head Jill Hruby is appearing before both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees this week, testifying alongside senior Defense Department officials in the House on Tuesday and with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in the Senate on Thursday. Hruby will also testify at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, on the heels of a hearing last week before House appropriators that was postponed mid-meeting due to floor votes preventing members from attending. A separate appropriations hearing on the Department of Energy’s R&D programs was also postponed. Among the other hearings this week, appropriators will discuss the budget requests for NASA and the National Institutes of Health at separate meetings on Tuesday. In addition, the House appropriations subcommittee responsible for NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Commerce Department is meeting on Wednesday to solicit input from House members who are not on the committee.
‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ Probed by Intelligence Committee
The House Intelligence Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday to examine the U.S. military’s unexplained encounters with airborne objects exhibiting improbable aeronautical behaviors, termed “unidentified aerial phenomena.” Last year, Congress passed legislative provisions requiring the Defense Department to standardize its procedures for reporting and investigating such encounters and to designate organizations responsible for associated “scientific, technical, and operational analysis.” Discussing the hearing with the New York Times, committee member Rep. André Carson (D-IN) said, “Since this is an area of high public interest, any undue secrecy can serve as an obstacle to solving the mystery, or it could prevent us from finding solutions to potential vulnerabilities.” He added that the hearing aims to “reduce the stigma” pilots experience in reporting encounters. According to the Times, the hearing’s witness panel will include senior defense intelligence officials.
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In Case You Missed It
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| ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot at the project construction site. (Image credit – © ITER Organization) |
ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot Dies
France-based international nuclear fusion facility ITER has reported its director-general Bernard Bigot died on May 14 at the age of 72 following an unspecified illness. A chemist by training, Bigot came to ITER in March 2015 after serving as France’s high commissioner for atomic energy and as CEO of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. He is widely credited with stabilizing the project at a moment when it was suffering from schedule delays and cost increases, and he was reappointed to a second term as the project’s leader, which he began serving in 2020. The troubles when Bigot joined had led some of ITER’s seven international partners, including the U.S., to consider abandoning the massive undertaking, which is already decades old and is expected to cost about €20 billion to build, according to a baselining activity conducted early in Bigot’s tenure. Although the U.S. Department of Energy has suggested the total could be considerably higher, Congress has not threatened to withdraw funding since 2017. Now, ITER’s deputy director-general Eisuke Tada will take over the facility’s leadership while the ITER Council searches for Bigot’s successor. At the moment, the project is confronting the likelihood of new delays stemming from the pandemic and other factors, as well as international tensions surrounding the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which is one of ITER’s partner nations.
National Science Board Selects New Chair, Retains Vice Chair
The National Science Board announced last week that it has selected computer scientist Dan Reed as its next chair, replacing former astronaut Ellen Ochoa, who is rotating off the board. Reed joined NSB in 2018 and for the past two years chaired its subcommittee on awards and facilities, which reviews prospective major investments by the National Science Foundation. Reed is a professor at the University of Utah and chairs the Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee. He previously was corporate vice president for technology policy and extreme computing at Microsoft from 2009 to 2012 and spent much of his earlier career in academia. He earned a doctorate in computer science from Purdue University. The board also re-elected University of the District of Columbia vice president for research Victor McCrary as the board’s vice chair. McCrary has served on the board since 2016 and was just reappointed to a second six-year term by President Biden. McCrary earned a doctorate in chemistry from Howard University.
Biden Adds University of Delaware President to PCAST
University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis is joining the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, filling a seat vacated by nuclear engineer Marvin Adams, who is now leading the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons programs. PCAST Co-Chair Frances Arnold announced Assanis’ appointment at a meeting of the council last week. Assanis was born in Greece and came to the U.S. for graduate study at MIT, earning a doctorate in power and propulsion, and he has spent his career in academia, focusing on automotive engineering. Before becoming president of the University of Delaware in 2016, he was Stony Brook University’s provost and vice president for Brookhaven National Laboratory Affairs. President Biden reconstituted PCAST in September 2021 and it currently has 30 members out of a maximum of 32.
Berhe Confirmed as Director of DOE Office of Science
The Senate voted 54 to 45 on May 10 to confirm University of California, Merced soil scientist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe as director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The office has been without a Senate-confirmed director for 16 months, during which time it has been overseen by its principal deputy director, Steve Binkley, a civil servant. In floor remarks before the vote, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) reiterated his argument that Berhe’s scientific background is ill-matched to the office’s mission. In his own remarks, Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV) disagreed, saying, “The Office of Science … has long engaged in basic research relating to soil science and broader ecological questions, whether tracing radioactive elements through the atmosphere or the flow of energy, water, and carbon through the Earth’s natural systems.” Four Republicans crossed party lines to support Berhe: Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
DOD Reorganizes R&D Offices
The Department of Defense announced on May 10 that it had restructured the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, who is also known as DOD’s chief technology officer. The changes affect some reporting relationships and position titles, with previous holders of the title “director” now called “deputy CTO.” The deputy CTO for science and technology, Barbara McQuiston, now oversees three directors. Robert Irie, the director for S&T program protection, remains responsible for research security as well as the resilience of new technological systems. Jagadeesh Pamulapati, the director for S&T foundations, oversees DOD and contractor labs as well as the department’s support for basic research. Before the reorganization, he held a similar role in an acting capacity. McQuiston’s office also oversees a new position, director for S&T futures, which is held by Kevin Geiss, who after retiring from the Marine Corps has held a series of technology-oriented civilian roles in DOD. He is responsible for issues related to the “tech industrial innovation base” as well as a portfolio of emerging technologies that includes advanced materials, biotechnology, “FutureG” telecommunications, and quantum science. An updated organizational chart is posted here.
DOE Launches Long-Duration Energy Storage Initiative
The Department of Energy issued a request for information last week on an initiative named “Long-Duration Energy Storage for Everyone, Everywhere” (LD ESEE), which it is launching in response to last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The law is providing DOE with $505 million over four years to support three energy storage demonstration programs that are encompassed within the initiative. The RFI states DOE anticipates launching both prototype and utility-scale demonstration projects over the next year and then awarding pilot grants to states and utilities to help deploy new technologies starting in 2024. The department is seeking feedback by June 16 on its implementation strategy and on how the programs can support workforce development, equity, and environmental justice. The RFI is the latest in a series dedicated to programs created by the infrastructure law.
Physicists Propose Methane Monitoring Campaign
The American Physical Society and Optica released a report on May 16 that proposes policy actions to improve the monitoring and regulation of methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations. After carbon dioxide, methane is the most abundant human-created greenhouse gas, and while the majority of methane emissions come from the agricultural sector, the report focuses on fossil fuel emissions that can be “readily addressed by targeted measures at significant point sources.” Noting that “current bottom-up emission inventories systematically underestimate true emissions,” the report urges the federal government to require or incentivize around-the-clock emissions monitoring, establish facilities for testing observation technologies, and create a unified repository for emissions data and models. It also calls for investments in R&D to improve methane detection capabilities, such as by enhancing spectroscopic databases for methane and improving methods for remote sensing of carbon isotopes. In addition, the report argues that a new regulatory structure for methane is necessary and suggests that in the short term the government should set an acceptable leak rate and rapidly address breaches, pointing to data indicating that a handful of large leaks make up a significant portion of emissions. APS is hosting a webinar to discuss the report next Tuesday. (APS and Optica are AIP Member Societies.)
Academies Panel Scouts Out Pathway to Automated Science
A new National Academies study sponsored by the philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures highlights the prospects for increasing the use of “automated research workflows” (ARWs) in science. Moving beyond the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze data, ARWs use these tools to design experiments and control their direction while they are in progress without human intervention. Potential applications discussed in the study include materials synthesis and testing, drug discovery, climate modeling, and astronomical observation. The study’s chair, University of Michigan computer scientist Daniel Atkins, writes in his preface that the iteration of those automated steps “accelerates discovery by orders of magnitude.” He further observes, “Realizing the potential of ARWs is a complex mix of technology, funding, policy, regulation, ethics, education, reward structures, and the overall sociology of varied research communities of practice.” Accordingly, the study recommends that research and funding organizations stress such design principles as reproducibility and transparency; promote “responsible” AI and ML; encourage the reuse and sustainability of ARW tools; and foster the multidisciplinary workforce and culture needed to deploy them effectively.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, May 16
Tuesday, May 17
Wednesday, May 18
Thursday, May 19
Friday, May 20
Saturday, May 21
Monday, May 23
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Opportunities NSTC Hiring Executive Director and Deputy Executive Director
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is hiring an executive director and a deputy executive director for the National Science and Technology Council, an interagency body that coordinates S&T policy across the federal government. Applications for both positions are due May 26.
NASA Goddard Hiring Director of Solar System Exploration Division
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is seeking a director for its Solar System Exploration Division, which conducts theoretical and experimental research on the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Candidates should have experience leading research programs in planetary science or a related field as well as experience overseeing technology development and mission proposal preparation. Applications are due May 25.
NASA Hiring Director of Glenn Research Center
NASA’s Glenn Research Center is seeking a new director to replace Marla Pérez-Davis, who has led the center since 2020 and is retiring in June. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the center supports research and technology development in areas such as propulsion, aeronautics, materials and structures, communications, power and energy storage, and biomedical sciences. The center has an annual budget of around $900 million and employs over 3,000 civil servants and contractors. Applications are due June 1.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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