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What’s Ahead
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| The linear accelerator at DOE and Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams will propel heavy ions toward a target, creating isotopes with unusual characteristics that will then be sorted by magnets into beams for researchers to use. (Image credit – FRIB) |
DOE Rare Isotope Facility Opening at Michigan State
The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB, pronounced eff-rib) is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday to mark the start of science operations. Located at Michigan State University, FRIB will use accelerators and magnets to synthesize and sort more than 1,000 different isotopes of heavy elements, many of which have never before been created on Earth. As the Department of Energy’s newest user facility, FRIB will enable a community of some 1,600 scientists to probe mechanisms that bind atomic nuclei together, yielding insights into issues such as nucleus stability and how heavy elements are formed through astrophysical processes. Rare isotopes researched at the facility may also find applications in fields such as medicine and materials science. In addition, FRIB will produce isotopes that will not be used in research but can still be “harvested” for practical uses. The facility has been undergoing commissioning for the past year and produced its first rare isotopes in December.
This week’s ribbon-cutting will be attended by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who was Michigan’s governor when DOE first announced the project in 2008. While most DOE user facilities are located at national labs, Michigan State was selected because of its strength in nuclear physics and its longstanding role as host of the National Science Foundation-funded National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab, where FRIB is located. The university contributed $94.5 million to FRIB’s construction, while DOE’s share totaled $635.5 million, and the project was completed on budget and ahead of schedule. DOE Nuclear Physics program head Tim Hallman reported last week that FRIB has already received 82 proposals from researchers at 130 institutions in 30 countries requesting nearly 10,000 hours of beamtime, which he said well outstrips capacity and underscores the strong international interest in the facility. He also praised the management of FRIB’s construction, remarking, “This has just been the very model of how projects should be done, a real credit to the MSU team and to the agencies — to both NSF and the DOE — in coordinating this extremely well, much better than normally happens in these circles.”
Biden Administration Seeks Fast-Track Visas for Russian Scientists
As part of a new legislative proposal responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration is asking Congress to create a fast-track process for Russian scientists to emigrate to the U.S., arguing the move would “undercut Russia’s innovative potential, benefitting U.S. national security.” The legislation would waive a requirement that applicants for employment-based visas have a sponsor in the U.S. and direct such applications be adjudicated within 90 days. The authority would apply to Russian citizens who have a master’s or doctoral degree in a STEM field and expire after four years. The proposed provision lists examples of technology areas of particular interest, which include advanced computing, nuclear energy, biotechnology, microelectronics, space, and particle-detector instrumentation, among other areas. Separately, the administration has reportedly discussed options for helping Russian scientists currently at the CERN particle physics lab in Europe to remain employed outside of Russia.
Senate Stakes Out Priorities for COMPETES Act Conference
The Senate voted 67 to 27 last week to convene a conference committee with the House on landmark competitiveness legislation that is expected to set ambitious budget targets for certain science agencies and directly appropriate tens of billions of dollars for semiconductor manufacturing and R&D. This week, the Senate is voting on 28 separate motions that advocate for certain provisions to be included or omitted from the eventual compromise between the House’s America COMPETES Act of 2022 and the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Though non-binding, some motions preview tension points that will arise among members of the conference. For instance, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the only member of the Democratic caucus to vote against proceeding to conference, is pressing for any companies receiving semiconductor manufacturing subsidies to give the government an equity stake and remain neutral toward any employee union-organizing efforts. Several Republican senators are advocating to include more stringent research security provisions and exclude certain House proposals pertaining to climate change mitigation. Other motions address matters such as strengthening the R&D tax credit, supporting Department of Energy national labs, and expanding the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Senators to Review NSF, NASA, and DOE Budget Requests
NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson are testifying jointly before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to defend their agency’s budget requests for fiscal year 2023. The Biden administration is seeking to boost NSF’s budget by nearly 20% to $10.5 billion, largely to expand climate and clean energy research, STEM workforce diversity initiatives, and the agency’s fledgling Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships. Funding for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate would increase 5% to nearly $8 billion under the request, largely benefiting Earth science programs while leaving budgets for astrophysics, planetary science, and heliophysics strained. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is also testifying before Senate appropriators on Wednesday and before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, on the heels of her appearance last week before the House Appropriations Committee. Republican members of that committee criticized the Department of Energy’s budget request for proposing double-digit percentage increases for certain applied energy programs while seeking less than the rate of inflation for defense programs. The administration’s proposals for the DOE Office of Science were not a focus of conversation.
NSF Board Examines NOAA Partnerships, Geography of Innovation
The National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation, is holding a two-day meeting starting on Thursday. Thursday’s open plenary session will include a presentation by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Rick Spinrad, who recently signed an agreement with NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan to encourage cooperation between the agencies on topics such as climate science, natural hazards and resilience, STEM education, and artificial intelligence. The meeting will also include a panel discussion on “the geography of federal funding.” As part of its 2022 Science and Engineering Indicators, the board recently released a report examining the distribution of patent and trademark awards across the U.S., finding that innovation activity is concentrated on the East and West Coasts, around the Great Lakes, and in parts of the Southwest.
National AI Advisory Committee Begins Work
The National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee is holding its inaugural meeting on Wednesday. Mandated by the National AI Initiative Act of 2020, the committee will address issues such as U.S. competitiveness, the state of AI-related science, workforce development, international coordination, AI governance and oversight, and the societal impacts of AI. The panel’s 27 members include representatives from universities, nonprofit organizations, and private industry, and it is chaired by Miriam Vogel, CEO of Equal AI, an organization that focuses on issues such as AI governance and unconscious bias in AI. The committee’s vice chair is James Manyika, senior vice president for technology and society at Google.
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In Case You Missed It
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| The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). (Image credit – Jim Ross / NASA) |
SOFIA Airborne Telescope to Conclude Operations
NASA and the German space agency DLR announced on April 28 that they will cease operating the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) by Sept. 30. SOFIA is mounted aboard a 747 airplane, which allows it to make observations in infrared wavelengths that are inaccessible to ground-based telescopes due to atmospheric absorption. However, its operating costs are well higher than most missions in NASA’s astrophysics portfolio and the agency has argued SOFIA’s budget cannot be justified in view of its relatively low scientific productivity. NASA currently spends about $85 million annually on the telescope and DLR contributes a little over $20 million. Although Congress has blocked previous threats to SOFIA, pressure to terminate the mission grew last year when the latest decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics endorsed the move. SOFIA was originally recommended in the 1990 iteration of the survey. Its development cost was initially expected to be $265 million, but that figure ultimately ballooned to $1.1 billion as serial setbacks delayed the start of full operations to 2014. Although the new James Webb Space Telescope will soon provide researchers with pathbreaking capabilities at infrared wavelengths, SOFIA’s loss will put certain far-infrared wavelengths out of reach for the time being.
Science Committee Seeks Higher Budgets for DOE Facilities
At a hearing last week, both Democratic and Republican members of the House Science Committee roundly criticized the Biden administration for requesting a 4% budget increase for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science even as it seeks far larger increases elsewhere in the department. They particularly lamented the consequences for science facility construction projects, arguing that stagnant budgets would result in stretched-out schedules and higher overall project costs. The hearing’s sole witness, DOE Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond, explained the proposed allocations by repeatedly observing that “tough decisions” were made in order to support the administration’s priorities in areas such as climate change. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), whose district borders Argonne National Lab, said requests should reflect the department’s “ambition” and leave difficult decisions to Congress, while Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), a former Fermilab physicist, urged Richmond to instill “some viscosity of spine” into future negotiations with administration budget officials. Asked by Energy Subcommittee Chair Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) whether DOE develops facility budget proposals to fit predetermined toplines, Richmond reported that the department is currently “rebaselining” its facilities to gain a truer sense of their costs. Addressing that exercise, Foster asked her to ensure it assesses the costs of facilities’ originally defined scope, alleging that pandemic impacts and supply-chain difficulties have led DOE to scale some projects back.
USGS and ARPA–E Nominees Field Critical Mineral Concerns
Critical minerals were a major focus of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s nomination hearing for David Applegate, President Biden’s nominee to direct the U.S. Geological Survey, and Evelyn Wang, the nominee to lead the Advanced Research Project Agency–Energy. Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressed concern about U.S. reliance on foreign supply chains for critical minerals, especially in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Putin has weaponized energy, and I’m concerned that Xi Jinping, the leader of the People’s Republic of China, will do the same with critical minerals,” he said, probing witnesses on strategies for promoting U.S. independence in energy and mineral resources. In response, Applegate highlighted the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, calling the funds provided for the project through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act an “incredible shot in the arm” for bolstering critical minerals supply chains. Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) stated that the war in Ukraine has exacerbated shortages of helium, which was recently removed from a list of critical minerals designated by USGS as critical to economic or national security — a decision he has criticized. Applegate replied there is no question that helium is considered an “essential” resource and noted the U.S. has “huge” reserves of it and that USGS regularly updates the list in response to evolving circumstances. In general, senators from both parties praised the nominees’ qualifications, finding them well-suited for the roles for which they have been nominated.
DOE Applied Energy Nominees Advancing in Senate
The Senate confirmed Brad Crabtree on a voice vote last week as the head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. An expert in carbon capture, storage, and utilization policy, Crabtree is the Biden administration’s first nominee for any of DOE’s applied energy offices to be confirmed. The nomination of nuclear engineering professor Katy Huff to lead the Office of Nuclear Energy advanced out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee last week on a voice vote, with Democratic and Republican members agreeing she is well qualified. This week, the committee will vote on the nomination of Massachusetts state representative and clean energy policy expert Maria Robinson to lead the Office of Electricity. Robinson met with a friendly reception at her nomination hearing in February, though some committee members did press her on potential dangers associated with moving too aggressively into renewable energy. President Biden has still not nominated anyone to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
DOD Urged to Expand Support for Research at Minority Institutions
The National Academies released a report last week urging the Department of Defense to make a “strategic commitment” to increasing research capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other minority institutions. The report finds that despite legislative and departmental efforts to boost support for HBCUs and MIs, they still receive a disproportionately smaller share of DOD research funding than other institutions. To address this gap, the report recommends DOD provide “long-term institutional support” to HBCUs and MIs, including funds for equipment and facilities, research-support personnel, and training programs for faculty and students. It suggests DOD immediately double the funding targeted to HBCUs and MIs from their fiscal year 2020 level and strive to match the funding levels provided by agencies such as the Department of Energy and NASA in the long term. According to the report, DOE and NASA both allocate about 2% of their total research expenditures to HBCUs and MIs, compared to about 1% at DOD. The report also urges DOD to incentivize partnerships between HBCUs and MIs and other institutions, improve data collection and evaluation, and expand outreach.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, May 2
Tuesday, May 3
Wednesday, May 4
Thursday, May 5
Friday, May 6
Sunday, May 8
Monday, May 9
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Opportunities OSTP Seeks Applicants for New Paid Internship Program
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is seeking applicants for a new paid internship program. The full-time internship will run from mid-June to mid-August, with a second round planned for September. Applicants must be U.S. citizens who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program or who graduated within the last two years. Applications for the summer term are due May 15.
APS Hiring Grassroots Advocacy Associate
The American Physical Society is hiring a senior associate for grassroots advocacy and science policy. Responsibilities include, conducting advocacy training sessions for APS members, coordinating visits to Capitol Hill and state offices, and developing science policy communications materials. Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of relevant professional experience.
NSF Hiring Inclusivity Advisor for Physics Directorate
The National Science Foundation is hiring a senior science advisor for inclusivity in its Directorate for Math and Physical Sciences. The advisor will help formulate STEM equity goals and evaluate programs aimed at broadening participation in research fields funded by the directorate. Applicants should have a doctoral degree in education or a relevant STEM field and at least six years of related experience. NSF will begin reviewing applications on May 1.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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