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What’s Ahead
Rollout of President’s Budget Request Continues
Among the notable details from information released so far are that the administration is seeking a nearly $2 billion, 65% increase for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which includes significant increases across technology R&D programs and a nearly doubled budget for wind energy technology. The proposed interagency Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate would have an initial $500 million budget, with $200 million contributed by DOE. The proposed NSF “Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate” would immediately add $500 million to existing translational programs for a total of $865 million. The budget for NASA’s Planetary Science Division would rise by $500 million to $3.2 billion, supporting a quick ramp up of work on the Mars Sample Return mission. Bucking the trend of increases, DOD’s Science and Technology accounts would receive a 13% cut, despite increases for later-stage development, test, and evaluation activities. Figures from across agencies will be posted as they become available in FYI’s Federal Science Budget Tracker.
‘Mission Innovation 2.0’ Launching at Clean Energy Summit
The Clean Energy Ministerial, an international governance framework that seeks to accelerate clean energy adoption, is meeting this week in Chile as part of the lead up to the next major United Nations climate negotiations conference this November in Glasgow, UK. At the event, diplomats will launch “Mission Innovation 2.0” in a bid to reinvigorate an initiative that was originally launched in association with the Paris agreement to encourage countries to increase spending on clean-energy R&D. The initiative is a priority of the Biden administration, and Special Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry will give a keynote at the event along with Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk, who was an architect of the original initiative.
Report Makes Case for International Big-Science Collaborations
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is holding a virtual event on Tuesday to mark the release of a new report that argues large-scale international science collaborations yield benefits to the U.S. that “eclipse the challenges they can present.” The report sets out four criteria for successful collaborations: focusing on compelling science goals, instituting effective project management, adhering to project commitments, and spelling out and upholding “ethical standards for the conduct of research.” Illustrating these points, the report draws on the U.S. experience contributing to or leading different organizations and projects, such as CERN, ITER, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, and the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. The report was prepared by a working group co-chaired by Stanford University physicists Arthur Bienenstock and Peter Michelson and is part of the academy’s ongoing project on Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships.
APS Hosting Panel on US–China Research Tensions
On Saturday, the American Physical Society is holding a webinar on how scientists have been affected by recent federal government actions to guard against the misappropriation of research and technology by the Chinese government. Issues to be explored include the current climate for Chinese and Chinese American physicists as well as “strategies for supporting open science and protecting against racial profiling while respecting research security.” Among the speakers are Brown University physicist Sean Xinsheng, a past participant in China’s Thousand Talents program; Stanford University physicist Xiaoliang Qi; and Temple University physicist Xiaoxing Xi, who has spoken often about his prosecution by the Justice Department for alleged espionage. Past APS President David Gross will also discuss the U.S.–China physics roundtable he has organized. (APS is an AIP Member Society.)
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In Case You Missed It
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| Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the lead sponsor of the Endless Frontier Act. (Image credit – Senate Democrats) |
Senate Punts Endless Frontier Act Vote to Week of June 8
Last week, the Senate delayed final floor votes on the legislative package containing the Endless Frontier Act until after it returns from Congress’ Memorial Day recess on June 8. The Senate had appeared poised to pass the package last week after incorporating various amendments and resolving a major dispute over trade provisions. The bill’s lead Republican sponsor, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), has also backed down on his desire to increase the target budget of the act’s proposed National Science Foundation technology directorate after it was reduced during committee deliberations. However, a small group of Republican senators critical of the bill used procedural tactics to make time for further floor debate. When the Senate resumes its work, it will first vote on an amendment by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) to remove prevailing wage requirements attached to semiconductor manufacturing funding in the bill. Senators are also expected to adopt a block of amendments that will add or adjust other provisions. Among the notable amendments that have already been incorporated are ones that would create a non-profit foundation for the Department of Energy and recommend Congress immediately double the budget of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Senate also rejected an amendment by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) that would establish a “counterintelligence screening process” for recipients of research funds covered by the legislation. It is not yet clear whether senators have resolved contradictory provisions that pertain to expanding foreign investment reviews to the higher education sector.
Lander Confirmed as OSTP Director
The Senate confirmed Eric Lander as White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director by voice vote on May 28. In a statement following his confirmation, Lander said that OSTP “must ensure that every American — regardless of gender, race, resources or region — can participate fully in science and technology and have a voice in shaping our nation’s priorities. America’s unrivaled diversity is one of our greatest assets. ... We need everyone.” Diversity and inclusion are among the priorities for OSTP that Biden enumerated in a letter to Lander when he nominated him in January. Lander faced a relatively lengthy confirmation process after leaders on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee raised concerns about his past, which they aired at his nomination hearing in April and ultimately declared to be allayed. Lander is now free to take up not only the role of OSTP director, but to serve without restriction as presidential science adviser and member of Biden’s Cabinet. The last Cabinet role yet to be filled is the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as President Biden’s first nominee for the position failed to clear the Senate confirmation process.
House Panel Pushes for More DOE Science Spending
Leaders of the House Science Committee introduced bipartisan legislation last week that recommends Congress increase the budget of the Department of Energy Office of Science from $7 billion to nearly $11 billion over the next five years. At a hearing with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm just prior to the bill’s introduction, Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) expressed disappointment in the Biden administration’s request to only increase the office’s budget to $7.4 billion for the coming fiscal year. Given recent increases in facilities spending, she said the requested amount “may well result in a cut to major research accounts, or it could lead to inadequate funding to keep the office’s construction activities on schedule and minimize their costs.” In contrast, the bill proposes a 7% annual budget increase for the office’s existing core programs, plus additional funding for construction projects and new programs. Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) argued the bill offers a sustainable blueprint for scaling up the office, implicitly criticizing the skeletal proposal to increase DOE funding incorporated in the Endless Frontier Act. Lucas also used the hearing to probe how the administration’s proposed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C) would relate to the existing ARPA–Energy. Granholm replied the new agency would support work in “critical research areas that are beyond the purely energy-focused work of ARPA-E,” such as increasing resiliency to climate change and reducing emissions from non-energy sectors of the economy.
NASA Creates Program to Coordinate Earth-Observation Missions
NASA announced last week that it has established a program called the Earth System Observatory comprising a coordinated series of missions that would begin to launch in the latter half of this decade. The missions will address science priorities set out in the 2017 Earth science decadal survey, including measurements of changes in the Earth’s atmosphere and biomes, its surface water distribution, and surface deformation. NASA began to dedicate funding for decadal survey missions two years ago. Now, the Biden administration proposes to outstrip earlier plans, seeking to ramp up funding for such future missions from the current level of $55 million to $686 million by fiscal year 2026, more than double the previous five-year target. The observatory program will also take advantage of experience gained through NISAR, a synthetic aperture radar mission NASA is developing with the Indian Space Research Organisation that is due for launch in early 2022. NASA has long used coordinated missions to undertake Earth science observations, such as through the Earth Observing System program that launched its first missions in the late 1990s.
Appropriators Probe ARPA–Health Concept
The House and Senate appropriations subcommittees for the National Institutes of Health held hearings last week to discuss the agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2022, including its $6.5 billion proposal to establish an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA–H). The top Republican on the Senate subcommittee, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), endorsed the concept, though he and others asked probing questions about the request’s large size and how the agency would interact with NIH’s existing institutes. At the House hearing, House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) pressed NIH Director Francis Collins on the difference between ARPA–H and NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Collins replied that ARPA-H “takes the NCATS model and puts it on steroids” and suggested the two entities could be merged. Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Cole (R-OK) noted that DARPA, on which ARPA–H is modeled, only has an annual budget of $3.5 billion and suggested a more gradual ramp up would be prudent, to which Collins replied that the administration is proposing the initial budget be spent over three years. Asked by Senate Subcommittee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) how the DARPA program manager model would complement NIH’s peer-review system, Collins replied that it would help the agency support high-risk projects and “collaborative ventures that include organizations and small businesses that might otherwise not be likely to write an NIH grant.” He added that he envisions hiring “perhaps 100” program managers and appointing a director for the agency who would serve a five-year term.
Wuhan Lab Allegations Echo Through Government
Over the past two weeks, a new wave of media attention has swelled around the possibility that the COVID-19 pandemic might have originated in an accidental release of SARS-CoV-2 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There is no public scientific record of the virus predating the pandemic, but proponents of the “lab leak” theory allege the institute could be covering up that it had obtained a sample without revealing it or altered a natural virus through “gain-of-function” research. Skeptics maintain such a scenario is considerably less likely than a virus crossover from animals to humans in an uncontrolled environment, which happens routinely. At immediate stake is whether the institute will be considered a partner or pariah moving forward. Last week, the Senate accepted by voice vote an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) that would prohibit federal funds from paying for any work at the institute. Meanwhile, some virologists worry rash accusations could hamper collaboration with their Chinese colleagues. The new attention has led President Biden to weigh in on the matter, saying that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached a conclusion on the matter, but that he has asked them to “redouble their efforts” with aid from federal labs and report back in 90 days. Biden also indicated he would continue to press China for a “full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence.” Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), who chairs the House Science Committee’s oversight panel, has said he will hold a hearing on the matter, remarking that it would be a “rational discussion among scientists, rather than a blizzard of semi-informed talking points designed for social media.”
Shyu Outlines DOD Technology Priorities at Nomination Hearing
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, under secretary of defense for research and engineering nominee Heidi Shyu discussed her views on the Department of Defense’s technology development efforts. She endorsed DOD’s focus on emerging technologies, specifically mentioning artificial intelligence, hypersonics, and synthetic biology, and also highlighted her interest in reducing the costs of maintaining and operating military technology systems. In her responses to written questions, she elaborated that new advanced materials could, for instance, increase reliability and fuel efficiency and that methods such as additive manufacturing could reduce supply-chain storage needs. Shyu previously served as assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology from 2012 to 2016, and at the hearing committee members expressed satisfaction with her qualifications. Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK) recounted a visit he made to McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in his state, where he said she has a strong reputation. “I have to say that last Saturday was Heidi Shyu Appreciation Day in McAlester, Oklahoma,” he remarked.
Plutonium Challenges Loom Large for NNSA Nominee Hruby
At a hearing last week on her nomination to lead the National Nuclear Security Administration, Jill Hruby told senators that reconstituting plutonium production capabilities is the “biggest issue” facing the agency and said that it is unlikely to meet one of its principal production deadlines. Congress has directed NNSA to develop the capability to produce at least 80 plutonium cores per year by 2030 in order to replace aging ones in current nuclear warheads, and the agency is pursuing a two-site approach of producing at least 30 per year at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and at least 50 per year at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Hruby said the Los Alamos project is on track but that the Savannah River project is unlikely to be ready by 2030 and is now expected to be completed sometime before 2035. NNSA reported in its budget request released last week that the preliminary high-end estimate of construction costs for the Savannah River project has grown from $4.6 billion to $11.1 billion. Among her other top priorities, Hruby said in her opening statement at the hearing that she would aim to preserve NNSA’s ability to maintain the nuclear stockpile without explosive testing and to “rebuild technological cooperation with our adversaries on issues such as monitoring and verification technologies and nuclear security.”
National Academy Makes First Expulsion for Harassment
The National Academy of Sciences exercised its revised harassment policy for the first time last week to expel astronomer Geoff Marcy from its membership ranks, after complaints were filed against him and three other members who have been investigated for sexual harassment. Membership in the academy is an honorary status conferred through nominations and a vote by current members. In 2019, the academy’s governing council voted to allow the organization to reprimand or expel members for code of conduct violations, including proven cases of sexual harassment, if two-thirds of the council approves. Marcy resigned from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015 after BuzzFeed reported that the university had found him guilty of sexual harassment.
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Events This Week Monday, May 31
Memorial Day
Tuesday, June 1
Wednesday, June 2
Thursday, June 3
Friday, June 4
Saturday, June 5
Monday, June 7
American Astronomical Society: 238th meeting
(continues through Wednesday)
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Opportunities Nominations Requested for National Medal of Science
The National Science Foundation is seeking nominations for the National Medal of Science, which is awarded to individuals who have made “outstanding cumulative contributions to knowledge” in science or engineering. Nominations are due July 30.
NASA Hiring Legislative Affairs Deputy
NASA is currently accepting applications for a deputy associate administrator role in its Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. Position responsibilities include liaising with congressional staff, preparing NASA officials for hearings, and monitoring NASA authorization bills. Applicants should have demonstrated experience working with Congress. Applications are due June 9.
AGU Accepting Applications for Diversity Leadership Program
The American Geophysical Union is accepting applications for the LANDInG Academy, a “cohort-based professional development program for current and aspiring DEI leaders in the geosciences.” As part of the program, participants commit to joining a two year cohort that will meet in person quarterly. Submissions are due June 15.
Science|Business Seeking S&T Policy Reporter
Science|Business, a European news outlet, is hiring a science and technology policy journalist to broaden the group’s current coverage to include “R&D strategies at companies and universities, and hot-button international S&T issues like AI R&D regulation and green energy R&D,” among other topics. Applicants should have at least three years of journalism experience and a background in S&T policy or business.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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Around the Web
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
Endless Frontier Act
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) says an enormous amount of Endless Frontier Act is wasteful (Fox News, video)
- Sanders wants to stop NASA funding for Blue Origin (Ars Technica)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) wants government to get ‘piece’ of US semiconductor companies in exchange for aid (The Hill)
- America’s semiconductor industry doesn’t need $52 billion in new subsidies to stay ahead of China (Reason, perspective by Eric Boehm)
- The Endless Frontier Act and the whims of Congress (Lawfare, audio)
- Industrial policy, same old politics (Wall Street Journal, editorial)
- Expanding bureaucracy is no way to spur innovation (Bloomberg, editorial)
- The US Innovation and Competition Act is bad enough. Don’t make it worse (Heritage Foundation, perspective by Walter Lohman)
- Congress should pay for the US Innovation and Competition Act (CRFB)
- Subsidizing America’s most important product: Innovation (Washington Post, perspective by George Will)
- Funding isn’t enough to fix science (Works in Progress, perspective by Caleb Watney and M. Anthony Mills)
- Before investing more in R&D, we must secure research institutions from outside threats (The Dispatch, perspective by Dan Lips)
Congress
Science, Society, and the Economy
Education and Workforce
Research Management
Labs and Facilities
Emerging Technologies
Space
Weather, Climate, and Environment
Energy
Defense
Biomedical
International Affairs
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