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What’s Ahead
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| This week, the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel will review a report on progress in implementing the 2014 “P5” report. Among its other accomplishments, the P5 process has guided Fermilab, pictured here, through its transition from working at the “energy frontier” of particle physics to a global leadership position in the “intensity frontier” of experimental neutrino physics. (Image credit – Reidar Hahn / Fermilab) |
Particle Physics Progress Report Set for Roll Out
Much of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) meeting taking place Thursday and Friday will be devoted to reviewing a report it has assembled on the implementation of the 2014 Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) report. The P5 report is a strategic roadmap that is pegged to potential funding scenarios, which the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation use to guide their high energy physics portfolios. Because Congress has recently outpaced expectations in increasing funding for the field, almost all of the projects recommended in the 2014 report are now moving forward. One concern raised at HEPAP’s last meeting in May, when the implementation review was announced, is that funding for research and facilities operations has not kept up with project funding, which is a subject that could be broached during a panel on the “health of the field” Thursday afternoon. Early preparations are now underway for the next P5 process, which is tentatively expected to conclude in early 2023.
House Appropriators Focusing on Energy R&D and Climate Change
On Wednesday, the House Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the Department of Energy’s “role in addressing climate change.” Among the witnesses is former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who has been advocating intensively this year for the federal government to support ambitious, broad-ranging energy R&D investments. The House has already passed spending legislation that would substantially increase funding for energy R&D. However, their Senate counterparts have proposed even larger increases for many programs, with Energy-Water Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) saying he would like energy R&D spending to double over five years as a way to mitigate climate change. As talks between the House and Senate over a final government-wide spending package continue, one issue to be resolved is how much of the already-negotiated increase in the overall federal budget will be allocated to DOE.
Congress Looks to Extend Spending Stopgap to December 20
With the current stopgap measure that is funding the federal government set to expire on Thursday, Congress plans to vote this week on legislation that would extend the stopgap through Dec. 20. A government shutdown will ensue if President Trump does not sign an extension by then, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week the administration has “no intention of having a shutdown.” Top appropriators in the House and Senate are reportedly nearing an agreement on how to divide the overall budget between the 12 annual spending bills, but it is expected to take weeks for the chambers to iron out differences between the versions of those bills they have already advanced.
Senate Scrutinizing Chinese Talent Recruitment Programs
The investigations subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday titled, “Securing the U.S. Research Enterprise from China’s Talent Recruitment Plans.” The hearing comes as federal agencies are increasingly cracking down on undisclosed participation in such programs, which provide funds for both Chinese and non-Chinese nationals to set up labs in China on a full or part-time basis. Testifying before the committee are representatives of the Department of Energy Office of Science, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, State Department, and the FBI’s counterintelligence division. The FBI has told Congress in prior testimony that it believes the Chinese government uses talent recruitment programs to incentivize inappropriate transfer of intellectual property and knowhow.
Senate to Advance DOE Secretary Nomination, Energy R&D Bills
At a business meeting on Tuesday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will vote to endorse President Trump’s nomination of Dan Brouillete to lead the Department of Energy, advancing it to the full Senate for consideration. Brouillette faced generally friendly questions from senators at his confirmation hearing last week, and the committee is expected to approve the nomination by a wide margin. The committee will also vote on several bills supporting energy R&D programs at DOE, including the ARPA–E Reauthorization Act, Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act, Solar Energy R&D Act, Nuclear Energy Renewal Act, and Integrated Energy Systems Act. In addition, it will consider a bill directing DOE and the Interior Department to create a “Nexus of Energy and Water Sustainability Office” and another bill supporting apprenticeship programs that help develop a skilled technical workforce for DOE’s nuclear security laboratories.
Science Committee Checks in on Weather Forecasting Initiative
On Wednesday, the House Science Committee is holding a hearing on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s efforts to regain global leadership in weather modeling and prediction. Acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs will testify on the status of the agency’s planned Earth Prediction Innovation Center, which will implement a platform for crowdsourcing weather modeling code development with the aim of accelerating the translation of research advances into operational weather forecast models. Other witnesses include Clifford Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington who is known for his outspoken views on weather research policy; Peter Neilley, director of weather forecasting sciences and technologies at The Weather Company; and Thomas Auligné, director of the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Academies Board Reflecting on Past and Future of Climate Modeling
The fall meeting of the National Academies’ Board on Atmospheric Science and Climate this week will feature discussion of the past, present, and future of climate modeling. On Thursday, National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt will kick off a session commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Charney Report, which provided the first-of-its-kind comprehensive assessment of carbon dioxide emissions’ impact on the climate. The session will include reflections from contributors to the report and will be preceded by panel discussions on the current status of climate modeling and future priority areas. The following day, the board will receive updates on congressional activities from several committee staff members, followed by a presentation on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s planned Earth Prediction Innovation Center from the agency’s acting administrator.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Task Force Holding Inaugural Summit
The National Academies’s first annual summit on preventing sexual harassment in higher education begins Tuesday at the University of Washington. The meeting is organized by an “action collaborative” the Academies formed to follow up on its report released last year that documented the pervasiveness and impact of sexual harassment against women in academia and recommended ways of changing the research culture to combat harassment. Among other topics, the two-day event will include sessions on reducing the power differential between advisors and trainees, addressing the problem of institutions “passing the harasser,” and reintegrating targets of harassment back into the workforce.
Droegemeier Headlining National Science Board Meeting
The fall meeting of the National Science Board this week will feature a plenary address from Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy who formerly served as the board’s vice chair from 2012 to 2016. Following up on a presentation he gave at the board’s summer meeting, Droegemeier will provide an update on the work of the Joint Committee on the Research Environment (JCORE), which held a summit at the White House earlier this month to gather input as it works to coordinate high-priority initiatives relating to research security and integrity, among other topics. Also during the plenary session this Tuesday, Stephanie Segal from the Center for Strategic and International Studies will deliver a presentation on “research collaboration in an era of strategic competition.”
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In Case You Missed It
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| Dirksen Senate Office Building. (Image credit – Architect of the Capitol) |
Congress Urged to Increase ‘Absorptive Capacity’ for S&T Advice
The National Academy of Public Administration released a congressionally mandated report last week that assesses options for Congress to bolster its science and technology assessment capabilities through existing or new mechanisms. The study recommends that Congress expand existing efforts such as the Government Accountability Office’s S&T assessment team, in lieu of reconstituting the defunct Office of Technology Assessment. However, the panel also recommends Congress create an Office of the Congressional S&T Advisor that would “focus on efforts to build the absorptive capacity of Congress,” such as recruiting at least one S&T advisor for relevant committees. A lead author of the report will discuss its recommendations at an event this Wednesday hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.
EPA Clarifies Scope of Supplemental Science Transparency Rule
In the wake of a New York Times report on a leaked version of EPA’s planned updates to a controversial science transparency proposal, members of the House Science Committee used a hearing last week to probe the agency’s intentions. Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, a top career science official at EPA, testified that the leaked document was an earlier draft of a supplemental rule the agency plans to publish in early 2020 and that it would only apply prospectively to new regulations, contrary to what the Times article stated. Orme-Zavaleta did note though, that the original proposed rule would apply to “data and models that were previously developed.” Under the proposal, the agency would be restricted from basing regulations on studies for which the underlying data and models are not publicly available. Democrats on the committee criticized EPA’s approach, with Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) arguing that it is “disingenuous” for the agency to maintain the rule would only apply prospectively given that certain regulations come up for periodic review, while Republicans argued the hearing was premature given that the supplemental proposal is not finalized. A panel of outside scientists invited to testify aired concerns that the rule could preclude use of the best available science and would risk revealing personal information about study subjects.
Science Committee Scopes Out Moon-to-Mars Mission Needs
The House Science Committee held a Space Subcommittee hearing on NASA’s Moon-to-Mars initiative to probe the plausibility of undertaking a crewed lunar landing in 2024 and how activities there will facilitate the exploration of Mars. Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) continued to express disappointment that NASA has not better developed its plans to meet those goals and commended the subcommittee for “taking the time to strip away the rhetoric and examine what will actually be required to carry out a sustainable and effective program of human exploration leading to the first crewed landing on Mars.” Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Babin (R-TX) remarked that the prospects of NASA receiving the funding it needs to meet its 2024 goal appear to be “dwindling” and suggested the agency focus on developing an exploration architecture that “maximizes mission success and minimizes risk.” The two witnesses at the hearing, former astronaut Tom Stafford and former aerospace executive Tom Young, both advocated for a robust exploration program while emphasizing the challenges involved. Young suggested NASA would likely need to cancel lower-priority activities to free up the needed budget as well as recruit additional leadership to execute the program successfully. He also criticized NASA’s reliance on commercial services in its lunar plans. Both witnesses questioned the wisdom of the agency’s proposed orbiting lunar outpost, called the Gateway, as an element of its lunar exploration plans.
PCAST Gains Two Members, Early Career Subpanel in the Works
On Nov. 14, the White House announced the appointments of Shannon Blunt and Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Blunt is director of the Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Lab at the University of Kansas and earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 2002. Grejner-Brzezinska earned a doctorate in satellite geodesy in 1995 from the Ohio State University, where she is now a professor specializing in GPS systems and an associate dean for research. President Trump has now named nine out of an expected 16 total members for the council, having announced the first seven last month. The members were sworn in at the new PCAST’s inaugural meeting on Nov. 18. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has also said PCAST will for the first time create a subcommittee of 20 students and early-career researchers to inform its work. In a speech last week, OSTP Director Kelvin Droegemeier said the subcommittee will consist of “undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, and non-academic early career professionals” that will “work alongside PCAST but also bring their own ideas to the table.”
Water and Geothermal R&D Proposals Split Science Committee
At a hearing last week, Rep. Conor Lamb (D-PA) said the House Science Committee is working on legislation that would update policy for the Department of Energy’s water and geothermal R&D programs. The bills would add to the committee’s growing list of pending energy R&D legislation. As with the bills already introduced, there is a divide between committee Democrats and Republicans over spending, with the Republicans generally favoring fundamental research over increasing funding for applied R&D. They indicated they are working on their own legislation covering geothermal R&D. Earlier this year, the committee negotiated a compromise between competing funding recommendations for the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, but have remained at odds over wind, solar, and carbon capture and storage R&D.
Uranium Enrichment Contract Under New Scrutiny
Leaders of two subcommittees of the House Science Committee are questioning the Department of Energy’s decision to award a three year, $115 million no-bid contract to Centrus Energy to demonstrate a production process for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a type of fuel that is not currently produced by domestic suppliers in the U.S. but is required for various proposed advanced nuclear reactors. In a bipartisan letter dated Nov. 13, the committee asks for details on “how this contract was funded, why other companies were not allowed to compete for the award, and whether the need for HALEU in the near-term is well supported.” DOE, which finalized the deal last week, has previously faced criticism over it from Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair John Barrasso (R-WY). The department has stated that Centrus is “the only source capable of executing the contract activities to meet the requirements of the HALEU Demonstration Program.”
NASA Policy Bill Clears Committee
The Senate Commerce Committee approved the NASA Authorization Act last week by voice vote after adopting 20 amendments to the bill without debate. Among the additions were an amendment by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) directing NASA to establish a program to develop a low-enriched uranium reactor for space surface power applications and amendments by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) instructing the agency to assess the merits of establishing a center of excellence for space weather technology and an institute for space resources R&D. The counterpart committee in the House is working on its own version of the legislation, which has not yet been released.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Standard Time and all congressional hearings are webcast, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, November 18
SC19: The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis (continues through Friday) Denver, CO AAAS: S&T Policy Leadership Seminar (continues through Friday) AAAS headquarters (1200 New York Ave. NW, DC) NASA: PI Launchpad Conference (continues through Wednesday) Tucson, AZ NASA: Science Advisory Committee meeting (continues Tuesday) NASA headquarters (300 E St. SW, DC) Webcast available National Academies: “Advances, Challenges, and Long-Term Opportunities for Electrochemistry” (continues Tuesday) National Academy of Sciences (2101 Constitution Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available White House: Meeting of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology 9:15 am - 5:30 pm, National Academy of Sciences (2101 Constitution Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available National Academies: Geographical Sciences Committee meeting 10:00 am - 5:00 pm, Keck Center (500 5th St. NW, DC) National Academies: “Synergy Between Geography and Mapping with the Nation’s Energy Missions: An Oak Ridge Perspective” 5:30 - 6:30 pm, Keck Center (500 5th St. NW, DC)
Tuesday, November 19
National Academies: “Astro2020: Panel on Electromagnetic Observations from Space,” kickoff meeting (continues through Thursday) Beckman Center (Irvine, CA) Webcast available National Academies: “Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: 2019 Public Summit” (continues Wednesday) University of Washington (Seattle, WA) Webcast available NSF: National Science Board meeting (continues Wednesday) NSF headquarters (Alexandria, VA) Webcast available DOE: Biomass R&D Technical Advisory Committee meeting (continues Wednesday) Capitol Skyline Hotel (10 Eye St. SW, DC) Senate: Business meeting to consider DOE secretary nomination and pending legislation 10:00 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee (366 Dirksen Office Building) Senate: “Securing the U.S. Research Enterprise from China’s Talent Recruitment Plans” 10:00 am, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (342 Dirksen Office Building) Society of Women Engineers: “STEM Re-Entry Capitol Hill Briefing” 2:00 - 3:00 pm, 2325 Rayburn House Office Building House: “Restoring and Modernizing the Office of Technology Assessment” 2:00 - 3:00 pm, 421 Cannon Office Building
Stanford University: “The Future of Particle Physics” 4:30 - 5:30 pm, Stanford University (Stanford, CA) ACS: “International Year of the Periodic Table Elemental Slam on Capitol Hill” 4:30 - 7:00 pm, 2318 & 2325 Rayburn House Office Building
Wednesday, November 20
National Academies: “Astro2020: Panel on State of the Profession and Societal Impacts,” kickoff meeting (continues through Friday) National Academy of Sciences (2101 Constitution Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available NASA: National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board meeting (continues Thursday) Cocoa Beach, FL ACS/NSF: “Perspectives in Chemistry: 150 Years of the Periodic Table” 9:00 am - 5:15 pm, National Academy of Sciences (2101 Constitution Ave. NW, DC) Webcast available Commerce Department: Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting 10:00 am, Herbert Hoover Building (265 15th St. NW, DC) House: “DOE’s Role in Addressing Climate Change” 10:00 am, Appropriations Committee (2362-B Rayburn Office Building) House: “Fighting Flu, Saving Lives: Vaccine Science and Innovation” 10:00 am, Science Committee (2318 Rayburn Office Building) House: “Building a 100% Clean Economy: the Challenges Facing Frontline Communities” 10:00 am, Energy and Commerce Committee (2123 Rayburn House Office Building) BPC: “Enhanced S&T Capacity in Congress Exploring Key Issues and Pathways” 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, Bipartisan Policy Center (1225 Eye St. NW, DC) Webcast available ASU CSPO: “Putting Social Science to Work for Society” 12:00 - 1:30 pm, ASU Barrett & O’Connor Center (1800 Eye St. NW, DC) Webcast available House: “Creating a Climate Resilient America: Reducing Risks and Costs” 2:00 pm, Climate Crisis Committee (1334 Longworth Office Building) House: “A Task of EPIC Proportions: Reclaiming U.S. Leadership in Weather Modeling and Prediction” 2:00 pm, Science Committee (2318 Rayburn Office Building) Senate: “Biological Threats to U.S. National Security” 3:00 pm, Armed Services Committee (222 Russell Office Building) Columbia University: “The ‘Best-Kept Secret of the War’?: The Successes and Failures of the Manhattan Project’s Secrecy Regime” 6:00 - 7:00 pm, NYU Gallatin (New York, NY) SETI Institute: “Technosignatures vs. Biosignatures: Which Will Succeed First?” 7:00 - 8:00 pm PST, SRI International (Menlo Park, CA)
Thursday, November 21
Friday, November 22
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Opportunities Four Draft NOAA S&T Strategies Open for Comment
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is accepting public input on four draft strategies in the areas of unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions, and “‘omics tools.” NOAA intends to use the strategies to “dramatically expand” its use of each technology and will develop corresponding implementation plans. Comments are due Dec. 16.
National Academies Hiring Chief Program Officer
The National Academies are accepting applications for the position of chief program officer, the most senior staff member of the organization. The position oversees the National Academies research arm and its Office of Congressional and Government Affairs, among other responsibilities. Applicants must have a doctoral degree and at least 15 years of experience.
APS Hiring Science Policy Intern
The American Physical Society is seeking a science policy intern to work for up to six months at its Office of Government Affairs in Washington, D.C. The intern will support the office’s staff on a variety of projects, such as federal science budget tracking, science infrastructure initiatives, and helium recycling legislation. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, and graduate students are encouraged to apply.
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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