Except for activities deemed essential, federal agencies will shut down on Sunday if Congress does not pass a stopgap measure that funds them beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The Senate might move first and pass a bipartisan stopgap measure, but it is unclear if House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will allow a vote on it. A faction of House Republicans is seeking steep cuts to federal spending beyond the spending caps Congress approved this spring and has threatened to force a vote to oust McCarthy if he does not pursue their priorities. The standoff has paralyzed the House, which now plans to advance a handful of spending bills to flesh out its negotiating position ahead of hammering out spending levels for the year with the Senate. In addition, the House Appropriations Committee reportedly may advance the spending bill covering NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Commerce Department, which has been stalled since this summer, leaving the details of their proposal under wraps.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan is testifying about his agency’s use of science in regulatory decision-making at a House Science Committee hearing on Wednesday. The hearing charter indicates the committee is interested in how EPA upholds scientific integrity and uses the “best available science,” as well as how it coordinates with other agencies when crafting regulations. Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) has recently questioned EPA’s decision to restrict use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos, arguing the agency “sidelined” scientists at the Department of Agriculture who believe the product can still be used safely in certain cases. Lucas has also previously sponsored legislation that would revise membership criteria for EPA’s Science Advisory Board, including by restricting agency grant recipients from serving on the panel. EPA implemented such a restriction during the Trump administration, but it was later struck down in court.

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee is holding a meeting on Thursday, at which it will vote on a subcommittee review of DOE’s supercomputing partnership with the National Cancer Institute. The draft review praises the partnership as “clearly a successful and interesting collaborative program” and expresses strong support for its three subprojects. The committee will also discuss the “home stretch” of DOE’s $1.8 billion Exascale Computing Project, which will wrap up in the coming fiscal year, and it will hear from Eric Lin, deputy director of the Commerce Department’s new CHIPS R&D Office.

The second annual Quantum World Congress is kicking off on Tuesday near Washington, DC. The event will open with an international forum where delegates from 17 countries will explore ways to advance global collaboration. Representatives from U.S. agencies will also discuss opportunities for international collaboration and global quantum R&D strategies at an external workshop prior to the official start of the congress. Other sessions will look back at the first five years of the National Quantum Initiative Act and explore options for its extension.

NASA is backing off from committing to a firm plan for its Mars Sample Return mission this year in the wake of an independent review board’s conclusion that the project is far from ready for that milestone. The board’s report, released by NASA last week, states, “There is currently no credible, congruent technical, nor properly margined schedule, cost, and technical baseline that can be accomplished with the likely available funding.” It further conveys there is “near zero probability” that the European Space Agency and NASA can meet their goal of launching their respective components of the mission in 2027 and 2028. In addition, the board charges that NASA has labored under “unrealistic” budget and schedule expectations since the mission began development and concludes the agency can expect it to cost somewhere between $8 billion and $11 billion. That is far more than the $5.3 billion estimated last year in the National Academies’ decadal survey for planetary science, which ranked the mission as its top priority.

The findings deal another blow to Mars Sample Return, which has come under increasing criticism within the space science community and Congress for diverting resources from other missions. Senate appropriators have proposed slashing the mission’s budget and potentially canceling it if NASA cannot meet the decadal survey’s cost estimate. House appropriators have delayed releasing their detailed proposal for NASA, but their proposed budget topline for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate would leave no room to fund the mission robustly without severely constricting other efforts. For its part, the board recommends that NASA and ESA reorganize their efforts to develop workable plans for the mission and that NASA better communicate the mission’s importance. Responding to the review, NASA states an internal team will make a recommendation by early 2024 “regarding a path forward for Mars Sample Return within a balanced overall science program.”

Last week, the Department of Defense announced the eight regional “Hubs” that will form the core of the Microelectronics Commons it is establishing using the $2 billion appropriated to DOD by the CHIPS and Science Act. Each Hub is led by a university or collaborative organization and also includes member organizations that vary in number across the Hubs from as few as seven to as many as 130. Together, the Hubs are receiving $238 million for fiscal year 2023 and will receive unspecified amounts for a further four years, at which point DOD expects they will become self-sufficient. The Hubs will provide facilities that aim to facilitate hardware prototyping and talent development, with each focused on one or more of six areas: secure-edge and internet-of-things computing, 5G and 6G telecommunications, artificial intelligence hardware, quantum technology, electromagnetic warfare, and commercial lead-ahead technologies. DOD states that it will soon move into the “project stage” of the Microelectronic Commons, which will involve proposals for efforts that leverage the Hubs.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appeared before the House Science Committee on Sept. 19 to provide an update on the initiatives her department is implementing using $50 billion provided by the CHIPS and Science Act. She reported that the department has received about 100 applications in response to its first funding opportunity for manufacturing subsidies, loans, and loan guarantees. She also said the department plans to make an announcement within the “next couple of months” about the appointment of the board of directors that will choose a CEO for the public-private National Semiconductor Technology Center, which the act is also funding. According to Raimondo, the center will be formally established early next year and the location of its headquarters and its network of “affiliated technical centers” will be announced at that time. On Sept. 22, the Commerce Department finalized the “national security guardrails” to prevent recipients of CHIPS and Science Act funds from using them to benefit rival countries. The guardrails include restrictions on conducting certain “joint research” projects.

The National Science Foundation announced 21 awards totaling $76 million last week in its inaugural Global Research Centers competition. Seven of the new awards are for “Track 1” Global Centers that are partnering with researchers in Australia, Canada, and the UK. The U.S. researchers involved in those partnerships are set to receive up to $5 million from NSF over four to five years, with their international partners expected to receive similar amounts from their nation’s corresponding agency. All the centers are focused on topics relating to climate, the environment, and clean energy, including green hydrogen, energy storage, and power grid design. The other 14 awards are for “Track 2” Global Centers, which are “design” grants of up to $250,000 over two years that are aimed at building teams and research proposals for submission in future Track 1 competitions The Track 2 competition was not geographically limited and the teams selected for awards include participants from 26 countries.

The Department of Energy announced last week that it has selected atmospheric scientist Dorothy Koch to lead its Biological and Environmental Research program. Koch currently directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Program Office and will begin her new appointment on Oct. 23. Before joining NOAA in 2019, Koch was a program officer for BER, where she managed the Earth System Modeling portfolio and established the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, which leverages DOE’s high-performance computing systems for climate and energy research. She previously spent 15 years as a researcher at Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, focusing on the impacts of aerosols on climate. She holds a doctorate in geology and geophysics from Yale University. BER officials Gary Geernaert and Todd Anderson have taken turns leading the program since the previous director, Sharlene Weatherwax, retired in July 2022 after 12 years in the role.

President Joe Biden directed federal agencies last week to expand their use of the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG) metric for budgeting, procurement, and other agency decisions. The SC-CHG allows agencies to compare the societal impacts of different policy decisions using a dollar estimate of the economic damages arising from greenhouse gas emissions. Biden also announced the creation of the American Climate Corps, a paid workforce training program focused on clean energy and climate resilience. The actions were part of a flurry of activity surrounding a United Nations climate summit that took place in parallel with a meeting of the UN General Assembly. While climate envoy John Kerry attended the summit in Biden’s place, cutting global greenhouse gas emissions was a focus in remarks Biden delivered to the General Assembly on Sept. 19.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.

IAEA: General Conference
(continues through Friday)

National Academies: “NASA Mission Critical Workforce, Infrastructure, and Technology,” meeting 11
(continues through Friday)

NIST: Earthquake Hazards Reduction Advisory Committee meeting
1:00 - 5:00 pm

NIST: CHIPS R&D Standards Summit
(continues Wednesday)

QWC: Quantum World Congress
(continues through Thursday)

DOD: Army Science Board closed meeting
8:00 am - 12:00 pm

National Academies: “Global Microelectronics Models for the Department of Defense in Semiconductor Public-Private Partnerships”
12:00 - 1:00 pm

White House: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology closed meeting
1:30 pm PDT

DHS: President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting
2:00 - 3:00 pm

Union of Concerned Scientists: Science Hub for Climate Litigation webinar series kickoff
3:00 - 4:00 pm

EPA: White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council meeting
3:00 - 8:00 pm

National Academies: “Artificial Intelligence to Assist Mathematical Reasoning”
3:00 - 4:00 pm

Bipartisan Policy Center: Carbon Utilization Celebration: Panel, Expo, and Reception
4:30 - 6:30 pm

House: “Science and Technology at the EPA”
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: “Legislative Branch Advancement: GAO Modernization”
10:30 am, House Administration Committee

USPTO: Public meeting on artificial intelligence tools and data
10:30 am - 4:00 pm

NTI: “NTI Nuclear Security Index: The Road to Reviving Global Nuclear Security”
1:00 - 2:30 pm CET

Senate: “Countering China’s Malign Influence Operations in the United States”
2:30 pm, Intelligence Committee

National Academies: “Climate Conversations: The Macroeconomy”
3:00 - 4:15 pm

FLC: “Meet the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory”
3:15 - 4:15 pm

National Academies: “Review of Progress Toward Implementing the Decadal Survey ‘Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space,’” kickoff meeting
(continues Friday)

RFF: “Solar Geoengineering Futures: Interdisciplinary Research to Inform Decisionmaking”
(continues Friday)

National Academies: “The Current Status and Future Direction of High Magnetic Field Science in the United States, Phase II”
9:00 am - 4:40 pm

ITI: “Bridge for Innovation: Building Responsible Al – A Conversation with OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar”
9:30 - 11:00 am

Senate: “Opportunities to counter the People’s Republic of China’s control of critical mineral supply chains through increased mining and processing in the U.S. as well as international engagement and trade”
10:00 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

DOD: Defense Science Board meeting
10:00 am - 3:45 pm

DOE: Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee meeting
10:00 am - 4:00 pm

House: “How SCOTUS’s Decision on Race-Based Admissions is Shaping University Policies”
10:15 am, Education and Workforce Committee

CSIS: “Solving the Semiconductor Workforce Crunch”
3:00 - 5:00 pm

National Academies: “The Current Status and Future Direction of High Magnetic Field Science in the United States, Phase II”
10:00 am - 3:00 pm

NIST: National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee meeting
12:00 - 1:00 pm

NASA: Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group meeting
9:00 am - 6:00 pm CDT

National Academies: Ocean Studies Board meeting
(continues Tuesday)

Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking input on the implementation of the National Standards Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technology. Comments are due Nov. 6.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is accepting applications for its graduate fellowships program. The fellowships last one year, and applicants must be within 18 months of receiving their degree. Applications are due Oct. 2.

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities is hiring a director of governmental affairs for science policy. Candidates are expected to have six years of cumulative experience working on Capitol Hill or in federal science agencies. Applications are due Oct. 9.

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

E&E News: Team Biden goes all in at New York climate week
Washington Post: The world must stop building coal-fired power plants (perspective by John Kerry and Fatih Birol)
White House: Readout from Climate Risk Modeling Roundtable
White House: 32 countries adopt Declaration on Atlantic Cooperation, commit to develop ‘cadre of young Atlantic scientists’
Politico: Biden world at a loss over how to fight the growing anti-vaccine movement

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE): Bill to strengthen oversight of US-China S&T agreements introduced by 16 Republican Senators
House Oversight Committee: Coronavirus Subcommittee Chair Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) presses NIH to explain federal records violation by close Fauci ally
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA): Democrats reintroduce Clean Energy Victory Bonds Act
Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM): Senators press to extend Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
AAU/APLU: Letter to Congress expressing concerns about research security and cost-sharing provisions in the pending National Defense Authorization Act

Los Angeles Times: From COVID to climate, scientists need defending (perspective by Peter Hotez)
Chronicle of Higher Education: Peter Hotez gets a lot of hate. He calls it ‘anti-science aggression’ (perspective by Tom Bartlett)
NPR: Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder got famous on YouTube. Now it helps fund her research in quantum gravity
NBER: Science, philanthropy, and American leadership (paper by Robert Conn, et al.)
WIPO: Science and technology cluster ranking 2023

NPR: NSF union president sees his agency’s return-to-office policy as an abandonment of valuable lessons learned in the pandemic
NSF: NSF supports the Council of Graduate Schools in efforts to broaden participation in the nation’s technology workforce
Chronicle of Higher Education: Higher ed’s workforce retention problems aren’t going away
Economic Innovation Group: The chipmaker’s visa: A key ingredient for CHIPS Act success

FASEB: FASEB factsheets provide updated data on federal science funding in your state
NIH: Make your voice heard on NIH’s draft scientific integrity policy
Wall Street Journal: The band of debunkers busting bad scientists
Scholarly Kitchen: What is the single most pressing issue for the future of peer review? (perspectives)
American Chemical Society: ACS Publications provides a new option to support zero-embargo green open access
Federation of American Scientists: Help shape the next decade of open science
Optics and Photonics News: Generative AI meets scientific publishing
New York Times: Science museums take stock of 1.1 billion objects from around the world
RAND: The brave new world of self-driving science labs (perspective by Joshua Steier and Rushil Bakhshi)

Physics Today: New SLAC X-ray laser fires its first photons
Argonne National Lab: Advanced Photon Source launching eBERlight initiative to accelerate biological and environmental research
Fermilab: CERN moves forward with support for Fermilab-hosted neutrino experiment, DUNE
Oak Ridge National Lab: OLCF launches new allocation program, SummitPLUS
NSF: NSF announces 4 Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 awards to bolster cybersecurity, windstorms science, ocean observatory, and lasers research infrastructure
Battelle: Battelle awarded $416 million from NSF to continue operating the National Ecological Observatory Network
NSF: Coalition led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution awarded $220 million to continue operating the Ocean Observatories Initiative
World Nuclear News: Netherlands confirms full funding secured for $1.79 billion Pallas research reactor
Space.com: China’s new wide-field survey telescope scopes out Andromeda galaxy
APS: APS historic sites initiative recognizes Green Bank Observatory

HPCwire: China’s quiet journey into exascale computing
South China Morning Post: China plans to build a giant chip factory driven by particle accelerator
CRS: Semiconductors and artificial intelligence
FedScoop: Q&A: Director of NSF’s AI division discusses the tech’s limits and opportunities (interview with Michael Littman)

NASA: NASA’s first asteroid sample has landed, now secure in clean room
New York Times: India’s Moon lander misses wake-up call after successful mission
NASA: New NASA report looks at societal considerations for Artemis
AP: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio breaks US record for longest spaceflight
SpaceNews: Office of Space Commerce touts progress on civil space traffic coordination system
SpaceNews: FCC directing more satellite constellations to mitigate effects on astronomy
Issues in Science and Technology: Why space debris flies through regulatory gaps (perspective by Marilyn Harbert and Asha Balakrishnan)
The Guardian: Building in zero gravity: The race to create factories in space

Nature: Earth’s average 2023 temperature is now likely to reach 1.5°C of warming
Nature: World recommits to 2030 plan to save humanity — despite falling short so far
Nature: Rich countries must align science funding with the Sustainable Development Goals (editorial)
NOAA: NOAA launches Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping
NOAA: NOAA awards $59 million contract for renovations to research ship pier in South Carolina
SpaceNews: Space Force gets another weather satellite from NOAA

DOE: DOE announces $325 million for long-duration energy storage projects
DOE: DOE announces nearly $48 million to advance clean hydrogen technologies
E&E News: ‘False promise’: DOE’s carbon removal plans rankle community advocates
Wall Street Journal: The new face of nuclear energy is Miss America
South China Morning Post: China reports progress in building ‘Kuafu’ nuclear fusion research facility

Breaking Defense: Under DIU ‘3.0,’ innovation hub looks to take on more embedded role throughout DOD
Defense News: Navy launches board to help services leverage new science and technology
C4ISRNET: Directed energy weapons making jump from sci-fi to real world
DOD: DOD launches Energy Storage Systems Campus to build domestic capacity
AP: Los Alamos National Lab braces for its biggest mission since the top-secret Manhattan Project
DOE: NNSA launches development of Enterprise Blueprint
National Academies: Assessing and improving strategies for preventing, countering, and responding to WMD terrorism: Biological threats (report)

Washington Post: China’s quest for human genetic data spurs fears of a DNA arms race
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: Congressional staffers created antibiotic-resistant bacteria. And that’s a good thing (perspective by Allison Berke and Jassi Pannu)
Nature: Super-precise CRISPR tool enters US clinical trials for the first time
Nature: Human trials of artificial wombs could start soon. Here’s what you need to know

Nature: The UK’s post-Brexit EU science deal: A graphical guide
Science|Business: European Parliament debates upcoming call for EU legislation on scientific freedom
Science|Business: Polish scientists express alarm at government plans to abolish national research funding agency
ITIF: Comparing Canadian and US R&D leaders in advanced sectors
State Department: Joint statement on US–Finland S&T cooperation
AAU: Association of American Universities, Indian Research Universities agree to establish Indo-US Global Challenges Institute
South China Morning Post: China’s R&D spending continues to grow, but researchers are feeling the pinch
Emerging Technology Observatory: Introducing Scout, our new discovery tool for Chinese-language science and technology writing
CSET: CSET analyses of China’s technology policies and ecosystem (report)
Breaking Defense: Australian researchers warn Chinese ‘overwhelmingly’ ahead in sensor research
Science: South Korea, a science spending champion, proposes cutbacks
Nature: Japanese fund to create ‘Ivy League’ gives first award to just one university
Nature: ‘Benevolent’ patent extensions could raise billions for R&D in poorer countries (perspective by Christopher Barrett)