Science policy this week: Feb. 3, 2025

What’s Ahead

NSF HQ Cropped.jpg — The headquarters of the National Science Foundation.

Maria Barnes / NSF

NSF grant payments temporarily unfrozen but reviews continue

The National Science Foundation resumed making payments on Sunday following a judge’s order that temporarily paused President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal grant funding. The freeze caused widespread alarm among NSF grantees last week over how to pay researchers and maintain essential equipment. Although the freeze has been lifted, NSF is continuing to review its grant programs to identify whether they are subject to Trump’s executive orders, such as his ban on support for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Asked whether NSF can terminate an active award that might be affected by the executive orders, the agency stated on a FAQ page that it “can not take action to delay or stop payment for active awards based solely on actual or potential non-compliance with the executive orders,” but that the court order permits it to take action for other reasons, such as violation of the agency’s grant terms and conditions. Nevertheless, in anticipation of agencies blocking support for DEI activities, various universities have suspended federally funded research related to DEI and expect to lose diversity-associated funding for staff.

House Science Committee resumes work with new chairs

The House Science Committee will hold its first meeting of the new Congress on Wednesday. After adopting the committee rules and oversight plan, the panel will hold a hearing on “ensuring U.S. global leadership” in science and technology. The witnesses are Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso and former secretary of the U.S. Air Force; Walter Copan, vice president for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology under President Trump’s first administration; Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Samuel Hammond, chief economist of the Foundation for American Innovation, a technology think tank. This will be the committee’s first meeting chaired by Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) and with a new roster of members, including new subcommittee chairs.

Commerce nominee vows to keep NOAA intact, praises NIST

The nominee to lead the Commerce Department, Howard Lutnick, assured Democratic senators during a nomination hearing last week that he will not try to break up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “I have no interest in separating it. That is not on my agenda,” Lutnick said in testimony to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. Lutnick also said he disagreed with proposals in the conservative blueprint Project 2025 to “dismantle” NOAA and eliminate or privatize many of its operations.

The hearing also touched on the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticizing the agency’s consideration of climate change in guidance related to artificial intelligence. When Cruz asked if guidance would be “based on scientific technical standards and not simply a Trojan horse for social policy or importing the EU’s tech agenda,” Lutnick said yes. More broadly, Lutnik praised the agency and its work to inform standards development. “I think NIST has some of the greatest scientists in the world. … I think standards is the right model — as I’ve said, the way we’ve done cybersecurity, which is the gold standard of the world and everyone in the world follows our model — I think we should try to have a light touch model like that in AI.”

The committee will vote on Wednesday to advance Lutnick’s nomination to the full Senate for consideration. The committee will also consider advancing several STEM-related bills from the previous Congress that have been reintroduced, including the TORNADO Act, the Fire Ready Nation Act, the Strengthening Support for American Manufacturing Act, and a bill on research into harmful algal blooms.

UN celebrates International Year of Quantum S&T

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization will kick-off the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) with a ceremony in Paris on Tuesday. The UN General Assembly declared 2025 as the year for IYQ last summer. The designation aims to increase public awareness of the applications of quantum research, encourage international cooperation in the field, and increase research capacity among developing countries, among other goals. Federal agencies participating in the U.S. National Quantum Initiative plan to hold various IYQ-related events this year. Events affiliated with IYQ will be posted here. Coordination of IYQ is led by UNESCO and the American Physical Society. (APS is an AIP Member Society.)

Also on our radar

Assignments for the Senate appropriations subcommittees were announced last week. Among the changes, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) replaced Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) as the ranking member of the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee that covers NASA and NIST, both of which have major facilities in his state.
The Senate will vote to confirm Chris Wright as secretary of energy this evening. Wright’s nomination has gained some support from Democrats, including from Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission will hold a hearing Thursday on tech, innovation, and manufacturing competition with China.
The emergence of the DeepSeek AI model developed by a Chinese company using fewer and lower-quality chips than those created by leading U.S. AI developers triggered many of their stocks to tumble last week along with those of leading chip manufacturers. It also prompted bipartisan calls for stricter export controls on chips from the House and Senate.
The National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable released a capstone report last week.

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Monday, February 3

UN: Office for Outer Space Affairs S&T Subcommittee meeting (continues through Feb. 14)

Tuesday, February 4

UNESCO: Opening ceremony of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (continues Wednesday)

National Academies: Frontiers of Statistics Committee meeting
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Bipartisan Policy Center: America’s workforce: Creating a blueprint for the future
1:00 - 6:00 pm

Wednesday, February 5

NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards meeting (continues through Friday)

National Academies: Space Weather Roundtable meeting (continues Thursday)

National Academies: Higher education’s path to sustainability and resilience
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

House: Adoption of committee rules and approval of authorization and oversight plan
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: The state of US science and technology: Ensuring US global leadership
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: Rightsizing government
10:00 am, Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Senate: Commerce secretary nomination vote, consideration of bills
10:00 am, Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

House: Powering America’s future: Unleashing American energy
10:15 am, Energy and Commerce Committee

House: The state of American education
10:15 am, Education and Workforce Committee

Thursday, February 6

US-China Commission: Made in China 2025: Who is winning?
9:30 am - 3:25 pm

Atlantic Council: A new era for nuclear energy with the International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol
10:00 am

CNAS: Biopower: Securing American leadership in biotechnology
12:00 - 1:00 pm

Beyond Earth Institute: Exploring the potential of lunar helium-3 mining
1:00 - 2:30 pm

National Science Policy Network: Science on the ballot meeting
7:30 - 8:30 pm

Friday, February 7

No events.

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

Opportunities

Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.

Note: The White House implemented a federal hiring freeze on Jan. 20.

Job Openings

◆National Academies: Senior program assistant, science and innovation policy (ongoing)
◆National Academies: Associate general counsel (ongoing)
Harvard: Associate director, Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy (ongoing)
Kavli Foundation: Associate program officer, science (ongoing)
CSET: Director of analysis (ongoing)
Natcast: Multiple positions (ongoing)
AGU: Executive director/CEO (ongoing)
◆Center for Open Science: Senior director of policy (Feb. 24)
PNNL: Deputy director for science and technology (Feb. 28)
The Economist: Science and technology internship (Feb. 28)

Solicitations

◆AAS: RFI on undergraduate astronomy programs (ongoing)
NSF: RFC on updates to Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (Feb. 10)
DOE: RFI on Frontiers in AI for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST) initiative (Feb. 17)
National Academies: Call for experts: Astro2020 decadal survey progress review (Feb. 21)
NIH: RFC on use of metadata and persistent identifiers (Feb. 21)
NSF: RFC on proposed IP options (extended to Feb. 21)
NRC: RFC on regulatory framework for advanced reactors (Feb. 28)
◆National Academies: Chemical Sciences Roundtable call for members (March 2)
DOE: RFC on update and relocation of DOE technology investment agreement regulations (March 4)
NSF: RFC on revisions to NSF infrastructure guide (March 10)
BIS: RFC on controls on lab equipment and technology to address dual use concerns about biotechnology (March 17)
DOE: RFC on draft energy storage strategy and roadmap (extended to March 20)
DOE: RFI on autonomous experimentation platforms from Material Genome Initiative (March 21)

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

Around the Web

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

NSF grant payments temporarily unfrozen but reviews continue

House Science Committee resumes work with new chairs

Commerce nominee vows to keep NOAA intact, praises NIST

UN celebrates International Year of Quantum S&T

Also on our radar

Looking for more science policy news? Follow FYI on LinkedIn.

Monday, February 3

Tuesday, February 4

Wednesday, February 5

Thursday, February 6

Friday, February 7

Job Openings

Solicitations

White House

Congress

Science, Society, and the Economy

Education and Workforce

Research Management

Labs and Facilities

Computing and Communications

Space

Weather, Climate, and Environment

Energy

Defense

Biomedical

International Affairs