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WEEK OF MAY 6, 2024

What’s Ahead

A plane flying over control tower — A plane flies above an air traffic control tower.

(Federal Aviation Administration)

S&T Initiatives Seek Ride on Aviation Bill

With key federal aviation authorities set to expire Friday, some lawmakers are hoping to use the extension legislation as a vehicle for enacting unrelated policy goals. Among the amendments vying for inclusion are various energy and environmental policy initiatives, including legislation to speed the development of fission and fusion reactors and expedite environmental reviews for certain semiconductor projects. However, congressional leaders may restrict consideration of amendments unrelated to aviation policy to avoid complicating the process. Not among the amendments offered to date is a proposal by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to use the proceeds from spectrum auctions to fund science initiatives authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act. That proposal was slated to be advanced last week by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee but was removed from the meeting agenda without explanation.

House Probe into Antisemitism on Campus to Use Research Funding as Lever

House Republicans are calling for federal research funds to be withheld from universities that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitic acts. The House-wide effort, announced last week, comes as many institutions grapple with campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war and calls to divest from Israel, alongside increased reports of antisemitic incidents on campus. “Universities that can’t protect their students are not in compliance with their funding obligations through the National Science Foundation,” said House Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) at a press conference. He added, “As a part of the conditions of receiving taxpayer dollars through the NSF, universities must comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin. …It’s time we review whether universities that allow the harassment, assault, or intimidation of their Jewish students are in compliance with their federal obligations. We’ll be looking to conduct oversight of this issue very soon.” Separately last week, the Education Department sent a letter to universities reminding them of their obligations under Title VI and offering resources to aid in compliance.

Particle Physics Panel to Discuss Priority Roadmaps

U.S. priorities for future particle physics projects will be a focus of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel meeting this Thursday and Friday. Officials from the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation will present their agencies’ perspectives on the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) report released last year. HEPAP will also discuss its response to a charge from the DOE Office of Science to assess the importance and construction readiness of several major facilities, which range from the in-progress LBNF/DUNE neutrino facility to prospective projects such as the Future Circular Collider and the International Linear Collider. Among the other agenda items is an update on DOE’s implementation of the White House’s policy on open access publishing, known as the “Nelson Memo.” The panel will also discuss access and security protocols at Fermilab, which the lab has been refining in light of community concerns that the protocols have been overly restrictive.

Board on Physics and Astronomy to Meet

The National Academies Board on Physics and Astronomy’s spring meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday will feature roundtables with top officials from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, including all six of the office’s main research programs. The new director of the office’s Fusion Energy Sciences program, Jean Paul Allain, will also discuss his vision for accelerating the development of fusion energy. The board will also hear from the chairs of a 2021 Academies report on bringing fusion power to the grid, the recent decadal survey on biological and physical sciences in space, and the P5 report. Patrick Mulvey, a statistical research manager at the American Institute of Physics, will also present new data about financial support for physics graduate students.

Fusion Advocates to Hold Hill Briefing

The Fusion Industry Association will host a congressional briefing on Thursday to discuss the importance of fostering a fusion energy “ecosystem” comprised of universities, national labs, companies, and international partners to accelerate the eventual commercialization of fusion power. The briefing will include a panel discussion featuring Scott Hsu, lead fusion coordinator at the Department of Energy; Susana Reyes, a vice president at Xcimer Energy Corporation; Steffi Diem, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a science envoy for the State Department; and Arturo Dominguez, the head of science education at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The event is part of Fusion Energy Week, which runs through Friday.

Also On Our Radar

Numerous federal science and security officials are speaking at the AI Expo for National Competitiveness in Washington, D.C. (Tues-Wed)
The spate of “anomalous health incidents” affecting U.S. diplomatic personnel will be probed at a hearing by the House Homeland Security Committee. (Wednesday)
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will testify before the House Appropriations Committee on her department’s budget request for fiscal year 2025. (Wednesday)
The nominee to lead the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Kristen Sarri, is testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (Thursday)

Congress Restricts Russian Uranium Imports, Unlocks $2.7 Billion for Domestic Fuel

Legislation that restricts imports of unirradiated low-enriched uranium (LEU) from Russia is now headed to the president’s desk after the Senate passed it by unanimous consent last week. The restriction will take effect 90 days after the president signs the legislation, which is expected to occur. The act allows the secretary of energy to issue waivers for imports up to certain limits if there is no other viable source of LEU available. As of 2022, U.S. civilian nuclear power plants collectively sourced about 12% of their uranium from Russia.

Once the restriction is in place, the Department of Energy is permitted to spend up to $2.72 billion to support domestic production of LEU and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a more concentrated fuel intended for use in prospective advanced reactors. Congress allocated these funds through the final appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2024 but made them contingent on the U.S. restricting imports of Russian uranium. The funds will specifically go toward implementing the Nuclear Fuel Security Act, which aims to expand U.S. capacity to make HALEU fuel and ensure there is a reserve of uranium that can sustain U.S. reactors in the event of supply chain disruption.

NSF Seeks Advice on Extremely Large Telescope Dilemma

The National Science Foundation is convening an external panel to inform the agency’s decision on whether to support either of the two Extremely Large Telescope projects currently in contention for funding: the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan announced the decision during a meeting of NSF’s governing board last week. “I want to be very clear that this is not a decision to construct any telescopes,” Panchanathan said. “This is simply part of a process of gathering critical information to inform my decision-making on advancing either project to the final design stage.” The announcement comes after NSF’s board signaled earlier this year that the agency is unlikely to support both projects due to funding constraints and high demand for large research infrastructure across scientific disciplines.

Major Weather Research Bill Heads to Senate

Legislation to broadly update policy for weather research and forecasting programs was passed by the House last week by a vote of 394-19. Called the Weather Act Reauthorization, the bill would set budget targets for weather research programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and calls for the creation of new R&D programs focused on next-generation radar, atmospheric rivers, flooding, and aviation weather. It also aims to expand NOAA’s use of commercial weather data. The bill is a priority of Science Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK), who is also interested in separating NOAA from the Commerce Department and turning it into an independent agency. The Weather Act reauthorization is now with the Senate, which has not introduced analogous legislation. The House passed the legislation along with five other bills that also emerged from the Science Committee: the Fire Weather Development Act, the Abandoned Well Remediation R&D Act, the Carbon Sequestration Collaboration Act, the Clean Energy Demonstration Transparency Act, and the Privacy Enhancing Technology Research Act.

White House Promotes National STEMM Equity Strategy

The White House held a summit last week to highlight a slate of actions by members of the STEMM Opportunity Alliance, which aims to increase workforce diversity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Doris Duke Foundation formed the alliance last year, and it now consists of more than 200 nonprofits, companies, universities, and other non-federal institutions that the White House says have since committed more than $2 billion to “expanding opportunities in STEMM.” The announcement coincided with the release of “STEMM Equity and Excellence 2050,” the alliance’s strategy for expanding the U.S. STEMM workforce by 20 million professionals by 2050, largely by increasing opportunities among underserved populations, reducing historical barriers to entry, and promoting science in schools and universities. (AIP is a member of the alliance.)

Presidential Medals of Freedom Awarded to Astronomer and Astronaut

President Joe Biden awarded Presidential Medals of Freedom to astronomer Jane Rigby and engineer-turned-astronaut Ellen Ochoa last week. In his remarks, Biden noted Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman to go to space and credited her with “ushering a whole new age of space exploration and proving what it means for every generation to dream, to reach for the stars, and to get there.” Biden highlighted how Rigby, as chief scientist of the James Webb Space Telescope, has helped tell “the grand story of the universe” and also said she is a “long-time advocate of inclusivity in the sciences.” Rigby is the first physical scientist to receive the Medal of Freedom since physicist and science advisor Richard Garwin was awarded one in 2016. Civil rights activists, politicians, journalists, and athletes were among the 17 other medal recipients last week. Al Gore and John Kerry were recognized in part for their efforts to address climate change.

Nelson Pressed on JPL Layoffs, ‘Begs’ for ISS Deorbit Vehicle

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson again lamented the tough choices facing the space agency due to its constrained budget for fiscal year 2024 and looming spending caps for fiscal year 2025 during a House Science Committee hearing on April 30, echoing comments he made the week before to the House Appropriations Committee. The fate of the Mars Sample Return mission was a major topic of discussion in the hearing, with multiple representatives expressing concern over mass layoffs and a loss of talent at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Nelson said JPL staff are currently working on ideas to return samples more quickly and at a lower cost.

Nelson also said he is “begging” Congress to fully fund a deorbit vehicle for the International Space Station through an emergency spending bill, citing concerns that Russia may pull out of the ISS early and choose not to participate in its deorbit scheduled for 2031. “Why is it an emergency? Because we don’t know what Vladimir Putin is going to do,” Nelson said. He estimated the deorbit vehicle will cost $1.5 billion.

Upcoming Events

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