FYI: Science Policy News
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WEEK OF SEPT 16, 2024
What’s Ahead

The ITER fusion research facility under construction in France.

The ITER fusion research facility under construction in France.

ITER

Senators to Examine Progress in Fusion Energy

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on fusion energy technology development and commercialization. The head of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences in the Department of Energy, Jean Paul Allain, will testify alongside Jackie Siebens, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, and Patrick White, research director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance. The event comes as both fusion and fission have recently enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, with the ADVANCE Act incentivizing development of fission-based nuclear reactors and codifying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to use less extensive regulations for fusion technologies compared to fission. The act passed both the Senate and House with wide margins this summer.

This is also the first congressional hearing on fusion since the international fusion project ITER announced delays that it expects will push the start of full operations from 2035 to 2039. ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi cited pandemic disruptions, component quality issues, and other manufacturing challenges as the main reasons for the delay. Committee Chair Joe Manchin (I-WV) previously expressed strong support for ITER, saying at a 2022 site visit, “What you are all doing here is laying the ground for world peace.”

AI Legislation Advancing

A package of bipartisan AI bills passed out of the House Science Committee last week for potential consideration on the floor. Several of the bills have Senate versions that have also advanced out of committee. Among them is the CREATE AI Act, which would establish the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource to provide computational, data, model, and training resources to the research community in support of AI-related R&D. The NAIRR pilot began at the National Science Foundation in January and will run for two years. The amended House bill specifies a funding target of $430 million annually through 2030, while the Senate version does not include a funding target. As lawmakers work to iron out the scope of the NAIRR, some legislators have expressed skepticism about NSF taking on this type of responsibility for AI research infrastructure. At a hearing last Thursday with Department of Energy representatives, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) questioned whether NSF is the appropriate agency for the task, noting that DOE already has extensive expertise in supercomputers. “I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. … You do what you do; NSF should do what they do,” he said.

NSF Seeks Input on Research Ethics and Merit Reviews

The National Science Foundation is requesting public comment on its process for reviewing grant applications through two separate RFIs. The first seeks recommendations on ethical, social, safety, and security considerations that could be added to its merit review process. The CHIPS and Science Act instructed NSF to incorporate these elements into the review process, after considering public feedback, within two years of the act’s signing into law in August 2022. NSF ultimately published the RFI seeking comment on Aug. 22, which will remain open until Nov. 15. Separately, a commission created by NSF’s board is conducting a systematic study of the agency’s merit review process, its first since 2011. The commission seeks input through this Friday on the principles that underpin the process, particularly the “Broader Impacts” criterion.

Europa Clipper Probe Entering Final Preparations

NASA’s Europa Clipper probe is moving into its final phase of preparations following the resolution of last-minute concerns about its electronics. Concerns emerged earlier this year that some of the probe’s transistors would fail in the high-radiation environment surrounding Jupiter and its moons. NASA announced last week that its engineers concluded circuits on the spacecraft will function as intended despite potential damage to the transistors. Europa Clipper is slated to arrive in the Jupiter system in 2030 to study the icy moon Europa. NASA hopes the mission will confirm research indicating that Europa possesses a subsurface saltwater ocean, which would be among the top candidates in the solar system for harboring extraterrestrial life. The probe’s three-week launch window opens on Oct. 10. NASA will detail the mission’s next steps at a news conference on Tuesday.

Georgia Tech Ending Partnership with Chinese University

Georgia Tech announced last week it is ending a long-running partnership with Tianjin University in China due to the university’s inclusion on the Entity List, a group of people and organizations that are subject to stringent export controls. The Commerce Department added Tianjin University to the Entity List in 2020, which Georgia Tech said led it to scale back the partnership. The top Republicans on three congressional committees began investigating the partnership in May over concerns it could result in the divulgence of sensitive research to the Chinese military. In explaining its decision, Georgia Tech emphasized that its engagement with Chinese universities began in the 1980s “in support of U.S. government priorities” at the time. In recent years, the Commerce Department has continued to add Chinese universities to the Entity List. Although placement on the list does not prohibit partnerships in fundamental research, federal research agencies have begun treating partnerships with entities on the list as a risk factor when reviewing funding applications.

Also on Our Radar

  • Registration is open for the American Meteorological Society’s Climate Policy Colloquium in December. The event will include workshops focused on the science-policy process and federal R&D budgets as well as major climate-related legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. (AMS is an AIP Member Society.)
  • Savannah River National Lab Director Vahid Majidi announced last week that he will resign in January 2025.
NASA must urgently rebalance its budget to invest in people, R&D, and infrastructure to continue meeting its stated goals, National Academies report finds.

Distributed evaluations, machine learning, and lotteries are among the tactics being tested to improve the process and integrity of peer review.

Disadvantaged communities in coastal areas will participate in the new initiative.

Upcoming Events

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

Monday, September 16

ITIF: Tech policy 101: Educational seminar series for congressional staff
(continues through Oct. 21)

DOD: Strategic Environmental R&D Program Scientific Advisory Board meeting
(continues through Thursday)

Federal Demonstration Partnership: Triannual meeting
(continues through Wednesday)

National Academies: Assessing research security efforts in higher education, kickoff meeting
(continues Tuesday)

House: Fielding technology and innovation: Industry views on Department of Defense acquisition
9:00 am PT, Armed Services Committee

National Academies: Current STEM labor markets: Upstream consequences for industry and innovation
2:00 - 3:30 pm

New York Academy of Sciences: United States of Science
6:30 - 8:30 pm

Tuesday, September 17

NSF: Biological Sciences Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Wednesday)

Brookings: Global Conference on Frontier AI
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Senate: Ensuring a trustworthy government: Examining the national security risks of replacing nonpartisan civil servants with political appointees
10:00 am, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

WRI: Understanding the role of carbon dioxide removal in long-term climate planning
10:00 - 11:30 am

NASA: Europa Clipper mission news conference
11:00 am

C2ES: Reacting to industry’s needs: Nuclear’s role in industrial decarbonization
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

ACS: Congressional briefing on re-establishing US semiconductor global leadership
12:00 pm

NOAA: Ocean Exploration Advisory Board meeting
1:00 - 2:00 pm

Senate: Oversight of AI: Insiders’ perspectives
2:00 pm, Judiciary Committee

Wednesday, September 18

NIST: CHIPS for America workshop on accelerating R&D for sustainable semiconductor materials
(continues Thursday)

NSF: Geosciences Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Thursday)

USGS: National Volcano Early Warning System Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Thursday)

ITIF: Can China innovate in advanced industries?
9:00 - 10:30 am

Senate: Meeting to advance the Risky Research Review Act and other legislation
10:00 am, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

AIBS: Congressional briefing on open science in ecosystem research
10:00 - 11:00 am

NSF: Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships updates webinar
2:00 - 3:00 pm

Thursday, September 19

NSF: Engineering Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Friday)

NSF: Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Friday)

National Academies: Feasibility assessment of veteran health effects of Manhattan Project-related waste
(continues Friday)

National Academies: 20th Anniversary of the Board on Science Education
9:15 am - 6:30 pm

Senate: Hearing to examine fusion energy technology development and commercialization efforts
10:00 am, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

House: Navigating the blue frontier: Evaluating the potential of marine carbon dioxide removal approaches
10:00 am, Science Committee

Körber Foundation: Hamburg Science Summit
11:00 am - 6:00 pm CEST

CSET: Privacy, security, and innovation: Friends not foes
12:00 - 1:00 pm

Johns Hopkins: Strengthening international regimes: The case of radiation protection
12:00 - 1:15 pm

National Academies: A science strategy for the human exploration of Mars, townhall webinar
12:00 - 1:30 pm

AASF: Public forum with the NIH
3:00 - 4:30 pm

Carnegie Endowment: The international side of industrial policy: A conversation with DNSA Daleep Singh
4:00 - 5:00 pm

Friday, September 20

Hudson Institute: The future of US and allied hypersonic missile programs
9:30 am - 3:00 pm

NASA: Planetary Science Advisory Committee meeting
12:00 - 3:00 pm

Saturday, September 21

White House: Quad Leaders Summit

AAAS: AAAS Fellows 150th Anniversary Gala
6:00 - 9:45 pm

Monday, September 23

PRW: Peer Review Week
(continues through Friday)

Optica/APS: Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science
(continues through Thursday)

NIH: Center for Scientific Review Advisory Council meeting
9:00 am - 4:00 pm

National Academies: A science strategy for the human exploration of Mars: Panel on atmospheric science and space physics
12:00 - 1:00 pm

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.

Job Openings

Natcast: Executive director, NSTC Investment Fund (ongoing)
Natcast: Senior analyst, research security (ongoing)
MIT: Deputy director, Plasma Science and Fusion Center (ongoing)
Carnegie Mellon University: Executive director, Critical Technology Strategy Initiative (ongoing)
National Academies: Associate program officer, Board on Army R&D (ongoing)
FAS: Director of government capacity (ongoing)
FAS: Director of government affairs (ongoing)
American Association for Cancer Research: Director, science and health policy (ongoing)
Office of Naval Research: Superintendent, Space Science Division (Sept. 18)
DOE: Social scientist focused on workforce diversity (Sept. 18)
AAAS: Program associate, S&T Policy Fellowships (Sept. 28)

Solicitations

NSF: RFI on NSF’s merit review policy and processes (Sept. 20)
National Academies: Call for experts on assessing research security efforts in higher education (Oct. 4)
National Academies: Call for nominations: Workshop on assessing research security efforts in higher education (Oct. 4)
Commerce: RFC on reporting requirements for the development of advanced artificial intelligence models and computing clusters (Oct. 11)
NSF: Request for topic ideas for Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation program (Oct. 15)
DOD: RFI on financing support for covered technology categories (Oct. 22)
NIH: RFI on re-envisioning US postdoctoral research training and career progression (Oct. 23)
EPA: RFC on new technologies for quantifying facility methane emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (Oct. 28)
Commerce: RFC on export controls for advanced technologies (Nov. 5)
DOE: RFI on the Frontiers in AI for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST) initiative (Nov. 11)
NSF: RFI on research ethics provision in the CHIPS and Science Act (Nov. 15)

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

Around the Web

White House

Nature: US election debate: What Harris and Trump said about science
The Atlantic: Does Kamala Harris believe in evolution? In another election, she might have been asked
NPR: At the debate, Harris made climate change a pocketbook issue
Planetary Society: The space policy of a second Trump administration (audio interview with Greg Autry)
White House: Readout of roundtable on US leadership in AI infrastructure
E&E News: White House hosts heat summit

Congress

Science: Bill targeting Chinese biotechs worries US researchers
Computing Research Association: Six leading computing organizations call on Congress to fully fund the CHIPS and Science Act
Senate Commerce Committee: Republicans blast admin over botched software project disrupting weather forecasting, fishery disaster aid

Science, Society, and the Economy

Politico: Why Biden’s multibillion-dollar plan to build America’s next tech powerhouses is getting starved
NREL: NREL’s economic impact hits $1.9 billion
NIST: Why measurements at NIST are important for the nation and the world (perspective by James Olthoff)
Research Professional: Springer Nature plans IPO listing, touting €511m annual profit
Optics and Photonics News: Creating the ‘Davos of photonics’
Physics in Perspective: The protest that never was: Silencing political activism at CERN before and during the Vietnam War (paper by Barbara Hof, et al.)
Physics World: Stop this historic science site in St Petersburg from being sold (perspective by Robert Crease)

Education and Workforce

NSF: Full-time master’s student enrollment in science, engineering, and health (report)
Physics World: Almost 70% of US students with an interest in physics leave the subject, finds survey
Wall Street Journal: Shortfall in young engineers threatens nuclear renaissance
New York Times: Young Chinese émigrés confront America’s brutal visa lottery
Inside Higher Ed: Iranian scientist wins $3.8 million in lawsuit over university employee who told her to go ‘back to Iran’
APS: Introductory physics classes can make or break students’ persistence in the field
Nature: Academics say flying to meetings harms the climate — but they carry on

Research Management

Science: Final US misconduct rule drops controversial changes
Science: Suspicious phrases in peer reviews point to referees gaming the system
Vox: Scientists are trapped in an endless loop of grant applications. How can we set them free?
MIT Technology Review: Why a ruling against the Internet Archive threatens the future of America’s libraries (perspective by Chris Lewis)
Science: Open access is shaping scientific communication (perspective by Mark McCabe and Frank Mueller-Langer)
New Yorker: How a scientific dispute spiraled into a defamation lawsuit
Science: Honesty researcher’s lawsuit against data sleuths dismissed
NIH: Case study in research integrity: Alcohol and harassment
Union of Concerned Scientists: Only 13% of federal agencies have adequate safeguards protecting science from political interference
FAS: Improving public understanding of advisory committees
Construction Physics: The long road to fiber optics

Labs and Facilities

AP: Former director of Los Alamos National Lab, Charles McMillan, dead after car crash in New Mexico
PPPL: Isaias Zamarripa brings years of experience to new position leading PPPL’s diversity, inclusion, and recruiting efforts
GAO: Oak Ridge mercury cleanup: Opportunities exist to enhance risk management and technology development (report)
American Nuclear Society: INL readies new Sample Preparation Lab
Science: Arctic ecosystems get long-term look with drifting research station
National Radio Astronomy Observatory: UN secretary-general visits ALMA

Computing and Communications

HPCwire: Venado: The AI supercomputer built to tackle science’s biggest challenges
IEEE Spectrum: The AI Scientist: A tool from Sakana AI stirs up controversy
New York Times: OpenAI unveils o1 ChatGPT model that can reason through math and science
Inside Defense: AFRL generative AI program already has 80,000 users
NSF: NSF awards $42 million to support the future of semiconductors
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Are new US export controls rules on chips and other critical tech good enough? (perspective by Ian Stewart)

Space

NPR: More satellites are making stars harder to see (audio interview with Grant Tremblay)
SpaceNews: US space weather policy is alive and well but is insufficiently funded (perspective by Tamara Dickinson)
Nature: First private spacewalk a success! What the SpaceX mission means for science
Reuters: Japan’s ispace aims for December launch of second Moon landing mission

Weather, Climate, and Environment

Bloomberg: Earth has overshot key ‘planetary boundaries,’ scientists warn
The Guardian: How scientists debunked one of conservation’s most influential statistics
New York Times: UK to fund ‘small-scale’ outdoor geoengineering tests
New York Times: Climate lawsuits are exploding. Are homicide charges next?
E&E News: DOE carbon capture workshops omit ‘naysayers,’ community advocates say

Energy

The Economist: China is beating America in the nuclear-energy race
Issues in Science and Technology: An ambidextrous approach to nuclear energy innovation (perspective by Florian Metzler and Jonah Messinger)
Issues in Science and Technology: What can fusion energy learn from biotechnology? (perspective by Andrew Lo and Dennis Whyte)
Issues in Science and Technology: A public path to building a star on Earth (perspective by Michael Ford)
Oak Ridge National Lab: One billion opportunities to protect nuclear material
Issues in Science and Technology: Moving beyond hype on hydrogen (perspective by Valerie Jarplus and Granger Morgan)

Defense

Washington Post: North Korea reveals uranium site as Kim Jong Un demands more nuclear weapons
Defense News: US Space Force is urged to flag emerging humanitarian crises on Earth
SpaceNews: Growing pains in US military’s satellite revolution
GAO: GPS modernization: Delays continue in delivering more secure capability for the warfighter (report)
Inside Defense: DOD seeks to adopt NISP process to better assess foreign ownership risks

Biomedical

NIH: NIH awards establish pandemic preparedness research network
Science: Parasitologists up in arms as NIH ends funding for key database
Washington Post: Science finds new ways to detect cancer, but politics gets in the way (perspective by Karen Tumulty)

International Affairs

Nature: US and China inch towards renewing science-cooperation pact — despite tensions
ITIF: How innovative is China in quantum? (report)
LSE: China shows science is not dependent on liberal democracy (perspective by Caroline Wagner)
Science|Business: Universities warned on China using ‘deception’ to hide military links
Chemical & Engineering News: When geopolitics does not make for great science (editorial)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: LLNL signs MOU with Korean research institution to explore hydrogen and low-carbon technology
Nature: The grassroots organizations continuing the fight for Ukrainian science
Research Professional: Horizon Europe budget cut plan branded ‘incomprehensible’
Science|Business: Draghi report: Could the EU set up its own DARPA-like agency?

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