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| FYI: Science Policy News from AIP |
| THIS WEEK |
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| A U.S. border control agent at an airport checkpoint. An event this week will explore how some STEM graduate students and researchers from China were denied entry to the U.S. at airports despite having valid visas. (Donna Burton / U.S. Customs and Border Protection) |
FBI to Field Concerns Over Research Security Enforcement
FBI officials will field questions from representatives of academic and Asian American groups at a public event on Thursday at Rice University focused on research security. The organizers note continuing concerns in the research community over how agencies are applying security policies, citing recent media reports about how STEM graduate students and researchers from China have faced increased screening at U.S. airports and in some cases have been denied entry despite having valid visas. Among the organizers is physicist Neal Lane, who was science advisor to President Bill Clinton. Lane joined with leaders of the APA Justice Task Force to issue an “urgent call” last month for clearer enforcement procedures, arguing that a “gap” has emerged between the intent of research security policy and how it is being applied by law enforcement officers. The event will explore ways of bridging this gap and the prospect of establishing more formal communication channels between academic researchers and FBI field offices.
Congress Struggling to Extend Radiation Exposure Law
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) canceled a vote planned for this week on legislation to extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) following backlash from supporters of a more expansive bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. Those supporters are renewing their calls for Johnson to bring that bill to a vote. The narrower bill would keep the current compensation structure active for another two years, whereas the Senate-passed bill would keep the fund active for six more years and greatly expand RECA benefits. In particular, it would add eligibility for people from more downwind states, people affected by waste from other Manhattan Project sites, and people who worked in uranium mines and mills. Critics dispute whether the government is to blame for some of the newly added exposure conditions and note the high costs of the eligibility expansion. The current compensation program will expire June 10 absent action from Congress.
NOAA Science Budget Cuts Up for Review
Rick Spinrad, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will testify on the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget request for NOAA at a Tuesday hearing held by the House Science Committee. The hearing charter notes the administration proposes an 11% cut to the agency’s main research arm, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. This decrease would follow the nearly 5% cut that Congress just made to the office, bringing its annual budget to $726 million for the current fiscal year. The administration justifies the 11% cut by citing a general need to support “other NOAA and administration priorities” amid the flat budget caps set by Congress. Among their top priorities is to develop next-generation weather satellites such as the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) constellation that will succeed the GOES series, whose final satellite is scheduled to launch on June 25. GeoXO is envisioned as a set of six satellites, with the first targeted for launch in 2032.
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| In Case You Missed It |
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| National Science Foundation Director Sethuraman Panchanathan testifies before Senate appropriators on May 23. (Bill Ingalls / NASA) |
Senators Criticize NSF’s Changes to EPSCoR Program
The National Science Foundation’s recent restructuring of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is drawing criticism from senators who argue the changes have resulted in funding cuts for their states’ program offices. Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) raised the subject in testy exchanges with NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan at a hearing last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The agency is sunsetting a longstanding EPSCoR subprogram that supported research infrastructure improvements, called RII Track-1, and has replaced it with two new RII subprograms called EPSCoR Collaborations for Optimizing Research Ecosystems (E-CORE) and EPSCoR Research Incubators for STEM Excellence (E-RISE). Reed argued that NSF did not do enough to help states prepare for the transition and said Rhode Island’s EPSCoR office now may run out of money this August. Panchanathan defended the changes and noted NSF’s total funding for EPSCoR jurisdictions is on track to exceed the growth targets set in the CHIPS and Science Act. “I expect that we’re going to outperform because I am a firm believer that talent and ideas are all across our nation,” Panchanathan said. He also committed to consider providing “transition” funding to keep EPSCoR offices operating.
NSF Board Elects IBM Executive as New Chair
Last month, the National Science Board elected IBM Research Director Darío Gil as chair, marking the first time in over three decades that the chair is actively working in industry. Gil replaces Dan Reed, a computer science professor at the University of Utah and former Microsoft executive, whose six-year term on the board ended in May. Prior board chairs who were also industry executives when they were appointed include chemist Mary Good of Allied Signal, physicist Roland Schmitt of GE, and physicist Lewis Branscomb of IBM. Gil has a background in electrical engineering and since 2020 has been a member of the board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and advises the government on science and engineering policy. The board reelected Victor McCrary, vice president for research at the University of the District of Columbia, to serve a third term as vice chair. There are currently eight open seats on the board, which comprises 24 members appointed directly by the president.
NASA Funds Tech Maturation Projects For Future Telescopes
Last week, NASA selected three proposals from industry to help mature technologies needed for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory mission, which would focus on searching for life outside our solar system. Billed as a “historically ambitious mission” by Mark Clampin, astrophysics division director at NASA, the telescope would require, for example, an optical system that does not move more than an atom’s width during observations. The industry awards total $17.5 million, split between BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. In announcing the awards, NASA also noted it is in the process of establishing a Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Maturation project office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. These actions respond to the latest astronomy decadal survey’s recommendation that NASA dedicate more resources to refining technologies needed for flagship telescopes before it commits to cost estimates, drawing on lessons learned from the James Webb Space Telescope. Clampin and the former chief scientist of the Webb telescope, John Mather, will discuss NASA’s approach to developing next-generation telescopes at an event this Wednesday hosted by AIP. The event will be livestreamed.
White House Seeks to Spur Nuclear Energy Deployment
At a summit last week on progress in growing the U.S. nuclear industry, the White House announced it will form a Nuclear Power Project Management and Delivery working group to “help identify opportunities to proactively mitigate sources of cost and schedule overrun risk.” The working group will include experts in the construction of “megaprojects” and have representatives from various federal agencies including the Department of Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The White House also indicated the Army will soon solicit input on its plans to deploy small modular reactors and microreactors to bases and other sites. Other announcements from the event readout highlighted ongoing initiatives such as the recent legislative restrictions on Russian uranium imports and associated efforts to bolster domestic supplies of uranium fuel.
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| 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, June 3
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Monday, June 10
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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