November 21, 2015

Please note: Capitol Shorts will not be published next week. Happy Thanksgiving from ASEE.

CRUNCH TIME ON SPENDING BILL: House and Senate appropriations subcommittees have "many differences" to resolve in the rush to complete a omnibus spending bill by a Dec. 11 deadline, CQ reports: "The next 10 days will be critical in determining whether appropriators will be able to strike another $1.1 trillion government-wide spending agreement." Of the 12 separate measures in the package, those funding the departments of Energy, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers are "mainly wrapped up." Others are threatened by contentious riders, ranging from defunding Planned Parenthood to curbing Environmental Protection Agency regulations and new controls on admission of Syrian refugees. 

SCIENCE COALITIONS PRESS THEIR CASE: Groups representing some 500 societies, universities, and companies have coalesced around a letter urging appropriators to make America's innovation ecosystem "one of your highest priorities." They're asking that federal research spending be raised by "at least 5.2 percent" over FY 2015 levels. That would match the  overall hike in discretionary spending agreed to in the recent budget agreement. 

WORRISOME LANGUAGE: Apart from money, some R&D advocates are urging appropriators to strip out House-passed language pertaining to the National Science Foundation that "would be extremely detrimental to the work of researchers across the nation," according to a letter by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. These provisions include "requirements that abstracts describe how projects contribute to the national interest, that NSF develop guidelines to ensure replicability, the allocation of funding by directorate, and the specification that the peer review process includes divergent viewpoints."

VETERANS' TREATMENT: If an omnibus spending bill passes, it's likely to contain $621.8 million for veterans' medical and prosthetic research. That sum was included in the 2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill passed by the Senate on a 93-0 vote. According to a AAAS newsletter, it also matches the amount in the President's request and the House figure.

STEM FUNDING IN ESEA: It was touch and go for awhile, but the framework agreement between the House and Senate on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act -- formerly No Child Left Behind -- contains dedicated funding for "increased access to STEM education." See a summary.

NUCLEAR POWER R&D: Ranking members of both parties support a bill recently introduced by the House Science energy subcommittee entitled The Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act. The text is not yet avallable online, but the bill's description says its intent is to "enable civilian research and development of advanced nuclear energy technologies by private and public institutions and to expand theoretical and practical knowledge of nuclear physics, chemistry, and materials science." According to subcommittee chairman Randy Weber (R-Tex.), it "directs DOE to prioritize its R&D infrastructure on capabilities that will enable the private sector to develop advanced reactor technologies that could yield inherent safety, less waste, higher thermal efficiency, zero air emissions, increased reliability, and greater resistance to proliferation.”

'BROKEN' TRUST: The same energy panel held a hearing to follow up on a review of the Energy Department's labs by a special commission. A commission co-chairman testified that "our National Lab system is not realizing its full potential," and that "the trusted relationship that is supposed to exist" between the government and the labs "is broken and is inhibiting performance." He noted that labs overseen by the Office of Science generally have much better relationships with the DOE than do others. See the report and the hearing charter.

NOAA vs. SMITH (Cont'd): Going over the head of Kathryn Sullivan, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, House Science Chair Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) has written to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker saying that a NOAA climate study was rushed into print despite concerns raised by several agency scientists. The study corrected previous data indicating a hiatus in global warming. Last month, Smith subpoenaed NOAA emails on internal deliberations, which the agency has refused to turn over. Physics Today reports: "In his letter to Pritzker, Smith says the information on which he based his subpoena was provided by whistleblowers. In response to the letter, NOAA says that the study was published in Science after the normal peer-review process and that NOAA has provided all the data, which were already publicly available and should be sufficient to verify the findings." Sullivan, meanwhile, was in Havana this week.

CONTINUED RISE IN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

In its latest Open Doors report, the Institute of International Education reports that the number of foreign students in the United States increased by 10 percent in 2014-15 over the previous year - the highest growth rate since 1978-79. The number of engineering students rose by more than 15 percent.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS' FUNDING SOURCES

*Funding from U.S. college or universities includes teaching and research assistantships, which are often federal government research grants disbursed to the student through the institution.

Source: Institute of International Education

SPREAD THE WORK: Most of the $300 million spent annually on microbiome research comes from the National Institutes of Health and involves humans. But a report from the White House-based National Science and Technology Council suggests it should range more widely. Questions like “What is a healthy microbiome?” and “What makes a microbiome resilient?” require "a coordinated, interdisciplinary effort that should include geochemists, statisticians, environmental engineers, mathematical modelers, medical professionals, and others. . . Creating virtual Centers of Microbiome Innovation would improve collaboration at the Federal level."

BARRIERS REMOVED: In a high-profile step toward U.S.-Cuba collaborations in science, Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA administrator, signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba's science ministry on management and study of marine protected areas. ScienceInsider reports that "key fish species, such as billfish and red grouper, cross international boundaries and need to be managed regionally to ensure their protection. Some of Cuba’s reefs and seagrass beds are healthier than those just 100 kilometers away in Florida."

INSPIRE EACH OTHER: The National Science Foundation's Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) progam backs researchers whose "advances lie outside the scope of a single program or discipline"; "lines of research promise transformational advances" and "prospective discoveries reside at the interfaces of disciplinary boundaries that may not be recognized through traditional review or co-review." Find out more.

LAB TO MARKET: ASME's Capitol Update alerts us to Federal Laboratory Technology Transfer report for FY 2013 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Examples cited include cellulose nanofiber composites that can serve as substrates for flexible electronics -- a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture and the University of Wisconsin; and a new medical device that uses magnets to stimulate the brain -- a non-invasive system for treating neuropsychiatric diseases. See the report.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Fewer students are earning a college credential within six years of first enrolling in college, Inside Higher Ed reports, citing data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. 

BEYOND PUBLICATIONS: “A faculty member’s accomplishments in technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship are worthy of consideration in the review process for tenure and advancement,” says a report by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. "When it is successful, technology transfer can invigorate the university and establish relationships with other private and public sectors that affirm the value of a research university.”

2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE UPDATE

New Navigation Section - Papers Management:
The new section contains upcoming deadlines, guidelines, call for papers, and kits for authors, program chairs, reviewers, and moderators.

Author's Kits are Available:
• The 2016 Annual Conference Author's Kit -- available on the website -- contains extremely important information regarding the submission process as well as all relevant deadline dates.

THE ST. LAWRENCE SECTION CONFERENCE will be held at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.,  April 8-9, 2016. This year the conference will include several workshops. The calls for papers, presentations, posters and workshops as well as  information about the Conference Program, Registration, and Hotel information is available on http://stl.asee.org/conference_2016.html.

RFI - What’s your school’s IQ – Impact Quotient? Prism is gathering material for a possible feature story on programs and courses where engineering students are making a difference locally – from reducing waste in the cafeteria to improving the grounds with useful works of art. Do you have design or sustainability courses aimed at making the school ‘greener’? Have student teams identified the lack of community play space as a problem and then designed and built a playground? Or designed an app that has cut electricity use and saved money?
Please send nominations by December 1 to m.matthews@asee.org.

CALLING WOMEN POST-DOCS: "The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science program recognizes and rewards the contributions women make in STEM fields and identifies exceptional women researchers committed to serving as role models for younger generations." In the United States, the fellowship program awards five post‐doctoral women scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each. Learn more. 

eGFI IS HERE: Help inspire the next generation of innovators with the all-new 6th edition of ASEE's prize-winning magazine for middle and high school students: eGFI (Engineering, Go For It). Filled with engaging features, gorgeous graphics, and useful information about engineering colleges and careers, eGFI aims to get teens fired up about learning - and doing - engineering. To purchase copies, go to http://store.asee.org/  For bulk purchases or other inquiries, contact eGFI@asee.org or call 202-331-3500.