June 13, 2015

SENATE SPENDING BILL FLAT-FUNDS NSF, BUMPS UP NASA AND NIST

The Senate Appropriations Committee kept National Science Foundation funding at FY 2015 levels -- below the level approved by House appropriators -- while providing NASA a $279 million increase over FY2015 and $29 million more for NIST. Although senators seemed more favorably disposed to NSF than the House GOP, which seeks to shrink social sciences, the Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) was constrained by having a smaller allocation than its House counterpart. Democrats promise to block all appropriations bills on the floor in order to force Congress into a new budget agreement that boosts domestic spending.

BASIC RESEARCH STRESSED AT DoD:  In approving a FY2016 defense spending bill, Senate appropriators included $39,7 million more for basic research than in the current year "in order to keep pace with the global challenges to come." This is $228.5 million more than the administration sought. Universities would benefit through University Research Initiatives, University and Industry Research Centers, more funding for research at historically black and minority institutions, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

READINESS, ENERGY, AND CYBER: Senate appropriators encouraged the Navy "to support academic institutions with strong capabilities in aviation and aerospace structures and materials testing and evaluation to enhance readiness." They also want researchers to pursue "promising alternative energy technologies," and solar research in dry dust areas. Other Senate priorities for Pentagon research include cybersecurity, cloud computing, and associated encryption. The Office of Naval Research is urged "to develop a multi-disciplinary science and technology strategy addressing dynamic cyber defense and tactical cyberspace operations."

COLD AND DEEP: Senators see a possible struggle ahead in the Arctic, and urge "research efforts to develop security capabilities and strategies for the Arctic region" and a decision by Dec. 31 on what would be needed to set up an Arctic Center of Excellence." They also provide $10 million to ONR toward "development of advanced warhead and explosives concepts for undersea warfare, and an assessment of global developments in energetic materials." And they like what the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is doing on the undersea robotics battlefront with the Anti-Submarine Warfare [ASW] Continuous-Trail Unmanned Vessel [ACTUV].

TOTAL SQUARE FOOTAGE FOR RESEARCH IN FY 2013

(Source: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics - NSF - see the report)

TOP-PAID PUBLIC UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS

(2014 figures from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

 

Base Pay                                                     Total Compensation                                                    

RED ALERT: A formal announcement is expected soon from the National Science Foundation on big grants for revolutionizing engineering departments (RED). Awards of close to $2 million are going to Purdue University for "An Engineering Education Skunkworks to Spark Departmental Revolution"; to Arizona State University for "Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking"; to Oregon State University for "Shifting Departmental Culture to Re-Situate Learning and Instruction"; to the University of San Diego for "Developing Changemaking Engineers"; to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for "The Connected Learner: Design Patterns for Transforming Computing and Informatics Education." Labeled differently but apparently along the same lines is Colorado State University's "Revolutionizing Roles to Reimagine Integrated Systems of Engineering Formation." See Prism's story on the program.

EXPLORING INNOVATION FRONTIERS is a two-year initiative kicked off in Atlanta this week by the Council on Competitveness and NSF "[T]o identify the emerging models of technological innovation that will propel U.S. competitiveness in the coming decades."The project will "collect, synthesize and disseminate broadly the experiential knowledge of active innovation practitioners," and "provide academicians with direction for future research in innovation, business leaders and strategists with insights to inform future business models, and policymakers with knowledge to enact public policies that create a supportive environment for sustained innovation-driven growth."

MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER: That's what Cornell engineering dean Lance Collins says about social science research. In a Washington Post op-ed, he criticizes House GOP moves to cut social and behavioral sciences at the National Science Foundation in reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act. He notes that U.S. intelligence agencies use social science to understand, for instance, how certain terror groups use social media. Dramatic cuts could have national security implications by curtailing research already under way into the Arab Spring uprisings.

BIG EMPLOYERS: "In 2012–2013, public research universities employed over 1.1 million faculty and staff nationwide, and were among the top-five largest employers in twenty-four states." This is one of the points made in "Public Research Universities: Why They Matter," put out by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. See also An MIT report examining the consequences of a U.S. failure to invest sufficiently in research and development.

The ASEE Diversity Committee has announced winners of its Best Paper competition. The top prize goes to "Creatng  Inclusive  Environments  in  First-­‐Year  Engineering  Classes  to  Support  Student  Retenton  and  Learning" by  Christna  H.  Paguyo  (Colorado  State  University),  Rebecca  A.  Atadero  (Colorado  State  University),  Karen  E.  Rambo‐Hernandez  (West  Virginia  University),  and  Jennifer  Francis  (West  Virginia  University). Read the committee's latest newsletter.