IF AT FIRST . . . House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) will again seek passage of the Frontiers in Innovation, Science and Technology (FIRST) Act, which last year caused his panel to split along party lines. The previous bill, reauthorizing the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, never reached a vote in the full House. An aide told the Engineering Deans Council that Smith's new measure would still direct spending to individual directorates, something currently left up to the administration. His prioties would be engineering, computer science, biology, and math. He also remains committed to the idea that funded research be justified as serving the "national interest," and to provisions on replication of experiments and data reproduceability. He attaches a high priority to STEM education -- in particular master's-level training and a cybersecurity major. Smith, whose staff has scoured NSF grants for examples of frivolity or political agendas, believes in "tough love," the aide said, and he and NSF Director France Córdova in general agree on 90 percent of policy issues. The FIRST Act would go part way toward rauthorizing the landmark America COMPETES Act. Separate legislation would address the Department of Energy Office of Science and the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy.

Engineering deans, in Washington for ASEE's Public Policy Colloquium and Hill visits, pose in a Dirksen Senate Office Building meeting room. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Eiler, director of federat relations at the University of California, Irvine. 

'HEMMED IN' BY THE BUDGET CAPS: Rep. Dan Linpinski (D-Ill.), a strong supporter of COMPETES as passed in 2007 and again in 2010, doesn't seem hopeful for a reauthorization bill that Democrats could favor. Prospects might be better in the Senate than the House, he indicated. But "we're hemmed in most by the Budget Control Act (BCA)," which would cap discretionary spending for 2016 at about $1.1 trillion.

BEST HOPE? THE STATUS QUO: If the current impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security is any indication, this year's budget process could be a drawn-out affair, according to Hill staffers. Lifting the BCA's caps on discretionary spending, as President Obama proposes, requires either trimming entitlements -- which lawmakers are scared to do -- or raising revenue, which Republicans oppose unless it's packaged as tax reform. That last requires an "adult conversation," one staffer said, something that's "going to be really hard" in the current polarized atmosphere. If GOP hawks succeed in breaking down the firewall that keeps cuts to defense and domestic spending roughly the same, R&D and education will take more of a hit. "I know you want more money, and I would love to have more" to distribute, an appropriations staffer told the deans, adding that "realistically, maintaining the status quo" may be the best option.

ASTEROID RETRIEVAL, MARS FLYBY: Reauthorizing NASA, the House signaled that it will keep a close watch on the space agency's plans for asteroid retrieval and a human spaceflight Mars Flyby.  Lawmakers stuck by the science mix authorized in 2010 and a "balanced earth science program." The bill, which passed by voice vote in a show of bipartisanship, proclaimed a goal of "a crewed mission to the surface of Mars to begin human exploration." International partners are welcome "under the leadership of the United States." Read a summary by Dick Jones of the American Institute of Physics.

A BIPARTISAN K-12 ENGINEERING BILL: Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) lined up two GOP cosponsors for H.R. 823, intended to "better integrate STEM education into elementary and secondary instruction and curricula, to encourage high-quality STEM professional development, and to expand current mathematics and science education research to include engineering education." The Republicans are Rodney Davis of Illinois and David McKinley of West Virginia. Rep. Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) is also a cosponsor. Tonko, who this week joined the House Science Subcommittee on Research and Technology, drew bipartisan support for a similar bill in the last session that didn't make it out of committee. McKinley recently re-introduced another bill of interest, H.R. 748, allowing veterans an extra six months of GI Bill benefits if they pursue STEM degrees.

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE:  If Rep. Lamar Smith goes a little easier on the National Science Foundation this year, credit might go to his recent visit to NSF's station on Antarctica as the guest of Director France Córdova. Still, "we'll all have to be on our toes," she told the PPC. "Things go awry when we do not see things fast enough." Offering highlights of agency initiatives, Cordova compared the administration's brain initiative to space discovery. Just as technological advances allowed breakthroughs in our understanding of space, "the brain is due for that kind of paradigm shift." Engineers will have "a lot to do with that." She acknowledged concern among hard scientists about what her physics colleagues called NSF's apparent "slide into applied research." But translational programs -- advanced manufacturing, I-Corps among them -- "get the message across that we care about impact."

SEES THE MOMENT: One NSF budget highlight is the Innovation Nexis of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS). It already exists as part of  Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES), launched back in 2010. Inviting proposals for workshops and supplemental research,  "NSF aims to accelerate fundamental understanding and stimulate basic research on systems that extend beyond the interests of the SEES Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) program to include couplings to energy and food systems where the NSF already has established presence." A webinar with Q&A is set for Feb. 25. 

LET'S TALK: "We want you to come and meet with us," David Danielson, the Department of Energy's assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), told the PPC. His agency's priorities: clean energy manufacturing; grid modernization; subsurface science and technology; and energy and water. Similar encouragement came from Michael Molnar, chief manufacturing officer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nerve center for the expanding National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. "You are the beginning of manufacturing," he said to the deans.

Graphics presented by Matt Hourihan of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the PPC.

TOO HOT TO TOUCH: That has been the prevailing attitude of funding agencies toward research into reversing climate change through geoengineering. Two reports from the National Research Council seem likely to change that. One, on reflecting sunlight, or albedo, recommends a modification research program "that emphasizes multiple benefit research that also furthers basic understanding of the climate system and its human dimensions," it says. Two strategies are injection of aerosols into the stratosphere and marine cloud brightening. The other report, on carbon dioxide removal, recommends recommends R&D "to
improve methods of carbon dioxide removal and disposal at scales that would have a global impact on reducing greenhouse warming."

ENGINEERING - THE TV SERIES: The world needs a show  featuring a female engineer as a leading character, the National Academy of Engineering believes, and it's launching a competition to bring one to television. The kickoff will be 11 a.m. Feb. 19, and it will be webcast. Entertainment executives and producers will be on hand, along with creators of "MacGyver" and "CSI," and University of Southern California dean Yannis Yortsos.

YEAR OF ACTION ON DIVERSITY: Read the latest issue of the Diversity Committee's semi-annual newsletter, including its call for nominations for Best Diversity Paper.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS FOR THE WORKPLACE: The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) is leading the development of a competency model for the engineering profession in order to help build a broader understanding of the knowledge and skills needed by engineers to thrive in the workplace. Competency models currently exist for almost every industry in the United States except engineering. AAES has issued a broad invitation to the engineering community to participate in an initial survey to provide critical input of knowledge and counsel on this draft competency model for the engineering sector. You can participate in the survey on-line at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EngCompModel. It should take about 25 minutes to complete.

NORTHEAST SECTION CONFERENCE: This year's conference  will be held at Northeastern University from Thursday, April 30, to Saturday, May 2. Go to the website. The abstract submission deadline has been extended to February 17. This year’s conference theme is Professional Formation of Engineers. Broad categories include: Experiential Learning and Industrial Involvement; Ethics, Context, and Values; Interdisciplinary; Leadership; and Assessment.

'TAKING STOCK OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY' conference July 7 to 10, 2015 at Surrey University, U.K., sponsored by the International Society for Industrial Ecology. Learn more.