What’s Ahead
Science Committee Begins Push to Update Weather Research Law
On Tuesday, the House Science Committee is holding the first in a series of hearings to inform a prospective update to the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act , a 2017 law that aimed to enable improvements to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth system models and forecast systems. Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) played a major role in developing that legislation, including its requirement that NOAA pilot the use of commercial environmental data as a supplement to data from government-owned platforms. Testifying at the hearing are the president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and representatives from three companies: Spire Global, which operates satellites that collect radio occultation data; FLYHT, which operates weather data sensors on aircraft; and Saildrone, which builds autonomous marine vessels. The hearing charter states the committee will explore subjects such as whether NOAA has made full use of private-sector capabilities and how U.S. weather forecasting systems compare with those of other countries. The day after the hearing, the committee is meeting to advance seven bills, four of which focus on NOAA, including one that would direct the agency to explore using Department of Energy supercomputers to improve weather and climate models.
Hearing to Probe Management of Energy and Infrastructure Funds
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday to examine the Biden administration’s management of special appropriations enacted for initiatives in clean energy, environmental remediation, infrastructure revitalization, and semiconductor production, among other areas. Spread across multiple years, the appropriations amount to about $1 trillion in new funding, which the committee’s Republican majority refers to as a “massive spending spree” in its hearing title. The hearing’s witnesses will be the inspectors general for the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce, and Department of Energy, as well as the Government Accountability Office’s managing director for natural resources and the environment. As agencies prepare to distribute the funds, some Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about their ability to satisfactorily select and oversee projects. In addition, late last year, DOE’s inspector general publicly flagged that her office lacks resources needed to “minimize the longer-term impacts from the large-scale frauds that often plague federal programs providing such funding on a rapid timeline.”
Space Science Week Convenes at National Academies
The National Academies is holding its annual Space Science Week meeting this Tuesday through Thursday, bringing together federal and international officials to provide updates to leaders from across all areas of the space science community. Focused sessions will address issues such as NASA’s decision to freeze most work on its VERITAS Venus orbiter and what lessons prior National Science Foundation construction projects hold for the planned Giant Magellan Telescope and Thirty Meter Telescope. A special session featuring several NASA officials will explore the management of science within the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration campaign. The planetary science decadal survey the Academies released last year argued that NASA has not sufficiently planned for conducting scientific investigations as part of its first crewed Artemis landing. A town hall meeting NASA’s Science Mission Directorate held last week on its latest budget request also addressed a range of pressing issues, including the escalating costs of the Mars Sample Return mission.
PCAST Turns to Hazards Resilience, Infrastructure ‘ARPA’
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is meeting on Thursday to vote on two reports focused respectively on preparing for extreme weather risks associated with climate change and on strategies to support the public health workforce. In addition, officials from the Department of Transportation will join the council to discuss the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Infrastructure that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized in 2021 to support long-term transportation R&D. The agency was not among the initiatives funded by the act, but the Biden administration is now requesting $19 million for it and envisions it will address subjects such as clean-energy transportation and “smart mobility. Separately, PCAST announced earlier this month it is launching a working group on cyber-physical resilience, arguing the U.S. must fundamentally re-imagine how it will withstand attacks and failures across the nation’s “increasingly interconnected digital and physical systems.”
Science Diplomacy Roundtable to Meet
The National Academies’ Roundtable on Global Science Diplomacy is holding a day-long meeting on Wednesday focused on the impact of the war in Ukraine on scientists, a recent interagency assessment of shortcomings in U.S. science diplomacy efforts, and research security efforts underway at the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. The roundtable intends to meet twice annually to explore subjects such as how to increase the input of science advice in foreign policymaking and train the next generation of science diplomats. Among its first initiatives are an Action Group on Science Diplomacy Education and an Action Group on Rebuilding Engineering, Science, Education, and Technology in Ukraine (RESET Ukraine). The roundtable is co-chaired by Bill Colglazier, a physicist who from 2011 to 2014 was the science and technology adviser to the secretary of state , and Katherine Himes, a former science adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In Case You Missed It
House Appropriators Preview Priorities for DOE Budget
At a hearing last week with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Republican members of the appropriations subcommittee for the Department of Energy criticized the Biden administration’s priorities in its fiscal year 2024 request for the department. For instance, Subcommittee Chair Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) contrasted the more than 30% increase requested for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy with the 9% increase sought for the Office of Science, which he described as “near and dear” to his heart. Fleischmann also registered his support for the ITER fusion energy project in France, noting the administration proposed a slight cut to the U.S. contribution. Fleischmann and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), who was previously the subcommittee’s top Republican, also criticized the administration’s proposed 12% cut to the Office of Nuclear Energy’s base budget, which Granholm explained as reflecting reduced needs in view of the funding the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided for advanced reactor projects. Simpson further questioned DOE’s proposal to begin planning a new national lab at a minority-serving institution, suggesting the existing labs could address goals such as diversifying the energy R&D workforce. Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) asked Granholm about the consequences of reducing DOE’s budget to its fiscal year 2022 level. Committee Democrats issued a cross-agency request for information on the subject in January to criticize prospective Republican spending proposals. Citing DOE’s response , Granholm estimated it would result in the loss of about 5,200 scientists, students, and technical staff at national labs and universities.
DOD Innovation Initiatives Examined By House Panel
At a hearing last week, the House Armed Services Committee’s main technology subcommittee examined Department of Defense efforts to accelerate the transition of prototypes into acquisition programs and to better engage companies that develop commercial technologies. Subcommittee Chair Mike Gallagher (R-WI) expressed dissatisfaction with the time needed to field new equipment and probed DOD’s use of authorities Congress has granted to address the issue. Testifying, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu highlighted recently launched initiatives such as the Rapid Defense Experimental Reserve , which funds “sprints” around priority capabilities, and the Office of Strategic Capital , which supports startup companies. Asked for details on the new office by Subcommittee Ranking Member Ro Khanna (D-CA), who represents a Silicon Valley district, Shyu replied it currently has a budget of over $100 million for standing up the organization but will need additional authorities to operate a planned loan program. Khanna also sought a rationale for the 20% cut the Biden administration proposed for DOD’s three early-stage R&D accounts, to which Shyu replied that DOD’s request for the accounts is higher than its previous one and that the department formulates its requests on that basis rather than what Congress appropriated. Shyu also noted DOD is increasing its funding request for modernizing laboratory and testing facilities.
Security Rules for CHIPS Money Open for Comment
The National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a draft rule last week for restrictions that will be placed on entities that accept semiconductor manufacturing subsidies funded by the CHIPS and Science Act. The act broadly stipulated that funding recipients may not pursue certain investments or joint research projects involving “countries of concern,” defined as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Elaborating, the draft rule states that the joint-research provision applies to projects related to “a technology or product that raises national security concerns,” defined as “(a) semiconductors critical to national security and (b) electronics-related products and technologies controlled by the [Commerce] Department in the Export Administration Regulations for national security or regional stability reasons.” It also states the restriction applies to “affiliates” of the subsidy recipient “to ensure the purpose of the prohibition is not circumvented.” Violations of the restriction can result in full clawback of the money provided. NIST is holding a webinar about the draft rule on March 30 and comments are due May 22.
DOE Charts Paths to Commercializing Emerging Energy Technology
Last week, the Department of Energy launched a series of “Liftoff Reports,” which will map out pathways to commercialization for emerging clean energy technologies. The first three reports focus on advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen, and long-duration energy storage technologies, and DOE expects to release additional ones over the coming months. The reports provide projections of commercialization timelines and outline the primary challenges each technology faces. They also estimate that cumulative public and private investment in the three technologies needs to rise from about $40 billion at present to in the range of $300 billion to $400 billion by 2030, with continued acceleration thereafter, to meet the Biden administration’s long-term decarbonization targets. DOE states it intends for the reports to provide “a common fact base and a tool for ongoing dialogue with the private sector” and it plans to update them as the commercialization landscape evolves.
Updated Technology Transfer Rule Drops March-In Rights Change
The National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a final rule on March 24 that updates regulations governing the commercialization of technologies developed with federal funds. Notably, NIST decided not to pursue its proposal to explicitly limit federal agencies from exercising their “march-in rights” to compel companies to reduce the price of products developed with federal funds. Some advocacy groups have petitioned the National Institutes of Health to use march-in rights to reduce prices of certain prescription drugs, though the agency has repeatedly declined to do so. NIST explained in the final rule that a majority of the comments it received on the draft rule pertained to the march-in rights proposal and that it concluded the matter warrants further study. The agency also noted that an executive order from President Biden directed it to consider not finalizing any provisions related to march-in rights and product pricing.
Events This Week
All times are Eastern Standard Time, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, March 27
National Academies: “Policies and Practices for Supporting Family Caregivers Working in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Symposium Two”
12:00 - 5:00 pm
OSTP: Public listening session to inform the 2023-2028 federal STEM strategic plan
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Tuesday, March 28
National Academies: Space Science Week 2023
(continues through Thursday)
Battelle: Innovations in Climate Resilience conference
(continues through Thursday)
Federal Laboratory Consortium: 2023 National Meeting
(continues through Thursday)
NSPN: HBCU and MSI Science Policy College Tour
(continues through Thursday)
House: Nuclear forces budget request hearing
9:00 am, Armed Services Committee
Senate: DOD budget request hearing
9:30 am, Armed Services Committee
House: “Reauthorizing the Weather Act: Data and Innovation for Predictions”
10:00 am, Science Committee
House: Interior Department budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee
House: HHS budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee
Harvard Belfer Center: “Implementing CHIPS and Science with White House Lead, Ronnie Chatterji”
10:00 - 11:00 am
House: Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee Member Day
10:30 am, Appropriations Committee
NSF: Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Project Management Webinar
12:00 - 1:30 pm
NDIA: “Nuclear Fusion 101”
1:00 - 2:00 pm
House: Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee Member Day
1:30 pm, Appropriations Committee
Senate: “Regional Nuclear Deterrence”
4:45 pm, Armed Services Committee
National Academies: “Pathways to Doctoral Degrees in Computing,” meeting four
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Wednesday, March 29
NASA: Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting
(continues Thursday)
Atlantic Council: “How to Keep Western Tech Out of Russian Weapons”
8:00 am
Axios: What’s Next Summit
8:10 am
National Academies: Roundtable on Global Science Diplomacy, spring meeting
8:30 am - 5:00 pm
Senate: Interior Department budget request hearing
9:30 am, Appropriations Committee
House: Meeting to advance seven bills
10:00 am, Science Committee
Senate: “Advancing Next Generation Aviation Technologies”
10:00 am, Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
Senate: “The Cost of Oil Dependence in a Low-Carbon World”
10:00 am, Budget Committee
House: DOD budget request hearing
10:00 am, Armed Services Committee
ITIF: “The Future of Manufacturing and Innovation in Germany and the US”
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
ANS: “DOE Nuclear Export Regulations, 10 CFR Part 810: Updates and Understanding the Final Rule on Monetary Civil Penalties Rule”
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
FIA: Fusion Industry Association annual conference
12:00 - 6:00 pm
House: “Follow the Money: Oversight of President Biden’s Massive Spending Spree”
2:00 pm, Energy and Commerce Committee
NSF: “Pathways to the Federal Space Workforce”
5:00 - 6:30 pm
Thursday, March 30
DOD: Air Force Scientific Advisory Board closed meeting
(continues Friday)
White House: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology meeting
9:20 am - 12:00 pm
Senate: “Petrochemicals to Waste: Examining the Lifecycle Environmental and Climate Effects of Plastic”
10:00 am, Environment and Public Works Committee
BIS: Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting
10:00 am
Carnegie Endowment: “Accelerating U.S.-Japan Tech Innovation”
1:00 - 2:00 pm
NTIA: National Spectrum Strategy Listening Session
1:00 - 4:00 pm
NIST: Webinar on CHIPS for America Workforce Development Guide
3:00 - 4:00 pm
National Academies: “Climate Conversations: Tipping Points”
3:00 - 4:15 pm
CSET: “Betting the House: Strengthening the Full Microelectronics Supply Chain”
4:00 - 5:00 pm
NIST: Webinar on proposed national security guardrails for CHIPS Act funds
5:00 - 5:30 pm
Friday, March 31
No events start today.
Monday, April 3
IAA: Planetary Defense Conference 2023
(continues through Friday)
National Academies: “Elementary Particle Physics: Progress and Promise,” meeting six
(continues Tuesday)
Brookings Institution: “Social Cost of Carbon: What it Is, Why it Matters, and Why the Biden Administration Seeks to Raise It”
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Opportunities
NASA Hiring Space Policy Analysts
NASA is seeking space policy analysts to join the Science Mission Directorate’s Policy Branch. Responsibilities for the position include maintaining relationships with stakeholders across sectors, interpreting policy guidance from Congress and the administration, conducting policy studies, and managing independent review boards. Applications are due March 28. (Update: NASA has extended the due date to March 30.)
Kavli Foundation Hiring Director of Physical Sciences
The Kavli Foundation is hiring a director of physical sciences, who will oversee a portfolio of grantmaking and scientific convening activities related to astrophysics and theoretical physics. Candidates must have a doctorate in a physical sciences field, preferably astrophysics, and at least 10 to 15 years of management experience.
AURA Seeking Director for National Solar Observatory
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy is hiring a director for the National Solar Observatory, which manages facilities such as the recently completed Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii. Candidates should have significant experience in research management, stakeholder engagement, and international relations. The search committee will begin reviewing applications on April 30.
For additional opportunities, please visit www.aip.org/fyi/opportunities . Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org .
Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org .
Around the Web
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
Washington Post: White House disbanding its COVID-19 team in May
AP: Biden signs bill on COVID origins declassification
OSTP: Biden-Harris administration announces bold priorities to advance American biotechnology and biomanufacturing (report)
OSTP: OSTP releases new resources to advance climate science and support decision making
Inside Climate News: A new White House plan prioritizes using the ocean’s power to fight climate change
Congress
House Appropriations Committee: Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) receives agency responses highlighting impacts of proposed House Republican cuts
House Appropriations Committee: Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) responds to Democrats’ assumptions and speculations on spending cuts
SpaceNews: NASA warns of ‘devastating’ impacts of potential budget cuts
E&E News: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to chair Senate Energy Subcommittee
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Cruz leads 13 GOP colleagues in blasting administration for left-wing strings put on semiconductor money
Senate Energy Committee: Bipartisan bill reintroduced to strengthen mining and geological engineering programs at universities
Senate Energy Committee: Republicans introduce legislation to require DOE cybersecurity office head to be Senate confirmed
Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA): Bipartisan bill reintroduced to streamline fertilizer production and apply the power of quantum computing to Main Street America
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH): Bipartisan bill reintroduced to create White House Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Innovation Policy
Science, Society, and the Economy
Nature Human Behavior: Political endorsement by Nature and trust in scientific expertise during COVID-19 (paper by Floyd Jiuyun Zhang)
Nature: Political endorsements can affect scientific credibility (perspective by Arthur Lupia)
Politico: Scientific journals may have erred when they decided to endorse Biden for president (perspective by Jack Shafer)
Fox News: Scientific journal reveals Biden endorsement caused people to ‘lose confidence’ in scientists
Nature: Should Nature endorse political candidates? Yes — when the occasion demands it (editorial)
Politico: Conservative futurists make peace … to fight with China
New York Times: Even more than the last Cold War, this one will be waged by technological elites (perspective by David Brooks)
Science: Communities can leverage institutions of higher education to lure knowledge workers to new regions (book review)
Education and Workforce
Science: Pall of suspicion: NIH’s secretive ‘China initiative’ has destroyed scores of academic careers
Science: NIH’s Mike Lauer has been heavy-handed with regard to policing foreign influence from China (perspective by Holden Thorp)
NIH: Trends in extramural research integrity allegations received at NIH
NIH: Learn about NIH’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility strategic plan for FY23-27
Chronicle of Higher Education: Meet the Stanford professor at the center of the knock-down, drag-out math wars
Space Review: The space industry is not large enough to support the needs of the current commercial and government landscape (perspective by Joseph Horvath and Christopher Allen)
Research Management
Nature: The Cape Town Statement on fairness, equity, and diversity in research (perspective by Lyn Horn, et al.)
Day One Project: How to replicate the success of Operation Warp Speed (perspective by Jacob Robertson and Alice Wu)
Forbes: Washington must wake up to the innovation imperative (perspective by Deborah Wince-Smith)
Bloomberg: AI should help vet new research (perspective by Faye Flam)
AIP: AIP Publishing expands article processing charge waiver and discount policy
Labs and Facilities
ScienceInsider: Major shake-up coming for Fermilab, the troubled US particle physics center
Berkeley Lab: Dimitri Argyriou named next director of Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source
PNNL: Joel Duling named associate lab director for operational systems at Pacific Northwest National Lab
Jefferson Lab: Jefferson Lab establishes biomedical research and innovation center
DESY: DESY and the Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago enter partnership for innovation and transfer
ScienceInsider: Compact X-ray laser would shrink billion-dollar machines to the size of a room
CGTN: Chinese scientists mull building underwater telescope to detect cosmic rays
Air University: People’s Republic of China defense S&T key lab directory (report)
Computing and Communications
EE Times: US prepares to establish its $11 billion NSTC
Reuters: US, Canada plan North American chip corridor, starting with IBM expansion
Financial Times: China frees top chip investor to bolster semiconductor efforts
New York Times: Gordon Moore, the Intel co-founder behind Moore’s Law, dies at 94
Space
SpacePolicyOnline: NASA science head Nicky Fox urges science community to stick together amid budget pressures
Planetary Exploration Newsletter: Congress needs to intervene in the management of NASA planetary science (perspective by Mark Sykes)
JPL: Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission reveals first stunning views
NASA: Titan Dragonfly team soars through preliminary design review
NASA: Team troubleshoots propulsion for NASA’s Lunar Flashlight cubesat
NASA: Changes ahead as human spaceflight head Kathy Lueders plans retirement
SpaceNews: Could planetary protection considerations hinder our plans to send humans to Mars? (perspective by Chris Carberry and Rick Zucker)
Space Review: A solution to the growing problem of satellite interference with radio astronomy (perspective by Christopher Gordon De Pree, et al.)
SpaceNews: Canada agrees to ISS extension to 2030
Weather, Climate, and Environment
Carbon Brief: Carbon Brief’s definitive guide to the entire IPCC sixth assessment cycle
The Honest Broker: Has the IPCC outlived its usefulness? (perspective by Roger Pielke Jr.)
Washington Post: Why climate ‘doomers’ are replacing climate ‘deniers’
Reuters: How two weather balloons led Mexico to ban solar geoengineering
Oak Ridge National Lab: ORNL and National Energy Technology Lab researchers join forces to accelerate decarbonization
Energy
DOE: DOE announces $150 million for research on the science foundations for Energy Earthshots
European Union: Foresight study on the worldwide developments in advancing fusion energy, including the small scale private initiatives
DOE: RFI on potential technological approaches for a Fusion Prototypic Neutron Source
Joule: The value of fusion energy to a decarbonized US electric grid (paper by Jacob Schwartz, et al.)
The Economist: Fusion power is coming back into fashion
Wall Street Journal: South Korea’s LG Energy to build $5.6 billion battery plant in Arizona
New York Times: Geothermal power could help run Japan. So why doesn’t it?
E&E News: Great Lakes lawmakers decry Canadian nuclear waste proposal
Defense
Wall Street Journal: Pentagon woos Silicon Valley to join ranks of arms makers
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Will DIANA — NATO’s DARPA-style innovation hub — improve or degrade global stability? (perspective by Marina Favaro, et al.)
Real Clear Defense: Let’s stop low-balling defense basic research (perspective by Jesse Ausubel and Paul Gaffney II)
Wall Street Journal: Russia–Ukraine war threatens to trigger new nuclear arms race
Union of Concerned Scientists: Why nuclear justice for the Marshall Islands is the biggest US–China issue you’ve never heard of (perspective by Lilly Adams)
Breaking Defense: Inside world’s largest supersonic wind tunnel, amid global scramble to test hypersonic, jet tech
Breaking Defense: NORTHCOM chief: Homeland defense could be imperiled by commercial spectrum sale
Biomedical
DOD: DOD releases biomanufacturing strategy (report)
Nature: ‘Open for business’: ARPA–H ready to spend $2.5 billion budget (interview with Renee Wegrzyn)
New York Times: ‘We were helpless’: Despair at the CDC as the COVID pandemic erupted
Washington Post: Release genetic sequences from Wuhan market implicated in COVID origins (perspective by Amy Maxmen)
Stat: The lab leak conversation shows it’s time to rethink our biosecurity infrastructure, not just policies (perspective by Sam Weiss Evans and David Gillum)
Stat: Stéphane Bancel, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spar over what Moderna owes the federal government
International Affairs
Science|Business: EU research commissioner visits Silicon Valley to attract talent and investment to Europe
Research Professional: EU leaders call for more work on long-missed R&D spending target
European Space Agency: Independent advisory group presents report on European space revolution to ESA
Science|Business: German science minister tells Fraunhofer Society to reform amid allegations of misuse of funds
Research Professional: UK–EU Horizon association talks expected ‘in coming weeks’
Optics.org: UK politicians to probe quantum tech commercialization efforts
Science|Business: Ukrainian government calls on science diaspora to help strengthen ties with the West
New Books Network: China’s Cold War science diplomacy (audio interview with Gordon Barrett)
Center for European Policy Analysis: China’s long march to enter Russia’s top scientific faculties has succeeded (perspective by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan)
Japan Times: Chinese and Russian researchers barred from Japan space agency institute