What’s Ahead

A composite image of the asteroid Bennu taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

(Image credit – NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)

OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Mission to Attempt Sample Collection

On Tuesday, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will briefly descend to the asteroid Bennu, where it has been in orbit for nearly two years, to obtain a sample of about 60 grams or more from one of the few smooth spots on the hazardous boulder-strewn surface . If the attempt does not meet its goals, mission staff will begin preparing for a second collection at another location, probably in early 2021. The spacecraft is due to depart Bennu in March to deliver its sample to researchers on Earth in 2023. Launched in 2016, OSIRIS-REx is the third mission selected through NASA’s New Frontiers program, the most expensive class of planetary science missions proposed and developed by teams from outside the agency, in this case the University of Arizona. Spacecraft fabrication, led by Lockheed Martin, came in at 10% under budget and the mission’s total lifecycle cost is expected to be about $1.1 billion. The mission is partly motivated by the calculated 1-in-2,700 chance that Bennu will impact Earth in the late 2100s, but it is also part of a larger international campaign of research on asteroids and comets, including previous sample return missions. NASA’s Stardust mission returned cometary material to Earth in 2006, while Japan’s Hayabusa returned an asteroid sample in 2010. A second Hayabusa mission is set to arrive with another asteroid sample in December. NASA is hosting a series of events before, during, and after this week’s collection attempt.

Coalition Against Sexual Harassment Sharing Best Practices

The National Academies Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education, a coalition of more than 60 universities and research organizations, is holding a two day virtual summit starting Monday. The coalition formed in response to the 2018 National Academies report on the prevalence of sexual harassment at U.S. academic institutions, and it has already developed a repository of anti-harassment resources developed by member institutions. Panel discussions at the summit will address harassment prevention and response in academic and field research environments, conducting and using workplace climate surveys, and “centering survivors in reporting policies.”

Forums Focusing on Quantum Policy Strategies

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory is hosting a two day virtual forum starting Thursday to discuss emerging applications of quantum information science and the U.S. government’s strategy for accelerating progress in the field. Among the speakers are U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, Department of Energy Office of Science Director Chris Fall, National Quantum Coordination Office Director Charles Tahan, and University of Maryland physicist Chris Monroe, who was a key advocate for the National Quantum Initiative Act. Separately this week, the United Kingdom-based Institute of Physics is convening a virtual conference dedicated to quantum technologies. Representatives from national and regional quantum technology initiatives around the world will participate in a special session on Tuesday.

NIST Reflecting on Innovation Strategy

The main advisory panel for the National Institute of Standards and Technology is meeting virtually on Tuesday to consider strategic planning and emerging priority areas at the agency. NIST Director Walter Copan will discuss specific opportunities in advanced manufacturing, communications, cybersecurity, and international standards development, and other NIST officials will offer updates on efforts to reform technology transfer policies and expand partnerships in measurement science. The panel will also hear from Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson on the “state of U.S. advanced tech industry competitiveness.” Copan is also speaking this week at a symposium on “6G” telecommunications technologies along with FCC Chair Ajit Pai, who has opened up spectrum bands for experimentation with far-afield uses of frequencies above 95 gigahertz.

In Case You Missed It

An image of TRISO, a pelletized fuel used in X-energy’s Xe-100 reactor, which the Department of Energy is supporting through its new advanced reactor demonstration program. The core of the pellet is composed of a compound of high-assay low-enriched uranium, which is surrounded by layers of carbon compounds.

(Image credit – DOE)

DOE Selects Reactor Projects for New Demonstration Program

On Oct. 13, the Department of Energy announced awards of $80 million each for two nuclear reactor development projects, funding the first year of new cost-sharing partnerships that aim to demonstrate working prototypes. One of the recipients is TerraPower, a venture backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates that is developing a reactor design known as Natrium, which uses molten salt as a coolant and aims to be more economical than traditional nuclear power plants. The other recipient is X-energy, which is developing a reactor called Xe-100 that is cooled by helium gas and fueled by TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) fuel pellets that are designed to make meltdowns impossible and enable refueling without a plant shutdown. Congress created the demonstration program through last year’s appropriations legislation and, while the Trump administration has proposed discontinuing the awards, DOE anticipates it will spend a total of $3.2 billion on them over the next seven years if the funding is made available. The department also expects to make smaller awards in December to between two and five reactor development projects for reducing technical risks, and to at least two early-stage reactor concept development projects. Through its Project Pele, the Defense Department is also funding the development of three TRISO-based designs for mobile nuclear reactors, including one proposed by X-energy, and may eventually support one of the projects through to a prototype demonstration.

China Reportedly Threatens Retaliation for Scientist Arrests

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 17 that Chinese government representatives have privately warned U.S. officials that Americans in China may be detained in response to recent arrests of scientists with ties to China’s military. This summer, the Department of Justice charged three visiting researchers and one graduate student with visa fraud, alleging they lied about their connections to the Chinese military on visa applications. It also charged a visiting researcher for destroying a hard drive, arguing the act interfered with an investigation into possible “transfer of sensitive software” to China’s National University of Defense Technology. The department did not confirm the threats to the Journal, but stated, “We are aware that the Chinese government has, in other instances, detained American, Canadian, and other individuals without legal basis to retaliate against lawful prosecutions and to exert pressure on their governments, with a callous disregard of the individuals involved.” In 2018, China arrested two Canadian citizens shortly after Canada detained the chief financial officer of the telecommunications company Huawei, whom the U.S. had charged with evading sanctions against Iran.

APS Seeks Details on Chinese Visa Revocations

The American Physical Society announced last week it has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department seeking details on the recent revocation of more than 1,000 visas held by Chinese students and researchers. A May 2020 proclamation by President Trump empowered the department to cancel visas for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers deemed to have current or past ties to an unnamed set of institutions affiliated with the Chinese military. APS states that no administration officials they met with “could — or were willing to — provide any details, such as: an example of a case of student espionage involving university basic research; the number of students the administration claims have engaged in or are charged with espionage; or, an estimate of the impact to the U.S. of the alleged espionage that would form the basis for the proclamation.” The FOIA request seeks all internal policy documents related to the proclamation, the names of institutions it applies to, and the names of the U.S. institutions the visa holders were planning to attend, among other details. The request argues, “Lacking any public explanation, the denial of visas will only contribute to the growing view that the United States is unwelcoming to foreigners and thereby diminish the ability of the United States to attract top talent, as the APS has seen in its annual survey of international students .” (APS is an AIP Member Society.)

White House Touts Technology Protection Initiatives

The White House published a “National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies” last week that outlines general steps the U.S. is taking to bolster the “National Security Innovation Base” and “protect technology advantage,” such as fostering public-private partnerships and expanding export controls. The strategy also lists 20 broad types of critical and emerging technologies that are identified as priorities across the government. The list overlaps with the White House’s “Industries of the Future” framework and includes additional items such as “energy technologies” and “chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear mitigation technologies.” In a statement on the strategy, the Commerce Department highlighted its implementation of multilateral export controls on certain emerging technologies pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. The latest set, published this month , applies to “hybrid additive manufacturing/computer numerically controlled tools; computational lithography software designed for the fabrication of extreme ultraviolet masks; technology for finishing wafers for five nanometer integrated circuit production; digital forensics tools that circumvent authentication or authorization controls on a computer and extract raw data; software for monitoring and analysis of communications and metadata acquired from a telecommunications service provider via a handover interface; and sub-orbital spacecraft.”

Research Security Roundtable Co-Chairs Appointed

On Oct. 15, the National Academies announced that its newly established National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable will be led by MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber, former National Intelligence Council Chair John Gannon, and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair Richard Meserve. The roundtable will serve as a forum for representatives of the scientific community, federal science agencies, the intelligence community, and law enforcement officials to discuss concerns and activities related to securing research against exploitation by foreign governments. Congress mandated its creation through the Securing American Science and Technology Act , enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. The National Academies has long played a role in advising the government on research security matters, such as through the 1982 Corson report and the 2009 report Beyond “Fortress America.”

AI Commission Proposes Suite of Ambitious STEM Initiatives

In its quarterly tranche of recommendations released last week, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence proposes a set of broad STEM workforce development initiatives as well as more targeted efforts in microelectronics, quantum computing, and biotechnology. Among its 66 recommendations are for Congress to provide the National Science Foundation with $8 billion over five years to fund 25,000 STEM undergraduate scholarships, 5,000 STEM graduate fellowships, and 500 postdoctoral positions. It also proposes creating a National Microelectronics Scholar Program modeled on the Department of Defense’s SMART scholarship-for-service program. For quantum computing, the commission recommends providing researchers with access to quantum computers through a national cloud computing infrastructure and incentivizing domestic manufacturing of component materials through tax credits and loan guarantees. The commission also calls for the White House to create a Technology Competitiveness Council chaired by the vice president to focus government attention on technological innovation.

Congressional Panel Seeks Technology Office Reboot

Among the 97 recommendations released last week by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is a proposal to reconstitute the long-defunct Office of Technology Assessment as a “Congressional Technology and Innovation Lab.” The committee explains the new entity would go beyond the mandate of the original OTA by “proactively studying and testing new technologies rather than waiting for directives to study technologies.” It adds that the lab would employ “nonpartisan experts, visiting professors, and graduate students” to provide fresh perspectives to members of Congress and their staff. In recent years, there has been a renewed push within Congress to revive OTA, though House appropriators backed away from the idea this year, instead favoring continued expansion of the Government Accountability Office’s Science, Technology, Assessment, and Analytics team.

Nature Endorses Biden

The United Kingdom-based scientific journal Nature officially endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Oct. 14. Having previously published a news article reviewing ways that President Trump has “damaged science,” the journal’s editors further evaluate Trump’s record on issues connected to science and criticizes his divisive approach to politics more generally. They argue Biden would chart a starkly different course on matters such as the pandemic, climate change, environmental regulation, and immigration, and urge, “Joe Biden must be given an opportunity to restore trust in truth, in evidence, in science and in other institutions of democracy, heal a divided nation, and begin the urgent task of rebuilding the United States’ reputation in the world.” While some scientific publications have broken longstanding positions of neutrality to weigh in on this year’s election, Nature previously backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, when it referred to Trump as a “demagogue not fit for high office,” and in 2008 it issued a more measured endorsement of Barack Obama.

Battle Continues Over Politicization at CDC

More than 1,000 current and former officers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemiology Intelligence Service fellowship program signed a letter published this month that protests the “ominous politicization and silencing” of the agency. Representing more than a quarter of the people who have participated in the program throughout its nearly 70 year history, the letter adds to the mounting criticism of how the Trump administration has sought control over CDC’s pandemic-response efforts. This past week, the Associated Press reported that in June the Trump administration assigned two appointees to the agency’s headquarters tasked with “keeping an eye” on CDC Director Robert Redfield, according to a “half-dozen CDC and administration officials.” The assignment was made during the same period that the chief spokesperson and a science adviser at the agency’s parent department sought to exert control over CDC messaging and scientific products. Both those individuals departed the department last month under a cloud of scandal .

Supreme Court Nominee Pressed on Climate Views

During her nomination hearing last week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Amy Coney Barrett declined to explain her personal views on climate change when pressed by Democratic senators. In one exchange , vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked Barrett if she believes smoking causes cancer and whether coronavirus is infectious before then asking if she believes climate change is occurring. Barrett agreed that the coronavirus is infectious and smoking causes cancer, but declined to provide a direct response on climate change, stating, “I will not express a view on a matter of public policy, especially one that is politically controversial because that’s inconsistent with the judicial role.” Harris observed that Barrett’s appointment to the court could have implications for climate policy, noting Justice Ginsberg voted in favor of the landmark 5-to-4 Massachusetts v. EPA case, which enabled the government to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Events This Week

Monday, October 19

SACNAS: National Diversity in STEM Conference (continues through Saturday) NSW: Nuclear Science Week (continues through Friday) IOP: Quantum 2020 (continues through Thursday) SLAC: Americas Workshop on Linear Colliders 2020 (continues through Thursday) NASA: Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting (continues through Wednesday) National Academies: “Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: 2020 Public Summit” (continues Tuesday) National Academies: Committee on Solar and Space Physics fall meeting (continues Tuesday) National Academy of Medicine: “Confronting Urgent Threats to Human Health and Society: COVID-19 and Climate Change” Harvard Belfer Center: “Solar Climate Intervention: The Case for Research and Options for Assessment and Decision-Making” 12:00 - 1:00 pm National Academies: “Meeting Regional STEMM Workforce Needs in the Wake of COVID-19: Richmond Workshop” 1:00 - 4:15 pm

Tuesday, October 20

InterDigital/Northeastern University: 6G Symposium (continues Wednesday) Microsoft: “Federal Science and Research Summit” (continues Wednesday) AAS: “Hitting the Mother Lode: OSIRIS-REx and the Future of Space Mining”
9:00 - 10:00 am NIST: Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology meeting 10:00 am - 5:00 pm NASA: Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group meeting 10:00 am - 1:15 pm FCC: World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee meeting 11:00 am National Academies: “Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032: Panel on Venus,” meeting three 11:00 am - 1:00 pm DOE: Secretary of Energy Advisory Board meeting 1:00 - 5:00 pm MIT: “The Role of Research Universities and MIT’s Climate Initiatives” 2:30 - 4:30 pm

Wednesday, October 21

Council on Governmental Relations: Fall meeting (continues through Friday) DOE: CarbonX Summit (continues Thursday) NSF: Engineering Directorate Advisory Committee meeting (continues Thursday) CSIS: “International Security at the Nuclear Nexus” (continues Thursday) CNAS: “Virtual Report Launch: Common Code: An Alliance Framework for Democratic Technology Policy” 11:00 am - 12:30 pm National Academies: Board on Life Sciences fall meeting 12:00 - 3:00 pm Industry Studies Association: “Identifying and Supporting Industries of the Future”
1:00 - 2:00 pm IRIS: “Data on the Impact of COVID on U.S. Research: Filling the Void with IRIS” 1:00 - 2:00 pm Gladstone Institute: “Cultural Tax: The Cost of Being the Only or the Few” 1:00 - 2:00 pm ANS: “Nuclear in K-12 Education: Overview of ANS Toolkit and Reflections from Educators” 4:00 - 5:30 pm New America: “Public Interest as the Driver of New, Emerging Technologies to Promote Equity” 5:00 - 6:30 pm

Thursday, October 22

DOE: Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee meeting (continues Friday) Johns Hopkins APL: “Quantum: Imagine the Impact” (continues Friday) AAAS: Science, Technology, and Human Rights Conference (continues Friday) National Academies: “Implications of ‘Convergence’ for How the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Measures the Science and Engineering Workforce” (continues Friday) Science History Institute: “Pedagogy, Popularization, and the Public Understanding of Science” (continues Friday) Brookings: “Arms Control and Strategic Stability: Chinese Perspectives” 9:00 - 10:00 am DOD: U.S. Army Science Board meeting 9:00 am - 4:30 pm NASA: ISS R&D Conference Plenary Day 3 9:45 am - 3:00 pm National Academies: “A Research Strategy for Ocean CO2 Removal and Sequestration,” kickoff meeting 11:00 am - 4:00 pm National Academies: “Meeting Regional STEMM Workforce Needs in the Wake of COVID-19: Riverside, California” 1:00 - 4:30 pm C2ES: “Preserving City Competitiveness: The Benefits of Climate Resilience” 1:15 pm - 3:00 pm NASA: Earth Science Advisory Committee meeting 1:30 - 3:00 pm CNSF: “Undergraduate Learning During COVID-19 and Beyond: NSF-Funded Innovations” 2:00 - 3:00 pm Energy Futures Initiative/Stanford: “An Action Plan for Carbon Capture and Storage in California: Opportunities, Challenges, and Solutions” 2:30 pm

Friday, October 23

STGlobal Consortium: “Inequities in Science Communication” 11:00 am - 12:00 pm National Academies: “Validity and Users of Sources of Information about Science” 11:15 am - 1:00 pm National Academies: “Review of Capabilities for Detection, Verification, and Monitoring of Nuclear Weapons and Fissile Material: Future Arms Control Technology” 12:00 - 2:30 pm CSIS: “The U.S. Innovation Ecosystem” 1:00 - 2:00 pm NDIA: “Microelectronics on The Hill: CHIPS, AFA, and Other Initiatives Relevant to Industry” 1:00 - 2:30 pm

Sunday, October 25

#BlackinPhysics: Black in Physics Week (continues through Saturday)

Monday, October 26

American Meteorological Society: 2020 Washington Forum (continues through Wednesday) American Astronautical Society: Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium (continues through Wednesday)

Opportunities

National Climate Assessment Seeking Contributors

The U.S. Global Change Research Program is accepting nominations of authors for the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which will be drafted over the next two years. Nominees are encouraged from all non-governmental sectors and should have expertise in natural or social sciences relevant to the assessment. Contributors with experience in sector-specific and regional impacts are also sought. In parallel, the program is also accepting submissions of relevant scientific inputs for consideration by the assessment panel.

Earth System Science Study Accepting Input

The National Academies is seeking input for a study launched in August that is examining ways to expand “systems approaches” within the National Science Foundation’s Earth sciences portfolio. Particular input is sought on urgent research questions, barriers to implementing systems approaches, relevant NSF facilities or infrastructure, and educational and training needs, among other areas. Submissions are being accepted through the end of December.

NSF Seeking Input on Evidence-based Policy Development

The National Science Foundation is seeking feedback as it develops an “evidence-building plan” as required by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018. The notice states the agency “invites suggestions in many forms — as questions to be answered, hypotheses to be tested, or problems to be investigated — and focused on any area of NSF’s work, including policy, programs, and operations.” Comments are due Dec. 31.

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 .