
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin (center) announced plans to rescind the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions at a truck dealership in Indiana on July 29. Energy Secretary Chris Wright (far left) participated in the announcement.
Environmental Protection Agency
EPA, DOE question climate risks in GHG reg rollback
The Environmental Protection Agency released a proposal
The EPA will hold a virtual public hearing
Various scientists whose work is cited in the report have said it uses their research in a misleading way.
Turmoil continues over university grant cancellations
The University of California, Los Angeles was cut off from funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health last week after the Justice Department concluded
Other universities hit with similar cuts have begun to strike deals with the White House to have research funding restored: Columbia University agreed
The outlook for grant funding remains uncertain even for NIH grants that have already been judicially ordered to be restored. Some scientists whose grants were included on the list for reinstatements said
Congress faces backlog of work after recess
The House and Senate will face a daunting slate of work when they return from summer recess in early September. Neither chamber has completed work on appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2026, which begins in October, and they still need to reconcile wide differences in their proposed allocations. Although both chambers have disagreed
The Senate also still has a long list of presidential nominees to work through, a process that Democrats have slowed to a crawl by stretching out debate on each nominee. Senators were unable to reach a deal
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has yet to make nominations for several key science posts, including the head of the DOE Office of Science, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science Foundation, whose director resigned
Also on our radar
- NIH published a request for information
- DOJ released guidance
- DOE reissued
- A lawsuit on NSF grant terminations must be brought before a different court, a federal judge ruled
All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.
Note: The House and Senate are in recess and scheduled to return at the beginning of September.
Monday, August 4
AAPT: American Association of Physics Teachers summer meeting
National Academies: Future directions for NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure, meeting nine
2:30 - 4:00 pm
Tuesday, August 5
NDIA: Space and Missile Defense Symposium
Heritage Foundation: How to stop “academic espionage” on campus
10:00 - 11:00 am
FCC: Technological Advisory Council meeting
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Thursday, August 7
BIS: Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting
10:00 am - 3:30 pm
National Academies: Computing breakthroughs and innovation patterns, meeting four
3:00 - 4:30 pm
Saturday, August 10
NCURA: National Council of University Research Administrators annual conference
Monday, August 11
APS: Quantum technology in national security
11:00 am
Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.
On July 7, the Trump administration extended
Job Openings
◆Stanford: Senior director, federal laboratory government affairs
◆Fermilab: Government relations director
◆Boston Globe: Climate science and environment reporter
The Guardian: Senior investigative science reporter
AAAS: Senior biomedicine reporter, Science Magazine
University of Michigan: Director of federal relations for research
AIP: Federation engagement and public policy coordinator
APS: Member advocacy specialist
◆UCAR: Government relations manager
◆AIP: Science policy intern, FYI
Association of American Universities: Deputy vice president for government relations and public policy
National Academies: Mirzayan S&T policy graduate fellowship program
Horizon Institute for Public Service: Horizon fellowship program
National Academies: Biotechnology regulatory fellowship program
Solicitations
National Academies: Call for input: Key non-polar destinations across the Moon to address decadal-level science objectives with human explorers
BIS: RFC on national security and critical technology assessments of the US industrial base
◆DOE: RFC on “A critical review of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the US climate” report
NSF: RFC on SBIR/STTR pre-award information collection
NSF: RFC on Breakthrough Innovations Initiative application
National Academies: Call for applications for New Voices in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
◆NIH: RFI on maximizing research funds by limiting allowable publishing costs
OSTP: RFI for the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing
NSF: RFC on the National Plan for Arctic Research
Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.
White House
Chronicle of Higher Education: Universities are making deals with Trump. Here’s how they stack up
Harvard Crimson: Harvard President Garber tells faculty he is not considering a $500 million deal with Trump
Chronicle of Higher Education: Under pressure from Trump, the accreditor overseeing Harvard proposes nixing DEI standards
Chronicle of Higher Education: White House tightens screws on George Mason president, faculty leaders
Stat: Top White House pandemic preparedness official resigns, officials say, in sign of broader disarray
NSF: NSF pauses presidential awards for excellence in STEM teaching and mentoring
Congress
ScienceInsider: With boost to NIH budget, Senate panel rejects Trump’s plan to slash agency
E&E News: Senate Republicans look to blunt Trump attacks on renewables
House Science Committee: Republicans seek answers regarding the Biden administration’s troubling DOE lending history
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR): Cotton introduces bill to end H-1B visa loophole for universities
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE): Senate Democrats release joint statement to raise alarm about President Trump’s steep concessions to Beijing
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): Democrats urge administration to reinstate EPA employees retaliated against for exercising free speech rights
E&E News: Senate confirms NRC chair to new term over Dem protests
Senate Commerce Committee: Bipartisan bill introduced to modernize weather radio emergency alerts
Science, Society, and the Economy
NAFSA: US economy could suffer a $7 billion loss from precipitous drop in international students
Science Forever: Listening and talking on a plan for the future of American science
Scholarly Kitchen: How science is gamed
The Atlantic: Every scientific empire comes to an end
Nature: Why newsrooms must rethink science journalism before the next crisis
New York Times: Mary Gaillard, who broke a ceiling in subatomic research, dies at 86
Chemical & Engineering News: A scientific holiday on a German island full of Nobel laureates
Education and Workforce
Washington Post: The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work
E&E News: NSF cuts senior career jobs
E&E News: EPA expands probe into staffers who signed ‘dissent’ letter
Reuters: US farm agency fires 70 foreign researchers following national security review
Washington Post: Scientist on green card detained for a week without explanation, lawyer says
The Transmitter: What US science stands to lose without international graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
Wall Street Journal: Cornell University discriminated against me
Physics World: Third age careers for physicists: Writing and the arts beckon
Research Management
ScienceInsider: Odds of winning NIH grants plummet as new funding policy and spending delays bite
COGR: Waste and inefficiencies due to the new grant requirements in Executive Order 14222
Research Professional: Regulation is part of R&D, not a hurdle at its end
ITIF: While federal R&D shrinks, business R&D is booming
Undark Magazine: Metascience is more important now than ever
Research Professional: Innovation in democratic systems needs public deliberation
Research Professional: Science is evolving, and article formats need to keep up
Nature: My AI chatbot thinks my idea is fundable
GAO: US consolidated financial statements: Key issues for the Department of Energy
Labs and Facilities
ScienceInsider: NSF plans abrupt end to lone US Antarctic research icebreaker
The Moscow Times: Russia and US agree to extend International Space Station operations to 2028
NASA Watch: OIG report: NASA IT security still falls short
Bloomberg: Fermilab hit in cyberattack targeting Microsoft’s SharePoint
Computing and Communications
Export Compliance Daily: US still planning to deny China ‘highest-end’ chip tech, White House official says
Bloomberg: China state media asks Nvidia to prove H20 chips are secure
The Economist: China has top-flight AI models. But it is struggling to run them
New York Times: AI researchers are negotiating $250 million pay packages. Just like NBA stars
GAO: Artificial intelligence: Generative AI use and management at federal agencies
Science: Advancing science- and evidence-based AI policy
MIT Technology Review: The two people shaping the future of OpenAI’s research
Wired: Mark Zuckerberg details Meta’s plan for self-improving, superintelligent AI
Wall Street Journal: Why the billionaire Pritzkers got obsessed with quantum
The Conversation: Quantum scheme protects videos from prying eyes and tampering
Space
SpaceNews: Roscosmos celebrates meeting of agency leaders that NASA ignored
Research Professional: Commercial satellites ‘interfering’ with space research
NPR: Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose
Washington Post: NASA workforce cuts raise fears about safety for space missions
NASA Watch: NASA prepares to gut its Landsat capabilities
The Atlantic: How NASA engineered its own decline
Scientific American: Strong support for NASA and Project Artemis will advance the US
NASA Watch: OIG finds flaws in NASA’s standing review board process
New York Times: When Earth’s surface shifts, the new NISAR satellite will see it
Aerospace Corporation: Should the Wolf amendment be repealed?
Weather, Climate, and Environment
E&E News: EPA research cuts stoke fears over scientific independence
The Honest Broker: A red team climate report
Wall Street Journal: The rise of the climate right
Inside Climate News: EPA delays compliance with methane rule, fulfilling oil and gas industry’s request
Science: Governing novel climate interventions in rapidly changing oceans
E&E News: Congressional climate hawks turn focus toward AI
E&E News: Pentagon will keep sharing hurricane forecasting data
Inside Climate News: Private companies step up to gather weather data for NOAA as staffing cuts hobble agency forecasting
The Economist: Scientists want to sequence all animals, fungi, and plants on Earth
Energy
American Nuclear Society: INL makes a case for eliminating ALARA and setting higher dose limits
E&E News: Startup begins work on major US fusion power plant. Yes, fusion
The Hill: China just bet $2 billion on fusion energy. The US must respond
Wall Street Journal: Geothermal energy is heating up. It’s going to need more geologists
E&E News: Interior order targets ‘preferential treatment’ for wind and solar
E&E News: Trump admin eliminates offshore wind project areas
Physics Today: Two projects in the western US are testing the feasibility of installing solar farms over sun-drenched irrigation canals
Defense
Inside Defense: Hill leaders seek Pentagon’s $150B spending plan, send ‘guidance’ tables to direct funds
DefenseScoop: UAP disclosure advocates call for expanded reforms in fiscal 2026 NDAA
Breaking Defense: Here’s the role that space-based interceptors will play in Golden Dome
Scientific American: US nuclear energy policy could accelerate weapons proliferation
The Conversation: The treaty meant to control nuclear risks is under strain 80 years after the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
DARPA: Texas, DARPA to establish testbed to use autonomy to fight wildfires
Biomedical
Wall Street Journal: Trump administration scraps effort to pause health-research funding
Chronicle of Higher Education: Their NIH grants are back. But nothing is back to normal
Federal News Network: NIH director talks grant terminations controversy, Bethesda Declaration, making America healthy
Stat: Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he’s allowed such research to wither
New York Times: Doctors have lost their Mount Olympus of medicine
Stat: Representatives of expert groups to be barred from work supporting CDC’s vaccine advisers
Stat: The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program needs to be updated, not eliminated
Wired: States are moving to protect access to vaccines
Stat: The FDA’s plan on fluoride supplements is bad science
International Affairs
Science|Business: How the US fails at science diplomacy, but could do better
Research Professional: South Africa unveils funds for research hit by US aid cuts
ScienceInsider: Ecuador eliminates science agency in major reorganization
Science|Business: Germany and other EU states stall scientific sanctions against Israel
Research Professional: EU must cut Israel out of Horizon, says former foreign affairs head
Research Professional: EU governments’ spending on R&D up 3.4% in 2024
Science|Business: EU records 59.5% rise in R&D allocations over ten years, study shows
Wired: Inside the summit where China pitched its AI agenda to the world
Wall Street Journal: India is losing its best and brightest