Short Takes

The 2017 meeting of the AIBS Council of Member Societies and Organizations, Engaging Policymakers: Opportunities for Biological Sciences Organizations, will be held in Washington, DC, on 4 December 2017. AIBS Council Representatives may now register for the meeting. Sam Clovis has withdrawn his nomination to serve as the Department of Agriculture's chief scientist. Clovis is a former Trump campaign official who was recently questioned by the Mueller investigation about what he knew about campaign team members' contacts with Russia. One former campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, has pled guilty to lying to the FBI. Emails indicate that Papadopoulos reported his contacts to Clovis in 2016. The nomination had previously drawn sharp criticism from the scientific community and from some Senators. Two million dollars in research funding is available for scientists whose research was affected by Hurricane Harvey or Irma. Each researcher can apply for up to $50,000 to help with the repair, replacement, or recovery of their equipment, data, or other research materials. The funding is available from the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Applications are due by 3 January 2018. Learn more at http://www.nas.edu/gulf/grants/disaster-recovery-2018/index.htm. Two senior lawmakers have introduced legislation to improve the federal government's collection and use of data in decision-making. Each agency would have to create a plan a...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news