Now Online: AIBS Employment Acquisition Skills Boot Camp for Scientists
Registration is now open for the Employment Acquisition Skills Boot Camp for Scientists, an online professional development program from the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate programs in the United States do an excellent job of preparing students for careers in academia. As early career professionals and a growing number of reports note, however, many recent STEM graduates (including those with advanced degrees) are interested in employment in sectors beyond the professoriate by the time they complete their degree.
Scientists continue to re...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
New Acting Director for NIFA
The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced on July 10, 2020, that Dr. Parag Chitnis will serve as the next Acting Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) - U.S. Department of Agriculture’s primary extramural research funding agency.
“Dr. Chitnis brings more than 31 years of scientific research and experience to the Director’s office. He has been instrumental in providing steady leadership and support to NIFA during its transition to Kansas City last fall, in addition to playing a lead role on NIFA’s Project CAFÉ (Collaboratively Achieving Functional Excellence) initiativ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Faculty Concerned About Returning to In-Person Teaching
Faculty across the country are expressing concerns about the health implications of returning to in-person instruction this fall semester, according to a report by Inside Higher Ed.
A June 2020 survey of Purdue University faculty and staff members and graduate students, which received more than 7,000 responses, found that 53 percent of respondents felt unsafe about returning to campus for in-person classes in fall. Sixty-two percent of respondents felt at least somewhat unsafe teaching or interacting with students. Ninety-two percent said they were not confident students would “socially distance appropriately outsid...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Hospitals Ordered to Bypass CDC, Send COVID-19 Data to Washington
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a notice ordering hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and send all COVID-19 patient data to a centralized database effective July 15, 2020. The directive has raised concerns about transparency and public access to data.
According to the order, HHS, and not CDC, will now collect daily reports about COVID-19 patients being treated at each hospital, the number of beds and ventilators available, and other information related to tracking and monitoring the pandemic. The new guidance also states that if hospitals were reporting thi...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
House Begins Work on FY 2021 Appropriations
Over the past two weeks, the House Appropriations Committee has swiftly advanced all twelve appropriations bills for fiscal year (FY) 2021. These bills will now be considered by the full House of Representatives.
The Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) spending measure would provide $8.55 billion to the National Science Foundation (NSF), which is $270 million increase from FY 2020. The President proposed a 6 percent cut for the science agency for FY 2021. Research and related activities within NSF, which includes the Biological Sciences Directorate, would receive grow by $230 million to $6.97 billion in FY 2021. Under t...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
AIBS Supports Dr. Fauci: Science, Not Politics, Must Guide COVID-19 Response
The American Institute of Biological Sciences issued the following statement on July 14, 2020, supporting Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), after the White House initiated an active campaign to discredit him.
“The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) supports the development of public policy decisions based on scientific evidence. The COVID-19 pandemic requires evidence-based decision-making, which includes accurate monitoring of the incidence and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the implementation of policy based on existing and emerging ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
New ICE Guidance on Foreign Students Rescinded After Swift Pushback
On July 6, 2020, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new guidance that would have forced international students to leave the U.S. if they did not participate in in-person instruction during the fall 2020 semester.
On July 14, the Administration announced that the controversial policy facing multiple lawsuits would be dropped.
The ICE guidance modified temporary exemptions issued in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those provisions allowed nonimmigrant students to take more online courses than normally permitted by federal regulation. Under the new policy, foreign students enrolled in ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 21, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Short Takes
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is soliciting public input on best practices and innovative ideas for education in the principles of rigorous research as well as promotion of rigorous research practices. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) can be submitted online via this webform or via an email to RigorChampions@nih.gov by August 1, 2020. If submitting by email, please include the Notice number (NOT-NS-20-062) in the subject line. More information can be found at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-NS-20-062.html.
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Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Enter the 2020 Faces of Biology Photo Contest
Enter the Faces of Biology Photo Contest for your chance to win $250 and to have your photo appear on the cover of the journal BioScience.
The competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), recognizes scientists who use imagery to communicate aspects of biological research to the public and policymakers.
The theme of the contest is “Faces of Biology.” Photographs entered into the contest must depict a person, such as a scientist, researcher, collections curator, technician, or student, engaging in biological research. The depicted research may occur outside, in a lab, with a n...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Now Online: AIBS Communications Boot Camp for Scientists
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is offering a professional development program designed to enhance the communication skills of scientists, particularly those interested in communicating with decision-makers and the news media. The program is an excellent way to develop new communication skills and identify effective methods for broadening the impact of research and education programs.
The AIBS Communications Boot Camp for Scientists expands on AIBS’s highly successful media and science policy training workshops. The Boot Camp meets the needs of everyone from graduate students to senior researche...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Now Online: AIBS Employment Acquisition Skills Boot Camp for Scientists
Registration is now open for the Employment Acquisition Skills Boot Camp for Scientists, an online professional development program from the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS).
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate programs in the United States do an excellent job of preparing students for careers in academia. As early career professionals and a growing number of reports note, however, many recent STEM graduates (including those with advanced degrees) are interested in employment in sectors beyond the professoriate by the time they complete their degree.
Scientists continue to re...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Senate Confirms New NSF Director
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Dr. Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan as the 15th Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The White House nominated Dr. Panchanathan, a computer scientist and Chief Research and Innovation officer at Arizona State University, to lead NSF in December 2019. Dr. Panchanathan has served as a member of the National Science Board, NSF’s governing body, since 2014. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is also the Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Soc...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
EPA Will Not Appeal Ruling on Advisory Panel Membership
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it will not appeal a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) vacating the agency’s directive entitled “Strengthening and Improving Membership on EPA Federal Advisory Committees.”
In a February 2020 opinion, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of SDNY wrote that EPA needed to provide a “reasoned explanation” for its October 31, 2017 directive prohibiting EPA grant recipients from serving on its science advisory committees. According to the judge, the agency had “failed to articulate a...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Legislation Introduced to Provide COVID-19 Relief to Research Community
On June 24, 2020, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced bipartisan legislation to provide emergency relief appropriations for federal science agencies to support the research community during the ongoing public health crisis.
The Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act (H.R. 7308), sponsored by Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), Fred Upton (R-MI), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Frank Lucas (R-OK), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), would authorize approximately $26 billion in supplemental funding for federal research agencies to be awarded to research universities, independen...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
AIBS Recommendations Included in House Report on Solving the Climate Crisis
A new plan from the Democratic members of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis was released on June 30, 2020. The report, “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy, and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America”, includes recommendations provided by AIBS in response to the Committee’s 2019 request for information from the public. AIBS urged the Committee to secure “increased federal investment in the biological sciences to improve our understanding of how living systems are being influenced by climate change, identify novel biotechnology and manag...
Source: Public Policy Reports - July 6, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
