BCoN Survey: Operational Status, Economic Impacts, and Plans for Re-Opening Natural History Collections
The Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN) is working to help the scientific and natural history collections/museum community understand how COVID-19 related economic disruptions are affecting research, education, specimen and data management and care, institutional administration, and other factors. Results of a community survey of collections professionals were shared recently. BCoN continues to track impacts to natural history collection institutions and the people who care for and use these scientific resources.
Individuals are invited to share information about their institutions operating status - plans to re-open...
Source: Public Policy Reports - June 8, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Bias and Forensic Science
As lawmakers across the United States grapple with how to reform law enforcement agencies, they should consider where forensic science laboratories are administratively housed and from where their funding is derived according to many experts. In most jurisdictions, these crime laboratories are housed within law enforcement agencies and derive their funding from police budgets. This structure can create bias toward law enforcement agencies. In an important Feature article, Is Forensic Science Scientific, in the May issue of BioScience, many have argued that crime labs should be independent organizations that are not depende...
Source: Public Policy Reports - June 8, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
AIBS: No Room for Racism and Injustice in Science or Society
On June 4, 2020, the Board of Directors and staff of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) issued the following statement:
There is no room for racism and injustice in science or society.
The American Institute of Biological Sciences stands with all people and organizations working to end racism and injustice through peaceful protest, legal action, policy change, and systemic reform.
It was only days ago that most of us learned George Floyd’s name and saw the lethal brutality he experienced at the hands of police officers. He was at that time the most recent needless death. Since then, we have run t...
Source: Public Policy Reports - June 8, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Short Takes
Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a new online portal through which scientific societies may recommend scientists to serve as NIH reviewers. This tool was developed in response to requests from professional societies for a way to recommend potential reviewers and is part of CSR's ongoing efforts to refresh and expand the pool of well-qualified reviewers in every area of science. Learn more at: https://www.csr.nih.gov/reviewmatters/2020/05/07/broadening-the-reviewer-pool-a-new-tool-for-societies-to-recommend-reviewers/
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Increase Your Career Opportunities: Writing for Impact and Influence Online Course
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is once again offering its popular professional development program to help scientists and students hone their written communication skills to increase the power of their message.
Writing for Impact and Influence combines practical instruction and hands-on exercises to improve participants’ general writing proficiency and their ability to reach large audiences. The program will provide participants with the skills and tools needed to compose scientific press releases, blog posts, emails, and memoranda.
Learn to write for stakeholders, decision-makers, and the gen...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Now Online: Enabling Interdisciplinary and Team Science
Reports abound from professional societies, the Academies, government agencies, and researchers calling attention to the fact that science is increasingly an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, inter-institutional, and international endeavor. In short, science has become a “team sport.”
There is a real and present need to better prepare scientists for success in this new collaborative environment. The American Institute of Biological Sciences is responding to this call with a new program for scientists, educators, and individuals who work with or participate in scientific teams.
Team science is increasingly...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
On the Importance of Science to Society: A Call for Government Action
In the May 2020 issue of BioScience, AIBS President Dr. Charles Fenster and Executive Director Dr. Robert Gropp urge governments to coordinate to promote greater understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, including the development of a vaccine. They further call on governments to “build the infrastructure needed to foster timely scientific exchange and the conversion of scientific information into responsible public policy - both domestically and internationally, for the current and future crises.”
They further warn, “Understanding the origins of the current global health crisis resulting from the novel c...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Science Community Expresses Concerns with Executive Proclamation on Immigration
Thirty-six scientific organizations, including AIBS, have expressed concerns about the April 22, 2020, Executive Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak.
In a letter to President Trump, the groups wrote: “Our safety and return to daily activities following the COVID-19 outbreak will largely be delivered by America’s STEM enterprise. This enterprise will also play a vital role in U.S. economic recovery. Limiting immigration to the United States reduces our ability to attract the best available minds to thi...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Scientific Organizations Criticize EPA's Proposed Transparency Rule
AIBS has joined a coalition of scientific organizations in expressing concerns with a supplemental addition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science,” that would bar the use of scientific studies in crafting regulations unless the underlying data “are publicly available in a manner sufficient for independent validation.”
The supplemental notice to the proposed rulemaking, which was published on March 18, 2020, would further broaden restrictions on the type of scientific studies EPA can use when crafting regulations. The ag...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
House Relief Package Includes Scientific Integrity Amendment
The pandemic relief package, the Heroes Act, passed by the House on May 15, includes provisions of a scientific integrity bill that would protect federal scientists from political interference.
The Scientific Integrity Act or SIA (H.R. 1709), sponsored by Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY), was approved by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in October 2019. Provisions of the legislation, which currently has 232 bipartisan cosponsors, were attached to the latest coronavirus relief measure as a manager’s amendment.
SIA requires federal agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research to adop...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
House Approves Next Coronavirus Stimulus, Includes Research Funding
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a new coronavirus relief package, The Heroes Act, on May 15, 2020. If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, this will be the fifth measure adopted by Congress to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $3 trillion stimulus bill includes $1 trillion in assistance for state, local, territorial, and tribal governments; $75 billion for coronavirus testing, contact tracing, and isolation measures; emergency supplemental appropriations to federal agencies; another round of direct payments; and $200 billion for a “Heroes’ fund” to provide hazard pay for essenti...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Scientific, Medical Groups Oppose Political Interference with NIH Research Grant
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) joined 30 other scientific and medical associations to express deep concerns about the revocation of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research grant to study coronavirus.
Last month, NIH terminated a peer-reviewed research grant awarded in June 2019 that was investigating how coronaviruses move from their natural hosts to humans. The decision came after unverified reports from U.S. lawmakers and conservative media suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, which employs a Chinese vir...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Survey Data Highlight COVID-19 Impacts on Science Collections
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN), Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSC Alliance), and Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) surveyed individuals affiliated with US biodiversity science collections to better understand the effects of COVID-19 related disruptions and closures on biodiversity collections, and the people who use and care for these scientific resources. The survey was conducted in April 2020.
Individuals working in biodiversity collections were invited to complete a 23-question survey. No identifying information ab...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 27, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Short Takes
President Trump has announced his intent to nominate three new members to the National Science Board (NSB), the policymaking body of the National Science Foundation. He will nominate Catholic University Provost and particle physicist Dr. Aaron Dominguez, Director of IBM Research Dr. Dario Gil, and Dr. Sudarsanam Babu of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to serve six year terms on the board. Dr. Roger Beachy, Professor Emeritus in Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, will be reappointed to serve another six-year term.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is soliciting nominations for member...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 11, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
Increase Your Career Opportunities: Writing for Impact and Influence Online Course
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is once again offering its popular professional development program to help scientists and students hone their written communication skills to increase the power of their message.
Writing for Impact and Influence combines practical instruction and hands-on exercises to improve participants’ general writing proficiency and their ability to reach large audiences. The program will provide participants with the skills and tools needed to compose scientific press releases, blog posts, emails, and memoranda.
Learn to write for stakeholders, decision-makers, and the gen...
Source: Public Policy Reports - May 11, 2020 Category: Biology Authors: AIBS Source Type: news
