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News and updates

Month: April 2009

NOAA Releases Research Update

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The research update below was recently released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To Friends and Partners of NOAA Research:

There are several news items we would like to share with you today.

FY 2009 APPROPRIATIONS SUMMARY

On March 11, the President signed the FY 2009 omnibus spending bill into law. The final bill provides a total of $4.37B for NOAA, an increase of $457M or 10% over the FY 2008 appropriation. It includes $408M for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), which is $10.6M above the FY 2008 enacted amount. Attached is an updated table that shows the FY 2009 appropriations for OAR.

NOAA has submitted its spend plan for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to Congress. The Act provides $830M for NOAA, including a $170M increase in Procurement, Acquisitions, and Construction (PAC) for High Performance Computing (HPC) for Climate Modeling and Data. NOAA plans to procure and utilize two computing systems in separate locations that will improve the accuracy of seasonal climate and global climate change assessments. The two HPC sites will be selected by a competitive process and create jobs in manufacturing, construction, and software engineering.

NOAA press release on the ARRA spend plan

The FY 2010 President’s budget request will be released in early May. We will send an e-mail with FY 2010 budget information at that time. Continue reading “NOAA Releases Research Update”

Sebelius Nomination Draws Fire but Advances

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The nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advanced out of the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, leaving only a vote of the full Senate. What was once expected to be a rather comfortable confirmation has evolved into a rather partisan debate over President Obama’s intentions in reforming the U.S. health insurance system. Conservatives on the panel sought assurances — which they did not receive — from Governor Sebelius that HHS would not seek a plan that limited consumer choice of doctor, hospital, or coverage options. Despite the reservations expressed by some members, the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination on a largely party line 15-8 vote. Consideration of the nomination by the full Senate could take place later this week.

AAU and the Department of Energy Seek ARPA-E Nominations

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The Association of American Universities (AAU) is asking its member campuses to recommend individuals to serve as temporary personnel to help organize the new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).  The Department of Energy (DoE) is looking for individuals with the knowledge and expertise to help it organize the new agency.  These individuals would serve as temporary program managers and provide additional program support (for both 6-to-12-month and three-year terms of service).  AAU has already collected and forwarded to DoE several resumes from its member campuses, but would appreciate receiving additional nominations.

Resumes and questions can be sent to Jonathan Nurse, UW Assistant Director of Federal Relations, who will forward UW recommendations to AAU as a set.

To establish ARPA-E, Congress provided DoE with $400 million in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $15 million in the FY09 omnibus appropriations bill.  ARPA-E was originally authorized in the America COMPETES Act (P.L. 110-69) in 2007, but it received no funding in FY07 or FY08.  

The Department of Energy hopes to staff the agency quickly with highly qualified faculty members and others who can help the agency become established and begin to fund research proposals.  Recovery Act funds must be obligated within the next two years.

UW and National Education Associations Seek Pell Grant Entitlement

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As the 111th Congress returns to regular session this week, the University of Washington and several higher education associations have sent letters to lawmakers in a show of support for the President’s proposal to make the Pell Grant program an entitlement. Such a move would provide annual increases equivalent to inflation (plus an additional 1%), eliminating the need for an annual debate over the program’s funding. UW’s letter was distributed to the entire Washington congressional delegation. A joint letter — from the Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, American Association of State Colleges and Universitiesm, American Council on Education, and American Association of Community Colleges — was distributed to each member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Pell Grant entitlement proposal will be debated as part of the annual appropriations process over the course of the spring, summer and early fall.

The Pell Grant entitlement would be largely paid for by savings realized from elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan Program, which is administered by financial institutions, and transition to the direct lending program for all schools. The University of Washington is already a direct lending school.

NIH Short-Term Faculty Recruitment Program Deadline Approaching

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The deadline for submitting letters of intent to participate in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) short-term faculty recruitment program is April 29, 2009. Final applications are due one month later, on May 29. 

NIH plans to obligate up to $100 million in Economic Recovery Act funds for the program by September 30, 2010, contingent on its receiving a sufficient number of “scientifically meritorious applications.”

The program, which was created to address the faculty recruitment crunch caused by the economic recession, is focused on recruiting young faculty members in biomedical research fields.  Awards to institutions will provide “funding to hire, provide appropriate start-up packages, and develop pilot research projects for newly independent investigators.”

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