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News and updates

UW Professor to Present Disaster Bots to Obama

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UW Professor Howard Chizek will present his team’s Smart Emergency Response System (SERS) to President Obama and senior White House officials on June 10th.

Chizek is participating in the Smart America Challenge hosted by the White House.  The audience will be White House staffers, cabinet members, and White House Press Corps. The UW team is one of about 4 teams presenting.  Short presentations will be about policy and impact of the projects.

On June 11, 2014, 24 teams with over 100 organizations will come together at the WashingtonDC Convention Center for a demonstration. This event is open to the public to see demonstrations and hear from speakers from the White House, various Government Agencies, and companies and universities from across America.

For more information about SERS. click here.

House Committee to Consider the FIRST Act

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On Wednesday, the House Science Committee will mark up HR 4186, the FIRST Act, a bill which will reauthorize NIST, NSF and a host of other federal science-focused programs. This is the 113th Congress’s version of the America COMPETES reauthorization.

While in previous Congresses this legislation has been bipartisan and uncontroversial, the FIRST Act has been increasingly acrimonious through both committee hearings and markups. The political situation has been exacerbated by interactions between NSF and House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), which has been previously chronicled in the Federal Affairs Blog.

The higher education community has been, and remains, concerned about this legislation (and its various iterations) on several issues including: the overall funding level for NSF; directorate-level funding; and some significant policy changes including the public access embargo period.

Of primary concern is the change to not only the overall funding levels, but that Congress now specifically authorizes the various directorates within NSF for funding allocations. NSF has never had individual directorates called out for specific funding levels, which causes Congressionally mandated “winners” and “losers.”

Most troubling is the authorization funding levels. When you compare the proposed NSF authorization levels of FY14 to FY15, there are several notable increases in funding at the directorate level.  Some NSF directorates receive significant increases at the expense of others.  Here are the numbers:

  •  Biological Sciences (Bio) +5.4%
  •  Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) +7.7%
  •  Engineering (ENG) +7.0%
  •  Geosciences (GEO) -2.9%
  •  Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) +7.7%
  •  Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) -22.1%
  •  Six cumulative: 3.2%

NSF would receive an overall 1.5% increase.

Some Members of Congress may suggest that the FY15 authorization levels in the FIRST Act provide real funding increases for NSF — the total level of funding for NSF is only up by 1.5% — however, this increase does not cover the cost of inflation (1.7 percent). In reality, NSF would have a .2% cut after inflation.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track the legislation as it works through the committee process.

 

This week in Congress

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It’s another busy week in Congress with both chambers in session. Here are some committee meetings we’ll be paying attention to throughout the week.

MONDAY

Senate Financial & Contract Oversight Subcommittee
Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Subcommittee Discussion
2 PM; 342 Dirksen Senate Building

House Rules Committee
Considering Rules for Floor Debate on HR 4660 – Fiscal 2015 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations
Full Committee Markup
5:30 PM; H-313 Capitol Building

TUESDAY

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015 Appropriations: Agriculture
Subcommittee Markup
3 PM; Location TBA

House Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015 Appropriations: Agriculture
Subcommittee Markup
10 AM; 2362-A Rayburn House Building

WEDNESDAY

House Science, Space and Technology Committee
Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act of 2013
Full Committee Markup
2 PM; 2318 Rayburn House Building

THURSDAY

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015: 302(B) Allocations
Full Committee Markup
10 AM; 106 Dirksen Senate Building

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015: Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
Full Committee Markup
10 AM; 106 Dirksen Senate Building

Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee
Veterans and Higher Education
Full Committee Hearing
10 AM; 430 Dirksen Senate Building

House Energy & Commerce Committee
Fraudulent Patent Demand Letters Enforcement
Subcommittee Hearing
9:15 AM; 2123 Rayburn House Building

Congress: Issues to Watch this Week

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The House is back in session this week after a weeklong recess period. They will be in session for two weeks before taking another break during the first week in June. The Senate is in this week, but will recess during the week of Memorial Day.

Appropriations:  Appropriators appear to be adhering to their plans to move annual spending bills earlier than normal this year. Several of those measures are advancing this week – in both chambers. On Tuesday in the Senate, subcommittees will consider their Military Construction-VA and Agriculture spending bills with the hopes of moving them to full committee by the end of the week. Both bills have a history of bipartisan support and will be among the first the Senate considers on the floor in late June or early July. Meanwhile, the House will advance their Commerce-Justice-Science bill (HR 4660) for possible floor action by next week. House appropriators also plan to move two domestic spending bills this week: Agriculture and Transportation-HUD.

Sexual Assault Prevention:  Today Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) will hold her first of three roundtable discussions about sexual assaults on college campuses. The hearing will focus on federal reporting laws, including the Clery Act, which requires schools to report on a broad array of crimes that occur on and near campuses, and what is known as the SaVE Act, language included in last year’s Violence Against Women Act reauthorization that requires new training, including bystander intervention, for incoming students and new university employees, along with new reporting on stalking and domestic violence.

McCaskill is teaming up with Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) on the effort to combat sexual assault on college campuses, similar to their successful advocacy for a bill to overhaul the way the military deals with sexual assaults. Subsequent roundtables will focus on Title IX protections, and the campus administrative process and criminal justice system.

FIRST Act:  On Wednesday, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will mark up the Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology Act of 2014 (HR 4186), which authorizes spending levels and specifies policy objectives in allocating resources for the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Veterans in Higher Education:  On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee holds a full committee hearing to learn about access and supports for veterans in higher education.

OSTP Accepting Applications for Fall 2014 Policy Internship

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The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is currently accepting applications for its Fall 2014 Policy Internship Program. The application deadline is11:59pm, Friday, Jun 20. Students who are U.S. citizens and who will be actively enrolled during the Fall 2014 semester are eligible to apply.

More information and application instructions are available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/about/student/.

About OSTP.  The Office of Science and Technology Policy advises the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The office serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans and programs of the Federal Government.

About the Internship Program.  Interns are accepted for one of three annual terms (Spring, Summer, or Fall), which each last no more than 90 days. While these positions are without compensation, the assignments provide educational enrichment, practical work experience, and network opportunities with other individuals in the science and technology policy arena.