Buzz Bits. . . IRS Releases Draft Endowment Tax Rules
BU IN DC
Ziv Feldman and Peter Garik of the Wheelock College of Education participated in the 2019 Noyce Summit sponsored by the National Science Foundation on July 11.
BUZZ BITS…
- The National Institutes of Health announced that National Eye Institute (NEI) Director Paul Sieving will retire on July 29 after nearly twenty years in the role. NEI Deputy Director Santa Tumminia will serve as interim director during the national search for a replacement.
- The U.S. Senate confirmed Lane Genatowski as the director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Genatowski, an investment banker from Houston, was first nominated in July 2018.
- The U.S. Senate also confirmed Robert L. King to be the assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. King previously served as president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and chancellor of the State University of New York system. He has been serving as a senior advisor to the Department while awaiting confirmation.
IRS RELEASES DRAFT ENDOWMENT TAX RULES
On July 3, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released draft guidance on how it plans to implement the private college endowment excise tax that was signed into law in December 2018. While Boston University is not among the 40 institutions subject to the tax at this time, the University joined the higher education community in opposing the tax because it takes away financial resources nonprofit colleges can use for students. The 1.4% tax on net investment income applies to private colleges with more than 500 full-time, tuition-paying students and assets valued at $500,000 or more per student. The draft IRS guidance is open to public comment until October 1.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) released a special notice on June 28 to solicit basic and applied research proposals for new artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques to advance future naval applications. ONR is seeking AI research proposals in eight fundamental and/or applied research topics: AI for Predictive Maintenance; Rapid Learning of Task Procedures; Scalable Verification and Validation Tools for Artificial Intelligence in the Naval Domain; Brain-Inspired Deep Learning with Spiking Neurons; Brain-based computation; Explainable AI Systems; Mission-focused AI; and Predictive Adaptations to Support Human Performance and Injury Prevention. White papers are strongly encouraged and due on August 15, and full proposals are due on October 15.