Congress, NSF Act on Scientific Security
BU IN DC
James Bessen of the School of Law spoke about automation and the labor market at a Brookings Institution event on December 12.
Associate Provost for Computing and Data Sciences Azer Bestravos spoke at a meeting of the National Science Foundation Computing & Information Science & Engineering Advisory Committee on December 12.
CONGRESS, NSF ACT ON SCIENTIFIC SECURITY
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (S. 1790) that would create a federal task force to coordinate efforts to protect federally-funded research from foreign espionage. The U.S. Senate is expected to pass the measure quickly, and the President has indicated he will sign it. Separately, the National Science Foundation released the findings of a highly anticipated study on security threats in the federal research enterprise. The report found that open international collaborations are essential, and that most breaches in scientific integrity can be adequately addressed through existing research integrity frameworks. The Congressional and NSF actions are meant to assuage policymakers’ concerns about inappropriate foreign interference in American science.
BUZZ BITS…
- On Tuesday, Congress passed the FUTURE Act (H.R. 5363), which allows the Internal Revenue Service to share student aid applicants’ tax data with the U.S. Department of Education in order to simplify the federal student aid application. President Donald J. Trump is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.
- The President issued an executive order on Wednesday to require federal agencies to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism when enforcing the Title VI anti-discrimination statute. The U.S. Department of Education is expected to use this change to intervene more frequently in cases alleging anti-Semitism on college campuses.
- Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have jointly formed a bipartisan Senate working group on student athlete compensation. Murphy said the working group will address “inequities in this broken [college athletics] system.”
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has released a $5 million opportunity in its biological and environmental research program for “Computational Tool Development for Integrative Systems Biology Data Analysis.” The program aims to develop new computational approaches that can integrate large, disparate data types from multiple and heterogeneous sources generated by DOE’s systems biology research. The research will focus on data from plants and microbes relevant to DOE missions in energy and environment, including laying the scientific groundwork for cost-effective production of biofuels and bioproducts. Pre-applications are due by January 31.