AIBS Calls on Duke University to Reconsider Decision to Close Herbarium
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) has sent a letter to Duke University leadership in response to reports about the closure of their herbarium due to a change in funding priorities. The decision has sparked a significant outcry from the scientific community, as reported in the New York Times and Science.
The AIBS letter strongly urged Duke leadership to reconsider the decision to dismantle the herbarium. "At 825,000+ specimens, the Duke Herbarium will be the largest herbarium in the history of the U.S. to be abandoned by its host institution," reads the letter. "The decision to shut down the herbarium is at odds with the national momentum behind biological collections...Duke's decision to forgo responsibility of their herbarium specimens - and the important biodiversity research they support - sets a terrible precedent."
Several AIBS member societies and organizations, including the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA), Botanical Society of America, American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), Society of Herbarium Curators (SHC), and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC), have sent similar letters to Duke leadership. AIBS strongly encourages our other member societies and organizations to do the same.
Additionally, AIBS has endorsed a related petition, along with the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS), NSCA, Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), SHC, and SPNHC. The petition has received more than 14,000 signatures since it was started on February 15, 2024. We encourage individuals, who care about biodiversity and species discovery, and believe that herbaria play a crucial role in this field, to sign the petition.
AIBS Names 2024 Emerging Public Policy Leaders
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is pleased to announce that Alex Rich and Efraín Rodríguez-Ocasio have been selected to receive the 2024 AIBS Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award (EPPLA). The award recognizes graduate students in the biological sciences who have demonstrated leadership skills and an aptitude for working at the intersection of science and public policy.
Alex Rich is a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Her research focuses on decision-making and disordered eating. Specifically, she seeks to understand the neural basis of food choices to inform binge eating disorder treatments. At Yale, Rich co-chairs the Advocacy Committee in the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, where she serves as a liaison between graduate students and university administration to advocate for policy change. Furthermore, Rich is also engaged in national science education policy issues as Secretary of the Graduate Research and Development (GRAD) Coalition, the student arm of the GRAD Caucus in the US House of Representatives. In this role, she helped organize a congressional briefing on graduate student mentorship. Rich earned her bachelor's in neuroscience from the University of Minnesota (UMN), where she also helped compile neuroscience research to support trauma-informed campus policy development as a member of the UMN Provost's Council on Student Mental Health.
Efraín Rodríguez-Ocasio is a Ph.D. Candidate in chemical and biological engineering at the Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, Iowa. His doctoral research focuses on microbial utilization of plastic waste that has been subjected to thermal oxo-degradation. At ISU, Rodríguez-Ocasio served as engagement officer for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, where he coordinated advocacy efforts for graduate student interests at the state and federal level. He is an active member of several committees for the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), including the Policy and Advocacy; Membership; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committees. At SIMB, he also serves on the Connecting Microbiome Communities (CMiC) Steering Committee and will chair the Microbiome Policy, Advocacy and Regulation session at the inaugural meeting this year. Rodríguez-Ocasio received his bachelor's in industrial biotechnology from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, where he also served as a trustee and member of the governing board.
This is the 21st year the EPPLA program has recognized emerging student leaders in science policy. Rich and Rodríguez-Ocasio will travel to Washington, DC, in April to participate in an AIBS science communications training program and to meet with their members of Congress as part of the annual AIBS Congressional Visits Day. In addition, they will receive a one-year subscription to the scientific journal BioScience.
AIBS is also recognizing two additional outstanding leaders with an Honorable Mention award. Hannah Henry is a master's student in natural resources at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Harrison Watson is a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey.
Read the press release.
Read About AIBS' Science Policy Achievements in 2023
The AIBS Public Policy Office has released its annual report for 2023. This report describes the work AIBS has done this past year in collaboration with our members and partners to advocate for policies that advance biology.
Read about our accomplishments in science policy, which include:
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Facilitated 56 meetings between scientists and lawmakers
- Helped 94 scientists become advocates for science
- Reaffirmed our commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race considerations in college and university admissions.
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Worked with our science community partners to ensure that Congress follows through on the promise of the CHIPS and Science Act by fully funding the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other science agencies at the levels authorized by the law.
- Helped facilitate community discussions on the implementation of collections-related provisions in the CHIPS and Science Act, namely a specimen management plan requirement and a Biological Collections Action Center.
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Endorsed Recovering America's Wildlife Act, a bill that would make significant investments in wildlife and habitat conservation.
- Endorsed legislation to keep public science independent from political interference.
- Supported legislation aimed at retaining international students who have completed advanced STEM degrees from U.S. educational institutions by providing them permanent resident status.
Read the 2023 Public Policy Office Annual Report.
House Republicans Introduce Alternative Wildlife Conservation Bill
Republican lawmakers in the House, led by Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR), have introduced the "American Wildlife Habitat Conservation Act" as an alternative to the long-pending bipartisan "Recovering America's Wildlife Act" (RAWA).
The GOP bill seeks to address wildlife conservation but has faced criticism from Democrats, including House Natural Resources Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), who believe it falls short in improving wildlife conservation and habitats.
The GOP bill would authorize the Interior Department to "allocate not more than" $300 million annually to a new "Wildlife Habitat Conservation and Restoration Subaccount" of an existing account set up by the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. The bill would authorize up to $20 million over five years for a separate tribal account.
In contrast, the bipartisan RAWA would allocate about $1.3 billion annually to states and tribes for wildlife conservation measures. The previous version of the bill boasted 152 Democratic and 42 Republican co-sponsors. But by the time the bill passed the House, only 16 Republicans voted for it due to disagreements over fiscally realistic funding sources.
The latest Senate version of RAWA (S. 1149) was introduced last year by Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), and currently has nine Republican, six Democratic, and two independent co-sponsors. The differences between the House GOP and Senate RAWA bills raise questions about the direction of potential negotiations and the compatibility of the two proposals. Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI) has indicated that she plans to reintroduce RAWA in the House this year.
White House Issues Updated Guidance on Research Security
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has issued two memoranda to enhance the security and fairness of the research ecosystem in the United States.
The first memorandum provides guidance on the use of common disclosure forms by federal agencies when evaluating proposals to identify conflicts of commitment and potential duplication with foreign governments' work. Specifically, OSTP instructs science agencies to adopt standardized forms for the Biographical Sketch and the Current and Pending (Other) Support portions of grant applicants. The objective is to streamline disclosure requirements across agencies, to better identify potential risks to research security and integrity.
The second memorandum offers guidance for federal research agencies regarding foreign talent recruitment programs, including defining such programs and providing guidelines for individuals involved in malign foreign talent recruitment in federal projects, as required by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
NSF Releases Updated Scientific Integrity Policy
On February 12, the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued its revised scientific integrity policy, in response to a 2021 presidential memorandum urging science agencies to strengthen their integrity policies.
NSF last updated its scientific integrity policy in 2019. The latest version aligns with the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice, released last January, and adopts the following definition of scientific integrity provided by the NSTC:
"Scientific integrity is the adherence to professional practices, ethical behavior and the principles of honesty and objectivity when conducting, managing, using the results of and communicating about science and scientific activities. Inclusivity, transparency and protection from inappropriate influence are hallmarks of scientific integrity."
The updated policy also provides additional information on the specific roles within NSF responsible for upholding scientific integrity, specifies the scope of the policy's applicability, and outlines the measures to be taken in case of non-compliance or allegations of scientific misconduct.
White House Updates Critical and Emerging Technologies List
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has released an updated list of Critical and Emerging Technologies (CETs) that have potential significance for U.S. national security.
The Trump Administration first published a list of CETs in 2020, which was updated by the Biden Administration in 2022. The 2024 update identifies the following key CET areas:
- Advanced Computing
- Advanced Engineering Materials
- Advanced Gas Turbine Engine Technologies
- Advanced and Networked Sensing and Signature Management
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Artificial Intelligence
- Biotechnologies
- Clean Energy Generation and Storage
- Data Privacy, Data Security, and Cybersecurity Technologies
- Directed Energy
- Highly Automated, Autonomous, and Uncrewed Systems, and Robotics
- Human-Machine Interfaces
- Hypersonics
- Integrated Communication and Networking Technologies
- Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Technologies
- Quantum Information and Enabling Technologies
- Semiconductors and Microelectronics
- Space Technologies and Systems
The updated CET list aims to inform government-wide and agency-specific initiatives supporting U.S. technological competitiveness and national security.
The list "should not be interpreted as a priority list for either policy development or funding," the White House cautioned, but instead it "should be used as a resource to: inform future efforts that promote U.S. technological leadership; cooperate with allies and partners to advance and maintain shared technological advantages; develop, design, govern, and use CETs that yield tangible benefits for society and are aligned with democratic values; and develop U.S. Government measures that respond to threats against U.S. security." Additional details can be found in this report.
Apply for the IDEA2 Public Policy Fellowship
The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) are jointly offering a paid Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accepting, and Accessible (IDEA2) Public Policy Fellowship in the summer of 2024 for current and recent graduate students in the life sciences or a closely related field.
This unique training opportunity provides young scientists with valuable first-hand experience in science policy. The Fellow will have the opportunity to work on a range of science policy projects that could include planning a Capitol Hill science policy briefing, preparing science policy documents, conducting research on science and science education policy initiatives, and attending Congressional and executive branch meetings. The Fellow will work closely with AIBS and SURA policy staff to gain practical experience with science policy and advocacy efforts that inform federal decision-making.
Applicant must be a current graduate (M.S. or Ph.D.) student or within two years of completing a graduate degree in the life sciences or a closely related field, who has a strong interest in science policy. The Fellow will have the option to choose between a 10-week remote or a month-long in-person engagement in the summer of 2024. The Fellow will receive a minimum stipend of $3,000, contingent on active participation. Travel expenses will also be covered.
Applications are due no later than 05:00 PM Eastern Time on Friday, March 15, 2024. Learn more about the opportunity and how to apply: https://io.aibs.org/idea2fellow
Deadline Approaching: Register for the 2024 AIBS Congressional Visits Day
Join the American Institute of Biological Sciences on April 15-17, 2024 for our annual Congressional Visits Day in Washington, DC.
Meet with your members of Congress to help them understand the important role the federal government plays in supporting the biological sciences. Advocate for federal investments in biological sciences research supported by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.
Participants will complete a communications and advocacy training program provided by AIBS that prepares them to be effective advocates for their science. AIBS will provide participants with background information and materials, as well as arrange meetings with lawmakers on April 17.
Who should participate?
Scientists, graduate students, educators, or other science community members who are interested in advocating for scientific research and education are encouraged to participate in this important event.
The ideal participant will:
- Have an interest in science policy.
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Work in a scientific profession or be enrolled in graduate school.
- Be able to speak about the importance of biological research funded by federal agencies (e.g. NSF, NIH, USDA).
- Provide compelling examples from their own experiences.
Training
The event includes a free, half-day training session on how to be an effective advocate for science policy. This training session will be held on April 16, 2024 and is mandatory for everyone who will be participating in congressional meetings.
Additionally, participants have the option to attend the highly acclaimed AIBS Communications Boot Camp for Scientists. This training course will be held in Washington, DC on April 15-16, 2024. This professional development program provides practical instruction and interactive exercises designed to help scientists (e.g. researchers, graduate students, administrators, educators) translate scientific information for non-technical audiences and to effectively engage with decision-makers and the news media. All participants who complete this optional training will receive priority access to the Congressional Visits Day and a certificate of completion indicating that they have successfully completed 16 hours of communications training. Click here for more information, including cost, for this two-day training program.
Registration
Express your interest in participating in the event by registering. Registration closes on March 1, 2024. Space is limited and we encourage you to register early. If registrations exceed program capacity, AIBS may prioritize registrants based on participation in the boot camp training, geographic diversity, and other factors. Register now.
Short Takes
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The Advisory Committee for the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) provides advice, recommendations, and oversight concerning major program emphases, directions, and goals for the research-related activities of the divisions that make up BIO. The spring 2024 meeting of the committee is scheduled for May 8-9, 2024.
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On March 4-5, 2024, the National Academies will hold a virtual public workshop to address the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Speakers will touch upon current clinical and economic burdens of AMR, data availability and analytical methods, and emerging scientific breakthroughs. Discussions will reflect on potential strategies that incorporate these insights to reduce the burden of AMR. Register now.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has announced the establishment of a bipartisan task force dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI). Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) will lead the task force, comprising 22 additional members selected from various committees currently engaged in AI legislation efforts. The primary goal of the group is to generate a comprehensive report containing guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations, and bipartisan policy proposals, developed in consultation with relevant committees, to contribute to the advancement of AI policies.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that Bruno Pigott, who currently serves as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, will replace the outgoing Assistant Administrator for Water, Radhika Fox, after she steps down on February 28. Pigott will take on the new role in an acting capacity. The leadership change coincides with the finalization of key water regulations, including the expected nationwide drinking water standard for six "forever chemicals" and a proposed rule for the phased-out removal of lead pipes within a decade.
From the Federal Register
The following items appeared in the Federal Register from February 12 to 23, 2024.
Commerce
Environmental Protection Agency
Health and Human Services
Interior
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
