This week: diseases affecting women, Nasa’s international ties, and security guidelines for federal research agencies

In depth: Democrats and Republicans have split over the House of Representatives’ 2025 funding proposal for key US scientific agencies—although science was not the focus of their disagreements.

Full story: US parties split over $78.3bn science spending bill for 2025

Also this week from Research Professional News

Bill aims to hold US government to deadline on student aid—Department of Education would have to ensure Fafsa scheme opens for applications on 1 October

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Call for research into diseases affecting women

There are “significant gaps” in knowledge about chronic conditions that affect women, such as endometriosis, pelvic floor disorders, migraines and chronic fatigue syndrome, according to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. These gaps make it harder to prevent, diagnose and treat such diseases, the report stresses. It calls on the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to increase their research efforts accordingly.

Nasa leader strengthens ties

Pam Melroy, deputy head of US space agency Nasa, has embarked on visits to Japan and South Korea to “underscore the critical role of international cooperation in advancing space exploration and technology development”. She met with ministers and officials, including some from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Korea AeroSpace Administration, to make her case. Nasa has an existing collaboration with the Japanese agency, while the Korean agency has only recently been created.

White House sets out research-security guidelines

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has published guidelines on security matters for federal research agencies, “to address risks posed by strategic competitors to the US R&D enterprise”. The guidelines say that agencies must have security programmes covering four elements: cybersecurity, foreign travel, security training and export-control training.

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Department of Education would have to ensure Fafsa scheme opens for applications on 1 October

Congress has introduced a bill intended to force the Department of Education to make the United States’ higher education student aid scheme available for applications from 1 October each year, after a widely criticised delay last year.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid scheme has typically been available from this date, according to a statement by senator Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. But in its most recent iteration, Fafsa was not available for applications until January 2024. 

Subsequent delays in information-sharing and reprocessing of forms with errors by the Department of Education meant that some students were forced to make decisions about their higher education without knowing what support was available to them, Cassidy said.

He also warned that the scheme is on course for another delay this year, and said that the Fafsa Deadline Act aimed to hold the education secretary accountable.

“Timely access to the Fafsa is essential for making higher education accessible and affordable,” said Republican representative Erin Houchin, who introduced the bill in the lower house. 

“The Fafsa Deadline Act will hold the Department of Education to a clear release date of 1 October, providing additional time and certainty for families as they prepare for their children’s futures.”

Ranking member opposed

Robert Scott, the Democrat ranking member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, opposed the move, but it was nonetheless backed by the committee by 34 votes to six.

“We all want Fafsa to work, and I want students to get the aid they’re entitled to in a timely manner,” Scott said. 

“What we don’t want is for the department to rush to meet arbitrary deadlines and push out a Fafsa form that—once again—has the same technical problems that students experienced this year when they could get it straight a couple of days after the deadline and release a form that actually works.”

Subsequently, Cassidy and Virginia Foxx, the Republican chair of the House education committee, wrote to the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General asking it for an update on its investigation into the problems that occurred with the most recent iteration of the scheme.

“We strongly urge you to continue to focus on this critical matter and to share your findings with Congress and the American people,” they wrote. 

“Students and families who need federal student aid to access postsecondary education deserve our best efforts to ensure that the department successfully executes the laws enacted by Congress to make student aid easily accessible.”

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Republican-led House Appropriations Committee seeks cuts to several scientific agency budgets

Democrats and Republicans have split over the House of Representatives’ 2025 funding proposal for key US scientific agencies—although science was not the focus of their disagreements.

On 9 July, the House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to approve its Fiscal Year 2025 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill was passed by the committee with Republican backing because the party controls the House.

The Act, which will be subject to negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate, proposes funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Nasa space agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), as well as a plethora of law-enforcement bodies.

Agency funding levels

The bill as a whole allocates $78.3 billion, which would be 2 per cent below the 2024 level. The committee said that it “reins in the Washington bureaucracy by rightsizing agencies and programmes”.

It would provide:

• The NSF with $9.26bn, which would be $199m (2 per cent) more than in 2024 but $924m less than president Joe Biden requested.
• Nasa with $25.2bn, which would be $304m (1 per cent) more than in 2024 but $200m less than the president wanted.
• Noaa with $5.64bn, which would be down by $676m (11 per cent) on 2024 and by $904m on Biden’s request.
• Nist with $1.42bn, which would be $45m (3 per cent) below 2024 and $83.5m less than what Biden asked for.
• The OSTP, which advises on and coordinates federal science policy, with $5.54m, which would be 30 per cent below 2024 and the same amount less than the president’s request.

The Republican chair of the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee, Hal Rogers, said: “Unfortunately, our nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path…These ill-advised spending trends require us to make difficult decisions for the future of our country.”

He added: “The critics of this bill, and my friends across the aisle, will suggest that we are not spending enough [but] we can, and must, do everything in our power to create a sustainable economic trajectory.”

On scientific elements of the Act, he said: “This bill addresses China and its aggressive overreach by making considerable investments in American science agencies…As China continues to advance their ambitions to the moon and beyond, it is more vital than ever that the US maintain its leadership in space exploration, scientific research and technology advancement.”

Opposition focused on policing

As Rogers predicted, Democrats in the committee pushed back, putting out a press release stressing that they “unanimously opposed” the bill.

But science received no specific mention in the press release, nor in ranking member Rosa DeLauro’s remarks in the committee debate. Instead, Democrats complained that the Act “defunds law enforcement, makes America less safe”.

Some scientific organisations were critical of parts of the bill.

The Consortium of Social Science Associations pointed out that the NSF would still be getting 6.2 per cent less than in 2023 after a “large and unexpected cut” last year.

The Computing Research Association said that Nist “doesn’t fare well” under the plan.

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Health, education and drug agencies asked how they intend to respond to controversial court ruling

The ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has written to seven federal agencies asking them how they intend to respond to last month’s controversial Supreme Court ruling overturning 40 years of science-related lawmaking in the United States.

In late June, the Supreme Court narrowly voted to scrap the Chevron deference, a four-decade precedent under which US courts deferred to federal agencies over interpretations of ambiguous congressional law regarding technical matters within the agencies’ remits.

The justices said they made their decision because courts are the proper place to resolve legal ambiguities. But many scientific organisations warned that the decision would result in litigants seeking to exploit the lack of scientific expertise among courts to escape stricter regulation on matters such as environmental sustainability.

Department heads questioned

Now, Senator Bill Cassidy (pictured) has written to federal bodies, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seeking information on how they will comply with the ruling.

Cassidy told the bodies that he was “concerned” about how they would respond to the ruling given their “track record”.

He told education secretary Miguel Cardona that his department had “flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law”, citing examples including its refusal to reimpose student loan repayments and its redefining of “sex” to include “gender” under higher education legislation relating to sexual discrimination.

“The department’s attempts at transferring student loan debt to taxpayers are particularly brazen,” Cassidy wrote, adding that they “lack statutory basis”.

Cassidy told health secretary Xavier Becerra that his department had “cast aside clear congressional directives and key parts of the statute that Congress carefully negotiated” in relation to medical bills.

He said that both departments had “consistently failed to provide timely or satisfactory responses to oversight requests, hindering Congress’ ability to make informed policy decisions and hold your agency accountable”.

FDA told no need for alarm

FDA commissioner Robert Califf was told by Cassidy that the Supreme Court decision “should not be cause for alarm” because it “does not mean that courts will disregard FDA’s expertise”. Instead, he said, it would “give FDA’s know-how appropriate consideration, yet reclaim [courts’] constitutional role of interpreting law”.

His agency was also accused by Cassidy of having “ignored” court rulings, including around drugs for rare diseases. “FDA may not simply pick and choose the laws it would like to follow based on its conception of what will ‘best serve public health’,” Cassidy said.

“FDA…thumbs its nose at the constitution, every time it ignores the decisions that Congress makes through both laws it enacts and chooses not to enact. Congress’ decision to enact provisions into law to address legal, scientific or other developments, and not to enact provisions following others, must mean something,” he complained.

Cassidy asked the bodies how they intend to change their practices in light of the ruling; whether they would be reviewing their activities; how they intended to facilitate congressional involvement in their activities; and how they plan to be more responsive to congressional requests. He also requested information regarding his specific complaints about each body, and sought responses by 19 July.

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This week: a joint statement on research collaboration, NIH award data, and an NSF appointment

In depth: The ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has written to seven federal agencies asking them how they intend to respond to last month’s controversial Supreme Court ruling overturning 40 years of science-related lawmaking in the United States.

Full story: Committee leader presses agencies over Chevron deference

Also this week from Research Professional News

$176m to support Moderna pandemic flu vaccine effort—US federal support aims to build on success of vaccine against Covid-19

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

AAU joins call for collaboration

The Association of American Universities has joined six other groups of research-intensive universities around the world in issuing a joint statement reasserting their commitment to principles including the need to link higher education to research. The groups, including the League of European Research Universities and the UK Russell Group, also stressed the importance of research in tackling societal challenges, as well as the impact of global collaboration on such efforts. They called on governments to support them in their work to help them reach their full potential.

Dip in NIH awards to young researchers

The National Institutes of Health has put out new figures on the researchers it supported in 2023, revealing a slight dip in the number of awards to early-stage investigators. It awarded grants to 1,587 ESIs in 2023, down 1.4 per cent on the previous year. This followed several years of increases in award numbers of 6-7 per cent annually, from a 2016 low of 978. The success rate for applications in 2023 was 29.8 per cent, which was essentially flat on the previous year.

NSF appoints chief management officer

The National Science Foundation has appointed Micah Cheatham to the role of chief management officer, in which he will advise the NSF director and deputy on agency operations, finances and strategy. Cheatham has been working in a similar role at the National Archives and Records Administration since 2016. “Micah brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of leadership to NSF,” said agency director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “We are confident that his strategic insights and management acumen will play a crucial role in advancing NSF’s goals and achieving sustained success.”

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US federal support aims to build on success of vaccine against Covid-19

The US federal government has awarded $176 million to the biotechnology company Moderna to support its efforts to develop a vaccine against pandemic influenza.

Announced on 2 July, the award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is for work using the mRNA technology Moderna used to develop one of the first vaccines against Covid-19.

It was made through a new Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle Consortium designed to support research into medical measures against health emergencies, which also supports diagnostics and treatments.

“We have successfully taken lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic and used them to better prepare for future public health crises. As part of that, we continue to develop new vaccines and other tools to help address influenza and bolster our pandemic response capabilities,” said health secretary Xavier Becerra.

The award will support vaccine development and testing through clinical trials, and potentially large-scale production at a later date.

Trial of nasal vaccine for Covid

A day earlier, the National Institutes of Health announced it had started a phase-1 clinical trial to test the safety of a nasal vaccine against Covid-19.

“While first-generation Covid-19 vaccines continue to be effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalisations, and death, they are less successful at preventing infection and milder forms of disease,” said Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose researchers helped design the trial.

“With the continual emergence of new virus variants, there is a critical need to develop next-generation Covid-19 vaccines, including nasal vaccines, that could reduce Sars-CoV-2 infections and transmission.”

The trial is the first to be conducted under Project NextGen, an initiative to coordinate between the public and private sectors on the development of pandemic countermeasures.

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This week: damning diagnosis for science, campus mental health and alleged grant fraud

In depth: Science groups have sounded the alarm over the Supreme Court striking down a precedent for how scientifically complex issues are handled by the US legal system.

Full story: Scientists sound alarm over impact of Supreme Court decision

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

US groups fear for 2025 education and research spending—House Committee on Appropriations bill would cut education funding and leave the NIH’s budget stagnant
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Academies president warns on state of science

Marcia McNutt, the president of the National Academies of Sciences, has used the organisation’s inaugural State of the Science address to warn that the United States is “losing the race for global science, technology, engineering and mathematics leadership”. She warned that the US is highly dependent on foreign researchers, and that it is unlikely to be able to keep attracting them as nations including China ramp up their research investment. The US should cut red tape to make itself more attractive, and develop a national science strategy, she recommended.

Some 40% of students lack mental health support

Around 40 per cent of US students said they were not able to talk with a campus-based mental health professional when they needed to. The finding was highlighted by the American Council on Education from among the results of its 2023 Sense of Belonging Survey. Asked about their access to mental health advice, 15 per cent strongly agreed it was available, 45 per cent agreed, 30 per cent disagreed and 10 per cent strongly disagreed.

Professor charged with $16m grant fraud scheme

A medical professor at a public university has been charged with “defrauding the US National Institutes of Health of approximately $16 million in federal grant funds”, the Department of Justice has announced. Hoau-Yan Wang won the sums through competitive grant applications between 2017 and 2021, the NIH said, but is alleged to have falsified data to do so. “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the department said.

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House Committee on Appropriations bill would cut education funding and leave the NIH’s budget stagnant

Higher education and research in the US would be harmed by a 2025 spending bill put forward by the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, sector organisations have warned.

On 26 June, the committee put forward a bill for education and health spending that it said would be 11 per cent below the 2024 spending level, coming in at $186 billion.

The American Council on Education pointed out that Republicans, who control the House, and Democrats differed in their statements of how much the Department of Education would receive under the bill, while saying it would be a 13 to 14 per cent cut.

Ace said that cuts to educational support grants would “considerably harm low- and middle-income students and students from marginalised communities”.

Mary Woolley, president of the biomedical research advocacy organisation Research!America, said that flat year-on-year funding for the National Institutes of Health would set “a low bar for a nation leading the life-and-death offensive against deadly and debilitating health threats”.

“We believe it is entirely in the nation’s health, security and economic interests…for the US to escalate, not flatline or worse, its investment in the NIH and our nation’s other science, technology and public health agencies,” she said.

Opposing views

Committee chair Tom Cole said that the bill “prioritises research for novel treatments that can save and transform lives [and] rejects the Biden administration’s pursuit of divisive programmes in education”.

But Rosa DeLauro, the Democrat ranking member, said it “abandons college students and lower-income workers trying to gain an education or advance their career for their chance at the American Dream”.

She said a proposed reorganisation of the NIH requires the House “to hold public hearings and engage in a thoughtful process to incorporate the best ideas to advance the NIH as the crown jewel of biomedical research”.

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Scrapping Chevron doctrine will “fundamentally change” how scientific information is used in US federal policymaking

Science groups have sounded the alarm over the Supreme Court striking down a precedent for how scientifically complex issues are handled by the US legal system.

On 28 June, the Supreme Court narrowly decided to scrap the Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old precedent whereby US courts deferred to federal agencies over interpretations of ambiguous congressional law regarding technical matters within their remit.

Scientific organisations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science criticised the move and warned of its impacts on science-related regulatory matters going forward.

Scientific concern

“The US Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the Chevron doctrine will thrust federal agencies’ decision-making into uncharted waters and fundamentally change the way scientific information is used in federal policymaking,” said AAAS chief executive Sudip Parikh and programme director Theresa Harris in a joint statement.

“Courts will be in a position to review the science behind federal regulations much more frequently. The likelihood that regulations would be delayed or overturned would increase [and] the risk of years of litigation could potentially chill policymaking and the ability to act on new and significant scientific findings.”

Parikh and Harris said that there is now an urgent need to increase the scientific expertise and objective evidence across the federal government.

Their fears were shared by Jennifer Jones, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group for the use of scientific evidence, who said that the impact of the Supreme Court decision “will be enormous”.

“For decades, [the Chevron doctrine] has guided the way laws that protect public health, consumer rights, workers and the environment are implemented,” she said. “Policies that should be based on the best available scientific evidence will be at risk of being dismantled by the whims and ideological preferences of unelected judges, and people will suffer as a result.”

Jones blamed the court ruling on “well-funded campaigns by powerful industries and ideological interest groups”. She said the cases that resulted in the ruling were intended “to make environmental, safety and public health protections harder to implement and enforce”, and that Congress would need to shore up legal protections as a result.

Split in Congress

Setting out the court decision, chief justice John Roberts said: “Agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do.” He added that courts would have agencies’ technical expertise at their disposal when making decisions.

A dissenting view was offered by three other court justices, led by Elena Kagan, who said that the Chevron doctrine has supported “regulatory efforts of all kinds—to name a few, keeping air and water clean, food and drugs safe and financial markets honest”. She said it reflects “what Congress would want”.

Congress is currently split along party lines—with the Democrats in control of the Senate and Republicans in control of the House of Representatives—and so were the responses to the court ruling.

Tom Carper, Democrat chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said the decision was part of an “anti-environment agenda” among the court justices.

“The policy decisions that should be made by subject matter experts—like climate scientists, epidemiologists and biologists—will be left to individual judges who lack the expertise to make scientific and technical determinations,” he said.

“Make no mistake—litigants will now seek to game the system on any regulatory action that they disagree with by putting cases before friendly judges who will insert their own policy preferences.”

James Comer, Republican chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said the decision “stops the unelected, unaccountable federal bureaucracy’s aggressive regulatory overreach”.

“For far too long, the administrative state has been able to wield unchecked power and act as legislators by issuing major regulations that have driven up costs for Americans, stifled innovation and micromanaged nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives.

“This decision rightfully hands the power back to Americans’ elected representatives in Congress to write our nation’s laws and to the courts to interpret them.”

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This week: climate adaptation plans, quantum infrastructure and a crackdown on Chinese tools

In depth: Democrat politicians have introduced a bill intended to increase US federal support for less financially well-off students, which they say has been eroded by inflation.

Full story: Bill introduced to increase support for less well-off students

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

Senator aims to bust cap on federal spending—Appropriations committee chair warns cap on 2025 spending “will stifle” biomedical and other research
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Bill seeks to ban use of Chinese tools

A bipartisan group of political leaders has introduced a bill aiming to ban companies that receive public subsidies through the Chips and Science Act from purchasing specialised tools or equipment made by companies based in China “or other foreign entities of concern”. Zoe Lofgren, the Democratic ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said: “We must continue to be vigilant to stay one step ahead of our adversaries like China. This common sense bill will help protect [Chips and Science Act] investments and ensure they are not used to support our adversaries’ capacity to develop semiconductor manufacturing equipment.”

Agencies release climate adaptation plans

More than 20 federal agencies have published plans for how they intend to adapt to climate change, in response to a requirement placed on them by the government. The space agency Nasa was among them, and its administrator Bill Nelson said that the agencies’ efforts would “ensure humanity is well prepared for the effects of climate change”. He added: “Nasa’s decades of Earth observation are key to building climate resiliency and sustainability across the country and the world.”

$20m for quantum infrastructure

The National Science Foundation has announced an allocation of almost $20 million to support the construction of the National Quantum Nanofab, a fabrication facility for nanoscale devices at the University of Colorado Boulder. The investment is intended to help position the US as a global leader in quantum science and engineering. “US researchers need cutting-edge tools to stay at the forefront of science and technology,” said NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “By strategically investing in infrastructure like the NSF’s National Quantum Nanofab, we are strengthening opportunities for all Americans.”

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US Democrats seek to “restore the purchasing power” of grant eroded by inflation

Democrat politicians have introduced a bill intended to increase US federal support for less financially well-off students, which they say has been eroded by inflation.

Six Democrats including Robert Scott, ranking member of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, introduced the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act of 2024 on 20 June.

They said that the Pell Grant system of needs-based support is “the cornerstone of federal financial aid for postsecondary education, serving over six million undergraduate students”, and that they want to double the maximum award it provides and increase the amount in line with inflation in future.

‘Severely eroded’

“The Pell Grant is the most important tool we have to help students afford college. Unfortunately, due to the rising cost of college, the purchasing power of Pell Grants has severely eroded over time,” Scott said in a statement.

“The Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act will go a long way to restore the purchasing power and help millions of students earn a quality degree, without being forced to take on excessive debt.”

Senator Patty Murray, Democrat chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, backed the act. She said: “My siblings and I were able to go to college thanks to federal support, and students today deserve to know the federal government has their back and will help them pursue their dreams, too.

“I’m going to keep pushing to pass this legislation and help ensure every student can pursue a higher education—no matter how much money their family has.”

‘Important step forward’

According to a fact sheet, 40 per cent of all US undergraduates benefit from the Pell Grant, which has its basis in legislation dating back more than 55 years. But its purchasing power “has reached a record low” due to increases in college prices, from covering three-quarters of study costs to less than one-third.

The act would increase the maximum Pell Grant from $7,395 in 2024-25 to $10,000 in 2025-26 and then eventually to $14,000. It would also make the grant mandatory for the government, extend it to undocumented migrants and clarify access requirements.

The Democrats rounded up a spate of supportive statements from the academic sector, including the American Association of University Professors, which described the act as “an important step forward in the fight to ensure equitable and affordable access to higher education for all students”.

“The rapidly increasing cost of college and high levels of student debt are curtailing access for many students. While the Pell Grant remains an important aid for low-income students, inflation has eroded its value. The enhancements proposed in this bill will help guarantee that all students can access higher education—invaluable for building prosperity; advancing social, racial and economic justice; strengthening democracy and civil society; and fostering knowledge and innovation,” the association said.

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Appropriations committee chair warns cap on 2025 spending “will stifle” biomedical and other research

Senator Patty Murray, the Democrat chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has called on her fellow politicians to break the previously agreed cap on 2025 federal spending in order to increase investment in activities including research.

In a fact sheet she released on 18 June and comments she made in the Senate, Murray warned that the maximum 1 per cent increase in federal non-defence spending for 2025 agreed by Congress last year would provide “grossly inadequate” investment.

“Under the caps for nondefense [federal spending], everything struggles to keep up with rising costs,” she said. “So, to me, the path for the Senate is clear: we have got to provide additional resources beyond the caps to address major shortfalls and new challenges.”

Murray said the National Institutes of Health is facing a $280 million shortfall that cannot be filled under the spending cap, which she said is “blunting momentum for lifesaving biomedical breakthroughs”.

While the US is set to increase its spending by just 1 per cent, China is increasing its R&D spending by 10 per cent, Murray warned. “How do we expect to compete?” she asked.

The Pell Grant system for supporting undergraduate education for the less well-off also risks being left “stagnant in the face of rapidly rising higher education costs”, she warned.

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This week: four science bills, novel vaccine delivery and the return of Voyager 1

In depth: A leading Republican lawmaker has proposed a dramatic restructuring of the US National Institutes of Health, claiming that the funder has a “sprawling and siloed organisational structure” that could be causing duplication of research.

Full story: Republican aims to streamline ‘sprawling and siloed’ NIH

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

US political parties split over higher education bills—Democrat leader blasts bills passed by Republican majority on House education committee
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Bipartisan science bills passed

The House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology has passed four bipartisan bills that its Republican chair Frank Lucas said would provide “a significant step toward innovation”. One of the bills authorises the National Science Foundation and the Department of Agriculture to work together on R&D, while a second directs the Department of Energy to support research into geothermal energy. A third bill backs research on nuclear fuels from the Department of Energy, while the fourth establishes the Foundation for Standards and Metrology at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Space probe back to full power

Voyager 1, a space probe launched by Nasa in 1977 to study the outer solar system, is again “conducting normal science operations for the first time following a technical issue that arose in November 2023”, the space agency has announced. Two of the craft’s four scientific instruments returned to operations in May and the other two are now also working again, Nasa said. “Additional minor work” will be needed to “clean up” the data they are providing, it added.

$500m for alternative vaccine delivery methods

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, has announced that it will allocate up to $500 million to a project intending to conduct clinical trials into vaccines for Covid-19 delivered as a nasal spray or as a pill. Health secretary Xavier Becerra said the research could make it easier for a wider range of people to protect themselves against disease. “[We] won’t stop until we have the next generation of innovative vaccines, therapeutics and other tools to protect against Covid-19 or any other pathogen that could threaten the American public,” he said.

The post US news roundup: 14-20 June appeared first on Research Professional News.

House committee chair says “uncoordinated” growth of National Institutes of Health is causing “research duplication”

A leading Republican lawmaker has proposed a dramatic restructuring of the US National Institutes of Health, claiming that the funder has a “sprawling and siloed organisational structure” that could be causing duplication of research.

In a discussion paper on reforming the NIH, published on 14 June, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, says the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research is being undermined by its current setup.

“There are significant costs and complexities associated with administering an agency comprised of 27 institutes and centres, each with its own unique mission and priorities, budget, staff, programming and operational system,” Rodgers says.

“Decades of nonstrategic and uncoordinated growth created a system ripe for stagnant leadership, research duplication, gaps, misconduct and undue influence.”

According to Rodgers, the current organisation is “adversely affect[ing] the NIH’s ability to respond appropriately to new scientific and public health challenges, as well as hinder[ing] America’s ability to remain the world’s pioneering leader of basic science and biomedical research [and] innovation”.

Major streamlining

Rodgers wants the NIH to have just 15 institutes and centres, whose missions would be “better align[ed]” in pursuit of “more coordinated overarching research goals”.

“Our goal is to eliminate the demographic- or disease-specific siloed nature of the current structure and ensure each [institute or centre] is considering the whole individual and all populations across the entire lifespan,” she says in her paper.

Some centres, including the National Cancer Institute, would remain after the streamlining. Others would be consolidated; for example, three separate institutes—for studying the heart, lungs and blood; arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases; and diabetes, digestive and kidney diseases—would become the National Institute on Body Systems Research.

Notably, however, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would be split into a National Institute on Infectious Diseases and a separate institute for arthritis and the immune system. The institute attracted considerable Republican ire over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Rodgers’s paper reiterates concerns about how it has funded and overseen virus research.

Shorter terms

The paper also highlights that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was led by the recently retired Anthony Fauci for a period of 38 years. “The lack of turnover within NIH’s leadership may contribute to an inability to adapt to evolving expectations in the workplace or to proactively change an existing workplace culture,” it says. It calls for the directors of institutes and centres to be limited to two consecutive five-year terms.

More generally, Rodgers says that the NIH must “focus on building efficiencies and accountability” in its funding to ensure the best use of taxpayers’ money. She also echoes a call from a Republican colleague for the agency to fund more early-stage as opposed to applied research, and she says an independent body should be given powers over the new infectious diseases institute’s funding of risky viral research.

The NIH told Research Professional News: “NIH wouldn’t comment on a proposed framework but will continue to be responsive to Congress as they explore changes to the NIH organisation.”

Rodgers is seeking feedback on the paper from stakeholders by 16 August.

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Democrat leader blasts bills passed by Republican majority on House education committee

The House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce has divided along party lines over several bills intended to impact US higher education institutions.

Nine bills were passed by the Republican-led committee on 13 June, including some that ranking Democrat committee member Robert Scott said made him “deeply concerned”.

Among these were the Civil Rights Protection Act of 2024, which will require the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to do more to investigate civil rights complaints made against higher education institutions.

While Scott said that Democrats had historically pushed for stronger civil rights protections at universities, he expressed concern that the act “will place an even greater burden on an already overwhelmed Office for Civil Rights with a huge backlog in cases”.

The office “does not have the resources it needs” at present and Republicans are calling for its budget to be cut by 25 per cent, he said.

Republican committee chair Virginia Foxx said the act would ensure “thorough and fair investigations of discrimination based on race, colour or national origin”.

Sex differences

The parties were also split over a Congressional Review Act to nullify expansions to the Title IX rule introduced by the administration of president Joe Biden. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination on campus, and its expansion is aimed at greater protections for LGBTQ+ students.

“By repealing the rule, we would not only be rolling back progress but also preventing the [Biden] administration from promulgating any substantially similar regulations in the future,” warned Scott.

By contrast, Foxx said that the expansion allows “men to intrude into women’s spaces and take opportunities away from women”, and that rolling it back would reflect that “sex differences are biological”.

Scott said that the bills of concern to Democrats “are unlikely to pass in the Senate”, where Democrats have a majority, unlike in the House, “or be signed into law”.

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This week: fusion energy, concerns about Noaa funding and a pilot healthcare research initiative

In depth: Senior Republicans have pulled science-related funders, agencies and government departments into their months-long enquiry into antisemitism on campuses, which some in academia and among the political opposition have criticised as being motivated by optics.

Full story: Republicans query funders and agencies on antisemitism actions

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

NSF to adopt new research security measures—National security framework will balance “bold” investment with “principled” collaboration, National Science Foundation says
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Fusion energy strategy unveiled

The Department of Energy has unveiled a strategy for fusion energy, which is a nascent technology intended to enable the generation of clean power from the joining of hydrogen nuclei, without producing radioactive waste. Its strategy has three pillars: using science to devise commercially viable power plants, preparing these for deployment, and building partnerships for rolling them out. “We will leverage the opportunities enabled by our world-leading public and private fusion leadership, including humanity’s first-ever demonstration of fusion ignition at our National Ignition Facility, as well as major new advances in technologies,” said deputy energy secretary David Turk.

‘Grave concern’ over Noaa budget

Zoe Lofgren, the Democrat ranking member on the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Environment, has expressed “grave concern” over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposal to “make steep cuts to some of its research programmes”. However, she acknowledged that these are due to the “difficult decisions” required to keep its budget in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which aims to keep a tight limit on federal spending. “Robust funding for federal science agencies, including Noaa, is necessary if you want to be the world leader in cutting-edge research and technology,” she said.

Primary care research pilot launched

The National Institutes of Health has launched a pilot initiative to test the feasibility of running a national research network focused on primary care—healthcare provided by generalist practitioners like family doctors, rather than disease specialists. The biomedical research funder is allocating about $30 million to the pilot over the 2024 and 2025 financial years. Called the Communities Advancing Research Equity for Health scheme, or Care for Health, the initiative seeks to improve access to clinical research, in particular for groups that are traditionally underrepresented in it.

The post US news roundup: 7-13 June appeared first on Research Professional News.

National security framework will balance “bold” investment with “principled” collaboration, National Science Foundation says

The National Science Foundation has announced it will adopt a new approach to assessing whether research proposals pose a threat to the United States’ national security.

This approach, called the Trusted Research Using Safeguards and Transparency (Trust) framework, has three strands, the NSF announced on 5 June: assessing personnel appointments and positions; identifying noncompliance with disclosure and other requirements; and addressing national security considerations.

“The framework is designed to avoid curtailing beneficial research activities due to institutions or individuals in the community being overly cautious, protect the agency’s core values of fairness and due process, and maintain open lines of communication with the research community,” said the NSF.

The funder’s chief of research security strategy and policy, Rebecca Keiser, said the adoption of the framework was “a major step in pivoting from a compliance culture to a research security culture”.

It does not entail a “zero-risk approach”, she stressed, adding: “We must be bold and invest in science here at home while continuing to encourage principled, mutually beneficial international collaboration.”

Use of the framework will be rolled out gradually, starting in 2025, with a pilot focused on quantum-related research. It will eventually be scaled up to all key technology areas and NSF priorities.

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Committee chairs ask National Science Foundation and Nasa whether they have halted university funding

Senior Republicans have pulled science-related funders, agencies and government departments into their months-long enquiry into antisemitism on campuses, which some in academia and among the political opposition have criticised as being motivated by optics.

On 6 June, Frank Lucas (pictured right), the chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology, plus two subcommittee chairs, wrote to the heads of the National Science Foundation, space agency Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency and two government departments to query them over their responses to how the conflict in Gaza is affecting university campuses in the United States.

Since the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israelis in October, sparking counterattacks by Israel, protests against the Israeli government have taken place on many campuses in the US and across many countries in the West. Amid these, Jewish students have reported a rise in antisemitism that has prompted the Republican inquiry.

Compliance with Civil Rights Act

In their letters, Lucas and colleagues demanded information on how the recipient organisations have been monitoring and responding to universities’ requirement to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

“A Title VI statutory violation occurs when a university discriminatorily denies participation of researchers or students in federally supported programmes, activities or laboratories, or when a university’s response to an alleged violation is deemed inadequate,” Lucas and colleagues explained.

“After months of antisemitic protests across university campuses, we’ve witnessed Jewish students verbally abused, physically assaulted and barred entry to schools that they paid to attend…This created a hostile environment for the Jewish students and staff that live, work and study at these universities, a potential violation of Title VI,” they added.

In their letter to National Science Foundation director Sethuraman Panchanathan, the Republicans pointed out that the NSF provided $9 billion dollars of taxpayer money in research awards funding in the 2023 financial year, and stressed that this investment is “subject to all federal laws, including Civil Rights law”.

“Given the recent uptick in antisemitism at research institutions, NSF must hold universities accountable to Title VI requirements by ensuring recipients of financial assistance are cultivating equal opportunity for all and prohibiting discrimination,” they said.

For the Department of Energy, the figure was similarly $9.1bn, the Republicans said; for the Environmental Protection Agency they said it was $14.7bn; for Nasa $1.27bn; and for the Department of Commerce they said it will be $3.85bn in 2024.

Probe on auditing and complaints

The Republicans asked the heads of these organisations the same sets of questions.

These included how often they have audited universities for their compliance with Title VI, how many times they have found universities to be in violation of it, and how much money they have recovered from universities as a result.

Other questions were specific to the protests: the Republicans asked the organisations whether they believed the “protests, encampments or threats made by agitators create a hostile environment”, whether they received any complaints about the protests from students or faculty, and whether any research they funded has been interrupted.

They sought answers by 20 June.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: geoengineering, harnessing industry for space telescopes and further probing of antisemitism on campus

In depth: Clinical trials funded by the US National Institutes of Health “often fell short” on including traditionally underrepresented groups among their participants, an analysis by a watchdog has found.

Full story: NIH trials ‘often fell short’ on inclusivity

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

US higher education ‘under attack’, claims academic group—Paper from director of American Association of University Professors warns academic freedom is being undermined
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Environment agency seeks geoengineering feedback

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking feedback on its decision to issue “tentative research permits” for a study on geoengineering—human intervention in the climate. Such initiatives are controversial due to their potential for unintended consequences, although the EPA said that for this study it “does not anticipate any measurable environmental or other impacts beyond the monitoring periods”. The study, led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will involve releasing sodium hydroxide into surface ocean waters and monitoring changes to water chemistry and the environment, as a potential way to sequester carbon dioxide.

Nasa teams up with industry on space telescopes

The US space agency has commissioned three industry proposals to help it develop technologies for large space telescopes, including ones designed to search for life outside the solar system. The work has a combined value of $17.5 million and will take place over two years, starting in the summer. “With these awards, we’re excited to engage industry to help close technology gaps to make this groundbreaking mission a reality,” said Mark Clampin, director of Nasa’s Astrophysics Division.

Yale and Michigan leaders drawn into antisemitism probe

The presidents of Yale University and the University of Michigan, Peter Salovey and Santa Ono, have been asked to take part in transcribed interviews as part of the House education committee’s probe into antisemitism on US campuses. Committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx said the interviews would include the actions the universities have taken to protect Jewish students. She has previously lambasted sector leaders for allegedly not doing enough in this regard.

The post US news roundup: 30 May to 6 June appeared first on Research Professional News.

Paper from director of American Association of University Professors warns academic freedom is being undermined

Higher education in the United States is “under attack” from conservative politicians, think tanks and their wealthy backers, according to a new paper published by the American Association of University Professors.

The paper, authored by Isaac Kamola, director of the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom and published on 28 May, is titled Manufacturing Backlash: Right-Wing Think Tanks and Legislative Attacks on Higher Education, 2021-23.

It asserts that, since 2021, more than 150 bills have been introduced at state level “seeking to actively undermine academic freedom and university governance”, for example by banning the teaching of certain subjects.

Some of these have succeeded, Kamola says, pointing out that states including Florida and Texas have passed laws aimed at reducing efforts to increase equity, diversity and inclusion on university campuses.

Republican politicians in the same states have also “sought to weaken tenure protections for faculty”, while bills have sought to establish programmes “to teach conservative content”.

“Taken together, these bills constitute an evolving, interlocking and intensifying effort by Republican politicians and well-funded think tanks to undermine academic freedom and university autonomy,” he says.

In his paper, Kamola calls for universities and society more broadly to protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy to ensure higher education can continue to act as a source of knowledge and innovation.

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Biomedical funder agrees it needs to do more to ensure its research includes neglected groups

Clinical trials funded by the US National Institutes of Health “often fell short” on including traditionally underrepresented groups among their participants, an analysis by a watchdog has found.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services carried out the analysis and published its findings on 22 May.

It said it conducted the study because traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, as well as women, are “disproportionately burdened by many diseases” but have been neglected by research.

Trials falling short

The review focused on a random sample of 30 NIH-funded phase III clinical trials between 2016 and 2020.

“Researchers in our sample often fell short in enrolling underrepresented groups in NIH-funded clinical trials and in meeting NIH’s requirements for inclusion enrolment plans,” the OIG reported.

It said that one-third of the clinical trials it analysed “did not plan to include all racial and ethnic groups”, and that “most” of the trials missed their enrolment targets.

While the NIH monitors enrolment, it has had “limited success” in spurring improvement, according to the OIG.

The watchdog recommended that the NIH should hold researchers accountable for clearly describing why they chose the participants they did.

The funder should also develop additional ways of helping researchers meet their enrolment targets and improve its data collection and reporting, the OIG added.

According to the OIG, the NIH “concurred with all three of our recommendations”.

Funder in agreement

In responses published by the OIG, the NIH said it requires applicants for funding to submit inclusion plans that are “appropriate in the context of the science”, including the disease being studied.

This includes requiring an explanation for any sectors of the population that will be deliberately excluded, but does not require a trial to include “every demographic group”.

“Through NIH’s [proposal] peer review process, experts with relevant expertise in the scientific discipline…evaluate the acceptability of the inclusion plans,” the funder said.

But it added that changes announced in October 2023 to better focus this peer review on “the key questions” include “a focus on whether the study results will be generalisable, and whether the sample is appropriate”.

“NIH expects this change to better focus applicants and reviewers on inclusion,” it said.

On support, the NIH said it already provides “a number of resources” to help researchers encourage diverse inclusion, such as toolkits and videos, but that in the spring it will provide “enhanced training” for staff.

“NIH will review and update trainings, communications and guidance to facilitate participant inclusion,” it said.

Finally, the funder said it agreed with the need for more precise enrolment data and was reviewing the need for changes to its forms, systems and guidance.

Timely reminder

A day before the report was published, NIH’s deputy director for extramural research, Mike Lauer, and its inclusion policy officer, Dawn Corbett, published a blog post reminding researchers of the funder’s inclusivity policies.

“Appropriate inclusion of research participants ensures that NIH supports science that will inform clinical practice to benefit all who are affected by the disease or condition under study,” they said.

They added that in the 2023 financial year, women made up 57 per cent of participants in all NIH-supported research, and that 44 per cent of participants identified as a racial or ethnic minority.

In future, the NIH will publish such data more often than every three years, as it has been doing, they added.

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This week: how NIH research benefits patients, allegations against oil companies and making computing greener

In depth: Congress should increase funding for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to help reduce antisemitism on US campuses, according to a senior Democrat.

Full story: ‘Fund Office of Civil Rights to combat antisemitism’

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

Experts want accountability when AI is used in research—Group says researchers should disclose their use of artificial intelligence and evaluate its impact
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

NIH seeks to promote equitable access

The National Institutes of Health has called for feedback on a proposal to place new obligations on the licensees of patents resulting from research that it funds. If the licensees succeed in bringing products to market, they should provide the NIH with a plan outlining how they intend to promote patient access to those products. Access “is of paramount importance in providing a return on taxpayers’ investment in biomedical research”, it explained. Feedback must be provided by 22 July.

Democrats demand investigation into oil companies

Senior Democrats have called on the attorney general Merrick Garland to investigate oil companies for what the politicians called a “decades-long disinformation campaign to mislead the public about the climate effects of fossil fuels and obstruct climate action”. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Sheldon Whitehouse, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said that the Department of Justice was “well situated to pursue further investigation and take any appropriate legal action, as it has in similar cases involving the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries”.

NSF invests in computing

The National Science Foundation has awarded $36 million to three research projects it said have the “potential to revolutionise computing and make significant impacts in reducing the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of computers”. The projects cover issues such as how hardware is allocated to applications and how the carbon footprint of computing components is tracked by the industry. Dilma DaSilva, acting assistant director for the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, said: “Congratulations to these pioneering teams whose research will forge new pathways in computational decarbonisation and in revolutionising operating system design with machine learning.”

The post US news roundup: 24-30 May appeared first on Research Professional News.

Group says researchers should disclose their use of artificial intelligence and evaluate its impact

A group of experts in academic policy has called on researchers to focus on five principles of accountability and responsibility when using artificial intelligence in their work.

The principles are that researchers should: disclose when and how they have used AI in their work, take accountability for the accuracy of their work, label their uses of AI, avoid risks of harm and evaluate the impact of AI on research.

Call for vigilance

They were set out in an editorial published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by authors including National Academy of Sciences president Marcia McNutt.

“We welcome the advances that AI is driving across scientific disciplines, but we also need to be vigilant about upholding long-held scientific norms and values,” she said.

“We hope our paper will prompt reflection among researchers and set the stage for concerted efforts to protect the integrity of science as generative AI increasingly is used in the course of research.”

The editorial called on the research community to create oversight bodies to help police the sector’s use of AI, including a council on the responsible use of AI, which it said should be created by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

AI education bill

Separately, a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the Senate with the aim of increasing education in AI and quantum technologies in the US.

The National Science Foundation AI Education Act would authorise the NSF to award scholarships in these technologies and create fellowships to further educate people already working in research.

“This bill will open doors to AI for students at all levels, and upskill our workforce to drive American tech innovation, entrepreneurship and progress in solving the toughest global challenges,” said Democrat senator Maria Cantwell, who was one of the Congress members who introduced the bill.

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Democrat seeks funding boost as university leaders call for dialogue

Congress should increase funding for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to help reduce antisemitism on US campuses, according to a senior Democrat.

Robert Scott (pictured), the Democrat ranking member on the House of Representatives education committee, was speaking at a hearing on campus antisemitism called by the Republican chairwoman of the committee, Virginia Foxx, on 23 May.

While Republicans in Congress have led concerns about a rise in antisemitism on campuses since the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians last year, Scott said that this is part of a broader trend.

“We’ve unfortunately seen a disturbing rise in incidents not only of antisemitism but also Islamophobia, racism, homophobia and all other forms of hate, all of which need to be addressed,” he said.

But progress has fallen short after repeated hearings of the committee on the issue of antisemitism, said Scott.

Meaningful solution

“Here we are, for the fifth time in six months, holding another hearing to complain about the problem of antisemitism, but no work is being done to find a meaningful solution to address animus on college campuses,” he complained.

His solution was to increase funding for the Office of Civil Rights, to ensure it “has the resources it needs to investigate where campuses are failing to protect against antisemitic acts or otherwise not protecting against civil rights violations”.

But instead, Scott said, last year Republicans called for the office’s funding to be cut by 25 per cent. He also complained that diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, “which try to bring people together, are being disparaged and eliminated”.

University leaders criticised

Committee chairwoman Foxx used the hearing to criticise universities and their leaders.

“Over the course of years—decades even—universities gradually nurtured a campus culture of radicalism, in which antisemitism grew and became tolerated by administrators,” she said.

She also lambasted Northwestern University president Michael Schill, Rutgers University president Jonathan Holloway and University of California, Los Angeles chancellor Gene Block, who provided evidence in the hearing.

Referring to protests against the conflict in Gaza that had taken place at each of the three universities, Foxx told their leaders: “Each of you should be ashamed of your decisions that allowed antisemitic encampments to endanger Jewish students.”

Call for dialogue

In a message to his university community published after the hearing, Schill said: “As a community we must speak with one another, learn from one another, show grace to one another and find a way to engage with each other in a way that respects [our] best traditions.”

“We must hold fast to our values, which include eschewing hate while at the same time protecting free expression and academic freedom.”

Holloway shared his opening statement for the hearing on the university website, in which he said: “We condemn antisemitism in the strongest terms possible,” adding: “If ever there was a time for dialogue and a focus on civil discourse, it is now.”

In a message posted before he gave testimony, Block said: “All forms of discrimination on the basis of one’s background, identity, ethnicity, race or religion are completely antithetical to UCLA’s values and corrosive to our culture.”

But he went on to point out “the fundamental tension that can come about when an institution is committed to both safeguarding free expression under the First Amendment and preventing discrimination that violates the law”.

He added: “The challenge of upholding both of these obligations is significant. I do not think any universities or university leaders have achieved it perfectly, but it must always be our goal.”

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: research centre suspended from federal funding, South Pole science and an AI chief

In depth: Campus protests against the conflict in Gaza are continuing to divide political and academic leaders in the United States, even as some of the protests themselves wind down.

Full story: Gaza protests continue to divide US political and academic leaders

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

Alarm over proposed cut to US research spending—Biomedical research organisation says move by Republican appropriations chair is “chilling”
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

EcoHealth Alliance cut off from federal funding

The Department of Health and Human Services has told EcoHealth Alliance, a research organisation, that it is no longer eligible to receive federal funding. The alliance has been mired in controversy since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic over the viral research it conducted. The notification letter said it “lacks the present responsibility” to participate in federal programmes. The alliance has been the subject of Congressional inquiries into its practices and the oversight of federal funding agencies.

NSF sets out South Pole plan

The National Science Foundation has published a draft plan to “overhaul” its infrastructure in support of research at the South Pole. The funder said that the South Pole is a “unique research site” supporting studies of phenomena including seismic waves and atmospheric changes. But the pole’s extreme weather and temperatures require “complex and costly” logistical support, it said. “The work we put in over the next several years will enable breakthrough discoveries for decades to come,” said research facilities chief officer Linnea Avallone.

Space agency appoints first chief AI officer

Nasa has appointed David Salvagnini as its first chief artificial intelligence officer, expanding his existing role of chief data officer. “AI has been safely used at Nasa for decades, and as this technology expands, it can accelerate the pace of discovery,” said the space agency administrator Bill Nelson. “It’s important that we remain at the forefront of advancement and responsible use. In this new role, David will lead Nasa’s efforts to guide our agency’s responsible use of AI in the cosmos and on Earth to benefit all humanity.”

The post US news roundup: 17-23 May appeared first on Research Professional News.

Education committee chair calls university heads “spineless”, while academic group describes hearings as “performative”

Campus protests against the conflict in Gaza are continuing to divide political and academic leaders in the United States, even as some of the protests themselves wind down.

On 23 May, the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce will hold a third hearing into what it describes as antisemitism on campuses.

Protests against the Israeli government’s retaliation following the October 7 attack by Hamas have taken place on many US campuses in recent weeks, with several involving camps being set up on lawns or in buildings. Many Jewish students have reported suffering heightened abuse and intimidation during this period.

Congress claims chaos

The committee said that the presidents of Northwestern, Rutgers and University of California, Los Angeles would provide evidence at the hearing, titled ‘Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos’.

Without naming any individuals, the committee chairwoman Virginia Foxx, a Republican representative, was highly critical of academic leaders when she announced the hearing.

“The Committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students,” she said.

“No stone must go unturned while buildings are being defaced, campus greens are being captured, or graduations are being ruined. College is not a park for playacting juveniles or a battleground for radical activists. Everyone affiliated with these universities will receive a healthy dose of reality: actions have consequences.”

Academia decries political pressure

Reacting to the announcement of the hearing, the American Association of Colleges and Universities said that the session “is likely to be, as the two prior hearings were, performative rather than informative and orchestrated to yield viral moments that can be used to feed a partisan narrative about higher education”.

“The hearing must be seen for what it is: a further escalation in an ongoing partisan attack on higher education that proceeds by taking aim at academic values and principles that are fundamental to advancing knowledge, developing an informed citizenry, and serving the common good,” the AACU said.

It added that the Gaza conflict was being used by some politicians as “a pretext to exert political pressure on college and university leaders to restrict academic freedom and freedom of expression”.

The association underscored that academic freedom is “fundamental to higher education”, while stressing that though the “boundaries of free expression are often contested, hatred and intimidation have no place on a college campus”.

Agitators sought as Harvard finds resolution

Foxx also teamed up with James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, to ask Treasury secretary Janet Yellen for information they said could indicate that the campus protests have received external funding and coordination.

“The antisemitic and illegal protest encampments occupying colleges across the country are disturbing and appear to be anything but organic. Reports now indicate multiple leftist organisations are leading efforts to fund and encourage these hateful and unlawful encampments,” said Comer.

The announcement added that the education committee would consider new legislation to increase transparency on foreign funding received by universities.

Meanwhile, Harvard University dean Hopi Hoekstra announced that an encampment on her university’s campus had ended “peacefully, and without police action”. She indicated that dialogue among those involved was responsible for this outcome.

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Biomedical research organisation says move by Republican appropriations chair is “chilling”

An organisation that advocates for biomedical research in the United States has decried a move by a Republican leader to cut US R&D spending.

Tom Cole, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, announced on 16 May that he would attempt to cut 2025 federal non-defence spending by 6 per cent.

“Those cuts are not evenly distributed,” he said, adding that he would aim for cuts of 10-11 per cent in areas including health and education.

Research!America said that the move would affect federal research funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.

“The decision to cut the allocation that funds the NIH and other research agencies as our nation confronts such massive health threats as Alzheimer’s, the opioid crisis…and maternal mortality, is chilling,” it said.

“If our nation wants to defeat diseases that are robbing Americans of hope, health, and time; if we want to grow jobs and our economy; if we want to pre-empt the next pandemic and stop our youth from losing their lives to opioids and mental illness—we must put our money where our mouth is.”

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This week: concerns over student aid, energy innovation leadership, and pathogens with pandemic potential

In depth: The US National Institutes of Health should fund more basic and higher-risk research, according to the chair of the Senate health committee.

Full story: NIH advised to fund more basic and high-risk research

 
Also this week from Research Professional News

Republicans question US-China university links—Committee chairs probe Georgia Tech’s partnership with Tianjin University over Chinese military ties
 

Here is the rest of the US news this week…

Bipartisan concerns over student aid

Congressional leaders from both the Democrat and the Republican parties have written to the Department of Education expressing concern that it is behind schedule for the 2025-26 rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid programme, following “serious issues” with delays in 2024-25. The department has yet to publish a draft for the programme, which provides financial assistance for university attendance, despite the draft normally being ready in February or March, they pointed out on 7 May.

Energy innovation board appointed

The Department of Energy has appointed the inaugural board of directors for its new Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation, which is intended to “help accelerate the commercialisation of new and existing energy technologies by raising and investing funds”. Those chosen impressed the Federation of American Scientists, which said they were “13 accomplished members whose backgrounds span the nation’s regions and communities, and who have deep experience in innovation, national security, philanthropy, business, science and other sectors”.

Policy for research on potential pathogens updated

The White House has updated its policy on research into pathogens with pandemic potential, following controversy over previous US federal funding for research intended to give viruses new properties under controlled conditions. But Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that the update “only makes modest changes that would still leave individuals…responsible for self-evaluating and policing whether the risks posed by their own research [are] acceptable”.

The post US news roundup: 10-16 May appeared first on Research Professional News.

Committee chairs probe Georgia Tech’s partnership with Tianjin University over Chinese military ties

Leading Republicans on three congressional committees have written to the president of Georgia Institute of Technology asking for information on its work with a university in China they said has ties to the Chinese military.

House of Representatives education committee chair Virginia Foxx, along with John Moolenaar, the chair of a House committee investigating the Chinese Communist Party, and ranking Republican member of the Senate armed services committee Roger Wicker, wrote to Ángel Cabrera on 9 May.

They asked why Georgia Tech announced this year that it had collaborated with Tianjin University on a graphene semiconductor, given that such technology has “significant military applications”.

“Tianjin University is deeply embedded in the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) system of military-civil fusion, under which purportedly civilian companies, universities and technologies are leveraged for military ends,” the Republicans said.

They asked Cabrera which Tianjin entities Georgia Tech has worked with and how, which of the US university’s researchers have worked with the Chinese institution in any capacity and how, and sought information on a Georgia Tech institute being created in the Chinese city Shenzhen.

Georgia Tech comment

A spokesperson for Georgia Tech told Research Professional News that the university welcomed the inquiry and would respond in a timely manner.

They added: “Protecting national security and contributing to and assuring American competitiveness are core to Georgia Tech. We have implemented ongoing measures to ensure security and compliance across our academic and research functions. We are continuously evaluating and adapting our systems.

“We insist on strict adherence to all rules and regulations that have been established to protect our nation and its interests…If there are processes that can be enhanced, we will work to promptly implement them.”

The post Republicans question US-China university links appeared first on Research Professional News.

Committee chair sets out suggestions for work of world’s biggest public biomedical research funder

The US National Institutes of Health should fund more basic and higher-risk research, according to the chair of the Senate health committee.

Republican senator Bill Cassidy published a white paper on the NIH on 9 May, based on responses he received to a call for input on the funder last year.

The NIH is the world’s biggest public funder of biomedical research, with an annual budget of just under $50 billion.

Basic and bottom-up research

Cassidy picked up on a recent analysis from the NIH’s own Office of Extramural Research, which found that the funder’s support for research carried out externally is increasingly focused on applied projects.

In the 2022 financial year, over half of all the funder’s awards were for applied projects, this analysis found, up from 42 per cent in 2009.

While applied research has a more immediate impact on society, “many respondents expressed concern that NIH’s increasing focus on translational and clinical research will come at the expense of investigator-initiated, basic science”, Cassidy said.

He did not put a target figure on the share of basic research that the NIH should fund, but said one respondent pointed out that past NIH directors have sought to keep it higher than 55 per cent.

Another challenge, Cassidy said, is getting the right balance between funding being allocated by NIH leaders to targeted topics and that being allocated to researchers’ own ideas. The former made up 12 per cent of all new awards and 20 per cent of newly awarded funding in the 2023 financial year, he said.

While targeted funding can ensure that important areas are not overlooked, too much direction can dissuade researchers from pursuing other topics, Cassidy warned. He called for more analysis of NIH data to help the community better understand the right balance.

More risk-taking required

According to Cassidy, some respondents to his survey said that the NIH’s extramural funding awards “tend to reward incremental science rather than high-risk but potentially transformational studies”.

One reason for this is that specialist peer reviewers can have favourite methods and approaches, respondents reportedly suggested.

The NIH application requirements also put applicants under “significant pressure to demonstrate proof of concept through robust preliminary data”, Cassidy said.

He said the funder should pilot and evaluate many different approaches to its application and peer review processes, including increased use of generalist reviewers and shorter discussion of methods and preliminary results.

Similarly, he said the NIH should pilot a rotation of its programme officers, who advise potential applicants, instead of having them as permanent employees. This would “inject the agency with fresh ideas and up-to-date scientific knowledge”, he suggested.

Other suggestions included a proposal that the NIH should reduce the time it takes to notify applicants to its small business programmes of whether they have been successful, and that it should consider strategies to incentivise the sharing of negative results from funded studies, potentially by establishing a dedicated repository.

In the spotlight

Separately, on 16 May the House subcommittee on the Covid-19 pandemic is holding a hearing with the NIH’s deputy director, Lawrence Tabak, on the funder’s processes for funding and overseeing research. Chairman Brad Wenstrup suggested that current processes for overseeing potentially dangerous viral research “pose a serious threat” to public health.

The NIH did not respond to a request for comment from Research Professional News.

Meanwhile, the NIH is seeking feedback on a new glossary of terms used in clinical research, which is intended to facilitate the design of studies and interpretation of their results.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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