On January 10, the Department of Energy (DOE) released its fifth funding call under the Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program, and the second for its Biological Sciences program. The “Systems Biology Research to Advance Sustainable Bioenergy Crop Development” solicitation provides a total of $15 million in fiscal year (FY) 2020 and $75 million over … Read more
Dr. C. Robertson “Rob” McClung, who served as ASPB President from 2007 to 2008, has been named as the newest member of the National Science Foundation’s Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO) Advisory Committee (AC). Dr. McClung, currently a Professor of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College, was nominated by ASPB based on his expertise and leadership in … Read more
The Administration has announced its nomination of Dr. Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, Executive Vice President at Arizona State University, to be the next Director of NSF following the pending conclusion of Dr. France Córdova’s term this spring. By training, Dr. Panchanathan is an electrical and computer engineer. Among several possible changes, Dr. Panchanathan’s nomination brings with … Read more
On October 17, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research held a hearing to review the implementation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s 2018 Farm Bill research programs with testimony from Deputy Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics Scott Hutchins. This hearing comes after the Farm Bill was reauthorized in December … Read more
October 2019 Washington Update – Prepared by Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC for the American Society of Plant Biologists Following their Town Halls in September, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Reintegrating Biology Initiative has announced the next phase of the process. Reintegrating Biology will convene four “Jumpstarts”, two and a half-day workshops to “develop new and innovative … Read more