Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – January 19, 2017 On January 18, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), an orthopedic surgeon by training, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee as part of his confirmation process. The HELP Committee does not vote on the HHS Secretary nomination, but … Read more
Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – December 16, 2016 On December 16, Congress passed the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA, S. 3084) which sets policy for the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and other cross-agency research programs. The legislation represents the culmination of … Read more
Recently, ASPB and AAAS and 27 other leading U.S. scientific organizations and professional societies sent a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump. The letter urges Trump to “quickly appoint a science advisor with the title of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology who is a national respected leader with the appropriate engineering, scientific, management … Read more
On December 9, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund government operations through April 28, 2017. The bill passed with bipartisan support, with a Senate vote of 63-36 and a House vote of 326-96. The first CR of fiscal year (FY) 2017 funded government operations through December 9 and with only one hour to … Read more
As we all know, the divisive 2016 presidential election elicited a broad range of emotions and opinions, including within the ASPB community. Ultimately, President-elect Trump achieved his victory with strong support from rural America, including communities and industries with which plant scientists are closely aligned. Clearly, plant science will continue to have an essential role … Read more
ORI is the Office for Research Integrity, part of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. ORI has a wealth of information useful for discussing the important issues surrounding research ethics and misconduct. Recently they have released a set of infographics on various themes, from “Tips for Presenting Scientific Images with Integrity” to “What … Read more
On September 28, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund government operations through December 9. With only two days to spare before the end of the fiscal year and a government shutdown, the bill passed with rare bipartisan support, with a Senate vote of 72-26 and a House vote of 342-85. The CR funds … Read more
Periodic review of the regulatory regime governing the use of biotechnology products is an important aspect of maintaining public safety and ensuring consumer confidence. (ASPB) appreciates the efforts of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture … Read more
The National Science Board (NSB) met on August 9 and 10, 2016, under its new leadership of Maria Zuber (MIT) as Chair and Diane Souvaine (Tufts University) as Vice-Chair. During the meeting, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Director, France Córdova and a number of Assistant Directors presented an update on the ten “big ideas” for … Read more
The National Academies (the collected group of the National Academies of Medicine, Engineering and Sciences) are an independent body that provides advice to the government, but does not hold law-making powers. The National Academies recently released a report, “Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects”. The report was commissioned to examine the evidence behind some of … Read more
Recently, I was asked it if is ethical to give a job to a woman rather than to a man of higher quality. I replied, “How do we measure “quality”? This is the longer answer that I didn’t have time to provide. The opinions expressed are my own. Achievement does not equal quality Imagining that … Read more
ASPB joins Energy Science Coalition Fiscal Year 2017 Funding Statement for the Department of Energy Office of Science. Recognizing the importance of basic research to the DOE’s energy mission, the Department has dedicated $1.8 billion within the DOE Office of Science budget as that office’s contribution to the Mission Innovation initiative, a worldwide effort to … Read more
ASPB joins the Coalition for National Science Funding in support for Fiscal Year 2017 funding for the National Science Foundation. Read the letter.
ASPB joins Friends of the Agriculture Research Service Coalition (FARS) in support of Fiscal Year 2017 funding for the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Read the letter.
ASPB joins AFRI Coalition in support of FY17 AFRI appropriation. Read the letter.
More than 1,000 scientists from nonprofit, corporate, academic, and private institutions say public doubts about genetically modified food crops are hindering the next Green Revolution. In a letter published in the journal Science, six researchers from three institutions explain their recent petition in support of science-based criteria in guiding the safe and effective employment of … Read more
President Obama released the last budget request of his Administration on February 9th. The budget proposal nominally adheres to the top defense and non-defense discretionary spending levels agreed to by Congress in the fall of last year. However, the White House is relying on mandatory spending, which requires Congress to pass legislation to make these … Read more
In a New York Times Opinion article, Nobel Laureate Phillip Sharp and CEO Emeritus of AAAS Alan Leshner make a strong case for raising the level of funding for agriculture research. Such an increase is necessary to maintain agricultural productivity in response to challenges such as the prolonged drought in California and the avian flu … Read more
Prepared by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC December 17, 2015 This week, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees concluded negotiations on an omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2029) to fund federal government agencies for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2016. The final bill provides significant increases to federal investments in research, education, and healthcare programs important to … Read more
I am your ASPB representative on CAST. CAST is the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology and is a non-profit organization composed of scientific societies, many individuals, students, companies, nonprofits, and associate scientific and industry society members. The primary work of CAST is to organize scientists to write papers on different important topics. CAST assembles, … Read more
