{"id":18640,"date":"2022-02-14T18:49:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T18:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=18640"},"modified":"2022-02-14T18:49:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T18:49:26","slug":"policy-news-february-14-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2022\/02\/14\/policy-news-february-14-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: February 14, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this issue:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

ESA Selects 2022 Graduate Student Policy Award Recipients<\/a><\/strong>
\nOver 40 ESA members to meet with Congressional staff Feb. 16-17.<\/p>\n

House Passes Legislation Reauthorizing National Science Foundation<\/a><\/strong>
\nLegislation creates a new directorate and includes diversity and inclusion in STEM provisions.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s top science adviser, Eric Lander, resigns amid reports of bullying<\/a><\/strong>
\nThe White House initially stood by him despite the president\u2019s zero-tolerance policy and numerous credible reports of misconduct.<\/p>\n

Forest scientists press counties to keep managed fire policy<\/a><\/strong>
\nScientists write in a letter to the National Association of Counties that fire remains a critical forest management tool.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/strong><\/a>
\nHouse passes measure keeping the government open through March 11.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a>
\nEPA\u2019s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee recommends tighter soot air quality standards.<\/p>\n

Courts<\/a><\/strong>
\nJudge restores protections for gray wolves.<\/p>\n

States<\/strong><\/a>
\nVirginia State Senators reject Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R)\u2019s nomination of former EPA administrator to natural resources post.<\/p>\n

International<\/a><\/strong>
\nWorld leaders gather in France for ocean summit.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/strong><\/a>
\nForest Service seeks nominations for the Collaborative Landscape Restoration Program.<\/p>\n

Federal Register opportunities<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

ESA Selects 2022 Graduate Student Policy Award Recipients<\/h2>\n

ESA is honored to announce the Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) 2022 cohort. This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to participate in a virtual Congressional Visits Day. Students will have over 40 meetings Feb. 16-17 with Members of Congress or their staff.<\/p>\n

These students learn about the legislative process and federal science funding before meeting virtually with their Members of Congress to discuss the importance of federal investments in the biological and ecological sciences. Additionally, GSPA recipients will explore policy career options. Ecologists who work in federal agencies will share their career paths and how a scientific background can be applied to informing policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very rewarding and encouraging to see our ESA graduate students interested in the science-policy interface and to hear directly from decision makers the importance of receiving critical information on the ecological systems that their constituents are interested in. The valuable, hands-on experience this ESA award provides these young ecologists in essential science communication and listening skills will enable them to successfully engage in the policy realm,\u201d said ESA President Dennis Ojima.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ESA selected 44 students to receive the award:\u00a0Amanda Alva\u00a0<\/strong>(Auburn University),\u00a0Isabella Betancourt S.\u00a0<\/strong>(Stony Brook University),\u00a0Ian J. Brackett\u00a0<\/strong>(Ohio State University),\u00a0Jessica A. Bryzek\u00a0<\/strong>(West Virginia University),\u00a0Abigail J. Costigan\u00a0<\/strong>(Stony Brook University),\u00a0Amelia-Juliette C. Demery\u00a0<\/strong>(Cornell University),\u00a0Julie Donohue\u00a0<\/strong>(Western Colorado University),\u00a0Anastasia Dulskiy<\/strong>\u00a0(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill),\u00a0Sarah Gao\u00a0<\/strong>(University of San Francisco),\u00a0Benjamin Gerstner\u00a0<\/strong>(University of New Mexico),\u00a0Devon Gorbey\u00a0<\/strong>(University at Buffalo),\u00a0Jessica E. Griffin\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Davis and San Diego State University),\u00a0Elijah Hall\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Riverside),\u00a0Andrew M. Hoyt\u00a0<\/strong>(Trent University),\u00a0Kristen M. Jovanelly\u00a0<\/strong>(Dartmouth College),\u00a0Amanda L. Komasinski\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Georgia),\u00a0Katie LaPlante-Harris\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Missouri),\u00a0Abigail Lewis\u00a0<\/strong>(Virginia Tech),\u00a0Samuel A. Mahanes\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Irvine),\u00a0Zachary Malone\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Merced),\u00a0Claudia I. Mazur\u00a0<\/strong>(Boston University),\u00a0Kelly B. McCrum\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Georgia),\u00a0Cassandra Maria Luz Miller\u00a0<\/strong>(University of New Mexico),\u00a0Benjamin Moffat\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Miami),\u00a0Tim D. Morris\u00a0<\/strong>(State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry),\u00a0W. Kody Muhic\u00a0<\/strong>(Old Dominion University),\u00a0Jessica G. Murray\u00a0<\/strong>(Utah State University),\u00a0Laura P. Nicholson\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Florida),\u00a0Rounak Patra\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Tennessee, Knoxville),\u00a0Rachel E. Pausch<\/strong>\u00a0(UC Santa Cruz),\u00a0Samuel P. Reed\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Minnesota),\u00a0Mae Rennick\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Santa Barbara),\u00a0D\u2019amy Steward\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Guam),\u00a0Colin P. Sweeney\u00a0<\/strong>(The Ohio State University),\u00a0Corinne Sweeney\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Georgai),\u00a0Krti Tallam\u00a0<\/strong>(Stanford University),\u00a0Tara Ursell\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Davis),\u00a0Leena L. Vilonen\u00a0<\/strong>(Colorado State University),\u00a0Lynn Von Hagen\u00a0<\/strong>(Auburn University),\u00a0Heidi R. Waite\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Irvine),\u00a0Matthew Walter\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Delaware),\u00a0Tanner A. Waters\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Los Angeles),\u00a0Nicholas Wright-Osment\u00a0<\/strong>(University of Alabama), and\u00a0Sophie Zhu\u00a0<\/strong>(University of California, Davis).<\/p>\n

To lead more about the 2022 GSPA cohort, read the full press release<\/a>.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0House Passes Legislation Reauthorizing National Science Foundation<\/h2>\n

The full House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521<\/a>). Among other provisions, the bill reauthorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE). This bill is the House version of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA, S. 1260<\/a>), which passed the full Senate during summer 2021. The NSF and DOE science provisions in the new COMPETES bill are largely similar to the NSF for the Future Act and Department of Energy Science for the Future Act, which passed the House this past summer.<\/p>\n

The NSF provisions of the America COMPETES Act creates a new NSF Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions. This bill tasks the new directorate with accelerating research and development to advance solutions to pressing societal challenges, including climate change and sustainability, global competitiveness, STEM education and workforce and social and economic inequality. This work includes but is not limited to work on strategic technologies. In contrast, USICA Creates a Technology and Innovation Directorate focused on \u201ckey technology focus areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a summary from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the House bill takes a \u201cdo no harm\u201d approach to NSF\u2019s existing directorates and structures the new directorate so that NSF\u2019s current work is not put at risk. The bill also includes the Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act (H.R. 2695<\/a>), the STEM Opportunities Act (H.R. 204<\/a>), the MSI STEM Achievement Act (H.R. 2027<\/a>) and Rural STEM Education Research Act (H.R. 210<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Department of Energy provisions authorizes up to six bioenergy research centers and research in earth and environment systems science, including new initiatives in coastal zone research and engineered ecosystems.<\/p>\n

Other environmental provisions in the bill include $150 million annually in authorized spending for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to combat illegal wildlife tracking and $52 million annually for coral reef conservation. The bill also establishes a U.S. Coral Reef Task Force.<\/p>\n

For more information about the bill, see the\u00a0summary<\/a>\u00a0of the bill and the\u00a0section-by-section<\/a>\u00a0overview.<\/p>\n

Next, the House and Senate will reconcile the differences between the America COMPETES Act and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.<\/p>\n

See also:<\/u><\/p>\n