Science Policy Report

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07 July 2010

In This Issue:

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Conferences, Meetings and Reports

Congressional/Administration News

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

 EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), in coordination with the EPA Regional Offices, announces the availability of approximately $530,000 for assistance agreements to further the pesticide risk reduction goals of the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP). Proposed projects must address implementation of integrated pest management approaches that reduce the risks associated with pesticide use in an agricultural or non-agricultural setting and demonstrate the importance and relevancy of the project to the goals of PESP. Eligible applicants include the 50 States, District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, any agency or instrumentality of a State including State universities, and all federally recognized Indian tribal governments. Deadline 26 Jul. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55154

The AFRI NIFA Fellowships Grant Program provides fellowships for predoctoral and postdoctoral students. Deadline 5 Oct. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55439

 The goals of the Frontiers in Earth-System Dynamics (FESD) program are to: (1) foster an inter-disciplinary and multi-scale understanding of the interplay among and within the various sub-systems of the Earth, (2) catalyze research in areas poised for a major advance.… (3) improve data resolution and modeling capabilities to more realistically simulate complex processes and forecast disruptive or threshold events, and (4) improve knowledge of the resilience of the Earth and its subsystems. Deadline 15 Mar. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55458

The Farm Service Agency, acting on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation, is in need of technical assistance (TA) providers to develop conservation plans for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The primary objective of this cooperative agreement is to hire vendors to provide technical and professional services and support in the form of conservation plan development for the general signup and continuous signup CRP, including the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement initiative under continuous signup CRP. Services under this cooperative agreement shall be provided on farms in Adams, Douglas, and Whitman Counties in the State of Washington. The estimated projected workload is during July 2010 through January 2011. In accordance with this cooperative agreement the expected number of conservation plans to be performed in Washington State is 250 to 400. The average contract size for SAFE is expected to be approximately 200 acres. Deadline 15 Jul. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55462

Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) promotes university-industry partnerships by making project funds or fellowships/traineeships available to support an eclectic mix of industry-university linkages. Special interest is focused on affording the opportunity for: Faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students to conduct research and gain experience in an industrial setting; Industrial scientists and engineers to bring industry's perspective and integrative skills to academe; and Interdisciplinary university-industry teams to conduct research projects. This solicitation targets high-risk/high-gain research with a focus on fundamental research, new approaches to solving generic problems, development of innovative collaborative industry-university educational programs, and direct transfer of new knowledge between academe and industry. GOALI seeks to fund transformative research that lies beyond that which industry would normally fund. Deadline 30 Sep. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55531

To synthesize existing models and climate predictions for the Pacific Northwest, synthesize and summarize global model outputs for temperature and precipitation in Washington and Oregon, and to support to ongoing dynamical downscaling climate prediction efforts. Deadline 15 Jul. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55563

The purpose of the RFA funding opportunity is to develop training programs for postdoctoral scientists and graduate and undergraduate students in environmental research in cooperation with scientists of the Mid-Continent Ecology Division facilities in Duluth, MN and Grosse Ile, MI. It is anticipated that the agreement that is awarded will involve or relate to geospatial information and will conform to all data requirements for geospatial information. Deadline 28 Sep. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55567

One of the general goals of the Partnerships for Innovation Program (PFI) is to stimulate the transformation of knowledge created by the research and education enterprise into innovations that create new wealth;… build strong local, regional, and national economies; and improve the national well-being. Aligned with this goal, the PFI competition for FY 2011 funds will provide support for innovation capacity building to sustained, dynamic interactive knowledge-enhancing partnership groups composed of academic researchers and small business (as defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA)) practitioners focused on intense exploration, re-definition, and creation of novel platforms for translating research and moving it towards impact. The basic organizational core of each proposed knowledge-enhancing partnership group must be composed of an academic lead institution and, at a minimum, two small businesses. Deadline 4 Dec. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55577

The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is a program designed to fulfill the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. The EPSCoR program is directed at those jurisdictions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF Research and Development (R&D) funding. Twenty-seven states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands are currently eligible to participate. Through this program, NSF establishes partnerships with government, higher education and industry that are designed to effect lasting improvements in a state's or region's research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D competitiveness. Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Track-1 (RII Track-1) awards provide up to $4 million per year for up to 5 years to support physical, human, and cyber infrastructure improvements in research areas selected by the jurisdiction's EPSCoR governing committee as having the best potential to improve future R&D competitiveness of the jurisdiction. Deadline 4 Oct. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55578

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity for a research on the development of field-based methods for detecting and quantifying methane ebullition in wetlands. Goals of this research objective include the establishment of a research element to develop and test a method for quantifying methane ebullition in remote locations in Alaska. Laboratory, computer modeling, and field-based approaches will be required. Resources to be used for this effort include staff, students, laboratories, and convenient field-lab testing areas where such methods can be developed in an efficient manner before being deployed to remote locations in Alaska. A partnership will be established in which methods will be developed and tested at the home institution and then deployed to remote locations at the invitation of the USGS. The home institution will require field and lab equipment designed to measure gas chemistry; temperature and moisture content; dissolved gas chemistry; time series of gas measurements that are automated; and methods for detecting bubbles and their composition in context of water, heat, and plant conditions. Deadline 19 Jul. http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=55643

Conferences, Meetings and Reports

The Soil Science Society of America is inviting proposals for one of more Bouyoucos Conferences in 2011 to promote discussion and free exchange of ideas that are considered frontiers of soil science. Proposals due July 31 to Leann Malison, lmalison@soils.org. View details: https://www.soils.org/files/about-society/bouyoucos.pdf

The complete AAAS Report XXXV: Research and Development FY 2011 is now online at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/rdreport2011/. You can also order a hard copy at the same site (AAAS members receive a 20% discount.) The annual AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy was held on May 13-14 at the International Trade Center in the Ronald Reagan Building.  Audio, as well as presentation slides, has been posted at http://www.aaas.org/forum

This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is accepting proposals for the second year of the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers.  Up to $15 million in funding will be awarded in 2011 to support at least 50 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions and DOE national laboratories. To be eligible for the competition, a researcher must be an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic institution or a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory.  The applicant must also have received a Ph.D. within the past ten years.  University awards will be at least $150,000 per year for five years and are intended to provide research expenses and summer salary over and above the awardee’s academic-year faculty salary. Preapplications are mandatory and are due on August 13, 2010, and proposals will be due on November 9, 2010. Last year’s program yielded 47 university awards and 22 national laboratory awards. Details: http://www.science.doe.gov/SC-2/early_career.htm

On 15 June, USDA National Institute  of Food and Agriculture Director and USDA Chief Scientist, Roger Beachy, presented at the inaugural Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture before a packed house at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Beachy gave an impassioned and powerful speech which included comments such as, “In the budget proposed for 2011, the entire NIFA budget is just about the size of the requested 2011 increase of the NIH budget – and all we do is feed the world.”  Beachy also recommends a funding approach, saying, “It falls, then, to federal funding to secure both the future of the long-term research without which we cannot make the discoveries that have given us our productive and rewarding agricultural economy, and the translation of new knowledge to ensure that discoveries successfully enter the marketplace and provide food security for ourselves and our neighbors. All the while creating sustainable wealth for the rural communities that will provide the food, feed, and fiber to provide food and energy security.”  Read Beachy’s speech at: http://www.ree.usda.gov/ree/news/061510Beachy.pdf

Congressional/Administration News

On 30 Sep, at the announcement of the 2010 World Food Prize laureates, Secretary of State Clinton announced the creation of the Norman Borlaug Commemorative Research Initiative.  This is a cooperative venture of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the USDA.  The two agencies will combine their resources, knowledge, commitment and expertise to work together for the common goal of reducing hunger and poverty. Funding for the initiative will come from the Department of State’s request for a nearly 50 percent increase in funding for international agricultural research in 2011. The new initiative bears the name of Norman Borlaug, U.S. agronomist and Nobel Prize laureate, who is considered to be the father of the Green Revolution.  His work saved over a billion people from starvation. "We asked ourselves not whether we can end hunger but whether we will," said Secretary of State Clinton, "because we think it truly is a matter of political will and capacity. . . . And we hope [this new venture] continues to honor Dr. Borlaug’s life’s work."

On 1 July, American Society of Agronomy Certified Crop Adviser, Steve Dlugosz, testified at a hearing held by the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research to review the administration and delivery of conservation programs. Dugloz focused his comments on the importance of the relationship between CCAs and local county office NRCS staff to the success of the TSP Program, adding that unfortunately there is a wide disparity between NRCS county offices as far as the ability and understanding of the local staff. Dugloz emphasized how farmers know and trust their CCAs as they have a long standing business relationship with them.  Subcommittee Chairman Tim Holden (D-PA) emphasized the importance of accessible and efficient technical assistance for proper land management and implementation of conservation practices. Currently, administration and delivery of conservation programming is split between the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA).   NRCS administers the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, and several other programs, while both agencies jointly administer the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Conservation Reserve Program. Dave White, NRCS Chief, Mr. Jon Coppess, FSA Administrator and seven producers/ technical service providers from around the country all echoed the need for greater efficiency in coordinating efforts between the two USDA agencies and clearer delineation of roles. View full testimony: https://www.agronomy.org/files/science-policy/testimony/cca-testimony7-1-10.pdf

Just prior to departing for the July 4 recess, the Senate began working to develop its version of HR 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, which sets authorization levels for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology laboratories.  Taking three separate votes, the House passed HR 5116 on 28 May.  Tables and charts detailing the authorization levels in the House version of the Act are posted at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/COMPETES/.

Despite failing to pass the annual budget resolution (a blue print for spending which includes a budget for all discretionary programs), increasingly the norm in the very partisan environment in Congress these days, the House appropriations subcommittees have begun holding and scheduling markups for their FY 2011 appropriation bills. Scheduled for 24 June, the House Energy and Water Subcommittee markup has been postponed.  Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee was to have occurred on Friday, June 25.  House Democratic leaders are promising a "functional equivalent" of a budget resolution soon to set discretionary spending limits for FY 2011.  The Senate Budget Committee approved a budget resolution back in April, but it has yet to be brought before the full Senate.

On 30 June, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee debated and, after the failure of Republicans to pass 10 amendments, passed its annual spending bill for USDA and FDA for FY 2011. Coming in around $23 billion, a cut of about $200 million from FY 2010 levels and equal to the Obama Administration’s FY 2011 proposed funding level, the ag spending bill provides $312 million for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), a $50 million increase over FY 2010 enacted. While this funding level falls far short of the administration’s $429 million proposal for AFRI, at the end of the day, this might be well-received by the ag community given the posturing by both parties over fiscal responsibility in the race to the 2010 interim elections. Some bright spots in the budget include the adoption of the USDA-requested level of $30 million for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) competitive grants program, a 50% increase over FY 2010 levels. In addition, the Subcommittee proposes restoring the $5 million funding level for Organic Transitions research. More details will be provided in a future Science Policy Report.

Two memos giving guidance to agencies as they prepare their FY 2012 budget requests were recently released by the Office of Management and Budget.  The first memo (viewable at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-19.pdf) focused, among other areas, on reducing duplication and overall discretionary funding in federal agencies for FY 2012 by 5% below the FY 2011budget request. The memo specifically advises the agencies to "not simply reduce spending across the board", but to "restructure their operations strategically."  The second memo (viewable at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-20.pdf) instructs agencies to "identify the programs and subprograms that have the lowest impact on your agency’s mission and constitute at least five percent of your agency’s discretionary budget."  This list of programs is to be included with each agency's FY 2012 budget submission and is separate from the reductions "necessary to meet the target for your agency’s FY 2012 discretionary budget request."  While the first memo applies only to non-security agencies, the second does not specify.

On 3 June, President Obama nominated Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dean Subra Suresh to the position as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Suresh will replace Dr. Arden Bement Jr., who announced in February 2010 that he would step down on June 1 to return to Purdue University to head the new Global Policy Research Institute. Dr. Suresh was trained as a mechanical engineer, though his research has encompassed materials, nanotechnology and the life sciences. He has been the dean of MIT since 2007, but remains an active researcher in his field. The Senate needs to confirm the nomination before Suresh can become director of the NSF. Cora Marrett continues to serve as acting director in the interim.

Sources: American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Geological Institute; Congressional Quarterly; E&E Publishing; Food Industry Environmental Network, LLC; National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Vision: The Societies Washington, DC Science Policy Office (SPO) will advocate the importance and value of the agronomic, crop and soil sciences in developing national science policy and ensuring the necessary public-sector investment in the continued health of the environment for the well being of humanity. The SPO will assimilate, interpret, and disseminate in a timely manner to Society members information about relevant agricultural, natural resources and environmental legislation, rules and regulations under consideration by Congress and the Administration.

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