University Speaks Up for Next Generation of Scientists
Jean Morrison, BU provost and chief academic officer, has written to a congressional committee about ways to support young scientists affected by the economic and other disruptions of the current pandemic. Photo by Jackie Ricciardi
University Speaks Up for Next Generation of Scientists
Also in our Coronavirus Tuesday Roundup: John Krasinski does it again
If you have a question or comment related to BU and its response to the COVID-19 crisis, on the subject of the move-out, remote learning, retrieving personal belongings, or anything else, please visit Boston University’s special COVID-19 website. Questions are being answered there by specific departments in a timely fashion. Thank you.
—Doug Most, executive editor, BU Today
Quote of the day:
Everyone has canceled everything.
Stat of the day:
Increase in simple assault and battery reports of domestic violence in Boston last month.
BU News
Helping the next generation of researchers
The federal government needs to support the next-generation scientific workforce amid economic and other fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s the message Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, sent in a letter Monday to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, which had requested comment on forthcoming legislation.
BU surveyed PhD students and postdocs and found “One of the most frequently cited concerns was financial insecurity due to their research being put on hold, and how that will impact their careers down the line,” Morrison wrote to the committee.
She suggested specific actions Congress and federal agencies can take to alleviate the challenges junior researchers face, including:
- Augment National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships (GRF) with two additional years of funding to allow awardees to make up for time lost due to coronavirus interruptions.
- Augment NSF National Research Traineeships (NRT) with two additional years of funding to allow the programs to accomplish the goals set out.
- Reestablish the EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship, which served as a workforce pipeline for multidisciplinary researchers trained to address complex environmental challenges.
- Fund internships. The National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, NASA, and other research agencies could consider expanding the AAAS Policy Fellowship program to include a larger range of employers that engage on policy issues.
- Provide temporary bridge funding for postdoctoral researchers. Postdoctoral positions by definition are short-term training experiences meant to launch postdoctoral scholars into an independent career.
Morrison also advocated for additional funding for existing grants and infrastructure, and eliminating roadblocks to international student visa processing. “While issues concerning student visas are not part of the Committee’s jurisdiction, international students and postdoctoral scholars are a critical component of BU’s research enterprise, and the nation’s STEM workforce,” Morrison wrote, raising the issue of the “enormous obstacles” international students face.
“We also are devising innovative ways to assist international undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs financially,” she wrote. “Any grant programs that NSF, Department of Energy, NASA, and other research agencies could augment to help provide international researchers a lifeline while they navigate their new situations would ensure these scholars are not lost from our innovation ecosystem.”
Read the full letter here.
Ask your COVID-19 questions in WBUR’s virtual town hall
As Boston braces for what may be the worst week for COVID-19 cases, join WBUR on Tuesday, April 14, at 6 pm, for a conversation with WBUR reporter Carey Goldberg and Dr. Shira Doron, a Tufts Medical Center epidemiologist and infectious diseases physician, to answer your questions about the challenges facing the commonwealth, and all of us. This event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested.
Boston and Beyond News
Boston’s mayor no fan of fast-track reopening
Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Monday expressed doubts about federal leaders’ intention to reopen the economy beginning May 1. “That’s not only unrealistic, that’s completely irresponsible,” Walsh said in his daily press briefing. “We are still in the very beginning of this surge. We have to stay focused.” He encouraged young people in particular to refocus on social distancing, noting that nearly 40 percent of the city’s confirmed cases are among people 40 years old or under.
Walsh also said that the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised more than $24.4 million from over 3,500 donors since March 16. So far, $10.4 million has been distributed to 38 organizations across three priority areas: $4.7 million to provide residents with access to food and basic needs; $3.7 million for healthcare serving vulnerable populations; and $2 million for at-home learning and technology for Boston public school students.
Chelsea hard-hit
Testing evidence shows that the city of Chelsea, at the north end of the Tobin Bridge, is being severely affected by COVID-19, Governor Charlie Baker said at his Monday coronavirus briefing. The state is taking the following measures to aid the city, including increasing testing capacity there fourfold. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will be increasing the number of ‘food-kits,’ with 35 meals per kit, delivered to Chelsea from 100 to 750 per week, which means an additional 26,000 meals. The state will also develop an isolation hotel for Chelsea’s COVID-19 homeless population and make the Quality Inn Revere available for residents who are unable to self-isolate from their family due to density issues.
Baker also discussed a state initiative to assist local manufacturers repurposing their factories to produce personal protective equipment (PPE). The Manufacturing Emergency Response Team (M-ERT), being overseen by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, has a mission to mobilize, organize, and operationalize critical path work streams necessary for Massachusetts manufacturers to pivot their operations to produce needed materials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. M-ERT has $10.6 million in grant funding to distribute to companies who qualify.
US & Global News
Add Russia to the list of countries struggling with COVID-19
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia offered a bleak assessment of the pandemic there, as the number of severely ill patients rises and medical workers face shortages of protective equipment, the New York Times reports. “We have a lot of problems, and we don’t have much to brag about, nor reason to, and we certainly can’t relax,” Putin told senior officials in a televised videoconference. “We are not past the peak of the epidemic, not even in Moscow,” where more than two-thirds of the country’s 18,000-plus cases are located. Previously, Russians officials had downplayed the epidemic there.
Latest count of coronavirus cases
United States, 568,176; Massachusetts, 26,867.
Distraction of the day:
Newton’s own John Krasinski is at it again with the just-posted third installment of his Some Good News show on YouTube, a sort of antidote for the pandemic blues. He unveiled a string of surprises for the some of the deserving staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, including a message from former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz (Hon.’17), baseball tickets, and a ride on “the most sanitized Duck Boat in America” to Fenway Park, where they threw out the symbolic first pitch of 2020.
Find BU Today’s latest coverage of the pandemic here. The University’s hotline for faculty, staff, students, and visiting scholars to call for referral of their virus-related medical concerns is 617-358-4990.