Senate Committee Supports NIH, Pell Grants
BU IN DC
Vice President and Associate Provost for Research Gloria Waters introduced Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA) at The Science Coalition’s Headliner Breakfast on Capitol Hill on June 8. Azer Bestavros and Abraham Matta of the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering attended the breakfast and joined Waters for meetings at the National Science Foundation.
SENATE COMMITTEE SUPPORTS NIH, PELL GRANTS
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill yesterday that would provide $34.1 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year 2017, a $2 billion increase over its current budget and a reflection of the bipartisan support for the agency. The Committee-approved bill would also revive low-income students’ year-round eligibility for the Pell Grant program and increase the maximum Pell award by $120, to $5,935. However, other student aid programs, including Federal Work Study, would be slated for flat funding next year. The funding levels would need to be approved by the full U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives before they can become law, so a final budget determination for NIH and student aid programs is still several months away.
Find out more
WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS NATIONAL SECURITY SCIENCE PLAN
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a report last week that examines how federal research efforts can help address new and emerging national security concerns. The document lays out four key areas for modernization within the national security enterprise: a highly trained workforce, state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure, informed and coordinated decision-making across the government, and innovative practices adopted from the private sector. The Obama Administration views the report as a roadmap for national security research and development investments across the federal government.
Read the report
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a new RESTORE Act Science Program solicitation requesting proposals for both research and decision-support tools pertaining to “living coastal and marine resources and their habitats.” Funding for the program is derived from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement as directed by Congress. NOAA anticipates funding between ten and twenty projects from a total pool of $17 million. Letters of intent are due on July 8.