Brown, Waters Meet with Policymakers
BU IN DC
Anthony Janetos of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and Daniel Segrè of the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Engineering participated in a meeting of the Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Energy, of which they are members, on October 27 and 28.
Marsh Chapel Dean Robert A. Hill addressed several hundred other Methodist ministers gathered at the Brook Hill United Methodist Church on November 15.
Joseph Finkhouse of Global Programs attended the annual briefing of the Overseas Security Advisory Council at the U.S. Department of State from November 15 through 18.
Senior Vice President for External Affairs Stephen Burgay met with colleagues in the Association of American Universities Public Affairs Network on November 18.
Peter Quella of the African Studies Center attended a National Humanities Alliance/African Studies Association workshop on November 30.
BROWN, WATERS MEET WITH POLICYMAKERS
President Robert A. Brown and Associate Provost and Vice President for Research Gloria Waters traveled to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to promote BU’s research and education priorities. They discussed the implications of the 2016 elections, BU’s interdisciplinary research strengths, and the University’s innovations in education with the chief executives of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Science Foundation, and the Business Round Table.
HOUSE APPROVES BILL TO INCREASE NIH FUNDING
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Cures Act (H.R. 34) by a vote of 392 to 26 on Wednesday. The bill would provide the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with $4.8 billion in additional funding over 10 years for the Cancer Moonshot, the Precision Medicine, and Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiatives. The bill also includes provisions to reduce regulatory burden on researchers, such as the creation of a Research Policy Board that will review and harmonize federal research compliance regulations and the implementation of changes to the rules governing subrecipient monitoring. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to vote on the measure next week.
TRUMP SELECTS EDUCATION SECRETARY
On November 23, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. DeVos is the chair of the American Federation for Children, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding school choice options for elementary and secondary education, and has been a leading advocate for increasing the number of charter schools in her home state of Michigan. She does not have a background in higher education policy. Her nomination will be sent to the U.S. Senate for approval in 2017.