Research Security, Arts Chair, Climate & Health
BU IN DC
Dean Jorge Delva of the School of Social Work delivered the Aaron Rosen Lecture at the Society for Social Work and Research annual meeting on January 14th. Eleanor Zambrano of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health spoke on a panel at the conference.
Anita Patterson of the College of Arts & Sciences presented her research during a virtual panel discussion at the Modern Language Association Annual Convention on January 6th.
Elaine Nsoesie of the School of Public Health spoke at a meeting of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Advisory Committee to the Director about the future of the NIH’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity program on December 9th.
WHITE HOUSE UNVEILS RESEARCH SECURITY AND INTEGRITY PLANS
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released its long-awaited guidance on how investigators, universities, and federal agencies should bolster research security. Under the guidance, federal scientific agencies will collaborate to produce model application forms this summer that will easily allow grant applicants to appropriately disclose foreign gifts and overseas support. The Administration guidance urged agencies to conduct oversight of foreign collaborations in a non-discriminatory manner and to make it easy for investigators to self-correct inadvertent mistakes in previous disclosures.
OSTP also released a report last week on “Protecting the Integrity of Federal Science.” The report asserts that federal agency leaders must foster a culture of integrity, data collection and analysis should be shielded from political interference, federal communications staff should facilitate the free flow of timely information to the public, and agencies should have clear procedures to report concerns about violations of scientific integrity. Going forward, the Biden Administration plans to create a framework to regularly assess and improve the scientific integrity policies at all government agencies.
MORE PERSONNEL JOIN THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION
- The U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) on December 18th. Before leading the NEA, Dr. Jackson was a professor at Arizona State University and a senior advisor at the Kresge Foundation. She previously served as a member of the National Council on the Arts.
- Last month, the Senate also confirmed Dr. Atul Gawande as assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon and best-selling author who previously worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the appointment of Dr. Katherine Calvin as NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor on January 10th. Dr. Calvin previously worked for the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Office of Research is hosting its first Research on Tap of the spring semester on Wednesday, January 26th, at 4 p.m. “Climate Change & Health: Understanding and Reducing Impacts” will be hosted by Greg Wellenius of the the School of Public Health and feature micro-talks from researchers across the University whose research seeks to better understand how climate hazards are affecting human health. Join this virtual session to learn about the research underway at BU and forge relationships with potential research collaborators.