MA Universities, ARPA-H, Environmental Equity
BU IN DC
Dean Sandro Galea, Jennifer Beard, David Jernigan, Mary Murphy-Phillips, Rea Shqepa, Lisa Sullivan, Karla Todd, Monica Wang, and Greg Wellenius of the School of Public Health all attended the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health annual meeting from March 15th through 17th.
Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs Daniel Kleinman attended the Association of Graduate Schools Executive Committee meeting at the Association of American Universities on March 13th and 14th.
Elizabeth Loizeaux of the Office of the Provost and colleagues from the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities discussed the Boyer Commission 2030 report with senior leadership of the U.S. Department of Education on March 2nd.
MA UNIVERSITIES URGE ROBUST FUNDING FOR RESEARCH, STUDENT AID
This week, Boston University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University sent their annual memorandum to Massachusetts Congressional offices urging elected officials to advocate for strong investments in student aid and research as Congress begins the fiscal year 2024 budget process. The letter encourages Congress to build upon the bipartisan support for federal research demonstrated in last year’s CHIPS & Science Act (P.L.117-167) by providing robust funding for science agencies. The universities also requested lawmakers double the maximum Pell Grant award for low-income students and support cultural agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities. Congress will hold hearings this spring to prepare for drafting the annual spending bills that determine the agencies’ budgets.
ARPA-H RELEASES FIRST COMPETITIONS
On Wednesday, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Health (ARPA-H) released its first funding opportunities to the public. Its inaugural broad agency announcement requests proposers submit abstracts of no more than three pages in length for “unconventional approaches” to improve health outcomes with a focus on health science futures, scalable solutions, proactive health, and resilient systems. Proposals addressing the Administration’s Cancer Moonshot are encouraged, though not required. The agency also announced the Dash to Accelerate Health Outcomes (DASH) prize competition with a $15,000 award. A “bracket format” with online debate and voting will be used to narrow down the winning ideas between March and April.
EVENTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Institute for Global Sustainability hosts the next Research on Tap on March 22nd at 4 p.m. in the Kilachand Center. “Environmental Cultures, Power and Equity” will bring together BU experts in the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences to share research on how humans have inhabited, crafted meaning around, and dealt with power and inequity in their environments. The microtalks will explore how to design and implement technological and social systems that can simultaneously sustain human well-being with equitable and effective responses to climate change. A networking session will follow the presentations.