News
New Rules Planned for International Students
BU IN DC
Joshua Barocas of the School of Medicine participated in an Infectious Diseases Society of America media briefing on July 1.
Kevin Outterson of the School of Law spoke at the launch of the AMR Action Fund, a new global antimicrobial resistance initiative, on July 9.
NEW RULES PLANNED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
In an abrupt departure from a policy issued in March, Immigration and Custom Enforcement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced plans on Monday to require international students whose institutions will hold classes exclusively online this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic to return to their country of origin. President Robert A. Brown joined a chorus of university leaders and lawmakers who urged DHS to reverse course, writing to Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf to request he withdraw the planned changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley led 99 Members of Congress in sending a letter to Acting Secretary Wolf requesting that the changes to the proposal be rescinded. A lawsuit filed against the proposal by Harvard University and MIT is currently moving through the courts.
POLICYMAKERS DISCUSS COLLEGE REOPENINGS
On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urged college presidents to reopen their campuses during a White House event and a conference call with state leaders. The President specifically criticized Harvard University for its decision to shift to online teaching in the fall. Across town, the House Higher Education and Workforce Subcommittee held a hearing on how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting higher education. The Subcommittee's Democrats pledged to help colleges defray the cost of personal protective equipment and new technology needed to safely resume classes in the midst of a pandemic this fall, while Republicans expressed concern about the "bloated postsecondary education sector."
BUZZ BITS...
- The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis recently released its Congressional Action Plan to transition to a clean energy economy. Among other recommendations, the plan calls for further investment in clean energy research over the next ten years. The plan will guide House Democrats as they draft a climate bill this year.
- The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report at their June 30th meeting on how the federal government can strengthen Industries of the Future. The report further demonstrates the Trump Administration's support for research in artificial intelligence and quantum information science.
- The House Budget Committee held a hearing on Wednesday to examine the importance of federally-sponsored research in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers heard from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Council on Competitiveness, among others.
The Fire This Time
FACULTY EXPERT
The Fire This Time
BU School of Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig, a renowned expert in critical race theory, wrote an open letter to her students regarding "recent killings and protests" that has sparked conversations worldwide. Read the letter
ON THE CHARLES RIVER
Pain, Anger, and Hope
Boston University suspended all classes, meetings, and events last Wednesday for a series of virtual conversations as part of the BU Day of Collective Engagement: Racism and Antiracism, Our Realities and Our Roles. Join the conversation
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
Kids Deserve Accurate Coronavirus Information
With support from the National Science Foundation, BU psychologist Deborah Kelemen will investigate how children understand the pandemic and how they are influenced by misinformation or scientific misconceptions that adults pass on to them. See why it matters
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
BU will establish a community safety advisory group for the Boston University Police Department... Experts at the BU Technology & Policy Research Initiative describe how banning salary history can help women and Black workers in Forbes... Heidi Peltier of the BU College of Arts & Sciences explains how conservation could spur job creation post-pandemic in The Conversation... Nahid Bhadelia of the BU School of Medicine discussed the increase in COVID-19 cases in many states on Meet The Press... Joshua Shifrinson of the BU Pardee School of Global Studies critiques John Bolton's approach to foreign policy in Vox.
White House Expands Immigration Restrictions
A Note to Our Readers: Due to the Independence Day Congressional District Work Period, Beltway BUzz will not publish next week.
WHITE HOUSE EXPANDS IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS
President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation on Monday that extends and expands earlier restrictions on certain nonimmigrant work visas through the end of the year. The new order suspends the issuance of new H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign talent, such as some faculty and postdoctoral associates. While the proclamation impacts visas important to higher education and research, universities successfully beat back an effort to restrict the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows international students to gain post-graduate work experience in the United States. The order does not apply to student visa holders, or to individuals who currently hold a valid visa.
BUZZ BITS...
- The Department of Defense's two top research officers announced on Tuesday they will resign on July 10. Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin and Deputy Lisa Porter are leaving to pursue a joint private sector opportunity.
- The National Institute on Aging (NIA) released its strategic directions for 2020 - 2025, highlighting the NIA's research priorities for the future. The plan focuses on the dynamics of the aging process, improving the well-being of adults as they age, and supporting the research enterprise.
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is soliciting input for the next NIGMS strategic plan. NIGMS is requesting stakeholder feedback on proposed areas of research focus by July 17.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) have issued a joint Disaster Resilience Research Grants (DRRG) solicitation for “research to advance fundamental understanding of disaster resilience in support of improved, science-based planning, policy, decisions, design, codes, and standards.” Hazards of interest include, but are not limited to, hurricanes and tornadoes, water events, fires, and earthquakes. An informational webcast for potential applicants is planned for August 3, and mandatory letters of intent are due by August 14.
BU Forms New Community Safety Advisory Group
Goal is to improve communication among students, faculty, staff, and BUPD
NIH Acts on Harassment, Foreign Influence
BU IN DC
Ha Jin of the College of Arts & Sciences delivered a lecture on poet Li Bai for the Library of Congress on June 11.
The BU Initiative on Cities hosted a webinar on whether federal Opportunity Zones policies are working for cities on June 10.
NIH ACTS ON HARASSMENT, FOREIGN INFLUENCE
In conjunction with last week's meeting of the Advisory Committee to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director, the NIH announced:
- In an effort to address sexual harassment and bullying in academic research, NIH grantees who request either changes in grant personnel or movement of a grant to a new research institution are expected to inform the agency if these changes are related to concerns about safety or work environments. Since December 2019, the NIH has reviewed allegations of sexual harassment at 71 institutions, leading to the removal of 14 principal investigators from NIH grants.
- More than 50 scientists have resigned or been fired as a result of the NIH's investigation into malign foreign influence in research at more than 85 extramural institutions. To date, approximately 90% of the cases that have been investigated are ones in which the NIH-funded researchers have ties to China.
BUZZ BITS...
- On Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan as the next director of the National Science Foundation. Panch is a computer engineer who most recently served as the chief research and innovation officer at Arizona State University.
- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the Trump Administration's elimination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, allowing roughly 700,000 young immigrant "Dreamers" to remain in the country. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, found that the Administration did not adhere to the law for ending a federal program.
- Last week, the National Institutes of Health named Dr. Rich Woychik as the next director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Dr. Woychik has worked at NIEHS since 2010, and has served as its interim director since last year.
GRANTS NEWS YOU CAN USE
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) has released its office-wide broad agency announcement (BAA) soliciting basic and applied research proposals in the following areas: Frontiers in Math, Computation and Design, Limits of Sensing and Sensors, Complex Social Systems, and Anticipating Surprise. Proposers are strongly encouraged to submit an executive summary or abstract prior to submitting a full proposal. Executive summaries, abstracts, and proposals may be submitted on a rolling basis until June 11, 2021.
Ibram X. Kendi, Leading Scholar of Racism, to Join BU
ON THE CHARLES RIVER
Ibram X. Kendi, Leading Scholar of Racism, to Join BU
Dr. Kendi will launch the BU Center for Antiracist Research, with a mission “to solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice.” Find out more
FACULTY EXPERT
Want to Reform Policing? Listen to the Lived Experiences of Black Americans
BU political scientist Spencer Piston says listening to people who live in heavily policed communities can inform advocacy and improve democracy. Learn why
STUDENT LIFE
BU Distributes Federal CARES Aid to Students
Over 5,800 BU students who were financially impacted by the campus closure caused by COVID-19 received grant aid, thanks to the CARES Act. Here's how we did it
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
BU School of Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig discusses inequities in the legal system in Slate... Elaine Nsoesie of the BU School of Public Health connects the dual crises of COVID-19 and racial health disparities for National Public Radio... Ari Tratchenberg of the BU College of Arts & Sciences discusses how to protect privacy when using contact tracing technology in The Conversation... BU School of Social Work Professor Judith C. Scott talked to The Washington Post about speaking to your children about racism... BU students volunteered as contact tracers for the Boston Public Health Commission.
Trump Restricts Entry of Chinese Grad Students
BU IN DC
Michael Dietze of the College of Arts & Sciences participated in a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshop on earth system predictability research on June 4.
TRUMP RESTRICTS ENTRY OF CHINESE GRAD STUDENTS
On May 29, President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation restricting certain groups of Chinese nationals from entering the United States for research or graduate study. The White House said the proclamation is a response to "a wide‑ranging and heavily resourced campaign [by China] to acquire sensitive United States technologies and intellectual property." The restrictions, which went into effect on Monday, apply to graduate students and research scholars who have connections to China's "military-civil fusion" strategy. Undergraduates and researchers in non-critical fields of study are exempt from the ban.
BUZZ BITS...
- Senate committees have approved the nominations of both Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan as the new director of the National Science Foundation and Neil Jacobs as the next administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both nominations now await approval by the full U.S. Senate.
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a 2020-2030 Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research, the first NIH-wide strategic plan on the topic. The plan signals NIH’s intention to invest more strategically in the field, and has four goals: conducting foundational research, the role of diet and behavior for optimal health, the role of nutrition across the lifespan, and improving the use of food as medicine.
- The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the NIH has released the NIMH strategic plan for research over the next five years. The plan's goals include: defining the brain mechanisms underlying complex behavior, examining mental illness trajectories across the lifespan, and strengthening the public health impact of NIMH-funded research.
BU to Stand-Up COVID-19 Testing Lab for Students and Employees
ON THE CHARLES RIVER
BU to Stand-Up COVID-19 Testing Lab for Students and Employees
President Robert A. Brown says, "We are starting to see a vision of fall emerge." Here's our plan
FACULTY EXPERTS
COVID-19 Story Map Illustrates Vulnerable Populations
BU School of Public Health researchers have created an interactive map of which populations, cities, and towns in Massachusetts are most susceptible to the coronavirus. Take a look
STUDENT LIFE
BU Students Will Have Option of Remote or In-Person Classes This Fall
The Learn from Anywhere flexible format is designed to accommodate safety requirements that may be imposed by public health authorities to control the spread of COVID-19, as well as by travel and other challenges faced by BU undergraduates. See how it will work
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
BU President Robert A. Brown discussed BU's plan for COVID-19 testing on campus on CNBC... Join the BU Initiative on Cities for a webinar on how cities are using Opportunity Zones for coronavirus recovery on June 10... School of Public Health Dean Sandro Galea warns of a poverty epidemic as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic in The Washington Post... Health policy scholars Paul Shafer and Cecille Joan Avila explain how the coronavirus emergency has revealed shortcomings in the social safety net in The Conversation... Tiffany Li of the BU School of Law weighs in on Twitter's fact checking policies in The New York Times... Kevin Gallagher and Amb. Jorge Heine of the BU Pardee School of Global Studies explain how to help Puerto Rico with COVID-19 recovery in The Hill.
Racing Toward COVID-19 Research Breakthroughs
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
Racing Toward COVID-19 Research Breakthroughs
Scientists at the BU National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories are screening COVID-19 drug candidates, studying why the virus hits some people harder than others, and developing better, faster screening. Join the race
FACULTY EXPERTS
Pandemic Relief for Renters and Homeowners is Lagging
As coronavirus causes financial hardship, BU housing experts are tracking how cities are responding -- or not. See what they found
ON THE CHARLES RIVER
Hands-On Learning, Delivered Remotely
Think you can't teach a film class remotely? How about a movement class? BU faculty are meeting the challenge to provide their students with interactive learning experiences. Take a look
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
BU President Robert A. Brown discussed what the college experience might look like this fall on the Freakonomics podcast... BU infectious disease experts Nahid Bhadelia, Ronald Corley, and Robert Davey demonstrate how they are decoding COVID-19 on NOVA... Dean Sandro Galea and Michael Stein of the BU School of Public Health discuss uncomfortable conversations about COVID-19 in The Hill... The BU Initiative on Cities hosts a series of webinars on how the how the COVID-19 epidemic is impacting cities... Thomas Byrne of the BU School of Social Work describes the urgent need to help the homeless population as they face coronavirus in Popular Science.
House Poised to Approve New Relief Bill
A Note to Our Readers: Beltway BUzz plans to publish intermittently when we have news on the federal government coronavirus response pertinent to BU. Please visit our website and Twitter account for timely updates.
HOUSE POISED TO APPROVE NEW RELIEF BILL
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a COVID-19 relief package proposed by House Democrats, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800). The $3 trillion bill includes $30 billion for public colleges and $7 billion for private colleges to offer emergency grants to students and to defray expenses due to lost revenue. It also would extend and expand student loan payment relief. For research and cultural agencies, the HEROES Act proposes $4.75 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $125 million for the National Science Foundation, and $10 million each for National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts. Senate Republicans and the Trump Administration both oppose the package, and it is expected that a final relief bill will not be completed until the summer.
LAWMAKERS DISCUSS REOPENING COLLEGES
On Tuesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing about safely returning to work and school featuring testimony from the leaders of several federal health care agencies. When asked about the prospects of colleges reopening in person in the fall, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci cautioned that expecting treatments or a vaccine this fall was "a bridge too far," and emphasized that widespread testing was the key to reopening safely. The following day, Vice President Mike Pence hosted a call with university presidents to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance for colleges and best practices for a return to campus in the fall. Participants included the presidents of Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, Arizona State, Ohio State, and Stanford.
BUZZ BITS...
- On Tuesday, the Texas Christian University General Counsel Leroy Tyner testified on behalf of the higher education community before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing examining liability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tyner said colleges need clear federal guidelines for safe reopening in order to avoid inadvertently falling off a "liability cliff."
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that Dr. Karen St. Germain will serve as the next director of NASA's Earth Science Division, beginning June 8. Dr. St. Germain is an electrical engineer and currently a deputy assistant administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- BU Research maintains a COVID-19 Research Projects Tracker. Find out who at BU is conducting coronavirus research, share your expertise with your peers, and suggest ideas for further research.