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Friends of NICHD
Braces For Another Tight Budget Year
On February 19th, the Friends of NICHD Coalition met with
NICHD Director Duane Alexander to discuss the President's proposed FY05
budget and the likely impact it would have on NICHD's portfolio of
research. New initiatives will be restrained by the slow budget growth, as
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) unfortunately received only a 2.7% increase in
FY04 and the President's proposed budget for FY05 is only a 3% increase.
Despite those challenges, NICHD is continuing to strengthen its learning
research portfolio by focusing on math and science cognition as well as
methods for teaching those with math disabilities. NICHD is also working
with the Department of Education on identifying the needs for assessments
in cognitive development, language, and behavior for children ages two
through five. NICHD is also continuing to lead the planning for the
National Children's Study (NCS). Recruitment is now slated to begin in
2006, though it will require at least an additional $100 million to begin
enrolling participants. The Friends of NICHD will be visiting
congressional staff this spring to request additional funding over the
President's request for NIH overall and NICHD.
What are the Numbers? SPIN looks at the President's Budget
How would behavioral and social science research fare if funded at levels
in the Administration's proposed budget? Heather Kelly and Pat Kobor of
the Science Policy Office have been digging for information about funding
estimates in the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.
 Read
the full article
Lost in Translation:
Sexual Health Researchers Seek to Educate Congress
As Congressional inquiries into the sexuality research portfolio at
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) continue, psychological
researchers have joined in the fray to counter the claims that NIH is
wasting money on this research. Speaking to nearly 100 attendees at a
congressional briefing on Friday, March 5th, psychologists Janet Hyde,
University of Wisconsin, Tom Coates, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine,
and Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, were joined by physician John Bancroft of the Kinsey Institute in
explaining the public health relevance of their areas of research. The
briefing was sponsored by the Coalition to Protect Research, co-chaired by
APA's Karen Studwell, as well as more than 20 other public health
organizations.
Read
the full article
[back to top]
Science and PPO Staff Head to Ft. Belvoir with
Divisions 19 and 21
On March 5th, the Science Directorate's Dianne Maranto and Heather Kelly met with researchers at the annual Division 19
(Military Psychology)/Division 21 (Applied Experimental and Engineering
Psychology)/Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Joint Mid-Winter Meeting
at Ft. Belvoir. During an interactive discussion hour on research funding
and science policy, Maranto and Kelly updated scientists on research
funding opportunities and likely effects of this year's political climate
on appropriations for science mission agencies (particularly the
Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the
National Science Foundation). The conference was also a wonderful
opportunity for APA staff to hear about cutting edge research that is
ideal for dissemination on Capitol Hill and in the federal agencies. PPO Does a Round of Hill Visits to Advocate for NSF Budget Increase
Last month, Science Policy staffer Heather Kelly joined a
multidisciplinary group of science advocates (all members of the Coalition
for National Science Funding) for "Hill visits" to three
Republican offices on the Senate side. The group met with staffers for
Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT), John Ensign (R-NV) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), all
of whom sit on the influential Senate Budget Committee. We emphasized that
even in an extremely tight budget year in FY 2005, a strong investment in
basic research at the National Science Foundation (including social and
behavioral research) is critical to the nation's short- and long-term
success. As SPIN goes to press, Congress continues to wrestle with a
budget resolution, and PPO will stay involved in the process while turning
our primary focus to influencing outcomes of the appropriations process in
other legislative committees. [back to top]
APA Fellows Take to the Hill to Discuss Homeland
Security On February 27th, Science Policy Director Geoff Mumford coordinated meetings
between two of the APA Fellows serving on Department of Homeland Security Advisory
Committees and Senior House and Senate Committee staff charged with
writing the science and technology section of the bill that will
reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security. Although Drs.
Deborah Boehm-Davis and Roxane Cohen Silver represent very different
research domains, it was extremely helpful to have both of them
present to discuss the wide-range of psychological science issues
coming before the advisory bodies to which they have been appointed.
It was clear that the Subcommitee staff (Subcommittee on
Cybersecurity, Science and Research and Development of the Select
Committee on Homeland Security in the House and the Subcommittee on
Science, Technology and Space of the Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee in the Senate) were grateful for their input
on issues that ranged from optimizing the human performance of
security teams and first responders to expanding pools of research funding
in the immediate aftermath of terrorist events. SPIN readers
may know that DHS has just celebrated its one-year anniversary and is
undergoing much scrutiny as congress tries to determine how well it's
performing. There is some concern about how far congress will get
with the reauthorization this session given the short election-year
calendar and the fact that so many Committees and Subcommittees are
vying for jurisdiction over Homeland Security issues.
In addition to visiting with Committee staff, Dr. Silver
took
advantage of the opportunity to meet with the personal staff of her
district Representative, Christopher Cox, who Chairs the Select
Committee on Homeland Security. The staffer, a political scientist by training, clearly appreciated many of the social science issues Dr.
Silver raised. She noted that Rep. Cox is especially interested in
understanding what effect raising the alert level has on the nation's
citizens,
as that will likely come up as he pursues authorization hearings.
During Dr. Silver's meeting, Dr. Boehm-Davis visited with staff of her
district Representative, Tom Davis, who Chairs the House Government
Reform Committee. That's one of two Committees to which S.589 (a
Senate bill that excludes social sciences from eligibility in a
proposed National Security Fellowship Program) has been referred in
the House. Dr. Boehm-Davis was able to provide myriad examples of the
sorts of behavioral and social scientists (including her own students)
that the bill would exclude from the federal workforce and clearly
impressed the staff with the range of research that social scientists
conduct. The staff assured Dr. Boehm-Davis that they would keep her
apprised of the progress of the bill and were amenable to changing the
exclusionary language. All in all, it was a very productive morning.
We are extremely grateful to both Drs. Boehm-Davis and Silver for
representing psychology so ably in their respective DHS committee
assignments as well as on Capitol Hill.
View
a picture from the meeting
[back to top]
Baruch Fischoff Selected to Advise on Homeland
Security Science and Technology Committee
Geoff Mumford, Director of Science Policy, attended the
inaugural meeting of the Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory
Committee (HSSTAC) on February 26. Shrouded in great secrecy and held in a
remote location, the 3 hour open session drew about 2 dozen members of the
public to find out who had been appointed to the 20 member advisory
committee.
We were extremely pleased to see Baruch
Fischhoff, the only behavioral scientist, had been appointed to the
HSSTAC. Loyal SPIN readers may recall that we initiated meetings between
Baruch and the Advisory Committee staff almost two years ago, after Dr.
Fischhoff's participation in our first counter-terrorism conference at the
FBI Academy. Following an introduction to Frank Ciluffo, fellow conference
attendee and then Special Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security, (who was then leading the effort to develop the Homeland Security Advisory
Council when homeland security was still in "Office" status),
we coordinated meetings with Baruch and Frank at the Homeland Security Office.
Dr. Fischoff continued serving as a willing APA spokesperson for
homeland security science and technology by meeting with the majority
staff of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee (view
picture), and the majority staff of the House Science Committee (view
picture), coauthoring APA's official comments on the Homeland Security
Advisory System (HSAS) (read
comments), and presenting at our Capitol Hill briefing on Disaster
Preparedness (read
about briefing).
The HSSTAC was chartered in the Homeland Security Act of
2002 (P.L.107-296, see link below for charter language) and will advise
the Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Science and
Technology Directorate.
[back to top]
The open session allowed members to provide brief
introductions and highlight issues they thought would be important for
HSSTAC to address. Dr.
Fischhoff was invited to go first and identified 3 main
issue areas: 1) Risk communications to help the public understand what
they are up against; 2) development of behaviorally realistic plans in
preparation for, or in the event of, a terrorist attack; and 3) how human
judgment is and should be brought to bear on risk data analysis.
During the remainder of the open session, Chuck McQueary
outlined the mission and goals of HSSTAC, which were pretty much identical
to his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Science,
and Research & Development of the Select Committee on Homeland
Security the day before (see link below for testimony).
The work of the Advisory Committee will be divided across
4 subcommittees that were not discussed in the public session, but Dr.
Fischhoff said later he'd been assigned to one whose paraphrased function
is public relations. During Q&A, Baruch took the opportunity to
discuss one of his pet concerns (related in part to the work he does for
the Environmental Protection Agency), which is developing clean-up
standards that would help reassure the public about the risks associated
with moving back into an area contaminated by a radiological device (i.e.,
a dirty bomb), a troubling scenario that was depicted last year in a NOVA special (see link below).
When I asked him to comment on his appointment and the role of
psychology as it applies to the S&T mission of DHS, Dr. Fischhoff
said:
"I see three roles for psychological research in
creating the science and technology needed to protect homeland security.
One is ensuring that plans and models make behaviorally realistic
assumptions -- for example, about how people will respond in crisis
situations or how well they will be able to use safety equipment. A second
role is improving the role of human judgment in the decision-making
process, recognizing that experts are people, too. We need to understand
their limits, both to help them to do a better job and to know how much
faith to put in their work. The third role is creating clearer
communication between officials and citizens. Citizens need, and want, to
understand the risks that they face and the tradeoffs that policies make
between safety, cost, privacy, and other outcomes. Officials need to know
what citizens want from them and are willing to contribute to the cause.
Although my own field, judgment and decision making, is central to these
issues, I think that many areas in psychology have a great deal to
contribute. I hope to be able to represent them, as well as the social and
behavioral sciences more generally."
Read
the DHS press release on the HSSTAC appointments
Read
the HSSTAC Charter
Read
Chuck McQueary’s testimony before the House Subcommittee on
Cybersecurity, Science, and Research & Development
View
the NOVA special
[back to top]
Any questions?
If you have any questions regarding SPIN or specific
science policy issues, please feel free to contact any of APA’s Science
PPO staff.
Geoff
Mumford, Ph.D., Director of Science Policy
Pat
Kobor, Senior Science Policy Analyst
Heather
O'Beirne Kelly, Ph.D., Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
Karen
Studwell, J.D., Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer
Sara
Robinson, Legislative Assistant
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