APA's Science Policy Insider News July 2006!

[Subscribe to SPIN]  Partnering with Homeland Security When Science Policy staff submitted written testimony supporting funding for the behavioral and social science programs at DHS, we also initiated visits with Congressional staff to recommend report language meant to accompany the DHS Appropriations bill (H.R. 5441) as it winds its way across Capitol Hill. Senator Kohl (D-WI) was good enough to accept our submission and help us raise awareness of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Partnership Program which is housed in the Science and Technology Directorate's Threat Awareness Portfolio. In part the language also touted the importance of using the expertise developed via the Partnership department-wide and we're particularly grateful to the committee for including that concept. Read the full article [back to top] NSF Directorates Team up on Neuroscience When Science Directorate staff met with the two new Assistant Directors at NSF (Dr. Jim Collins, AD of Biological Sciences and Dr. David Lightfoot, AD of SBE Sciences) back in March, they alerted us to an upcoming workshop they had planned to explore their mutual interests in neuroscience. The workshop took place July 18-19 at NSF headquarters and was entitled "Mind and Brain: Strategies and Directions for Future Research". Read the full article [back to top] Senate Appropriators Call for Funding the NCS out of NIH Director's Budget On Thursday, July 20th, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the bill that funds NIH without adopting the House proposal that would require the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to fund the National Children's Study in FY07 out of its current budget. The NCS would need an additional $69 million in FY07 to begin enrolling participants and refining the protocol at the Vanguard Centers. The proposed $1.26 billion budget, a $7 million decrease for NICHD, and supporters of NICHD were concerned about the burden this funding mandate would place on its ability to fund individual investigators or other new research projects. In July, APA joined with 25 other organizations to encourage the Senate and House to find an alternative funding source for the NCS outside of the NICHD budget. APA's Karen Studwell joined with the Society for Research in Child Development and others in meeting with Chairman Specter's office to request for more long-terms solutions to funding the NCS, rather than relying solely on NICHD to fund the study that is projected to cost more than $2.5 billion over the next 25 years. In its version approved on Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee stated that, "The Committee supports full and timely implementation of the Study (NCS) and has included funds within the Office of the (NIH) Director to continue the study." Both the Senate and House bills have yet to be approved by either chamber and the different solutions will have to be worked out during the conferencing of the bills, which is likely to take place after the November elections. View the letter sent to the Senate View the letter sent to the House [back to top] Phil Rubin Assumes Chair of NRC Board On July 20-21, the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences (BBCSS) of the National Research Council held its twelfth meeting here in DC. The meeting was unusual in that there was essentially a wholesale turnover of Board membership. Two departing members, APA Fellow and BBCSS Chair Anne Petersen and APA member Eugene Emory were on hand to provide some historical perspective and process continuity for the new members and were feted for their years of dedicated service to the Board. Read the full article View Dr. Rubin's press release (pdf) View a comprehensive listing of study publications View Dr. Abram's presentation (PowerPoint) [back to top] Task Force Meets to Examine Early Career Support On July 23 - 24, Science and Education Policy staff worked with the Task Force Supporting Early Career Psychologists to discuss the availability of current loan repayment, scholarship, and fellowship programs. Science Directorate staff had previously examined eligibility requirements for 207 federal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs across 13 federal agencies detailed in a recent GAO report. Those for which psychologists were eligible were added to other programs identified by the Education Directorate in an APA-wide effort that resulted in a searchable database available here. Read the full article [back to top] Legislation to Fund NIH Moves Forward in Senate The Senate Appropriations Committee has reported legislation that will fund the National Institutes of Health and other programs for Fiscal Year 2007 (which begins on October 1, 2006). For NIH, the Committee would provide $28.5 billion, an increase of $220 million over the Fiscal Year 2006 appropriation, and $200 million over the President's budget request. Read the full article [back to top] An Interview with Emmeline Edwards, PhD, Director of Extramural Research at the NINDS Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience Program In Fiscal Year 2006, the National Institutes of Health received its smallest budget increase since the mid-1960s—one half of one percent—and actually saw its budget cut after a 1% across-the-board cut was applied. How is that affecting research funding and programs at the institutes that fund behavioral research? Is there any good news amidst the bad? APA's Science Policy Office put the following questions to several institute officials and program officers. In this issue, Emmeline Edwards, PhD, Director of Extramural Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, responds. Earlier this year the Psychological Science Agenda published interviews with officials at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Aging, and the National Cancer Institute. Read the interview [back to top] APA Summer Research Fellows Visit Army Research Laboratory Psychologists In July APA's two summer research fellows in counterintelligence at the Department of Defense (DoD), Whitney Wharton, ABD and Chris Johnson, PhD, joined Science Policy Office's Heather Kelly for a visit with psychologists at the U.S. Army Garrison Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The Army Research Laboratory (ARL), which sponsors basic and applied research in support of the Army mission, has intramural scientists working on base at Aberdeen - including a number of psychological researchers within the ARL Human Research and Engineering Directorate (HRED). Wharton and Johnson were impressed with the range of human-centered research programs sponsored by ARL, including those focused on human-systems interfaces, battlespace decision-making, and team performance modeling. APA continues to monitor research funding levels in the FY07 defense bill, which received differential support in the House- and Senate-passed bills before heading to a conference committee for final adjustments. [back to top] Senate Appropriations Report Highlights Many Behavioral Science Research Programs Each year Science Policy Office staff work with Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to suggest behavioral research programs or projects that might be highlighted in the reports that accompany the legislation. There are many reasons a program could be highlighted: a congressional office might be impressed with new findings, or concerned that a particular program needs additional resources. Report language does not carry the same force of law that legislative language (language within the bill itself) does, but policymakers at federal funding agencies carefully scrutinize report language and often abide by its suggestions. Read the full article View all APA report language [back to top] Dr. Zerhouni’s E-mail Newsletter Focuses on NIH Funding and Management In the Summer 2006 issue of his new e-mail newsletter, "From the Desk of Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director NIH," the current NIH Director provides a lot of details that SPIN readers will appreciate about advances that have resulted from NIH research, myths and realities about NIH's budget and the impact of the Roadmap on funding of investigator-initiated research. Much of this is information that NIH regularly supplies to Congress. If you have questions or feedback about the information Dr. Zerhouni provides in this article, send a note via email and we will follow up. View the newsletter [back to top] Sara Robinson Going, Going, Gone Sadly, Sara Robinson who gained fame as SPIN’s Editor-in -Chief and Event-Planner Extraordinaire is leaving APA at the end of the month to attend Law School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Sara who so capably accepted and executed every imaginable administrative duty that came her way will be very sorely missed by her colleagues here in the Science Directorate. We wish Sara all the very best and thank Kirk Waldroff for stepping in to produce this month’s edition of SPIN! [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, PhD, Director of Science Policy Pat Kobor, Senior Science Policy Analyst Heather O'Beirne Kelly, PhD, Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer Karen Studwell, JD, Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer Sara Robinson, Legislative Assistant

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