September 8, 2014 Volume 33, Issue 16
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Congressional Activities & News
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Congress Returns this Week for Short, Packed Work Period
The House and Senate return to Washington this week from their month-long August recess. They have only a couple of weeks to address a number of major policy issues, such as immigration, the child migrant crisis on the border, and ongoing foreign conflicts, before both chambers adjourn again until after the November midterm elections. Among the to-dos in the coming weeks is consideration of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government operating into fiscal year (FY) 2015, which begins on October 1. The outcome of the elections weighs heavily on potential end-game strategies for the FY 2015 appropriations bills, with much hinging on whether the Democrats maintain control of the Senate or lose the majority to the Republicans.
For a recap on the current status of the FY 2015 appropriations bills important to the COSSA community, please see the August 11, 2014 COSSA Washington Update.
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fEderal Agency & Administration Activities & News
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NSF Seeks Social Science Public Affairs Specialist
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA) is seeking to fill a position for a public affairs specialist. The agency is particularly interested in receiving applications from qualified professionals with experience in "developing and implementing integrated communications strategies to promote basic research about social, behavioral and economic sciences to a variety of audiences and stakeholders." The opportunity closes September 19, 2014. More information can be found on USAJOBS.
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IES Seeks Input to Guide Future Education Research Activities
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Census, NCHS Hold Joint Technical Meeting Ahead of Release of Insurance Coverage Data
On September 16, the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) will release the first federal statistics on health insurance coverage during the period after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The agencies held a technical meeting on August 18 to go over what will be released this month and provide some background on their methods used in the respective household surveys. A webcast of the August meeting is available here.
Two sources of data will be used together to assess the impact of the ACA on health insurance coverage. The Census' Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) asks participants about their health insurance status in the previous calendar year, providing a baseline estimate of health insurance coverage before the ACA's coverage expansion went into effect. NCHS' National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) collects data on participants' current health insurance coverage. The upcoming data release will cover the first quarter of 2014 (coverage expansion began in January 2014).
Read on for more details on the meeting.
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NASS Invites Suggestions for Next Census of Agriculture
The National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) is seeking comments from the public on changes for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Conducted every five years, the Census provides detailed information on nearly every facet of U.S. agriculture down to the county level. In a press release, NASS Associate Administrator Renee Picanso said, "Many industries want data that we currently don't collect...There are also some data that people think are no longer relevant with changing trends in agriculture. This is the time to express those ideas and concerns." Comments may be submitted via an online form. NASS will notify the public before the comment period closes.
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NIJ Seeking Researchers to Support Comprehensive School Safety Initiative
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking social scientists to work in residence at NIJ and participate in the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative. The jobs are two-year details (with the option for renewal for a third year) through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) and are open to employees of federal, state, and local governmental agencies; institutions of higher education; Indian tribal governments; federally funded research and development centers; and qualified non-profit organizations.
The Comprehensive School Safety Initiative is "a large-scale, integrated research effort designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide by developing knowledge about the most effective and sustainable school safety interventions and programs and by testing innovative approaches." (More information is available here.) Selected candidates will "work closely with NIJ staff responsible for the design and management of the Initiative, with responsibilities ranging from establishing a research agenda to providing assistance to NIJ grantees conducting a variety of research projects to conducting small research projects in furtherance of Initiative objectives."
More information about the position, including information on how to apply, is available on NIJ's website. Applications are due September 30, 2014.
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NIH Seeks Input on Resources for Data-Related Standards Used in Biomedical Science
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued a Request for Information (RFI): Input on Information Resources for Data-Related Standards Widely Used in Biomedical Science, seeking comments and ideas to inform the consideration of an NIH Standards Information Resource (NSIR) that would collect, organize, and make available to the public trusted, systematically organized, and curated information about data-related standards.
The potential initiative comes out of a NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K)-sponsored workshop, Frameworks for Community Based Standards Efforts. An emerging theme from the workshop is that investigators or other users currently have to choose among the wide variety of sometimes overlapping standards. This information would be more useful if it were systematically organized and consistently presented. As more biomedical research data become available in digital form and as the value of interconnecting heterogeneous data, tools, and resources become more integral to the science itself, investigators' choices of data-related standards will need to be more deliberate.
The NIH BD2K initiative seeks input in two broad areas. First is NSIR content and relevant existing efforts that could inform the development of and /or enhance an NSIR. Specifically, the agency is pursuing comments on the metadata about standards that would provide the most benefit to end-users within an NSIR and why, and on information that may be more effectively provided through links to other resources. In addition, NIH is looking for input on the standards and/or types of standards considered most critical to include. Comments regarding existing relevant resources about data standards and how they are currently useful to end users are also invited.
Comments are due September 30, 2014. For additional information see Notice Number NOT-CA-14-054.
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AHRQ Solicits Scientific Information on Health Information Exchange
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Effective Healthcare Program is soliciting submissions of scientific information to inform its review of Health Information Exchange, which AHRQ defines as the "electronic sharing of clinical information among users such as health care providers, patients, administrators or policy makers across the boundaries of health care institutions, health data repositories, States and others." The agency is particularly interested in scientific information related to the effectiveness, harms, prevalence, facilitators and barriers, and sustainability of Health Information Exchange. More information is available in the Federal Register notice. Submissions must be received by September 29, 2014.
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NOtable PUblications & Community events
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Social Scientists among 2014 Golden Goose Awardees
On September 18, the scientific community and policy makers will come together to celebrate the winners of this year's Golden Goose Award at a ceremony in Washington, DC. The Golden Goose Award honors scientists whose research funded by the federal government has yielded major benefits to society, which could not have been anticipated at the time of funding. Among the 2014 awardees is a group of scientists whose research studying the impact of maternal absence on infant rats has significantly improved the ability of premature babies to thrive and has saved billions in health care costs and a group of economists who applied basic research on game theory to assist the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in setting allocations for auctioning the telecommunications spectrum, which has yielded more than $60 billion in revenue for the federal government. COSSA is a supporter of the 2014 Golden Goose Award.
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DBASSE Announces New Director of Human-Systems Integration Board
Last month, the National Research Council's Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) announced the appointment of Dr. Poornima Madhavan as the next director of the Board on Human Systems Integration (BOHSI). Madhavan comes to the National Academies from Old Dominion University, where she is associate professor of human factors in the department of psychology, as well as director of undergraduate research. BOHSI issues reports and provides expertise on a range of topics, which include "scientific and technology challenges of virtual reality, research needs for human factors, mental models of human-computer interaction, nuclear safety, the future of air traffic control, the effects of musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace, human factors in the design of tactical displays, organizational linkages," among others.
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NRC Releases Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform Report
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Notable NIH Funding Opportunities
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued three notable funding opportunities:
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American Academy of Arts & Sciences to Release New Report on Scientific Research and the American Dream
On September 16, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a COSSA member, will publish a new report, Restoring the Foundation: The Vital Role of Research in Preserving the American Dream, at a public release event and Congressional briefing. Presenters include report committee co-chairs Norman R. Augustine, Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation and former Under Secretary, United States Army; and Neal F. Lane, Malcolm Gillis University Professor at Rice University, former Director of the National Science Foundation, and former Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The events will also feature Hunter R. Rawlings III, President, Association of American Universities; Peter McPherson, President, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities; and the Hon. Bart Gordon, member of the report committee, Partner at K&L Gates, former U.S. Representative for Tennessee, and former Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology. Click here for more information and instructions on how to register.
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AAPSS Invites Nominations for 2015 Moynihan Prize
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LSA Promoting Native American Language Revitalization
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Consortium of Social Science Associations
Members
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Governing Members
American Anthropological Association
American Association for Public Opinion Research
American Economic Association
American Educational Research Association
American Historical Association
American Political Science Association
American Psychological Association
American Society of Criminology
American Sociological Association
American Statistical Association
Association of American Geographers
Association of American Law Schools
Law and Society Association
Linguistic Society of America
Midwest Political Science Association
National Communication Association
Population Association of America
Society for Research in Child Development
Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
American Evaluation Association
American Finance Association
American Psychosomatic Society
Association for Asian Studies Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations Association of Research Libraries Council on Social Work Education
Economic History Association
History of Science Society Justice Research and Statistics Association Midwest Sociological Society National Association of Social Workers North American Regional Science Council North Central Sociological Association Rural Sociological Society
Social Science History Association
Society for Anthropological Sciences Society for Empirical Legal Studies
Society for Research on Adolescence
Society for Social Work and Research
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Society of Behavioral Medicine
Southern Political Science Association Southern Sociological Society Southwestern Social Science Association
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Political and Social Sciences
American Council of Learned Societies
American Institutes for Research
The Brookings Institution
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
Institute for Social Science Research, University of Massachusetts
Institute for Women's Policy Research
NORC at the University of Chicago
Population Reference Bureau
RTI International
RWJF Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico Social Science Research Council
Vera Institute of Justice
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Colleges and Universities
Boston University
Brown University
Carnegie-Mellon University
Clark University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
George Mason University
The George Washington University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Howard University
Indiana University
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
Michigan State University
New York University
North Dakota State University
Northwestern University
The Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Princeton University
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Stanford University
State University of New York, Stony Brook
Texas A & M University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Chicago
University of Connecticut
University of Delaware
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri, St. Louis
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
University of South Carolina
University of Texas, Austin
University of Texas, San Antonio
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin, Madison
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Washington University in St. Louis
West Virginia University
Yale University
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COSSA
Executive Director: Wendy A. Naus Deputy Director: Angela L. Sharpe
Assistant Director for Public Affairs: Julia Milton
President: James S. Jackson
Address all inquiries to COSSA at [email protected]. Telephone: (202) 842-3525
The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) is an advocacy organization promoting attention to and federal support for the social and behavioral sciences.
UPDATE is published 22 times per year. ISSN 0749-4394.
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