We are looking forward to working with you in the year ahead to promote social and behavioral science research!

Wendy A. Naus

COSSA Executive Director

The COSSA Annual Meeting brings together representatives from throughout the social and behavioral science community for a day of discussion on federal issues impacting social and behavioral science research. It provides an opportunity for COSSA members and others to engage directly with leaders of federal science agencies, Congressional staff, and colleagues from other associations and institutions.

Confirmed speakers to date include France Córdova, Director of the National Science Foundation, Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, and Erin Fitzgerald, Director of the Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative.

NEW THIS YEAR -- Coinciding with the Annual Meeting on March 10 will be the first-ever Social and Behavioral Science Advocacy Day. This event offers COSSA members an opportunity to meet with their elected officials to discuss the importance of federal funding for social and behavioral science research.

Visit the COSSA Annual Meeting page for full details, including hotel information for out-of-town attendees. Register today (rates increase after February 10)!

 House Appropriations Committee

                Chairman: Hal Rogers (R-KY), reappointed (majority press release)

                Ranking Member: Nita Lowey (D-NY), reappointed

Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science

                                Chairman: John Culberson (R-TX)

                                Ranking Member: Chaka Fattah (D-PA), reappointed

Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education

                                Chairman: Tom Cole (R-OK)

                                Ranking Member: Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), reappointed

 Senate Appropriations Committee

                Chairman: Thad Cochran (R-MS)

                Ranking Member: Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

 Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee

                Chairman: John Thune (R-SD) (majority press release)

                Ranking Member: Bill Nelson (D-FL)

Subcommittee on Science and Space

Chairman: Ted Cruz (R-TX)

 House Science, Space and Technology Committee

                Chairman: Lamar Smith (R-TX), reappointed (majority press release)

                Ranking Member: Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), reappointed (minority press release)

 House Energy and Commerce Committee

                Chairman: Fred Upton (R-MI), reappointed

                Ranking Member: Frank Pallone (D-NJ)

                Subcommittee on Health

                                Chairman: Joe Pitts (R-PA), reappointed

Qualified candidates will possess expertise and experience in a field relevant to human subjects protection, including "public health and medicine, behavioral and social sciences, health administration, and biomedical ethics." Nominations should consist of a letter of nomination as well as the candidate's CV and contact information. They must be received by February 12, 2015. More information is available in the Federal Register notice.

COSSA members including the American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and the Institute for Social Research are sponsors of the Roundtable.

The solicitation and NSF's new Science of Learning Program represent the next phase in NSF's support for SL after the recent sunsetting of its Science of Learning Centers (SLC) program, which launched in 2003. The goals the SL Program are to "advance fundamental knowledge about learning through integrated research; connect the research to specific scientific, technological, educational, and workforce challenges; and enable research communities to capitalize on new opportunities and discoveries." Letters of intent must be received by February 6, 2015; full proposals are due on March 18, 2015. More information can be found on NSF's website.

The Big Data to Knowledge initiative is a trans-NIH initiative; the term "Biomedical Big Data" includes the "diverse digital objects which may have impact in basic, translational, clinical, social, behavioral, environmental, or informatics research questions."

Achieving the FOA's goals will require: (1) bringing together individuals involved in training and career development programs to network and share experiences; (2) engaging individuals developing open educational resources in meaningful dialogue to ensure that the resources they develop will be freely available and easy to access by the broader biomedical community; and (3) creating an online discovery index with personalized views of educational resources. Accordingly, the Biomedical Data Science Training Coordination Center (TCC) is expected to have: (1) developed a network of scientists involved in biomedical big data science, and (2) produced a discovery index that serves as a primary source for personalized access to publicly available biomedical data science educational resources. In addition, the TCC will sponsor and coordinate meetings, workshops, and rotations. It is also expected to develop technology and a web portal to communicate activity and provide personalized access to educational resources.

For more information see the announcement.

The agency's Research Education Program (R25) funding mechanism supports educational activities that complement other NIH formal training programs. In addition to complementing and enhancing the training of a workforce to meet the nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs, the program's overarching goals also include: enhancing the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research workforce; helping to recruit individuals with specific specialty or disciplinary backgrounds; and fostering better understanding of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research and its implications.

For more information and/or to apply see the FOA.

The Institute is also seeking applications for research and evaluation related to the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly individuals. NIJ is especially interested in proposals that will "(1) determine an estimate of the financial costs associated with elder abuse; (2) develop a taxonomy of case outcomes that can be used to define success from multiple perspectives; and (3) examine theoretical perspectives on elder abuse that move the field toward a better understanding of why perpetrators abuse, neglect, and/or exploit elderly individuals." See the full solicitation for more information. Proposals must be received by April 7, 2015.

COSSA is also pleased to welcome the Owens Institute for Behavioral Research (OIBR) at the University of Georgia as a new member in the Centers and Institutes category. OIBR strives to "catalyze high-impact interdisciplinary research" in the social and behavioral sciences across the university.

COSSA's full membership list can be viewed here.

Southern Political Science Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, January 15-17, 2015

Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, March 3-7, 2015

Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations Annual Meeting, New Brunswick, NJ, March 5-7, 2015

COSSA Annual Meeting & Advocacy Day, Washington, DC, March 9-10, 2015

A list of COSSA members' annual meetings and other events can be found on the COSSA webpage.