Here's the newsletter from the Federation of Behavioral Psychological and
Cognitive Sciences, of which the BGA is a member organisation. There's
good news about the NIH budget, and a possibly useful video from APA
about the benefits of animal research.
If you have any issues that you would like raised at the upcoming annual
meeting, please let me know as I'll be attending the meeting on Saturday
this week.
Cheers
Mike
Dr. Michael C. Neale Dept. of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
Phone: 804-828-3369 Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics
Fax: 804-828-8801 800 East Leigh St. Suite 1-115, Richmond VA 23219-1534
FEDERATION NEWS
The Federation of Behavioral Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
IN THIS ISSUE: October
1998
1. Omnibus Spending Bill Passed
In late October, Congress finally adopted eight appropriations bills in one
huge measure. The final spending package of $500 billion impacts the
behavioral and social sciences in a variety of ways, including substantially
boosting budgets for NIH and NSF.
2. Census Bureau Gets Whopping Increase
The omnibus spending bill also provided a whopping 48 percent increase to
the Census Bureau "to ensure that the Bureau is fully prepared to implement
the 2000 decennial census."
3. New NSF Director Outlines Her Priorities
Dr. Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for just
more than two months, has been making the rounds of Washington science
groups to talk about new NSF program activities.
4. Dr. Ron Abeles Brings New Perspective to OBSSR
Dr. Ron Abeles has been collaborating since early September with NIH
Associate Director, Dr. Norman Anderson, and other OBSSR colleagues on
several transNIH initiatives in the behavioral and social sciences.
5. APA Releases Video on Nonhuman Animal Research
A new video highlighting the contributions of nonhuman animal research has
made to our understanding of behavior is available from the American
Psychological Association (APA).
6. Briefly Speaking
Public Policy Fellowships Available for Scientists and Engineers; ShortTerm
Fellowships in Japan Available
Congress Passes Omnibus Spending Bill
In late October, Congress finally adopted eight appropriations bills
in one huge measure. The final spending package of $500 billion impacts the
behavioral and social sciences in a variety of ways, including substantially
boosting budgets for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the
National Science Foundation (NSF). The Department of Education did not fare
as well, receiving only a minimal increase for research funding despite
persistent longterm efforts by the Federation, the American Education
Research Association, APA, and others to get this funding boosted
significantly. The 105th Congress' late departure was largely due to
squabbling for the past eight months over a budget agreement and spending
caps that in the end were superseded.
National Institutes of Health
NIH received a $2 billion increase above its 1998 budgetan increase
of more than 14 percentbringing its total budget up to $15.58 billion for
FY 1999. This is the second year in a row that NIH has received a
substantial funding increase. This is mostly due to the confluence of
advocates, Congress and the public all agreeing on the necessity of higher
funding for biomedical, and behavioral and social sciences research to
continue building on the scientific advances made in the past two decades.
An effort by members of Congress and advocate groups to double NIH's budget
within five years also has provided a special impetus to significantly boost
NIH's budget quickly. Many see this huge $2 billion increase as the first
step in reaching that goal. Whether or not the funding will be there to
continue the increases at these levels remains to be seen.
The three NIH institutes that received the highest increases for FY
1999 are the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID). NCI's budget will increase by 15 percent from
$2.543 billion to $2.927 billionan increase of approximately $385
million. NHLBI's budget increased by more than 13 percent to $1.794
billion, and NIAID's budget got a 16 percent boost to $1.570 billion for FY
1999.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) received a budget
increase of $112 million (15 percent above FY 1998). The most significant
funding increase for mental health services comes in the form a $40 million
boost to the Center to Mental Health Services (CMHS) Knowledge Development
and Application Program (KDA). This increase is the result of an amendment
sponsored by Rep. David Obey (DWI), which originally would have reversed a
federal mandate requiring the Medicaid program to pay for the new impotence
treatment drug, Viagra (except following surgical procedures) and redirect
the savings to fund schoolbased children's mental health programs. During
conference committee negotiations, Rep. Obey's "Viagra funding mechanism"
was dropped from the amendment. However, the intent of the language
prevailed and an alternative funding source was found. The intended use of
these new funds is to assist with improving the mental health services for
children and preventing aggressive behaviors.
Both the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National
Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) received 14.6 percent
increases, boosting their budgets respectively by $77 million and $33
million.
Behavioral and Social Sciences
The Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) received a
$10 million increase, bringing its budget for FY 1999 to nearly $13 million.
This increase was allocated with the Committee's recommendation that two to
five mind/body medical centers would be opened within the next year around
the country. According to language included in the bill, the Committee
"recognizes that stress contributes to a host of medical conditions
confronted by health care practitioners, and current pharmaceutical and
surgical approaches cannot adequately treat stressrelated illnesses. The
Committee encourages OBSSR to establish pilot mind/body medical centers to
make more visible the benefits of mind/body medicine, to expand its
scientific base, and to teach and train health care professionals in these
approaches."
The omnibus appropriations bill also included language to convert the
NIH Office of Alternative Medicine to a Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. The new Center is slated to get $50 million in new
funding "to support its activities to investigate, evaluate, and validate
alternative therapies." This is a $30 million increase above FY 1998 budget
level of $20 million. In 1997, OAM's budget was $12 million. This latest
increase is more than a 400 percent in two years.
National Science Foundation
The VA, HUD and Independent Agencies bill, which contains the funding
for the National Science Foundation, was passed as part of the omnibus
spending bill. NSF received a 7.1 percent increase overall, while the
research budget got a 9 percent increase to $2.77 billion. NSF's overall
budget for FY 1999 is $3.672 billion.
The Department of Education/Research Programs
Although President Clinton requested an increase of $50 million for
education research, it was to focus on a joint NSF/Department of Education
research program in education and technology. The President's entire plan
met resistance until nearly the end of the legislative session. The
President had based his requests for increased funding in both education and
health on an expected windfall from an agreement with the tobacco industry
to settle pending suits and limit future suits against the industry in
return for large sums of money and a variety of other actions. The
legislation died in the Senate. And the Administration was unwilling to tap
into the budget surplus for anything other than social security, so any
increases for DoEd programs looked improbable.
But efforts by the Federation and others finally made an impression
with Appropriations' Committee staffers in the final weeks of the session.
Consequently, education research programs received a $15 million increase
above 1998 levels, bringing their total to $143.6 million. Education
statistics programs received an additional $28.5 million bringing their
total to $251.6 million. The additional money in statistics assures that
some important studies such as a followup to the Third International
Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) can take place.
Two controversial amendments that would have severely crippled the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) were dropped in
conference committee negotiations. However, a third amendment, originally
attached to the DC Appropriations bill remains.
This amendment provides for a $50 per hour ($1,300 total) cap on
attorney fees in IDEA cases at both the administrative and judicial levels.
Even though this provision applies only to the District of Columbia, a
victory in the nation's capitol is likely to set a dangerous precedent for
others who seek to cap or eliminate fees for all IDEA cases.
Department of Defense
The Department of Defense received $37.5 billion in total for civilian
research and development funding, an increase of $87 million0.2 percent.
Funding for behavioral and social science research at both the Army Research
Institute and Air Force Office of Research remains problematic. Both the
Army and the Air Force have moved to eliminate much of this research, and it
has been a challenge to see that these cuts are not enacted.
This year the Federation along with APA has been successful in
maintaining funding for the Research and Advanced Concepts Office of the
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. The
administration had requested a 25 percent cut. We were also successful in
getting funding restored for the Air Force Manpower, Personnel, and Training
Research Program and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Most of this
research is managed from Brooks Air Force Base, in San Antonio, TX. The
administration had requested $3 million in funding. But thanks to the help
of Sen. Daniel Inouye (DHI), the program maintained its 1998 funding level
of $11 million.
Federal Aviation Administration
Last year Congress added $5 million to the human factors research
budget at the Federal Aviation Administration. This year, the
Administration did not request this additional amount. The Federation in
partnership with APA was able to get the $5 million added back into the FAA
human factors budget. We are now working on a longer term undertaking to
make human factors a routine aspect of new designs and general safety
planning at the FAA.
Census Bureau Gets Whopping Increase
The omnibus spending bill also provided a whopping 48 percent increase to
the Census Bureau "to ensure that the Bureau is fully prepared to implement
the 2000 decennial census." The Bureau will receive approximately $1.32
billion with a little more than $1 billion earmarked for the upcoming
census. This increase was nearly $190 million more than the President had
requested.
Specifically $23 million of this increase is slated for staffing costs
for all Bureau offices; $17 million is for promotion, marketing and outreach
activities; $35 million is slotted to modify the questionnaire to allow six
family members instead of five to fill out the form without a followup
visit from a census taker and to modify the electronic data capture systems
to read the new questionnaire. The Census Monitoring Board will receive $4
million to oversee the Bureau's preparations for the upcoming census.
However, all of this money comes with a caveat. The sampling question
is still unresolved. Because of partisan bickering over the use of
statistical sampling in the 2000 census, the bill cuts off funding for the
Census Bureau on June 15, 1999, if no decision is made by Congress and the
Administration on the sampling question. (see Federation News, July/August
1998)
New National Science Foundation Director Outlines Her Priorities
Dr. Rita Colwell, Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for just
more than two months, has been making the rounds of Washington science
groups. Her intent is to get acquainted with these groups and to talk about
NSF program activities she wants to develop. Dr. Colwell is a
microbiologist and marine scientist, whose research has focused on marine
bacteria of the vibrios variety, particularly Vibrio cholera.
Dr. Colwell also has been making the rounds of Capitol Hill. Her
impression from those visits is that there is bipartisan support for science
and a growing understanding of science among policy makers. Dr. Colwell
believes that the interrelation of the sciences is one of the defining
characteristics of the current period of scientific development. She hopes
to capitalize on these two realities by promoting four broad action areas
for NSF.
Opportunities for Behavioral and Social Science Research
She sees advances in information technology as the tool capable of
sparking rapid progress in a number of sciences. "The social, behavioral,
and economic sciences could experience an explosion of new knowledge, if
these researchers can make good use of information technology innovations,"
Colwell said. "At the same time these sciences have not taken full advantage
of some current innovations," she added, noting for example, "use of
supercomputers in these sciences has been less than that in many other
sciences." Colwell wants to increase the NSF's focus on information
technology innovation and encourage use of these technologies in sciences
that have not fully exploited them.
Dr. Colwell wants to lead NSF beyond biodiversity and develop an
orientation toward biocomplexity. The premise underlying biodiversity is
that Earthly life forms need each other to survive, and the extinction of
some life forms will have adverse impacts on many life forms, including
humans. Biocomplexity denotes interrelations among life forms on many
levels including the biological. It is a synthesizing concept for NSF in
that all the sciences have essential contributions to make to understanding
the dynamics of the global ecosystem.
International Growth
In fact, the contributions of U.S. scientists are not enough for the
scientific tasks that lie ahead. Colwell wants to see a growing partnership
among U.S. scientists, and an effort by them to work with their counterparts
around the world. Colwell is considering ways to create a joint effort
between NSF and NIH to promote international collaborations in research.
She is concerned that those U.S. scientists and graduate students who
receive support for international work are inadequately supported. While
nonU.S. scientists seem to receive sufficient support to carry out their
research as well as travel and subsistence, U.S. scientists are likely to
receive only travel and subsistence support. Colwell believes it is time to
reexamine how and how well the U.S. supports international work by U.S.
scientists.
Finally, Colwell said, "she finds great challenge at the intersection
of science and education." The educational gaps of U.S. children are well
known. And yet more is understood about how to educate well than is
generally applied in classrooms. Some resources, including human resources
are underutilized. There are important research questions relevant to
education that are yet to be answered. Figuring out how exactly NSF should
face all those challenges is a task that Colwell has set for herself. A
short term goal is to bring graduate students in the sciences into
elementary and secondary classrooms as teacher aids. Such a program would
be one part of an effort to encourage a closer working relationship between
universities and elementary and secondary schools.
Dr. Colwell has demonstrated during a productive career that she is
both an innovative thinker and an effective implementer. Neal Lane is said
to have played an important role in picking his successor. By all
indications, he chose well.
Dr. Ronald Abeles Brings New Perspective to OBSSR
"Ron Abeles has been a leader in the field of behavioral and social issues
related to the life course for many years," said Norman Anderson, NIH
Associate Director. "I am extremely excited about having Ron's scientific
expertise and knowledge of the larger NIH community join the OBSSR." Dr.
Ronald Abeles has been collaborating since early September with Dr. Norman
Anderson and other OBSSR colleagues on several transNIH initiatives in the
behavioral and social sciences. Abeles' work will enhance a focus on older
populations in the Office of the Director.
Abeles' initial activities at OBSSR will include educational workshops
for interdisciplinary research, implementing the anticipated Congressionally
mandated initiative on mind/body research, and assisting in other
initiatives. He will be exploring a possible new initiative on
conceptualizing and measuring the social environment in behavioral genetics
research. He will continue to serve as chairperson of the NIH Behavioral and
Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee as well as of the organizing
committee for the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Lecture Series. Abeles
also will continue, on a limited basis, his program development activities
at the National Institute on Aging related to the personality and social
psychology of aging and adult psychological development. Abeles has
provided leadership to the NIA's behavioral and social research program
since 1980, for which he received the NIH Award of Merit in 1993.
Abeles' interest in life course issues was stimulated by his early
experiences at the Social Science Research Council from 19741978, the
Committee on Work and Personality in the Middle Years, and the Committee on
Life Course Development. He has published widely on aspects of lifecourse
and aging research. Abeles, a former officeholder at the American
Sociological Association and the American Psychological Association (APA),
is chairelect of the ASA Section on Aging and the Life Course, and a Fellow
of the APA, the American Psychological Society, and the Society of
Behavioral Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree from UCLA, his
Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University, and had a postdoctoral
fellowship at Yale University.
APA Releases Video on Nonhuman Animal Research
A new video highlighting the contributions nonhuman animal research has made
to our understanding of behavior is available from the American
Psychological Association (APA). The 14minute video includes a Teacher's
Guide and is intended for use in both high schools and in introductory
college psychology courses. The video serves as a valuable instrument for
teaching behavioral principles, processes, and mechanisms that psychologists
have discovered by studying nonhuman animals. For example, studies on the
visual system of hamsters have increased researchers' understanding of how
motor vehicle accidents at night can be significantly reduced.
The video begins with an explanation of how research with nonhuman
animals enable psychologists to study the similarities and differences in
sensation and perception between humans and animals. The knowledge gained
from these studies has advanced our understanding of sensory processes,
perception, and action. Several psychologists discuss their research, each
illustrating how their work is advanced by observational and experimental
studies involving nonhuman animals. The final portion of the video features
researchers discussing the importance of nonhuman animal research across a
wide range of research areas in psychology. It also emphasizes the need for
using nonhuman animals to continue research and the importance of adhering
to ethical principles governing such research.
The video is a project of APA's Committee on Animal Research (CARE),
which sets standards for the ethical use of nonhuman animals in research,
teaching and practical applications. For price and ordering information,
contact APA Order Department, 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 200024242,
18003742721 or 2023365510, fax 2023365502 or by Email: order@apa.org
<mailto:order@apa.org>
Public Policy Fellowships Available for Scientists/Engineers
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is accepting
applications from scientists and engineers for oneyear public policy
fellowships in Washington, DC. Awarded Fellows will have the opportunity to
work in a variety of federal government settings including the Congress, the
Department of State, the Agency for International Development, the
Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department
of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the RAND Science and
Technology Policy Institute.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must have a Ph.D. or equivalent
doctoral level degree at the time of application (Jan. 1, 1999) from any
physical, biological, or social sciences or any field of engineering.
Persons with a master's degree in engineering and at least three years of
postdegree professional experience may also apply. Federal employees are
not eligible. The programs are designed to provide each Fellow with a unique
public policy learning experience and to bring technical backgrounds and
external perspectives to decisionmaking in the federal government.
Stipends vary by program. All applications must be postmarked by Jan. 15,
1999. For more information and application instructions call (202)
3266700, fax (202) 2894950, or email: science_policy@aaas.org.
Briefly Speaking
Fellowships Opportunities in Japan
The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) are
awarding up to 20 shortterm fellowships for American researchers in the
Biomedical and Behavioral sciences to pursue collaborative research in
Japan. ShortTerm Fellowships are available for periods ranging from seven
to 60 days and ShortTerm PostDoctoral Fellowship for Biomedical and
Behavioral Research are available to funds trips ranging from three to 11
months. Applications must be mailed and must be received by Jan. 15, 1999.
For complete announcement and application requirements, visit FIC's website
at: >www.nih.gov/fic/opportunities/ff.html#japan<
or send an Email to: jsps@nih.gov, or fax (301) 4020779.
______________________________________________________________________
Federation of Behavioral, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
750 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 200024242
TEL (202) 3365920
FAX (202) 3365953
federation@apa.org
http://www.am.org/federation