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Year: 2014

U.S. Department of Education Announces $75 Million First in the World Competition

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To spur innovation in higher education aimed at helping more students access and complete a college degree or credential, the U.S. Department of Education announced late last week the availability of $75 million in the First in the World (FITW) program. The grants will fund the development and testing of innovative approaches and strategies at colleges and universities that improve college attainment and make higher education more affordable for students and families. 

The FITW competition aims to increase postsecondary access, affordability, and completion for underrepresented, underprepared, or low-income students at institutions across the country. Colleges and universities are invited to submit proposals addressing key priorities around boosting enrollment and attainment for those students, or minimizing gaps between these students and their peers; improving transfer rates between community college and four-year institutions; increasing enrollment and completion rates among underrepresented, underprepared, or low-income students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs; reducing time to completion; and/or increasing college affordability.

FITW is designed to spur a diverse array of innovative ideas and approaches in order to dramatically improve student learning and outcomes. Applications are available now and due by June 30th. All grants will be awarded by September 2014. The Department will post further information, including information about webinars and other technical assistance, on the FIPSE Web page.

ED Announces Plan College Ratings Timeframe

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Today, the Department of Education (ED) announced a timeframe for rolling out the Administration’s proposed College Ratings system. In a post by Deputy Under Secretary Jamienne Studley entitled, “Making it Easier to Pick and Pay for College through Ratings“, the Administration announced that the college ratings system will be ready this Fall and a final version will be ready before the 2015-16 school year.

You can read the post here.

UW Professor to Present Disaster Bots to Obama

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UW Professor Howard Chizek will present his team’s Smart Emergency Response System (SERS) to President Obama and senior White House officials on June 10th.

Chizek is participating in the Smart America Challenge hosted by the White House.  The audience will be White House staffers, cabinet members, and White House Press Corps. The UW team is one of about 4 teams presenting.  Short presentations will be about policy and impact of the projects.

On June 11, 2014, 24 teams with over 100 organizations will come together at the WashingtonDC Convention Center for a demonstration. This event is open to the public to see demonstrations and hear from speakers from the White House, various Government Agencies, and companies and universities from across America.

For more information about SERS. click here.

House Committee to Consider the FIRST Act

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On Wednesday, the House Science Committee will mark up HR 4186, the FIRST Act, a bill which will reauthorize NIST, NSF and a host of other federal science-focused programs. This is the 113th Congress’s version of the America COMPETES reauthorization.

While in previous Congresses this legislation has been bipartisan and uncontroversial, the FIRST Act has been increasingly acrimonious through both committee hearings and markups. The political situation has been exacerbated by interactions between NSF and House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), which has been previously chronicled in the Federal Affairs Blog.

The higher education community has been, and remains, concerned about this legislation (and its various iterations) on several issues including: the overall funding level for NSF; directorate-level funding; and some significant policy changes including the public access embargo period.

Of primary concern is the change to not only the overall funding levels, but that Congress now specifically authorizes the various directorates within NSF for funding allocations. NSF has never had individual directorates called out for specific funding levels, which causes Congressionally mandated “winners” and “losers.”

Most troubling is the authorization funding levels. When you compare the proposed NSF authorization levels of FY14 to FY15, there are several notable increases in funding at the directorate level.  Some NSF directorates receive significant increases at the expense of others.  Here are the numbers:

  •  Biological Sciences (Bio) +5.4%
  •  Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) +7.7%
  •  Engineering (ENG) +7.0%
  •  Geosciences (GEO) -2.9%
  •  Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) +7.7%
  •  Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) -22.1%
  •  Six cumulative: 3.2%

NSF would receive an overall 1.5% increase.

Some Members of Congress may suggest that the FY15 authorization levels in the FIRST Act provide real funding increases for NSF — the total level of funding for NSF is only up by 1.5% — however, this increase does not cover the cost of inflation (1.7 percent). In reality, NSF would have a .2% cut after inflation.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track the legislation as it works through the committee process.

 

This week in Congress

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It’s another busy week in Congress with both chambers in session. Here are some committee meetings we’ll be paying attention to throughout the week.

MONDAY

Senate Financial & Contract Oversight Subcommittee
Sexual Assault on College Campuses
Subcommittee Discussion
2 PM; 342 Dirksen Senate Building

House Rules Committee
Considering Rules for Floor Debate on HR 4660 – Fiscal 2015 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations
Full Committee Markup
5:30 PM; H-313 Capitol Building

TUESDAY

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015 Appropriations: Agriculture
Subcommittee Markup
3 PM; Location TBA

House Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015 Appropriations: Agriculture
Subcommittee Markup
10 AM; 2362-A Rayburn House Building

WEDNESDAY

House Science, Space and Technology Committee
Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act of 2013
Full Committee Markup
2 PM; 2318 Rayburn House Building

THURSDAY

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015: 302(B) Allocations
Full Committee Markup
10 AM; 106 Dirksen Senate Building

Senate Appropriations Committee
Fiscal 2015: Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
Full Committee Markup
10 AM; 106 Dirksen Senate Building

Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee
Veterans and Higher Education
Full Committee Hearing
10 AM; 430 Dirksen Senate Building

House Energy & Commerce Committee
Fraudulent Patent Demand Letters Enforcement
Subcommittee Hearing
9:15 AM; 2123 Rayburn House Building