Skip to content
News and updates

News and updates

FY10 Appropriations Moving to Conclusion

Posted on

Yesterday, details on a House-Senate omnibus FY10 appropriations package (H.R. 3288) emerged. The omnibus package will contain 6 of the 7 appropriations bills that have yet to be signed into law -with only the Defense Appropriations bill remaining. The Defense bill is being utilized as a final vehicle to advance measures that the leadership in Congress wants approved before the end of the year. The current plan would have all 7 remaining appropriations bills signed into law by the end of the month. Of note specifically for the University of Washington in the omnibus is $200,000 for a UW Bothell Nursing Faculty Consortium Training program. Additionally, significant funding is expected in the Defense bill for the UW Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies. More broadly, items of note in the omnibus FY10 appropriations package for the higher education community include:

Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations

Education-

  • Pell Grant maximum award is funded at $5,550. This total includes $4,860 ($17.495 billion of discretionary funding) with plus $690 from the CCRAA ($631 million in mandatory funding)
  • Javits is level funded at $9.6 million
  • GAAN is level funded at $31 million
  • SEOG is level funded at $757 million
  • Federal Work Study is level funded at $980 million
  • LEAP is level funded at $63.8 million
  • TRIO is increased by $5 million to $853 million
  • GEAR UP is increased $10 million to $323 million

National Institutes of Health (NIH)-

  • NIH is funded at $31.0 billion, $250 million above the request and $692 million above non-ARRA FY 2009 enacted level. Similar to past years, $300 million will be transferred to the Global HIV/AIDS Fund.

Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations

National Science Foundation (NSF)-

  • NSF is funded at $6.93 billion, $436 million above the regular FY 2009 enacted level, but below the Administration’s request of $7 billion. Within NSF, the Research and Related Activities account would receive $5.617 billion, the Education and Human Resources account would receive $872.7 million, and Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account would receive $117.29 million.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-

  • NASA is funded at overall at $18.72 billion, an increase of $941 million over FY 2009 enacted. Within NASA budget, the Science Mission Directorate funded at $4.469 billion, a decrease of $34 million, and the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate nearly level funded at $501 million.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-

  • NOAA is funded overall at $4.737 billion, with the National Sea Grant Program funded at $63.0 million, an $8 million increase over FY 2009, and the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research account is increased to $438.8 million.

National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST)-

  • Within NIST, the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP) program is funded at $124 million, an increase of $14.7 million over FY 2009, and the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) is funded at $69.9 million, an increase of $4.9 million over FY 2009.

Military Construction – Veterans Affairs Appropriations
           
Veterans Affairs (VA)- 

  • Within the VA, the Medical and Prosthetics Research Program is funded at $581 million, an increase of $71 million over FY 2009.

State-Foreign Operations Approprations

Agency for International Development (USAID)-

  • The Higher Education in Africa Program is funded at no less than $25 million with the report language stating that higher education partnerships between American and African institutions of higher education should be expanded and $15 million “shall be awarded in an open and competitive process…”  The Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) is funded at $31.5 million.

The Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation is not funded.

ARPA-E Fellowship Opportunity Announced

Posted on

December 8, 2009

Department of Energy Announces Fellows Program for Advance Research Energy Projects

Announcement comes on the heels of ARPA-E’s 2nd Funding Opportunity

Cambridge, MA – The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) announced today the creation of the ARPA-E Fellows Program at an event with Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s students.  ARPA-E Director, Dr. Arun Majumdar, made the announcement during a presentation to the MIT Energy Club and called on the next generation of energy leaders to join ARPA-E.  Today’s announcement follows US Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s announcement that the Department is making $100 million in Recovery Act funding available to accelerate innovation in green technology, increase America’s competitiveness and create jobs.
 
“We need the best and the brightest to help shape our nation’s energy future,” said Dr. Majumdar. “The ARPA-E Fellows Program gives us the opportunity to invest in our up and coming researchers and entrepreneurs as we continue to look for creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership.”
The ARPA-E Fellows Program will consist of highly technical scientists and researchers, who will actively help create the strategic direction and vision of the country’s first agency devoted exclusively to transformational energy technology research and development. Fellows will support ARPA-E’s Program Directors in program creation, while also undertaking independent explorations of promising future research areas for the agency. Fellows will also engage with world class researchers and innovators to develop theses for high impact ARPA-E research program areas, prepare energy technology and economic analyses, and make recommendations to DOE senior management.

Program participants will be expected to have strong technical backgrounds and deep expertise in at least one energy technology related field. Senior Fellows should have more than three years of relevant work experience in energy innovation related fields, while Fellows will represent postdoctoral researchers and recent graduates with less than three years of work experience.  Participants will be competitively selected from the best and the brightest up and coming researchers and entrepreneurs in the U.S. energy sector. 

ARPA-E Fellow terms will not exceed two years.  All ARPA-E Fellows and Senior Fellows are full-time federal employees paid at a competitive salary.

Interested candidates should visit ARPA-E’s Job Opportunities page to learn more.

Media contact(s):
(202) 586-4940

New ARPA-E Grant Opportunities Announced

Posted on

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that a second round of funding opportunities for transformational energy research projects is available through ARPA-E. At a joint event with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Secretary Chu reported that $100 million in Recovery Act funding will be made available to accelerate innovation in green technology, increase America’s competitiveness and create jobs. The announcement comes in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Note: Concept Papers are Due on January 15, 2010

Funding Opportunity Announcements

This Week on Capitol Hill December 7-11

Posted on

IN THE HOUSE

The House convenes at noon on Monday to consider a number of parks and lands bills.

Tuesday and The Balance Of The Week  —  The House convenes at 10 am for legislative business. Members will consider a number of bills under suspension of the rules, including an FAA extension, bills on consumer data privacy,  Andean  trade preferences, extending expiring tax provisions, and a package of financial regulations.

IN THE SENATE

The Senate convenes at 10 am Monday to continue debate on amendments to the health care overhaul bill.  Roll call votes expected.

 Source: CQ Today Print Edition

Congressional Schedule

Posted on

The Senate is off to a slow start on debating their health reform measure this week, which may force the Senate to return to DC the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day to wrap up work on a the bill.

While no decisions have been made yet, Senate Leadership is warning members of the possibility of keeping the chamber in session the week of December 28th.  Senators have previously been told to prepare to work weekends up until Christmas to complete a health care bill, including this coming weekend. Senate Leadership has issued threats of Saturday work days and recess-time sessions in the past.  These warnings are typically used as leverage to try to forge legislative deals.

The House and Senate traditionally adjourn for the year sometime before Christmas and return sometime in the following year – usually the second or third week in January.

While they still don’t have a firm timeline for leaving DC for the year, House Leadership announced today that the House would reconvene January 12, 2010. The Senate has yet to announce next year’s schedule but the “district work periods” or recesses will likely mirror the House schedule.  Click here to view the 2010 House Calendar.