August 2, 2016
Looking for Something Fun (and Good for the Earth Sciences) to Do This Summer?
John W. Geissman is a Professor Emeritus in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico Welcome! The title of this blog is not meant to imply that you are bored, or already finished the five papers you intended to write this summer, or already took your one-day summer vacation. Rather, the purpose of this post is to highlight a great opportunity. Now is the perfect time to …
June 17, 2016
Funding Season is Open: Part 4
Welcome back to our series on the federal funding process for science in FY2017! In this edition, we’ll be focusing on both the House and Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations bills. The House approved its version of the bill on Wednesday 15 June, and the Senate approved its version the following day. The Interior and Environment bill funds several environmental programs and agencies, such as the United States Fish and Wildlife …
June 14, 2016
Congressman’s idea to privatize NWS forecasts gets icy reception among broadcast meteorologists.
By Dan Satterfield I’m hearing a lot of talk among my fellow forecasters about legislation (introduced by an Oklahoma congressman) that would privatize many forecast functions of the NWS. You might think that private sector meteorologists would support this, but almost every broadcast metr. I know has panned the idea. The quality of public weather forecasts is due to the cooperation between the public and private sector, and a survey of …
June 10, 2016
Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act Introduced to Senate
This blog post was written by Delores Knipp, Editor in Chief of AGU’s Space Weather and Space Weather Quarterly. To learn more about space weather, read Dr. Knipp’s previous post on the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan. Space weather effects on technology-enabled societies were first reported in telegraph systems in the late 1840’s, with the Carrington storm of 1859 being a prime example. Furthermore, technologies developed within the last …
May 31, 2016
Geoscience research essential to national security, experts say
By Lauren Lipuma WASHINGTON, DC — Government investment in basic science research is critical to protecting U.S. national security, according to a group of government and academic researchers. Basic geoscience research has helped the U.S. develop nuclear weapons experts, protect satellites from space weather and manage critical water supplies, scientists said during a recent congressional briefing on Capitol Hill. The May 12 briefing highlighted national security as an important, but …
May 25, 2016
Funding Season is Open: Part 3
Thanks for staying with us as we continue to break down federal science funding for fiscal year 2017 (FY2017). To completely understand how the FY2017 landscape is evolving, I encourage you to check out the first and second parts of our funding Bridge posts. As you’ll recall, we previously laid out the good and bad of the Senate’s appropriations bill covering NASA, DOE’s Office of Science, NOAA, and the National …
May 13, 2016
CASE in Point
by Sarah Beganskas It’s 9:30 in the morning, and after a lovely 45-minute walk to Capitol Hill, I find myself standing outside Representative Sam Farr’s office door. Though the balmy weather is indistinguishable from that of my home in Santa Cruz, I feel worlds away. What will happen on the other side of that door? As a scientist who spends time in the field, I know that when I apply …
May 12, 2016
Earth, Space, and the Hill: My Experience at the Intersection of Science and Policy
By Megan Brown When I first saw the announcement for the AGU Congressional Visits Day (CVD) with a specific call for scientists from Colorado, I was excited about the opportunity to get involved and learn more about the policy making process. My research focuses on induced seismicity, and since this is a topic that is on the minds of the public and policymakers, I thought I could contribute to AGU CVD in …
May 9, 2016
Funding Season is Open: Part 2
Welcome back for the next round of federal science funding reporting. As you may recall from last week’s post, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed two appropriations bills in April, and today we’ll be focusing on the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) spending bill – the bill that funds NASA, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), among other agencies. We covered NASA last week, and this week we have the information on NOAA …
May 5, 2016
Funding Season is Open: Part 1
Well, it’s official – the appropriations season in Congress has begun. That’s not to say that Congress hasn’t been contemplating where to spend – and not spend – money all year, but we now have actual legislation that tells us what Congress’ funding priorities are – and more specifically, what their science funding priorities are. On 14 April, the Senate Appropriations Committee finished work on the Energy and Water spending …
