Federal Research Environment for the Earth Sciences A Presentation to UC Riverside Kaitlin Chell, Michael Ledford, and Karen Mowrer Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC January 2014

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC is a leading full-service government relations firm specializing in advocating for the public policy interests of institutions of higher education and other research and education organizations Began working with UC Riverside in November professional staff members 26 clients, all nonprofits involved in research and/or education –15 universities –3 contractors running national research facilities –8 associations Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC 2

Earth sciences “protected” under Obama administration –Seen as part of Obama’s priority to address climate change while circumventing Congress –“Climate Action Plan” latest new initiative Obama Administration remains focused on development of clean energy technologies to spur economic growth and climate-change agenda Bipartisan support for hazard research and risk mitigation –Hazard legislation stalled in Congress Sequestration putting pressure on grants, observing/warning systems, and funding for facilities Big Picture 3

New GEO director – Roger Wakimoto from NCAR Rethinking approach to sustainability (SEES) portfolio; fewer solicitations and opportunity to engage on foci Funding rates are roughly the same, but uptick in the number of proposals  likely because many agencies are pulling back on their funding portfolios, so everyone jumps on the NSF bandwagon Concerns about Polar Programs (PLR) moving into GEO; GEO even more facilities heavy than before FY 2015 NSF: global climate change, clean energy, & advanced manufacturing National Science Foundation 4

Global Climate Change –Drought; impacts in the arctic with climate in mid-latitudes; predictors on seasonal and multi-decadal timescales; catastrophe risk management Other GEO Themes –Resilience to natural and technological disasters; understanding of the natural processes that produce hazards; developing better hazard mitigation strategies and technologies; assessing disaster resilience EarthCube (with OCI) –Building Blocks and RCN amendment proposals due in March Funding for EAR –FY 2012 actual = $ –FY 2013 current plan = $ NSF/GEO in FY

GeoEd, GEO-Teach, and OEDG programs no longer exist Recent Dear Colleague Letters inviting requests for supplemental funding for active GEO-funded awards –Aimed at advancing the broad goals of improving geoscience education and broadening participation in the community Improving Undergraduate STEM Ed (IUSE) –Call for proposals related to Ideas Labs in three areas: GEO, ENG, and BIO –Dear Colleague Letters coming soon to provide more guidance NSF/GEO Education 6

Seismology Strong bipartisan support in Congress for hazards programs, especially seismology Focus on framing seismology (and hazards) as a national security issue NEHRP grants should remain at ~$7 million/year, depending Pressure on CISN; maintaining network in face of sequestration increasingly difficult –However, CISN adding many new stations with funds from City of Los Angeles Disconnect between seismologists and earthquake engineers –EERI wants greater emphasis on NIST and FEMA than USGS and NSF 7

DOI: Hurricane Sandy Competitive Funds Funds from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (Hurricane Sandy supplemental) in January 2013 –$100 million of competitive grants –Grants range from $250,000 to $5 million Solicitations released October 29 –Project planning and design –Coastal resilience assessments –Restoration and resilience projects –Green infrastructure –Community coastal resilience planning Partnering with an east-coast institution in one of the “affected states” is a MUST 8

NASA Earth Science Obama Administration strong support for Science Mission Directorate –Earth Science “protected”; climate research a partisan issue in Congress –PI-led missions (i.e., Venture Class) are a high priority –DESDynI (L-band SAR) keeps getting pushed back; ~2021 launch date Top priority science decadal missions putting pressure on smaller programs FY 2014 budget request proposes moving some NOAA climate functions and some scope of USGS Landsat to NASA  stretching Earth Science budget OCO-2 launch July 2014 SMAP launch October

Looking Forward Universities have to adjust to changing science bureaucracy in a flat budget environment; Earth science likely to hold steady, but not immune from attacks from congressional Republicans R&D and basic research still a TOP priority on both sides of the aisle, but competition for limited dollars Public-private partnerships will remain the favored mechanism for large-scale efforts Increased compliance burden continues Advisory committees still key to determining and influencing agency policy and research directions, especially at NSF and DOE Traditional research funding agencies are placing an increased emphasis on cooperative agreements (with shared milestones) for new initiatives 10

Contact Kaitlin Chell Lewis-Burke Associates LLC 1341 G Street, NW Eighth Floor Washington, D.C e: p: f: