Federal Research Environment for the Earth Sciences A Presentation to UC Riverside

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

2. Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC 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 2012 • 23 professional staff members • 26 clients, all nonprofits involved in research and/or education • 15 universities • 3 contractors running national research facilities • 8 associations 2

3. Big Picture • 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 3

4. National Science Foundation • 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 4

5. NSF/GEO in FY 2015 • 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 = $183.43 • FY 2013 current plan = $173.71 5

6. NSF/GEO Education • 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 6

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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 2014 9

10. 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

11. Contact Kaitlin Chell Lewis-Burke Associates LLC 1341 G Street, NW Eighth Floor Washington, D.C.  20005 e: kaitlin@lewis-burke.com p: 202.289.7475 f: 202.289.7454 www.lewis-burke.com 11