Join BPS in Asking Congress to Raise the Caps
With Congress back in session and tackling the FY 2018 budget prior to the start of the fiscal year on October 1, the Biophysical Society is joining NDD United and Research!America in their efforts to urge Congress to #RaisetheCaps. The 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) established austerity-level federal spending, and in FY18 the sequestration budget caps or automatic spending cuts for federal agencies will be back in full force. Unless, that is, advocates can convince Congress to #RaisetheCaps, as they have done the past four years.
BPS staff will be joining NDD United in passing out baseball caps emblazoned with “Raise the Caps” today, September 6, along with materials explaining why the caps are harmful. BPS encourages you to join in by asking your members of Congress to Raise the Caps!
Rally for Medical Research National Day of Action-September 14
BPS is sponsoring and participating in the Rally for Medical Research on September 14. Five BPS members will be in Washington DC, along with over 300 advocates from other research, medical, and patient groups, asking Congress to fund medical research. In addition, BPS encourages you to contact your members of Congress and urge support for NIH funding on September 14. A reminder will be sent out on September 13 with links making it easy for you to send letters, tweet, and make phone calls.
National Academies Seeking Input on Graduate Education
The members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (National Academies) Committee on Revitalizing Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century are soliciting input into ways to structure U.S. graduate education programs to better serve the needs of diverse students, the scientific enterprise, and the Nation. They would like to hear from the community about potential core educational elements or goals at both the master’s and Ph.D. levels, as well as other issues related to graduate education. The deadline is September 22, 2017
NIGMS Seeks Input on Diversity Programs
NIGMS is seeking input from the biomedical research community, on its undergraduate and predoctoral training programs. They would like to hear comments on the Institutes R25 programs, the potential advantages or disadvantages of having a single, unified NIGMS-funded undergraduate or predoctoral diversity program vs. multiple NIGMS-funded diversity programs at a given institution, and strategies for building effective intra- and inter-institutional networks that support diversity in the research workforce. Comments are due October 31, 2017.
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