Open Session Minutes, May 2014
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NSB-14-48 APPROVED MINUTES1 OPEN SESSION 437TH MEETING NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD National Science Foundation Arlington, Virginia August 13-14, 2014 Members Present: Members Absent: Dan E. Arvizu, Chairman Vinton G. Cerf Kelvin K. Droegemeier, Vice Chairman Alan I. Leshner John L. Anderson Robert J. Zimmer Deborah L. Ball Bonnie L. Bassler** Roger N. Beachy Arthur Bienenstock Vicki L. Chandler Ruth David Inez Fung Robert M. Groves James S. Jackson G. Peter Lepage W. Carl Lineberger Stephen Mayo** Sethuraman Panchanathan G.P. “Bud” Peterson*,** Geraldine Richmond Anneila I. Sargent Diane L. Souvaine* Maria Zuber France A. Córdova, ex officio 1 The minutes of the 437th meeting were approved by the Board at the November 2014 meeting. *Consultant **Absent from reconvened Plenary Open Session held on August 14, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. 1 The National Science Board (Board, NSB) convened in Open Session on Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. with Dr. Dan Arvizu, Chairman, presiding (Agenda NSB-14-37, Board Book page 307). In accordance with the Government in the Sunshine Act, this portion of the meeting was open to the public. AGENDA ITEM 1: Presentation by Waterman Award Recipient Dr. Feng Zhang, recipient of the 2014 Alan T. Waterman Award, gave a presentation to the Board, entitled, “Development and Application of Crispr-cas9 for Genome Editing” (Board Book Addendum). Dr. Zhang is a W. M. Keck Career Development Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Core Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, and Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT (Board Book page 309). Dr. Arvizu adjourned this portion of the Open Session at 11:28 a.m. ***** The Board reconvened in Open Session on Thursday, August 14, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. with Dr. Arvizu, Chairman, presiding (Agenda NSB-14-37, Board Book page 307). In accordance with the Government in the Sunshine Act, this portion of the meeting was open to the public. AGENDA ITEM 8: Approval of Open Session Minutes, May 2014 The Board unanimously APPROVED the Open Session minutes of the May 2014 Board meeting (NSB-14-31, Board Book page 333). AGENDA ITEM 9: Chairman’s Report In the Chairman’s Introduction and during the Chairman’s Report, Dr. Arvizu announced and reported on several items. a. New Board Members Dr. Arvizu welcomed six Board Members of the Class of 2020, and administered the oath of office to: . Dr. John L. Anderson, President, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Dr. Roger N. Beachy, Founding Director, The World Food Center, University of California, Davis. Dr. Vicki L. Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Science Program, Palo Alto, California. 2 . Dr. Robert M. Groves, Provost and Gerald Campbell SJ Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Dr. James S. Jackson, Professor and Director, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Senior Vice President, Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, Arizona State University, Tempe. Dr. Arvizu stated that the new Board Members could be proud to be selected to this unique and important body, whose Members are appointed by law “solely on the basis of established records of distinguished service.” He stated that the Board was created in 1950 and comprises, together with the NSF Director, the National Science Foundation. The Board has responsibilities to (1) establish the policies for NSF, and (2) advise Congress and the President on policy matters related to science and engineering. The Board focuses on the policies guiding NSF in achieving its mission: nurturing science and engineering talent, and promoting the advancement of knowledge through research across all frontiers of science and engineering. b. NSF Workforce Transition / Future of NSF For the topic of workforce retention strategies, Dr. Arvizu called upon Dr. France Córdova, NSF Director, for information on the plans to retain permanent NSF staff, along with strategies to replace the rotator population and anticipated retirees, as the agency moves forward with its relocation to Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Córdova introduced Dr. Judith Sunley, Director, Division of Human Resource Management (HRM), Office of Information and Resource Management (OIRM), to give an overview on this subject (Presentation Book page 46). Dr. Sunley discussed the increase in retirement eligibility among permanent NSF staff, of which 26 percent (437) are projected for FY 2016. She also presented information on the location of the new site, which would involve a significantly longer commute for the concentration of NSF staff that currently live within 3-5 miles from NSF. She also addressed the topic of mitigating risks with the following actions to date: raising attention through the use of data in workforce planning, and discussing possible strategies with senior management groups. Strategies for the future include: collecting and disseminating information, professional development, retention strategies to include flexibilities in appointment types and the work environment, and hiring-based strategies for recruiting permanent and rotational staff. For the near-term, next steps include using pulse surveys, focus groups, union involvement, and other mechanisms to understand what will be required to retain about 75 percent of NSF’s current permanent staff through the transition to the new location. Additionally, NSF will strive to create explicit strategies to replace both the rotator population and retirements anticipated in the next 2-3 years. NSF will also continue discussion to identify strategies and priorities for implementation. 3 c. Board Meeting Calendar for 2015 Dr. Arvizu presented the proposed 2015 calendar of Board meeting dates. In developing the meeting dates, the Board Office considered a variety of constraints during the year, including statutory requirements, and compiled a list of dates to enable maximum attendance by Board Members. The 2015 calendar includes dates for meetings of the full Board during February, May, August, September, and November. The Board unanimously APPROVED the Board meeting calendar for 2015 (NSB-14- 41, Board Book page 370) (Appendix A). d. Congressional Update On June 12, 2014, Dr. Arthur Bienenstock, chairman of the Task Force on Administrative Burden (AB), testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight and the Subcommittee on Research and Technology of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. (Board Book page 57 and 61.) e. Committee Announcements The Chairman established the ad hoc Discussion Group on Congressional Engagement to be led by Dr. Maria Zuber. Additional members to the Discussion Group will be appointed. This group will provide a forum for informing Board Members, coordinating with the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA), identifying opportunities for NSF, and discussing emerging issues. The group is expected to regularly update the full Board. Dr. Arvizu also established the ad hoc Committee on Honorary Awards (AWD) with Dr. Vinton Cerf as chairman. Dr. Bassler will join Dr. Cerf on this committee, and additional members will be appointed in the future. f. Board Office Staff Introduction Dr. Arvizu welcomed Mr. Christopher Blair to the Board Office as the new Executive Assistant to the Board Office Director. Mr. Blair joined the Board Office on June 16, 2014. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a Chief Petty Officer after 21 years of service. Prior to joining the Board Office staff, Mr. Blair was the Executive Assistant to the President of a Washington, DC defense contract company. g. Webcast of Board Meeting The August 2014 Board meeting was Webcast and simultaneously available to viewers through the Internet. The Webcast included the Plenary Open Session of the full Board as well as the Open Sessions of its committees. [Available from the NSB and NSF Web sites: http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/nsf/140813/.] 4 AGENDA ITEM 10: Director’s Report Dr. France Córdova, NSF Director, reported on several topics. a. NSF Staff Announcements The Director announced the following NSF leadership changes: . Dr. Cora Marrett, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, would retire on August 24, 2014. The Director stated that NSF owes Dr. Marrett a debt of gratitude for her exceptional leadership, and that of all her many fine qualities, her thoughtful counsel will be missed most. Dr. Córdova wished her a happy and fulfilling retirement. The Director announced that Dr. John Holdren, the President’s Science Advisor, would be joining NSF at a farewell reception for Dr. Marrett later that day. Dr. Richard Buckius joined NSF on June 1, 2014 as Senior Science Advisor, Office of the Director (OD). Dr. Buckius came to NSF from Purdue University where he was Professor of Mechanical Engineering and served as Vice President of Research. With Dr. Marrett’s departure, Dr. Buckius will serve as Acting Chief Operating Officer until a new Deputy Director is appointed by the Administration. Dr. Fay Cook will join NSF in September 2014 as Assistant Director (AD), Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). Dr. Cook would come from the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Dr. Farnam Jahanian, AD, Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), left NSF on July 31, 2014 to join Carnegie Mellon University as Vice President for Research. Dr. Suzanne Iacono was appointed Acting AD/CISE, while NSF completes the nation- wide search for the next AD/CISE. Since joining NSF in 1998, Dr. Iacono has held numerous managerial and executive positons and currently serves as the Deputy AD/ CISE. Dr. Deborah Bronk was appointed Division Director, Division Ocean Sciences (OCE), Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) on July 14, 2014. Dr. Bronk came to NSF in August 2012 as the Head of the OCE Ocean Section. Additionally, the Director reported on NSB Executive Secretary changes: . The Director thanked the following outgoing NSB Executive Secretaries: Mr. Darren Dutterer, Directorate for Engineering (ENG), who served the Committee on Strategy and Budget (CSB) since 2008; Dr.