The American Institute of Biological Sciences vehemently denounces the hate and violence that led to the deaths of the innocent during the March 16 shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, and the increasing violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

More than 90 stakeholder groups, including AIBS, have called on legislators to increase overall funding allocations for Appropriations Committees in Fiscal Year 2022, as well as the respective allocations for Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittees, in order to significantly increase discretionary funding for crucial U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs.

AIBS published a study on research funding applicant perceptions of the effectiveness and appropriateness of peer review feedback. The results suggested that only 56–60% of applicants determined the feedback to be appropriate and less than 40% of applicants found the feedback to be very useful in improving future submissions. Some of these perceptions were dependent on race and gender, independent of funding success.

The Public Policy Report has been released. The report provides analysis and communication on important issues in the scientific community.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-211, along party lines, to approve the American Rescue Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319) on March 10, 2021. The Senate had earlier passed the bill on a 50-49 vote, also along party lines. President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion measure into law on March 11.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) presents preliminary evidence indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted women in academic science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) fields in a number of areas, including productivity, work-life boundary control, networking and community building, and mental well-being.

China approved its government’s 14th five-year plan during the annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. The plan describes China’s vision for social and economic development and sets a target of increasing government investment in research and development (R&D) by at least 7 percent annually over the next five years.

AIBS has joined a coalition of science, environmental, and educational stakeholders in urging newly confirmed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to identify climate and environmental justice as a priority area for the Department of Education and create a new position reporting directly to the Secretary with a mandate to lead and coordinate the Department’s climate work.

The AIBS Public Policy Office has released its annual report for 2020. Read about our achievements in science policy.

A coalition of scientific societies, including AIBS, has requested congressional appropriators to provide at least $600 million in fiscal year (FY) 2022 to the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s largest competitive extramural research grant program.