Over the past two weeks, President-Elect Joe Biden announced several nominations and appointments for key health and climate related positions in his Administration.

President-Elect Joe Biden has announced that former Secretary of State John Kerry will serve as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change. In this newly created position on the National Security Council, Kerry would become the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to have a portfolio dedicated to climate change.

On December 1, 2020, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—a panel of independent scientific experts on vaccines that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—approved the recommendation that health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities should receive the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Are you a science graduate student looking to make a difference in science policy and funding? The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is now accepting applications for the 2021 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award. This award recognizes graduate students in the biological sciences who are demonstrating an interest and aptitude for working at the intersection of science and policy.

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) has won the 2020 U.S. Presidential elections after securing narrow but crucial victories in the battleground states of Arizona and Pennsylvania. He is also currently leading in the vote tallies in Georgia.

AIBS is deeply concerned by this proposal to impose complicated new visa restrictions on international students and urge that the proposed rule be withdrawn in its entirety.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposed rulemaking on September 25, 2020 that would impose new restrictions on international student visas. The proposed changes would require international students to apply for a visa extension after fixed terms of two to four years.

Forty-three scientific societies, including the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), have written to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to highlight the important role scientific associations have played during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIBS has joined fourteen other scientific societies in urging Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn to adhere to stringent scientific and medical standards while assessing the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The undersigned scientific societies strongly urge the Administration to rescind its elimination of federal employee training programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion as specified in the Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies issued September 4th, 2020 and the September 22nd Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping.