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Leading Research Universities Report, July 29, 2024

the Olympic RingsStudent-Athletes from AAU Schools Head to Paris for the Summer Olympics

AAU member universities are not just leaders in research and education; this summer many AAU members are also sending record numbers of athletes to the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris.

Stanford University is sending a school-record 60 athletes to Paris while the University of Southern California, which is “home to more Olympians, overall medalists and gold medalists than any other U.S. university,” is sending 65 past, current, and incoming Trojans to Paris. In fact, according to the NCAA, seven out of the top 10 universities affiliated with NCAA athletes at the Paris Olympics are AAU schools.

Intercollegiate sports offer a range of benefits to student-athletes, including higher graduation rates; valuable lessons in teamwork, discipline, and sportsmanship; opportunities to engage with the student community; and the chance for athletes to showcase their skills at the highest level. Most college athletic programs do not generate net revenue for their institutions, and schools maintain teams because of the valuable opportunities they provide to students to develop outside the classroom. Good luck to all student-athletes competing in Paris!


IMAGE DESCRIPTION21 AAU Faculty Named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators

Last week, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced that it is investing more than $300 million in “26 of the nation’s leading scientists,” enabling each to pursue groundbreaking scientific research. Twenty-one of the 26 faculty named HHMI Investigators hail from AAU schools, including five faculty from Harvard University; four from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; two each from the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, and Stanford University; and one each from Princeton University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Davis; the University of California, Santa Cruz; Washington University in St. Louis; and Yale University.

Applying a “people, not projects” approach, HHMI provides nearly $11 million over seven years to each HHMI Investigator so they have “the time and resources they need to go where their science leads.” According to the institute, HHMI Investigators have “made significant contributions across many research areas, including biochemistry, molecular biology, plant sciences, cancer biology, cell biology and many other scientific disciplines” and “34 current or former HHMI scientists have won Nobel Prizes.” Congratulations to all new HHMI Investigators!


IMAGE DESCRIPTIONSenate Spending Bills Propose Modest Funding Increases for Key Science Agencies

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved four FY25 appropriations bills, including the FY25 Commerce-Justice-Science and Interior-Environment bills. The bipartisan bills provide modest increases for AAU’s priority science agencies, including the National Science Foundation and NASA.

The FY25 Commerce-Justice-Science bill (S.4795) provides $73.74 billion in discretionary funding, $5.2 billion more than FY24.

  • The bill provides $9.55 billion for the National Science Foundation, a $490 million or 5.4% increase from FY24. This includes up to $200 million for the Regional Innovation Engines program authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.
  • The bill also provides $25.4 billion for NASA, a $559 million increase from FY24.

The FY25 Interior-Environment bill (S.4802) provides $209 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, $2 million above the FY24 level.

The bills are not expected to come to the Senate floor until this fall. The committee is scheduled to mark up the remaining five appropriations bills (Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Energy-Water, Financial Services, and Homeland Security) on August 1. Meanwhile, the House voted 210-205 to pass its version of the Interior-Environment bill last Thursday. House leaders cancelled votes scheduled for other appropriations bills and announced that the chamber was going into early recess; the House will return in September.


Outstanding Teacher-Scholars at AAU Schools Advance Inclusive Teaching Excellence and Science Communication Through Cottrell Scholars Program

Each year the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) awards a class of Cottrell Scholars – providing “the very best early career teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics, and astronomy” with “significant discretionary awards for research.” Fifty-four percent of Cottrell Scholars are at AAU institutions, with at least one scholar at each AAU member campus. According to RCSA President Daniel Linzer, “Cottrell Scholars play a vital role in bringing about changes that reflect our shared values of excellence in both research and education, of a more diverse and inclusive community of physical scientists, and of service and leadership locally, nationally, and globally.” 

Each year, Cottrell Scholars attend a conference that welcomes them into a “multidisciplinary and multigenerational community of more than 500 teacher-scholars.” The conference theme this year was “Inclusive Science Communication: Making Science ‘Make Sense’ for Everybody.” Faculty engaged in thoughtful conversations about the importance of communicating science better to the public, as well as the relationship between effective science communication and creating inclusive learning experiences for both students and the public. AAU’s work in advancing research and education at America’s leading research universities has benefited significantly from collaborative research projects and active engagement with the Cottrell Scholars program.


LRUR Going on Hiatus Through Labor Day

In accordance with AAU’s summer hours, the Leading Research Universities Report will be taking a break during the month of August. Publication will resume after Labor Day.


News of Interest
 

Nature: China-U.S. Research Collaborations Are in Decline – This Is Bad News for Everyone – A new analysis found that, “in 2022, the total number of papers co-authored by researchers from China and their international peers declined for the first time since 2013.” The drop is primarily driven by a decline in U.S.-China research collaborations. Researchers worry that a lack of collaboration between the two nations could result “in the countries pursuing the same types of research separately, instead of joining forces to tackle global problems such as climate change, pandemics and food security.”

Inside Higher Ed: Colleges Work to Recover from the CrowdStrike Outage – Colleges and universities were among those who experienced “technology outages caused by an update to CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity software.” Some campuses had to cancel summer classes while others saw disruptions at their medical centers. Experts say that IT leaders at universities should learn lessons from the incident “to avoid being debilitated by future outages.”

The Seattle Times: With $50M Infusion, UW to Launch Security Center to Fight Research Theft – The National Science Foundation is investing $50 million over five years to establish a center to help secure the U.S. research enterprise. The Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) Center will be led by the University of Washington and, according to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), will provide “new, state-of-the-art tools and training necessary to protect our research.”

Nature: What Kamala Harris’s Historic Bid for the U.S. Presidency Means for Science – The daughter of a “leading breast-cancer researcher,” Vice President Kamala Harris has previously supported efforts to improve diversity in STEM; “made drug pricing a key priority;” advocated for reproductive and mental health; and “promoted action on climate as well as environmental justice.” She also currently chairs the National Space Council, which, under her leadership, “has focused on international cooperation.”

Inside Higher Ed: College Network to Nurture Rural Students Set to Expand – A network formed last year to increase rural student enrollment is expanding its membership from 16 colleges and universities to 32. Since its founding last year, the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network has “sent representatives to 1,100 small-town high schools in 49 states, providing more than 700,000 rural students with the information and support they need to enroll in a bachelor’s degree program.” Many institutions in the STARS College Network are AAU members.


Featured Research
 

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Pocket-Sized Invention Revolutionizes Ability to Detect Harmful Materials

Engineers at Texas A&M University have invented a “hand-held cellphone-based” system that uses “a powerful laser chemical analysis method” to identify “potentially harmful chemicals or materials” in a non-invasive manner in the field. The device could potentially help “swiftly detect pathogens in a hospital setting” or even help hikers identify whether a “berry or mushroom is safe to eat during a hike.”

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First Local Extinction in the U.S. Due to Sea Level Rise

A new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher documents the loss of the Key Largo tree cactus as the “first local extinction of a species caused by sea level rise” in the United States. The species had been facing a series of threats, including “saltwater intrusion from rising seas, soil depletion from hurricanes and high tides, and herbivory by mammals.” The research shows the messy reality of climate change and how it manifests “in a complex series of related events that put additional pressure on species that are already stressed.”


Stat of the Week

 

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Fifty-seven percent of seniors at AAU universities earn their degrees debt-free. As AAU President Barbara R. Snyder explained in a 2022 blog post, this in large part is due to need-based grants and merit-based scholarships students receive from the universities. “In contrast, only slightly more than 40% of graduates of all other four-year nonprofit colleges and universities (both public and private) in the United States graduate debt-free,” she noted.