Members in the News

GSA extends its congratulations to the members of our community elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).  Scientists are chosen by their peers for outstanding contributions to research, and election to NAS is seen as one of the highest honors for scientists.  Five members of the GSA community were elected to the Academy in 2014:

• Edward S. Buckler, USDA Agricultural Research Service and Cornell University
• Michael N. Hall, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland
• Andrew W. Murray, Harvard University
• R. Scott Poethig, University of Pennsylvania; Associate Editor, GENETICS
• Montgomery W. Slatkin, University of California, Berkeley

NAS is a private, non-profit organization established by Congress and President Abraham Lincoln to provide independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology.

Congratulations to the GSA members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies!  The GSA members elected to membership in the Academy are among 204 individuals in the class of 2014:

• Nancy Bonini, University of Pennsylvania
• Chris Q. Doe, HHMI and University of Oregon
• Sabeeha Merchant, University of California, Los Angeles

Other new members include former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, and novelist John Irving.

Education and Professional Development

Have you developed something useful for your classroom that covers at least one of the core competencies in genetics?  We want to review it! GSA PREP seeks useful resources of all sizes, from a single case-study to a full course. In addition, we seek high-quality images and animations and useful laboratory protocols.  Our current call for resources covers the core category “Nature of genetic material,” which includes the concepts: “What is the molecular anatomy and function of genes and genomes?” and “What are the mechanisms by which an organism’s genome is passed on to the next generation?” Submit your resources to GSA PREP today, and join other authors who are reaping the benefits of published resources (with DOIs) that will be seen by thousands of visitors to GSA PREP and the LifeSciTRC library!

The GSA Education Committee has started an initiative to provide a collection of PowerPoint® slides relevant to teaching genetics and genomics at the undergraduate and graduate level.  The Committee envisions collecting donated slides that will be categorized and distributed via GSA PREP.  The slides must not contain copyrighted material, and most elements should remain editable. Presenter notes within PowerPoint are encouraged.  The slides, like all original resources at GSA PREP, will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 international license.  Please email Education Committee member John Schimenti with your favorite slides or to learn more about potential subject matter.

If you are teaching an undergraduate course in the life sciences and/or physiology, consider the American Physiological Society’s (APS’) 2014 Physiology Education Community of Practice (PECOP) Fellowships. Applicants do not need to be members of APS to apply! This year, 15 undergraduate educators will be selected as PECOP Fellows. The Fellows will increase their knowledge of effective scientific teaching methods and ways to apply the science of teaching and learning in the classroom.  Fellows will attend the APS’ Institute on Teaching and Learning (ITL), June 23–27, 2014 in Bar Harbor, Maine, and participate in ITL PECOP Fellow activities.  Fellows will also engage in online learning activities and become active members in the Life Science Teaching Resource Community.  Application deadline is this Friday, May 2, 2014.

Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

The L’Oreal USA for Women in Science Fellowship program is now accepting applications.  This national awards program recognizes five women early in their scientific careers and provides up to $60,000 to support postdoctoral research.  Applicants must have completed their PhD and have or will have started a postdoc before September 1, 2014; be based in the U.S.; and be an American citizen or permanent resident. The application deadline is May 19, 2014.

Policy

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced a change in policy on submission of applications. Effective immediately, applicants may submit the same idea as a new (A0) application following one unsuccessful resubmission (A1). The agencies recognized that in this time of tightly constrained funding, many meritorious proposals were not receiving funding and would be deemed ineligible for additional submissions.  Please note that the policy remains in effect that duplicate or highly overlapping applications may not be under review at the same time; therefore, a new A0 application may not be submitted before issuance of the summary statement of an overlapping A1 resubmission, and vice versa.  See NIH Notices NOT-OD-14-074 and NOT-OD-14-082 and the FAQ for complete details about the new policy.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee with oversight of the National Science Foundation (NSF) has offered a fiscal year 2015 budget that includes a 3.3% funding boost to NSF.

And finally…

Recent highlights from the GSA’s social networking platforms.  Keep up with the buzz by joining us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn:

• The Washington Post reports on the benefits of marker-assisted or molecular breeding, in which scientists are able to screen for desirable traits in the plant's own DNA.
• Several recipients of Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers express their concerns about the hypercompetitive climate and the loss of some of their colleagues from research.
• A new report from the Council of Graduate Schools finds that there’s been a huge growth in applications to U.S. graduate schools from India while those from China have tapered slightly.
• A study finds Oklahoma high school students hold MORE misconceptions about evolution after completing Biology I than before instruction, despite increased confidence in their biological evolution knowledge. 
• Former Congressman Lee Hamilton writes in The Detroit News about the need for the federal government to invest in basic research: “The plain truth is that much of the research that catalyzes and accelerates technological advance is too risky, too slow to pay off, or too expensive for the private sector to undertake.”
• A new study found that faculty are less likely to respond to e-mails when written by women and those whose names suggest they are members of minority groups.
• NIH Director Francis Collins weighs in on the debate about genetic testing and the need for protecting patient privacy and prohibiting the misuse of test results.
• Hudson Freeze, the incoming VP of science policy at FASEB, writes about the need for biomedical research funding and the impact it has on San Diego.
• The New York Times looks at the origin of new genes, including the work of GSA member and GENETICS Associate Editor David Begun on de novo genes in Drosophila.

Do you have a brief announcement to submit to GSA e-News? e-News items include news about GSA members – new positions, book publication, awards or grants received and obits; short policy items; brief research news items and grant programs; and, award nomination announcements. Deadline for next issue: May 9, 2014. Send items to GSA's Communications and Engagement Manager, Raeka Aiyar, raiyar@genetics-gsa.org.