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This week was all about raising the University of Illinois' profile in the nation's capital.
Urbana's senior leaders and prominent researchers fanned out across Capitol Hill, the federal funding agencies, the White House, recording studios—and partnered with an esteemed scientific association—to demonstrate Illinois thought leadership across a wide range of disciplines, including bioengineering.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to organize itself for the year ahead.
Before breaking for a strategy retreat, House Republicans launched an offensive against President Obama's immigration executive action, setting the stage for a dramatic State of the Union address on Tuesday.
We will be closely monitoring his address for any initiatives relating to higher education and research.
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Republicans Vote to Defund Immigration Action
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Now in control of both chambers, Republicans tried to block the President's November executive actions on immigration. Unlike other federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is funded only through next month.
House Republicans passed a stopgap spending bill to fund DHS through the end of September, but they tacked on provisions to prevent implementation of the President's actions. One amendment—which narrowly passed (218 - 209)—is of great concern to universities because it would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and result in the deportation of undocumented students who were illegally brought to the United States as children. All Illinois Democrats, as well as Republican representatives Adam Kinzinger and Bob Dold, opposed the amendment. We appreciate their votes.
With 60 votes needed to advance the bill in the Senate, the House vote tees up the first bicameral reality check. Sen. Mark Kirk, who has already announced his intention to seek re-election in 2016, voiced concern with the House Republican strategy. He told a reporter: "I think the defunding action leads us to a potential [DHS] shutdown scenario, which is a self-inflicted political wound for Republicans."
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The White House will release President Obama's budget FY16 request on Feb. 2, meeting a deadline set under law that the White House has often missed in the past.
"We look forward to working with Congress on returning to regular order in the annual budget process," said Emily Cain, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget.
Both House and Senate leaders have expressed a return to regular order, which universities welcome.
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Urbana Flexes Bioengineering Muscle on National Stage
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The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign co-hosted a symposium with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to elevate awareness and excitement about both current and potential research breakthroughs at the convergence of biology, medicine, and engineering. The event featured three Urbana research "rock stars" and showcased the campus' strengths in this emerging field.
Widely attended by more than 80 agency, industry, and congressional staff, including representatives from the offices of Reps. Rodney Davis, Adam Kinzinger, and Tammy Duckworth, the symposium attracted interest from The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post.
- Institute for Genomic Biology Director Gene Robinson moderated a panel of top researchers and discussed his efforts to combine Big Data with genomics in pursuit of personalized medicine.
- John Rogers, Director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory wowed the audience with live demonstrations of wearable, flexible electronics that yields clinical quality biomedical data. He also shared his work on the design of flexible head impact monitors, which have applications that range from protecting warfighters in battle to reducing concussions on the football field.
- Rashid Bashir, Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering and Head of the Department of Bioengineering closed out the session by discussing his "lab on a chip" that could be used to detect HIV, cancer or other ailments with a single drop of blood. He also demonstrated miniature walking "bio-bots," which are robots built from human tissue.
Marcia McNutt, editor-in-chief of Science magazine, provided welcoming remarks. A second panel included representatives from two agencies— the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NIH—as well as an industry representative—Amy Kruse, an Urbana alum and Vice President of Innovation at Intific.
Also present: Urbana Vice Chancellor for Research Peter Schiffer; Urbana College of Engineering Dean Andreas Cangellaris; and NCSA Director Ed Seidel.
The event generated a lot of attention on social media, including engagement by NSF and NIMH. Attendees were encouraged to join the conversation using the hashtag #bioengineering.
OGR Federal Relations wants to extend a very special thanks to AAAS and to April Burke and the entire staff at Lewis-Burke Associates for their incredible vision, assistance, and collaboration in curating such a successful event.
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Promoting Bioengineering Strengths on Capitol Hill
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Following the event, OGR took Robinson, Rogers, and Bashir to Capitol Hill.
They met with the defense team for Senator Dick Durbin, who serves as the Ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Committee. In this role, Sen. Durbin has fought to increase research funding for defense science and technology accounts, and has identified bioengineering as a priority for the defense agencies.
They also met with health policy staff from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction over the NIH, the CDC, and the FDA. The Committee is currently drafting legislation called “21st Century Cures,” which is designed to speed up American innovation in the healthcare space to create faster cures. Robinson, Rogers, and Bashir offered to be resources to the Committee as they solicit feedback on legislation, which is expected to be released within the month.
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Wise: Illinois Leading on Key Obama Administration Priorities
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Urbana Chancellor Phyllis Wise delivered a common refrain to top officials at federal agencies all over Washington this week: Illinois is leading on your priorities.
From Department of Defense Deputy Secretary Robert Work, an Urbana alum who rose to DOD's number two leadership post in April, to National Science Foundation Director France Córdova and White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Deputy Director Tom Kalil, Chancellor Wise provided an update on Urbana's research capabilities and the campus' efforts to support advanced manufacturing, the materials genome initiative, and neuroscience research.
She also met with Pennsylvania congressman Chaka Fattah, the top Democrat of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NSF and the chief legislative architect of President Obama's BRAIN initiative. She updated him on her campus' significant efforts to advance neuroscience research through the Institute for Genomic Biology, the Abbott Nutrition-funded Center for Nutrition, Learning & Memory, the Beckman Institute, and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
While in town, Chancellor Wise got mic'd up to record a video for a new strategic messaging initiative by The Science Coalition, a national coalition of research universities dedicated to maintaining strong, sustained funding for basic research. Keep an eye out for her video in next week's newsletter.
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ACES Alum Named Turkmenistan Ambassador
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Allan Mustard, an agriculture economics alum of Urbana's College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES), was sworn in as Ambassador to Turkmenistan on Thursday. Ambassador Mustard has a deep background in USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service and will be advancing U.S. interests in Turkmenistan around trade and other key priorities.
A swarm of USDA dignitaries were on hand for the event in the State Department's ornate Ben Franklin Room, including Sonny Ramaswamy, Director of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
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Rep. Mike Bost has identified early legislative priorities. Along with Reps. Rodney Davis and John Shimkus, he is encouraging the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to locate the NGA West facility adjacent to Scott Air Force Base near St. Louis.
Bost will serve on three committees: Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and Small Business.
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Thank you,
Jon Pyatt and Melissa Haas | OGR Federal Relations
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