Dear Colleague Letter: Strengthening the Evidence Base Related to Broadening the Participation of LGBTQI+ Individuals in STEM

This DCL aims to advance NSF’s Vision of a "nation that leads the world in science and engineering research and innovation, to the benefit of all, without barriers to participation", which is closely aligned with the NSF 2022-2026 Strategic Plan and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Data Action Plan. NSF is fully committed to the development of a future-focused science and engineering workforce that draws on the talents of all Americans, including those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities.

NSF is soliciting four types of proposals, which are described in full on the NSF website.

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA):

On July 19, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee passed away at the age of 74. Jackson Lee represented Texas' 18th Congressional District since 1995 and was campaigning for her 16th term in office when she announced she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was one of the two longest-serving members of the Texas congressional delegation.

Jackson Lee's legislative accomplishments included establishing the Juneteenth federal holiday and reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. She served Houston in elective office for close to 35 years, first as a Houston City Council member before winning election to the U.S. House in 1994. Jackson Lee was on three Congressional committees and was a senior member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, Homeland Security and the Budget Committee.

Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa released a statement saying, "Known for her relentless advocacy, the congresswoman dedicated her life to public service, advancing civil rights, healthcare reform, and disaster recovery... And in the spirit of Sheila Jackson Lee's legacy, we will march forward in our fierce commitment to fighting for justice, equality and opportunity for all."

The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced a five-year $67 million investment establishing the Safeguarding the Entire Community of the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE).

"Research security is a concern because some foreign entities attempt to unethically — or even unlawfully — access and use U.S. research. As mandated in the 'CHIPS and Science Act of 2022,' the NSF SECURE Center, led by the University of Washington with support from nine institutions of higher education, will serve as a clearinghouse for information to empower the research community to identify and mitigate foreign interference that poses risks to the U.S. research enterprise. The SECURE Center will share information and reports on research security risks, provide training on research security to the science and engineering community and serve as a bridge between the research community and government funding agencies to strengthen cooperation on addressing security concerns."

Read the full announcement on the NSF website

By Narayan Sastry, Ph.D. (University of Michigan)

For empirical researchers in the social and behavioral sciences who focus on children, adolescents, and young adults, high-quality survey data are an essential ingredient for studying important scientific and policy research questions. Such data are a public good and foundational infrastructure for the social and behavioral sciences. They are the equivalent of the Hubble Telescope for researchers across all career stages—but especially for new and early-stage investigators. Survey data are typically offered to the research community as a free and shared resource that can answer an untold number of questions. Recent budget cutbacks, however, threaten the future of these essential data.

I direct the Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) which provides unique and important social and behavioral data on children in the United States. CDS is funded primarily by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It builds on the rich longitudinal and intergenerational data collected in PSID, which is an ongoing survey of a nationally representative sample of US families that began in 1968 and has collected data on the same families and their descendants for 43 waves over 57 years. Since 1997, CDS has collected data on children in PSID families, through interviews with primary caregivers, who are typically a parent, and with adolescents. CDS has also included assessments of reading and math skills, data on time use, and saliva samples for genetic analysis. 

(Read more at the Why Social Science? blog)

The Social Science Research Council  announces the launch of its newest program, the AI Disclosures Project, led by noted technology innovator Tim O’Reilly and economist Ilan Strauss. The AI Disclosures Project will work on developing best practices for firms’ disclosures about their uses of AI models, ensuring that stakeholders have access to consistent, accurate, and transparent information about how AI models are being developed and deployed.

The AI Disclosures Project focuses on addressing the potentially dangerous consequences for society’s safety and equity that might arise from how AI is commercialized. Through enhancing corporate transparency and disclosures, the AI Disclosures Project aims to ensure that economic incentives don’t lead corporations to ignore risks or otherwise harm users of their AI technology products.

There are two active Federal Register notices for the American Community Survey. Comments on the Timeline for Implementing Updated 2024 Race and Ethnicity Data Standards close August 12, 2024. Proposed changes to the Agricultural Sales and Farm Indicator Data are open for comments until August 19, 2024.

Summer Professional Development Opportunities in Science Communication and Science Policy

SciCom Consulting LLC is offering science communication and science policy professional development opportunities this summer. Upcoming Virtual Workshops:

• Science Communication Fundamentals: July 20 and July 25
• Science Policy Fundamentals: July 24 and August 21

In-Person Workshop: The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina, will host an in-person Science Communication Fundamentals workshop on August 3, 2024. Registration deadline for this event is July 26, 2024, at 11:59 Eastern Time.

You can register for the workshops at: https://scicomconsultingllc.com/register-for-workshops/

Derek Hyra (American University) has a new book coming out soon: Slow and Sudden Violence: Why and When Uprisings Occur (University of California Press). From the publisher: "In Slow and Sudden Violence, Derek Hyra links police violence to an ongoing cycle of racial and spatial urban redevelopment repression. By delving into the real estate histories of St. Louis and Baltimore, he shows how housing and community development policies advance neighborhood inequality by segregating, gentrifying, and displacing Black communities."

Please send notices of your new publications to dcsociologicalsociety@gmail.com; we will publish brief notices as space permits.

Call for Papers | Students Have Their Say: Novel Approaches and Solutions to Current and Emerging Public Health Problems

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is committed to developing the scientific writing skills of public health students. As part of that commitment, PCD is pleased to offer a new student paper publishing opportunity as a special feature of its 2025 Student Paper Contest. This new opportunity will allow high school, undergraduate, graduate, and recent postgraduate students, and medical students and residents to improve their scientific writing skills by serving as lead (first) authors, becoming familiar with a journal’s peer-review process, and receiving feedback from the journal on how to strengthen their submission regardless of whether it is accepted.

For this Call for Papers, the journal will consider manuscripts only from students. The essay may be written and submitted to the journal by one student or more than one student.

Although it is not required, interested students are encouraged to submit an inquiry to learn whether their essay idea aligns with the scope of the journal and the objective of this Call for Papers. These inquiries should be submitted by September 20, 2024. The deadline to submit a final manuscript is 5:00 PM EST on Monday, March 24, 2025.

See the complete call for papers online.

Request for Articles
Moving Beyond Deaths of Despair: Understanding Rising Mortality and Morbidity among Americans without College Degrees 

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

We invite scholars to submit proposals that address the questions of what explains the growing educational divide in physical and mental health and what this widening means for the lives of Americans without college degrees. We expect that many of the papers will directly address differences in mortality, including not only drug abuse, alcohol-related disease, and suicide but also major causes of death such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. But we also encourage papers that will encompass topics as diverse as the changing labor market; social class; gender, racial, ethnic perspectives; studies of family and personal life; spatial variation; political processes; and social policy.

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract no later than 5 PM Eastern on September 4, 2024.

See the complete request online.