Advocacy for federal investments in research and student financial assistance programs is an important activity that is regularly undertaken by administrators, faculty and students. Members of the FSU community are urged to coordinate federal advocacy activities with the Office of Federal Relations so that our institution’s communications with elected and appointed officials are consistent and impactful. Further, the Lobbying Disclosure Act requires that FSU submit quarterly reports of any oral, written, or electronic communication completed in a professional context by an employee to a covered federal official (e.g. Member of Congress, congressional staff person, staff within the Executive Office of the President, political appointee). For assistance, please contact Jonathan Nurse, FSU Director of Federal Relations, at jnurse@fsu.edu or (202) 220-1317.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Research, is invites interested individuals to participate in an update conference call on Thursday, October 26, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. EDT. The session will include a brief update from the agency as well as a question and answer period. Email oar.constituents@noaa.gov to RSVP and receive the call-in information.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are the largest source of early stage and high risk R&D funding in the U.S. The 2017 SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit will take place in Tampa, Florida from October 3-5. At least 17 federal agencies will participate, including NSF, DOD, NASA, Department of Energy/ARPA-E, NOAA, and NIST. Registration information can be found on the event website.