News

The House Appropriations Committee completed a review of its fiscal year (FY) 2017 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Activities (CJS) spending bill, which provides the budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF). This bill includes language that supports the peer review process carried out by NSF in its funding process. The committee also refrained from any mention…

Back in December, we wrote here about a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor that would mandate that postdocs earning less than $50,440 per year would be eligible for overtime pay at 1.5 times their hourly rate. This week, the Department of Labor released its revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The…

Several members of the GSA community were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at their annual meeting this year. Election to NAS is considered one of the highest honors for scientists in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Congratulations to the following outstanding scientists:   Bonnie Bartel  Ralph and Dorothy…

Several members of the GSA community have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Founded in 1780, the Academy is one of the country’s oldest learned societies, whose early members include John Hancock, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin.   Andrew G. Clark, PhD Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Population Genetics Nancy and…

Last night, a milieu of scientists, Congressional staffers, members of Congress, and representatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF) filled the banquet room of the Rayburn House Office Building to show how investments in STEM research and education are fueling American innovation. Among those scientists was GSA member Ahna Skop, an Associate Professor of Genetics and…

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the Editorial Board of the journal GENETICS are pleased to announce the winners of the first Centennial Award for outstanding articles published in GENETICS in 2015. The awards were inaugurated just this year in celebration of the 100th anniversary of GENETICS. Three exceptional articles are recognized from three…

  Advocating for Model Organism Research This month, GSA member Jeff Leips (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) packed up a few his fruit flies and brought them to the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. There he joined other researchers, including David A. Scholnick of “shrimp on a treadmill” fame to present at the Wasteful Research?…

Short videos, interactive animations, a brief reading beyond the textbook, slides for students to review before coming to class—all of these things can be useful when teaching. However, trying to find the right fit for your classroom can result in a long trip down a Google-infused rabbit hole, and before you know it you’ve spent 6 hours finding…

  We have heard anecdotal reports that some members of the community are concerned about the cost to attend TAGC, but we wanted to explain how TAGC is less expensive than previous community meetings, especially when you consider the total cost of attending the conference—including registration, travel, and housing. It may be true that the registration fee is slightly higher…

GSA is thankful for the more than 400 charitable contributions made to the Society over the past 15 months—a total of more than $40,000! Your donations enable GSA to support educational programs, advocacy, and media and public outreach activities that promote our field and the next generation of geneticists. You can support the Society by making…

GSA has been hearing from our community about their experience with the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) program from NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Although there’s almost universal support for the goals of the program—providing a greater degree of flexibility and stability for investigators—and for the application and review process, there is significant disagreement…