Notice2023-22679
Notice of Intent To Seek Approval To Establish an Information Collection
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
National Science Foundation
Abstract
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is inviting the general public or other Federal agencies to comment on this proposed continuing information collection.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71031-71033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22679]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Intent To Seek Approval To Establish an Information
Collection
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the
National Science Foundation (NSF) is inviting the general public or
other Federal agencies to comment on this proposed continuing
information collection.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by December 12,
2023, to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to address
below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite
E7400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone (703) 292-7556; or send
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2d5e5d4144405d59426d435e4b034a425b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="96e5e6fafffbe6e2f9d6f8e5f0b8f1f9e0">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, 365 days a year (including federal holidays).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Foundation, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Foundation's estimate
of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Title of Collection: NSF's Safe and Inclusive Fieldwork (SAIF)
Pilot in Biological Sciences (BIO) and Geosciences (GEO) PI Survey.
OMB Number: 3145-NEW.
Expiration Date of Approval: Not applicable.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an
information collection.
Abstract: The National Science Foundation (NSF) on 8 February 2018,
in Important Notice No. 144 (8 Feb 2018) to Presidents of Universities
and Colleges and Heads of Other National Science Foundation Grantee
Organizations, emphasized that the agency does not tolerate sexual
harassment, or any kind of harassment, anywhere NSF-funded science and
education are conducted. The memo elaborated that the NSF is committed
to ``. . . promoting safe, productive research and education
environments . . . ,'' including those outside the organization, such
as at field sites or facilities. Two NSF-wide policy changes quickly
followed the memo to make clear that the agency was committed to safe
research and learning environments. The first was a new Term and
Condition that required awardee organizations to notify the NSF of any
findings/determinations of sexual harassment, other forms of
harassment, or sexual assault regarding an NSF funded Principal
Investigator (PI) or co-PI, or of the placement of the PI or co-PI on
administrative leave, or the imposition of any administrative action
relating to harassment or sexual assault finding or investigator. The
second was a new requirement for all NSF supported conferences to have
a policy or code-of-conduct that addresses sexual harassment, other
forms of harassment, and sexual assault, and that includes clear and
accessible means of reporting violations of the policy or code-of-
conduct. Proposers were not, however, required to submit that policy or
code-
[[Page 71032]]
of-conduct for review. Additional policy changes have since followed,
including this year (as of 30 January 2023) when all organizations
submitting proposals to the NSF with off-site or off-campus research
(i.e., fieldwork) were henceforth required to certify that they have a
proposal-specific plan in place for safe and inclusive research
(Chapter II.E.9 of the Proposal and Award Policy and Procedures Guide);
however, the plan itself is not required to be submitted to the NSF or
subject to review.
Two of the NSF directorates [Biological Sciences (BIO) and
Geosciences (GEO)] fund disproportinately large numbers of awards to
researchers with significant fieldwork components, and because
fieldwork is known to be particularly risky with respect to safety and
inclusion (e.g., Clancy et al. 2014, Nelson et al. 2017, John and Khan
2018, Giles et al. 2020), BIO and GEO initiated a pilot program to
require Principal Investigators (PIs) of submitted projects involving
fieldwork to include a 2-page Supplementary Document summarizing how
the project team would ensure a safe and inclusive working environment
for all associated personnel. This plan is called the Safe and
Inclusive Fieldwork (SAIF) Plan and is required for several
solicitations in BIO and GEO, but not all. Importantly the SAIF Plans
are subject to merit review as part of the NSF Broader Impacts
criterion.
Recent research has repeatedly demonstrated that fieldwork can be
especially challenging, and uniquely so, with respect to inclusion
(e.g., Demery and Pipkin 2020, Marin-Spiotta et al. 2020, O'Brien et
al. 2020, Ramirez-Castaneda et al. 2022; Yarincik et al. 2023), and
without inclusion, attrition from the STEM workforce is accelerated
(NASEM 2018, 2019). To ensure that the United States leads the world in
discovery and innovation, it is critical to broaden participation and
empower all STEM talent to fully participate in science, and in fact
this is one of NSF's top stragegic goals (NSF 2022-2026 Strategic
Plan), along with the corresponding strategic objective--to ensure
accessibility and inclusivity. In addition, broadening participation/
inclusion is a key component of NSF's Broader Impacts review criterion.
Because research proposals with fieldwork are common at the NSF,
especially in BIO and GEO, the SAIF Pilot aims to (a) empower those
scientific communities to develop promising practices and strategies to
ensure safe and inclusive working environments, (b) collect and analyze
the diversity of approaches used, and (c) speed culture change beyond
what is accomplished by compliance (e.g., NASEM 2018). For
solicitations participating in the SAIF Pilot, SAIF Plans will be
associated directly with each submitted NSF proposal and subject to
merit review. The lead PI of a submitted project that includes any off-
campus or off-site research (i.e., fieldwork) must (a) describe the
unique challenges for their teams; (b) provide information on the steps
that will be taken to nurture an inclusive environment; (c) outline the
communication processes within the field team and the organization, and
(d) list the organizational mechanisms to be used for reporting,
responding to, and resolving issues of harassment if they arise. All of
these steps are based on best practices from the literature (see
Yarnick et al. 2023).
For all of the aforementioned reasons, the NSF BIO and GEO
Directorates request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval
of this clearance to aid in the evaluation of NSF's Safe and Inclusive
Fieldwork (SAIF) Pilot. The approval would cover PI surveys and
interviews as described below.
--PI Survey. We seek approval to conduct a web-based survey of
Principal Investigators (PIs) who have submitted proposals to the
solicitations participating in the SAIF Pilot. The PI survey is to
assess key information on the preparation of the plans (e.g., time and
resources) and whether the NSF review criteria are clear. The survey
data will help to enable the NSF to better assess the value of
requiring PIs with proposals that have off-campus or off-site research
(i.e., fieldwork) to include SAIF Plans as a Supplementary Document
subject to merit review, in lieu of the PAPPG NSF 23-1 Chapter II.E.9
requirement that requires only that the AOR certify that the
organization has a plan in place for safe and inclusive research but
does not submit that plan to the NSF for review.
--Interviews with PIs who have submitted and/or reviewed SAIF Plans.
Interviews with PIs who have submitted proposals to solicitations
participating in the SAIF Pilot, and/or have reviewed proposals that
have included a SAIF Plan, are important to provide in-depth
information about specific topics of interest to NSF (e.g.,
institutional support for the creation of the SAIF Plans; details on
process and implementation; perceptions of value; etc.). The interviews
will be conducted using a virtual meeting platform at a time convenient
for the participants. An added purpose is to corroborate findings
obtained through the PI surveys and to dive more deeply on selected
areas that are of interest to BIO and GEO staff and other stakeholders.
This data collection is necessary to provide NSF with timely and
actionable information about the preparation, common strategies and
activities, organizational involvement, clarity and value of merit
review, and outcomes associated with SAIF Plans. We note that the U.S.
Department of Energy now requires Promoting Inclusive and Equitable
Research (PIER) Plans for every submission, regardless of whether the
work is on- or off-campus. An early assessment of the NSF BIO and GEO
SAIF Pilot will be important for understanding the (1) administrative
burden required to write and review SAIF Plans, (2) their perceived
value, and (3) promising strategies to creating safe and inclusive
working environments.
Use of the Information: Aggregate results from the survey and
interviews will be summarized in reports. While the individual survey
and interview responses will be identifiable to NSF staff, no
information about individuals participating in the surveys and
interviews will be released to anyone outside of the NSF. The data
collected and reported on will be used for planning, management, and
evaluation purposes only. These data are needed for effective
evaluation and for measuring attainment of NSF's program and strategic
goals, as identified by the President's Accountable Government
Initiative, the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization
Act of 2010, Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, and NSF's
Strategic Plan.
Expected Respondents: The respondents are either Principal
Investigators (PIs) and/or other key personnel (e.g., coPIs) on grants
submitted to programs participating in the SAIF Pilot. As a control,
and as a way to gather information on the views of PIs to the new PAPPG
NSF 23-1 Chapter II.E.9 requirement, PIs submitting to solicitations in
BIO and GEO that do not require SAIF Plans will also be included. The
numbers of PIs who are likely to respond to the survey are estimated
below under Estimate of Burden. The interviews will be a random subset
of PIs.
Estimate of Burden
Estimates of Annualized Cost to Respondents for the Hour Burdens
The overall annualized cost to the respondents is estimated to be
$21,712.
[[Page 71033]]
The following table shows the estimated burden and costs to
respondents, who are PIs or coPIs of NSF proposals to the BIO and GEO
directorates. This estimated hourly rate is based on a report from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wages, May
2022.\1\ According to this report, the mean hourly rate is $46.38 for
biological scientists (code 191020), and $42.96 for geoscientists (code
192040). We used $46 as the amount to calculate burden. Estimated
numbers are based on FY22 # of submissions to each of the participating
solicitations and then estimating the % with field work for each
solicitation, using advice from Program Officers familiar with each
program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251021.htm">https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251021.htm</a>.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Burden Estimated
Directorate Solicitation submitters % with ~# PIs with hours per Total hour annual
in FY22 fieldwork fieldwork respondent burden cost
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIO........................................................... 23-580 147 7 10 .5 5.2 237
BIO........................................................... 23-578 84 7 6 .5 2.9 135
BIO........................................................... 23-547 444 40 178 .5 88.8 4,085
BIO........................................................... 23-559 98 50 49 .5 24.5 1,127
BIO........................................................... 23-548 394 5 197 .5 98.5 4,531
BIO........................................................... 23-542 109 100 109 .5 54.5 2,507
BIO........................................................... 23-549 318 75 239 .5 119.3 5,486
GEO........................................................... 23-572 211 67 141 .5 70.7 3,252
GEO........................................................... 23-540 14 75 11 .5 5.3 242
GEO........................................................... 23-539 16 30 5 .5 2.4 110
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Number of Responses (given ~85% response rate) for PI
Survey: We will survey approximately 800 individuals, given the
information in the table above, which includes the estimated number of
submissions to each of the solicitations in the SAIF Pilot, and the %
of those proposals with fieldwork.
Estimated Number of PI Interviews: We will interview approximately
70 individuals, with sampling aross all of the solicitations
participating in the SAIF Pilot.
Dated: October 10, 2023.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
Citations
Clancy, K.B., H., R.G. Nelson, J.N. Rutherford, and K. Hinde. 2014.
Survey of academic field experiences (SAFE): Trainees report
harassment and assault. PLoS ONE 9:e102172.
Demery, A.C., and M.A. Pipkin. 2021. Safe fieldwork strategies for
at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions. Nature
Ecology and Evolution 5:5-9.
Giles, S., C. Jackson, and N. Stephen. 2020. Barriers to fieldwork
in undergraduate geology degrees. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
1:77-78. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0022-5">https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0022-5</a>.
John, C.M., and S.B. Khan. 2018. Mental health in the field. Nature
Geoscience 11:618-620.
Marin-Spiotta, E., R.T. Barnes, A.A. Berhe, M.G. Hastings, A.
Mattheis, B. Schneider, and B.M. Williams. 2020. Hostile climates
are barriers to diversifying the geosciences. Advances in
Geosciences 53:117-127. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-117-2020">https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-117-2020</a>.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018.
Sexual harassment of women: Climate, culture, and consequences in
academic sciences, engineering, and medicine. The National Academies
Press. <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/24994">https://doi.org/10.17226/24994</a>.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. The
science of effective mentorship in STEMM. The National Academies
Press. <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/25568">https://doi.org/10.17226/25568</a>.
Nelson, R.G., et al. 2017. Signaling safety: Characterizing
fieldwork experiences and their implications for career
trajectories. American Anthropologist 119:710-722.
O'Brien, L.T., H.L. Bart, and D.M. Garcia. 2020. Why are there so
few ethnic minorities in ecology and evolutionary biology?
Challenges to inclusion and the role of sense of belonging. Social
Psychology of Education 23:449-477.
Ramirez-Castaneda, V., E.P. Westeen, J. Frederick, et al. (+30)
2022. A set of principles and practical suggestions for equitable
fieldwork in biology. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 119e:2122667119. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122667119">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122667119</a>.
Yarincik, K., A. Kelly, T. McGlynn, R.M. Verble. 2023. Best
practices to promote field science safety. Integrative and
Comparative Biology 63:145-161.
[FR Doc. 2023-22679 Filed 10-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 13, 2023.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.