The Universities Space Research Association has partnered with the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to support eight scientific and technical studies by academic researchers.

USRA said Monday the University Consortium Research Opportunity program allows the Space Force and AFRL to connect with the academe and inspire potential members of the future military workforce.

Selected research will tackle aerodynamic optimization for rocket cargo delivery, effects of vibration on the crystallization of fluoride-based optical fiber glass, in-space training for proximity and rendezvous operations, on-orbit and in-situ spacecraft inspection, quantum sensing nanoparticles, detection and tracking for in-orbit demonstration, and machine learning analysis of spectra-temporal signatures. 

Amanda Smith Hackler, director of education at USRA, explained that UCRO will support the missions of the two military organizations and promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers in academia.

“UCRO represents an incredibly unique opportunity for USRA to support the research efforts of an array of institutions, that will effectively advance the scientific and technical prowess of both USSF and AFRL,” noted Bernard Seery, the association’s senior vice president for technology research and development.

The participating researchers and their studies are:

• University of Florida’s Michael Kinzel.
• Texas State University’s Anthony Torres
• University of Michigan’s Anouck Girard
• University of Akron’s Siamak Farhad
• University of New Mexico’s Marek Osinski
• University of Texas at Austin’s Brandon Jones
• University of Texas at El Paso’s Miguel Velez-Reyes

The Environmental Protection Agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with a U.S. labor union for the phased return of agency employees to a hybrid physical and remote work environment, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Under the agreement, EPA personnel must report physically for a day during the first pay period of May, with one day added in successive periods, but could request for telework and other flexible arrangements.

Members of the American Federation of Government Employees not performing mission-critical or facilities-related work could arrange a telework or remote work schedule with their supervisors based on personal circumstances or local COVID-19 situations.

According to Joyce Howell, AFGE’s chief negotiator, the memorandum shows that most of the work at EPA does not require employees to be physically present and could be performed remotely.

“If people have fully portable work that does not require them to come into the office on a routine basis, then there doesn’t seem to be a justification for increasing their carbon footprint by commuting into the office and occupying an office space when they don’t have to,” explained Howell to Federal News Network.

With the return of employees coming soon, the EPA stated that it would continue following COVID-related guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House.

A MissionSquare Research Institute survey has found that 78 percent of state and local government employees said they have felt the strain of additional workload due to the increase in the number of people leaving their agencies voluntarily since the start of the pandemic.

Greenwald Research surveyed 1,100 local and state government workers between November and December 2021 and respondents said they believe employers could help reduce employee stress by providing salary increases, recruiting more personnel or reducing workload and offering emotional support, MissionSquare said in a March 10 news release.

According to the report, respondents reported feeling stressed, fatigued and anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic while at work and 76 percent of public employees said the health crisis has impacted the nature of their jobs.

“The double whammy of COVID-19 and the Great Resignation clearly is putting additional strain on an already beleaguered public sector workforce,” said Rivka Liss-Levinson, senior research manager at MissionSquare Research Institute and the report’s lead author.

“However, employees feel their employers can take concrete actions to help with recruitment and retention – from bumping up salaries and offering bonuses to recognizing employees for the important public services they are delivering. We hope this research helps state and local leaders understand the full scope of employee sentiment to help craft solutions that will address the looming public workforce crisis,” Liss-Levinson added.

The survey also showed that nearly 60 percent of respondents were most likely to report that they value serving their community during the pandemic and 63 percent agreed that policies implemented by their employers during the health crisis have been fair to all staff.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., has proposed a bill to modernize the federal financial management system by standardizing the responsibilities of government chief financial officers to improve strategic decision-making.

The CFO Vision Act of 2022 “will help ensure federal agencies can make well-informed decisions about the financing, management, and evaluation of government programs and services,” Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a statement published Friday.

The proposed legislation would provide deputy CFOs with authority to mitigate the effects of CFO turnover and ensure continuity in financial management activities in the event of a vacancy in the CFO position at agencies.

The measure would also update financial management planning by directing agencies to issue agency-level and governmentwide plans every four years to assess progress when it comes to addressing challenges related to financial management.

Other provisions in the bill are strengthening internal controls and establishing a set of performance-based metrics for financial management. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., will introduce a companion bill in the upper chamber.