August 18, 2014

THE ADMINISTRATION AND RESEARCH AGENCIES


GLOBAL RESILIENCE challenge seeks 'best and brightest'

The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Rockefeller Foundation have launched a $100 million project to prepare vulnerable communities for climate-caused humanitarian disasters before they happen. “The Global Resilience Partnership will focus on the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and South and Southeast Asia, areas particularly susceptible to chronic stresses and extreme shocks," AID says. "An essential feature of the Global Resilience Partnership will be a competitive Resilience Challenge—a call out to the best and brightest to present bold and innovative solutions to the toughest challenges facing the three regions. The Challenge will launch later this year and be open to non-profits, academic institutions, and the private sector, with a focus on a focus on local and regional players." Read more.

new open-access guidelines: The Department of Energy's Office of Science has new requirements for its funded researchers on managing digital data. "All proposals for research funding submitted to the Office of Science will be required to include a Data Management Plan that describes whether and how the digital research data generated in the course of the proposed research will be shared and preserved." The rules will appear in funding solicitations starting Oct. 1, 2014. Other DOE research offices will implement data management requirements within the next year.  

$55 MILLION FOR 31 ENERGY PROJECTS: The Department of Energy wants to accelerate R&D on "critical vehicle technologies" that will improve fuel efficiency and cut costs. Of the projects, a number of them led by universities, 19 will aim to improve performance of key PEV components and include "beyond lithium ion technologies" and higher energy storage materials. The 12 others are intended to develop and demonstration "dual-fuel/bi-fuel technologies to reduce petroleum usage" and accelerate growth in high-efficiency, cost-competitive engine and powertrain systems. See the list of awardees.

SHIFT IN NSF PROPOSAL WINDOWS: The Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering (within the Engineering Directorate) "has changed the unsolicited proposal submission windows for its programs. The new windows are February 1 to February 15 and September 1 to September 15, repeating each year. Proposals must be submitted prior to 5 p.m. submitter's local time on the day of the deadline. Proposals submitted after the deadline will be returned without review. If the submission deadline falls on a weekend or Federal holiday, the deadline will be 5 p.m. submitter's local time on the next Federal government working day."

RISK-TAKERS SOUGHT: NSF's multi-directorate Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program "supports innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term awards. STCs conduct world-class research through partnerships among academic institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations, and/or other public/private entities, and via international collaborations, as appropriate. . . . Centers provide a rich environment for encouraging future scientists, engineers, and educators to take risks in pursuing discoveries and new knowledge." See the latest proposal instructions

RAPID MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has set an Oct. 2, 2014 response date for its Materials Development for Platforms (MDP) program. MDP aims "to develop a methodology and toolset to compress the applied material development sequence from 10+ years to roughly 2.5 years. Applied material development will be conducted by: (a) establishing a cross-disciplinary construct that incorporates materials science, Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME), engineering, design, analysis, and manufacturing; and (b) establishing and implementing a new materials development methodology that is guided by 'design intent' and incorporates manufacturing technology."



 

i

DATA POINTS


The temporarily shrinking deficit

A congressional research service report predicts a return to a widening deficit and a level of debt that economists consider unsustainable. The first chart BELOW shows the budget gap over the decades. the second shows historical and projected discretionary spending, including most federal r&D.




. . . AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR DISCRETIONARY SPENDING


Sources: Congressional Research Service; Congressional Budget Office; Office of Management and Budget. Report provided by the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy.


CONGRESS

a 'paradigm shift' in university-industry TIES

Such would be the impact of the
bipartisan Manufacturing Universities Act of 2014, introduced by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. ITIF, which supports the legislation, says it would "incentivize institutions to focus more on the advanced manufacturing research and applications that are increasingly needed in the 'New Economy,' . . . produce graduates that are better equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for careers in emerging, innovation-based industries . . . [and] address several systemic challenges that plague America's manufacturing economy. For example, university engineering education has shifted away from a focus on real-world problem solving toward more abstract engineering science, putting the educational focus on producing pure knowledge instead of applied research that is useful to industry."

BETTER THAN 50/50: Those are the chances that the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza now gives Republicans of taking control of the Senate in November, giving both houses a GOP majority.  The primary victories of Lamar Alexander in Tennessee and Pat Roberts in Kansas ensure that every GOP senator seeking reelection will be the party's nominee. Add to this the number of Democrats running in states that lean Republican and where President Obama is unpopular, and Republicans have more than enough seats in play to retake the Senate.


 

NATIONAL ACADEMIES


SAFER LABS: A National Academies report examines the culture of safety in research institutions in the wake of "serious and sometimes fatal accidents in chemical research laboratories" and makes recommendations.  "A strong, positive safety culture arises not because of a set of rules but because of a constant commitment to safety throughout an organization," one that "assigns greater importance to solving problems than to placing blame."


GETTING CROWDED: An Academies workshop explored the question, Can Earth's and Society's Systems Meet the Needs of 10 Billion People? "This report examines key issues in the science of sustainability that are related to overall human population size, population growth, aging populations, migration toward cities, differential consumption, and land use change, by different subpopulations, as viewed through the lenses of both social and natural science.




   PUBLIC POLICY  AND HIGHER ED


WHY WOMEN LEAVE ENGINEERING: Nadya Fouad of the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee got some 5,300 usable responses in her NSF-funded three-year study of women engineers in the workplace. The picture that emerged isn't pretty. She concludes that women are a "flight risk" for reasons that include an excessive workload, few advancement opportunities, and climate-related barriers that include undermining and uncivil treatment, being belittled and insulted, and being pulled back when trying to succeed. Read a news account of Fouad's talk and see her PowerPoint.


MINORITY MAJORITY: The majority of students in U.S. public schools will be non-white in the coming academic year, and the proportion of whites will continue to shrink, the Associated Press reports

PREPARING FOR REVIEW VISITS: ABET has posted presentations from its summer Institutional Representative Days, designed to prepare deans, department heads, and faculty for upcoming review visits.




  ASEE & COMMUNITY NEWS


ERNEST SMERDON DIES: The University of Arizona dean emeritus and past president of ASEE, a water-resources pioneer who influenced engineering education in a variety of roles and institutions, died August 11. See his obituary on the university website.


REGISTER FOR ETLI: The Engineering Technology Leadership Institute is set for  Oct. 10 in Crystal City, across the Potomac from Washington DC. The session brings engineering technology educators together to discuss topics of importance to the discipline and plan for the future. Find out more.


start preparing abstracts: The abstract submission phase will open Sept. 2, 2014 for the 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition in Seattle. The Calls for Papers from various divisions can be found here

TAKING THE LEAD: The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is hosting a workshop entitled Academic Leadership for Women in Engineering at the WE14+ICWES16 Annual Conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 24 and 25. There will be a specific focus on best practices central to leadership in academia. Click here to learn more and apply to attend the workshop. Please complete the participant application by August 25. Funded through support from the Henry Luce Foundation, the workshop is free to all who are accepted. Contact learning@swe.org with any questions.

ON-LINE STEM SUSTAINABILITY LIBRARY: This on-line library of over 1700 juried articles and 300 videos was developed at James Madison University with NSF funding. The site provides resources for those researching or teaching sustainability across contexts.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE - STORIFY VERSION: ASEE's Engineering Libraries Division has put together a lively collection of photos and tweets that captures the collaboration and  camaraderie of the Indy conference. Check it out here.


DEANS' FORUM ON HISPANIC HIGHER EDUCATION

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) invites engineering deans and chairs to the Third Annual Deans’ Forum on Hispanic Higher Education: Advancing Graduate School Opportunities and Success for Hispanic Students, following HACU’s 28th Annual Conference, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The forum will address issues facing Hispanic students in graduate education and highlight promising practices to enhance access and success. For more information, see http://www.hacu.net/hacu/Deans_Forum.asp.

‘PROFILES’ IS OUT: ASEE's eagerly awaited 540-page Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges has been published. Call ASEE (202-331-3500) to order a copy.

ASEE DIVERSITY COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER: The spring edition of the semi-annual newsletter is now available. ASEE Past President J.P. Mohsen discusses a proposed Year of Dialogue on Diversity and details on safe zone ally training at the annual conference are posted, among other items.

VIDEOS OF THE PPC: View sessions from February's Public Policy Colloquium of the Engineering Deans Council dealing with advanced manufacturing, federal R&D, and K-12 engineering.

STAY UP TO DATE 

on ASEE's Retention Project by clicking here for updates.


 

EDITOR: Mark Matthews; CONTRIBUTOR: William E. Kelly; NEW MASTHEAD DESIGN by Francis Igot, incorporating the new ASEE logo.

 


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