August 18, 2014
THE
ADMINISTRATION AND RESEARCH AGENCIES
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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."
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i
DATA
POINTS
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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.
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CONGRESS
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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.
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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.
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PUBLIC
POLICY AND HIGHER
ED
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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.
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ASEE
& COMMUNITY NEWS
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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.
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EDITOR: Mark Matthews;
CONTRIBUTOR:
William E. Kelly; NEW MASTHEAD DESIGN by Francis Igot,
incorporating the new ASEE logo.
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