Want to receive this newsletter
every week? Sign
up here
January 23, 2015
|
CONGRESS
AND THE BUDGET
|
FORECAST: BILLIONS MORE IN DRONE R&D
With
the commercial market for unmanned aircraft systems "poised for
significant growth," worldwide spending on research, development, and
testing will climb from $6.4 billion in 2014 to $11.5 billion in 2024,
with the United States accounting for 65 percent, according to the Teal
Group, an aerospace market intelligence firm. The projection was cited
during a hearing
by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee into ways to
prevent the United States from losing ground in the UAS market and U.S.
companies from moving R&D overseas. Numerous topics of research
were mentioned, some of which could find their way into legislation
reauthorizing NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. While
faulted for being slow to issue test permits, the FAA is setting up a
Center of Excellence, and plans to award grants to universities to
define the research agenda and start education and training activities.
See the hearing charter and written testimony here,
and watch a replay.
 ARMED SERVICES NEWBIES: They include freshmen senators Joni Ernst
(R-Iowa), left, an Army reservist and Iowa State grad who rocketed to
fame with her “I
grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm” campaign ad; Harvard- and
Georgetown-educated Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a Marine reservist who has
served in the Middle East and Afghanistan; and Marion Michael Rounds
(R-S.D.), a former governor. New to the committee, though not to the
Senate, is mechanical engineer Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), at right, who
stresses the importance to his state of national labs and tech
transfer. On the House Armed Services panel, expect to hear about
Martha McSally, (R-Ariz.), the first woman to command an Air Force
squadron in combat, a biology graduate of the Air Force Academy with a
master's in public policy from Harvard; and ex-Marine Seth Moulton
(D-Mass.), also a Harvard grad (physics), who served four tours in
Iraq.
senate: climate change is 'not a
hoax': By a 98-1 vote on an
amendment attached to the Keystone Pipeline bill, lawmakers approved
a "sense of the Senate" proposed by Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon
Whitehouse that "climate change is real and not a hoax." Even James
Inhofe (R-Ok.) who in the past said it was a hoax, rose to be counted
as a co-sponsor, explaining that "climate has always changed." The
amendment does not say humans are responsible for climate change.
HOLDING THE PURSE-STRINGS: Sen.
Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), right, who chairs the full Appropriations
Committee, will also head the defense subcommittee. Others tapped to
lead key subcommittees are Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Commerce, Justice,
Science; Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Energy and Water; John Hoeven
(R-N.K.), Homeland Security; Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.), Interior and
Environment; Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Labor, HHS and Education; Susan Collins
(R-Maine), Transportation and HUD; and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Military
Construction and Veterans. In the House, the full line-up of
subcommittee chairs and members is available here.
.
|
| i
DATA
POINTS
|
|
federal academic science and engineering obligations - fy 2012 and
amounts for historically black schools
(Dollars in Thousands)
All Federal
DOD
DOE HHS
NASA NSF
USDA Other
Source: National
Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF)
Source: Pew Research Center Survey
Jan. 7-11, 2015
|
|
THE ADMINISTRATION AND RESEARCH AGENCIES
|
OBAMA'S 'PRECISION MEDICINE
INITIATIVE': This
effort, which the president mentioned in his State of the Union
address, apparently matches genome information with many other types of
data, such as health records and blood-test results, according to Nature.
The National Institutes of Health included it as one of four budget
priorities for 2015. The idea may overlap with the House Energy and
Commerce Committee's 21st Century Cure proposal, which aims to speed
the translation of research advances into treatments. "Both the White
House effort and the House plan would be extremely expensive," Nature
reports.
IN FOR THE LONG HAUL: Electrical
engineer and astronaut Scott Kelly, a retired Navy captain, will spend
a full year
at the International Space Station, the first American to do so. He
will share the mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
They're expected not only to carry out experiments but generate new
information on how the body responds over time in space. Kelly, right,
attended the State of the Union as a guest of Michelle Obama.
 a MAJOR AWARD FOR UTK: The
University of Tennessee-Knoxville will lead a consortium
of
122 companies, nonprofits, universities and research laboratories in a
manufacturing institute developing advanced composites, part of the
White House-launched National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
Altogether, the project will be worth $250 million, with $70 million
coming from the Department of Energy. According to UTK, the Institute for Advanced Composites
Manufacturing Innovation
will include the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory in Colorado, Purdue University, Michigan State, the
University of Dayton Research Institute, and the University of
Kentucky.
|
|
NATIONAL ACADEMIES
LESS EQUIPMENT, MORE RESEARCH: A
National Research Council study
on ocean sciences recommends cuts in spending on major ocean
infrastructure, such as new ships and fixed seafloor observatories,
ScienceInsider reports.
Such steps "could increase the share of funding available for
experiments at sea, which has been on the decline."
e4u2 is the second Engineering
for You video contest sponsored
by the NAE. The grand prize is $25,000 and the deadline is March 2.
It's intended to highlight "how engineering will create a more
sustainable, healthy, secure and-or joyous world by addressing the NAE
Grand Challenges for Engineering."
|
|
|
PUBLIC
POLICY
 u.s.-cuba partnerships? President
Obama's decision to resume diplomatic ties with Cuba and ease travel
restrictions opens the way "for more academic exchanges" and raises the
possibility of "moreambitious projects such a research partnerships and
joint- or dual-degree programs," University World News reports,
citing international education experts. But a lot  depends
on progress in improving relations following a half-century of enmity
between Washington and Havana. A lifting of the embargo depends on Congress, where
the anti-Castro Miami-based lobby still has strong influence.
|
|
ASEE
& COMMUNITY NEWS
|
REGISTER NOW FOR
THE PUBLIC POLICY COLLOQUIUM
The annual
event of
the Engineering Deans Council brings deans together in Washington D.C.
with policymakers, members of Congress and their staffs, and leaders of
research agencies.
ATTENTION, DEANS AND DEPARTMENT CHAIRS Please
help ASEE provide high-quality professional development to engineering
and engineering technology faculty by answering a few questions about
how much you would be
willing to pay for faculty professional development and what areas of
professional development you are most interested in for your faculty.
Click the link below to access the survey.
cALL FOR NOMINATIONS - ASEE MID-ATLANTIC SECTION: The
section annually recognizes an outstanding engineering or engineering
technology educator from the section with a Distinguished Teaching
Award. This individual is then nominated by the section for ASEE's
National Outstanding Teaching Medal. The section award, presented at
the spring meeting, consists of a $500 honorarium and a certificate of
recognition. The awards chair is Paul Butler (PButler_OCC@hotmail.com).
The section's next
meeting will be April 10-11 at Villanova University.
HAVE THE LAST WORD: Do
you have a strong argument to make about some aspect of engineering
education or the profession? Submit an op-ed-style essay for the Last
Word section of Prism. Read the guidelines.
ETLI 2014 VIDEOS: A playlist
of videos
from the Engineering Technology Leadership Institute includes a short
testimonial video, two panels, and Greg Pearson of the National Acadmy
of Engineering.
VIDEO INTERVIEWS:
Leaders at NSF and the Navy
Discuss the Future of
Engineering
Watch interviews with NSF Assistant Director for
Engineering Pramod Khargonekar, who talks
about exciting
NSF projects and opportunities for ASEE members, and Rear Admiral David Johnson, who discusses
the
importance of technology to the U.S. Navy and where naval research is
headed. The videos are part of
ASEE’s Advanced
Research Monitor Interview Series.
|
|
|
EDITOR:
Mark Matthews; MASTHEAD DESIGN by Francis Igot.
To read previous issues of Capitol Shorts, click
here.
|
|
|
