November 14, 2015

HOUSE RANK AND FILE TO WEIGH IN ON OMNIBUS

Spurred by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), right, appropriations subcommittee chairs -- "the cardinals" -- will give lawmakers who lack seats on the panel a say in an omnibus spending bill. "The listening sessions are part of a GOP management overhaul" by Ryan, who "has promised to end the party's top-down governing style," the Washington Examiner reports.The move may not have an immediate impact on several key research agencies: the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, the National Institute of Science and Technology, and Pentagon R&D. That's because appropriations bills setting their spending levels have already passed the House. But it marks a change in the appropriations process, which until now has been cushioned against grassroots pressure. More often than not, GOP appropriators have been pragmatic and less ideologically driven than junior House members, and willing to work across party lines.

PUBLIC NOT IMPRESSED BY BUDGET DEAL: The agreement may have prevented a government shutdown, But CQ Roll Call reports: "A majority of Americans are dissatisfied with higher government spending set by the bipartisan budget deal passed by Congress in October, according to a new survey from The Economist Group and the polling firm YouGov. Given a choice between two statements, 61 percent of poll respondents said that 'lawmakers should have stuck to lower spending levels,' while 39 percent said the two-year budget and debt limit agreement (PL 114-74) 'is a positive move forward.'"

DEAL REPORTED ON 'NO CHILD' SUCCESSOR: Education Week reports that House and Senate lawmakers have reached a preliminary agreement on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, setting the stage for conference committee negotiations. A final bill could reach the floors of both chambers by the end of this month. "It borrows some provisions from the Obama administration's ESEA waivers, including a requirement that states identify and take action in their lowest-performing schools and drop-out factories. And it includes stronger language when it comes to accountability for poor and minority students, including a requirement that states identify schools with big achievement gaps. . . . There's more consolidation of federal education in the compromise than there was in the Senate bill, including block granting of physical education, mathematics and science partnerships, and Advanced Placement."

HOUSE SCIENCE PANEL, NOAA AT AN IMPASSE: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - a leading climate change research agency - is denying House Science Committee chair Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) access to  internal communications involving a study that cast doubt on a so-called hiatus in global warming. See accounts by the American Institute of Physics' FYI newsletter and Wired.  

Graphic by Jennifer Pocock. Click here for a larger, more readable version.

HOT TIMES: A new report from the White House National Science and Technology Council predicts that a trend of more frequent, large wildfires will "continue into the future as climate change causes temperatures to rise further and droughts to become more severe in the coming decades, particularly in the western United States." The NSTC urges creation of a Federal Fire Science Coordination Council to: "ensure regular exchange among leaders of federal organizations that either produce or use fire science; strengthen coordination and collaboration among the organizations that produce wildland-fire science and technology; establish mechanisms to systematically assess user needs and priorities for science, research, and technology support; and define national-level needs for federal fire science in support of the fire-management community."

SOUND BARRIER: The President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology finds the hearing aid industry - dominated by just six firms, with the average device costing $2,300 - ripe for a shakeup. Its recommendations "will simultaneously decrease the cost of hearing aids, spur technology innovation, and increase consumer choice options. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should create a new category for “basic” hearing aids and associated hearing tests that are meant for sale over-the-counter. This would allow entrepreneurs and innovators to enter the market and open a space for creative solutions to improve mild-to-moderate, age-related hearing loss with devices that can be sold . . . at the local pharmacy, online, or at a retail store."

COLLEGE ACCESS FOR HISPANICS: The Obama administration is sponsoring a Google+ Hangout on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at 2 PM EST aimed at "moving the needle on progress for Latino students and families forward." Learn more.

STEM GRAND CHALLENGES, monitoring of large facilities, recompetition policy, and a future direction for Science and Engineering Indicators are among agenda topics at the National Science Board's meeting Nov. 18 and 19. Open sessions will be webcast. Here's the link.

HIGH VOLUME, LOW-COST manufacture of nano-enabled devices and systems is the aim of this NSF request for proposals. 

THE SCIENCE-INNOVATION LINK: Various Rupert Murdoch outlets have given considerable space to the views of Viscount Matt Ridley, who challenges the widespread belief that government-funded scientific research is the source of future innovation. Ridley is also a climate-change skeptic and, according to The Engineer, "happens to own the land on which England’s biggest open-cast coal mine is situated." Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, rebuts some of Ridley's argument in an op-ed.

THE ABCs OF ADVOCACY: A group called the Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy (ESEP) Coalition is presenting a webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. EST entitled "Toolkits for Advocating Science Policy." 

LAB TO MARKET: An Academies examination of the Small Business Innovation Research/Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program at the National Institutes of Health find that its projects "commercialize at a substantial rate." But the "large number of companies with small-scale revenues suggests that while many companies reach the market, fewer can be described as successful in commercial terms." Also, more work needs to be done to “foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses (SDBs), and by women-owned small businesses (WOSBs), in technological innovation.” 

2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE UPDATE

New Navigation Section - Papers Management:
The new section contains upcoming deadlines, guidelines, call for papers, and kits for authors, program chairs, reviewers, and moderators.

Author's Kits are Available:
• The 2016 Annual Conference Author's Kit -- available on the website -- contains extremely important information regarding the submission process as well as all relevant deadline dates.

LinkEngineering: A Collaborative K-12 Educator Community is a new online portal that connects engineering educators "to share pedagogy, lesson plans, advice and more." It plans a Town Hall Google Hangout on November 18. Click here to register.

THE ST. LAWRENCE SECTION CONFERENCE will be held at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.,  April 8-9, 2016. This year the conference will include several workshops. The calls for papers, presentations, posters and workshops as well as  information about the Conference Program, Registration, and Hotel information is available on http://stl.asee.org/conference_2016.html.

RFI - What’s your school’s IQ – Impact Quotient? Prism is gathering material for a possible feature story on programs and courses where engineering students are making a difference locally – from reducing waste in the cafeteria to improving the grounds with useful works of art. Do you have design or sustainability courses aimed at making the school ‘greener’? Have student teams identified the lack of community play space as a problem and then designed and built a playground? Or designed an app that has cut electricity use and saved money?
Please send nominations by December 1 to m.matthews@asee.org.

eGFI IS HERE: Help inspire the next generation of innovators with the all-new 6th edition of ASEE's prize-winning magazine for middle and high school students: eGFI (Engineering, Go For It). Filled with engaging features, gorgeous graphics, and useful information about engineering colleges and careers, eGFI aims to get teens fired up about learning - and doing - engineering. To purchase copies, go to http://store.asee.org/  For bulk purchases or other inquiries, contact eGFI@asee.org or call 202-331-3500.