May 22, 2015

APPROPRIATORS, WHITE HOUSE ON COLLISION COURSE

Defying a veto threat, the GOP-led Senate Appropriations Committee locked in sequestration-level funding levels for domestic agencies, while somewhat reapportioning the total. Among the earliest bills to clear the whole committee, chaired by Thad Cochran of Mississippi (right) was the Energy and Water appropriation, which funds the Department of Energy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among other agencies. The White House Office of Management and Budget says President Obama's advisers will recommend that he veto any measure that implements "the current Republican budget framework."

LESS FOR WIND, NONE FOR ITER: Senate appropriators would cut current spending on wind energy research by $61 million to $46 million -- nearly $100 million less than sought by the White House, CQ reports. They also want to halt U.S. support for the perennially over-budget and reputedly under-managed International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which the House is still willing to fund. Energy's Office of Science would get a small boost to $5.1 billion, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy would get $291 million (the White House requested $325 million).

A PARTIAL 'COMPETES': With the House at odds with the White House and much of the science community over the GOP's version of COMPETES, a bipartisan approach is moving ahead in the Senate. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) who steered the Energy-Water measure through Appropriations, has lined up Republican and Democratic cosponsors on a five-year reauthorization of COMPETES' energy provisions. The bill, not yet available on websites, provide 4 percent increases each year for the Office of Science, reviving the doubling track envisioned in the original legislation. The move would appear to put pressure on Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), whose Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the sections of COMPETES dealing with the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology, to distance himself from the House-passed measure, which faces a White House veto.

CAN YOU MATCH THIS? House appropriators want the National Science Foundation to "ensure" that the research it funds is "replicable." Flawed research has been a source of controversy for some time (The Economist covered it in 2013), but some science advocates say it would be difficult, if not impossible, to ensure replicability.

Other points of interest in the House Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee's report accompanying its FY 2016 spending bill, which would fund NSF, NASA, and NIST:

• Engineering is favored - comparatively. The panel directs NSF to devote 70 percent of its research money to Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering; Engineering; and Biology. Social science is cut proportionately.
• The panel is eager to see NSF join with Department of Energy labs "to help neuroscientists collect, standardize, manage, and analyze the large amounts of data that will result from research attempting to understand how the brain functions."
• Appropriators seem unclear about where advanced-manufacturing R&D belongs. NSF would get $176.5 million for the Advanced Manufacturing initiative. "Basic research supported through NSF and other federal science agencies is critical to this effort because it will help provide the foundation for the development of new products and technologies
  by the private sector," the report says. After slashing the White House request for NIST by $79 million, the panel says the agency can go after "unobligated balances" in the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy account  to fund coordination of the National Network of Manufacturing innovation institutes.
• At the same time, NIST is instructed to probe "major technical barriers (that) still exist to
  dramatically improving additive manufacturing."  

CYBER VULNERABILITIES: NIST is urged to conduct research, along with academic institutions, on cybersecurity -- in particular in the retail sector and in implantable medical devices. Appropriators also urge the agency, in partnership with academic institutions, to look into "highforce windstorm impacts on buildings" and test "large, integrated models of such impacts"; and to pursue "advanced textile and apparel research and manufacturing activities."

Source for both charts: American Association for the Advancement of Science R&D Budget and Policy Program

'SHORTSIGHTED FUNDING CUTS undermine both fiscal responsibility and economic competitiveness," Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan, left, complains in a letter to House appropriators, Spelling out objections to the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill, he signals what the White House will strive to restore as the budget battle moves forward: a 58 percent reduction from President Obama's request for NIST manufacturing programs; $200 million squeezed from the request for NASA's earth science missions and $100 million from space technology; and underfunding of the National Science Foundation.

NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: These, the White House says in a report this week, "are far-reaching, as they may exacerbate existing stressors, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and political instability, providing enabling environments for terrorist activity
abroad."

AIR FORCE TAPS ENGINEER AS CHIEF SCIENTIST: He's Greg Zacharias, founder and president of Charles River Analytics, and before that a senior scientist at Raytheon, research engineer at CS Draper Labs, and Air Force attache for the space shuttle. He sits on advisory boards for Embry-Riddle and for MIT, where he earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in aeronautics and astronautics.

LARGE-SCALE, LONG-TERM AWARDS . . . are available through the National Science Foundation's Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program for "innovative, potentially transformative, complex research and education projects." 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." Learn more.

BIOENERGY TECHNOLOGIES WEBINAR: “A Changing Market for Biofuels and Bioproducts” will discuss the report "U.S. Billion-Ton Update" and "how this and other research efforts are helping to enhance a secure and sustainable annual supply of biomas." Learn more. DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office also plans Bioenergy 2015: Opportunities in a Changing Energy Landscape.

There's also a Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative Southeast Regional Summit coming up in July.

A SHORTAGE OF BLACK MEN IN STEM was the topic of a recent forum on Capitol Hill followed by an evening roundtable. Both were hosted by Georgia Tech engineering dean Gary May, far left, and included, among others, dean Darryll Pines of the University of Maryland, near left, and Karl Reid, executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers. "This is an opportunity to leverage the interest in STEM," Pines said, "because it is going to lead to great opportunities for our country, for economic development, and black males cannot be left behind this time." See the U.S. News account.

A WORLD OF LEARNING: Come hear how Russia is building on an engineering tradition dating from Peter the Great. Find out about "friendly delivery" of lifelong learning in India and capstone design projects in China. Plus: Boeing's global R&D strategy, transcontinental academic partnerships, and more. Register for ASEE's 2015 International Forum June 14 in Seattle.

FEEDBACK IS ENCOURAGED: ASEE's Board of Directors is using Strategic Doing to reexamine the entire Society and how it operates. Facilitated discussions by the Board and a survey of members have resulted in a “beta document” outlining where ASEE is, where the Board thinks ASEE needs to go, and how it proposes to get there. The Board strongly encourages you to comment and give feedback on this document, which you can do here, where it is posted. (Please note that you must log in to your ASEE account to access this page.)

SURVEY: WHERE DO ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION BELONG IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION?
This 5-minute survey is sponsored by the NSF-funded National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter). It aims to identify attitudes, experiences and practices of engineering faculty, students, and professionals. Your response will help inform educators and institutions on the potential contribution of entrepreneurship and innovation to engineering education, and the changing perception of these topics in engineering education over time. Respondents will receive a copy of a report with the results before they are made public. Take the SURVEY

CALL FOR PAPERS: Engineering Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability: Ethics and Communication in Humanitarian Engineering Service-Learning in the Developing World

Abstract deadline extended to July 15, 2015.

Beth Jorgensen, Saginaw Valley State University (book editor)

Seeking first-time publications for an edited volume that explores how teaching and learning are transformed through field-based experiences in humanitarian/sustainable engineering, focusing on applied or pedagogical theories that aim to achieve pedagogical transformation in the contexts of social and environmental justice. Contributors are expected to speak directly and in depth about the communication aspects of engineering in field experiences, and how those efforts contributed to (or worsened) these engineering or technical efforts. Contact ejorgens@svsu.edu for full CFP.