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November 22, 2014
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THE ADMINISTRATION
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A GAIN FOR HIGH-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS, 'DREAMERS' 
Sections
of President Obama's immigration order will make it a bit easier for
engineers with advanced degrees to stay and work in the United States
legally. High-skilled employees with approved green-card applications
will be able to move or change jobs more easily. Certain spouses of
people who have an H1-B visa and have been approved for a green card
will be allowed to work. The Optional Practical Training post-graduate
job-training period for foreign students will be extended, but require
stronger ties between students and their universities following
graduation. Immigration will be expanded for entrepreneurs who can
raise the capital to launch job-producing businesses.
 DACA EXPANDED:
Individuals brought here illegally as children -- the so-called
Dreamers -- can apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
status if they entered before January 1, 2010, "regardless of how old
they are today." Under the previous rule, they were eligible for
temporary relief from deportation as long as they were born after 1981
and had entered the United States before June 15, 2007.
FORGET THE SEQUESTER:
The Obama administration prepared its fiscal 2015 budget according to
the two-year House-Senate agreement forged between Budget Chairs Sen.
Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). That agreement
brought a respite from the fiscal-cliff dramas of prior years. The
resulting stability contributed to the U.S. economic recovery, the
White House believes. However, the Murray-Ryan deal expires at the end
of the current fiscal year. According to the 2011 Budget Control Act,
this should mean the return of sequestration, barring a new agreement.
But the White House is preparing its FY 2016 blueprint according to its
own priorities. Presumably these include both an increase in
non-defense discretionary spending and raising revenue by closing tax
loopholes, although the administration is not giving specifics.
HAGEL'S R&D STRATEGY - HOW SERIOUS? The defense secretary plans to revive the
Long-Range Research and Development Planning Program of the Harold
Brown-William Perry era. That earlier effort yielded precision-guided
munitions, stealth aircraft, and "new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms." Hagel's announcement
said the new effort "will identify, develop, and field breakthrough
technologies and systems that sustain and advance the capability of
U.S. military power." He said "we will actively seek proposals from the
private sector," including firms and academic institutions "outside
DoD's traditional orbit." Analyst Loren Thompson notes in Forbes
that since "the military services are already hard-pressed to find
funding for essential items like training, it's hard to see where money
could come from for a new R&D initiative." The political process,
he adds, "reflexively punishes innovators who take chances." Another
analyst, Sydney Freedberg Jr.,
cites technologies that will be a priority: "robotics, autonomous
systems, big data, and advanced manufacturing, including 3-D printing."
exporting climate science:
The U.S. Agency for International Development is soliciting "the
advice, knowledge, and best practices from communities interested in
developing and launching a new public-private partnership focused on
connecting actionable climate science, data, tools, and training to
decision-makers in developing countries."
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DATA
POINTS
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CONGRESS
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 A SHORTTERM SPENDING BILL IS LIKELY: So
reports CQ after Republicans found themselves unable to agree on how to
retaliate for Obama's immigration order. Congress must enact a new
spending bill by Dec. 11, when the existing measure expires, to keep
the government operating. Appropriators have been laboring for weeks in
hopes that lawmakers would coalesce around an "omnibus" that would fund
the government through the end of FY 15. But some in the GOP think a
stopgap continuing resolution lasting until early in calendar 2015
would increase their leverage over the White House. At a minimum, it
would buy them time to work out a response to Obama.
petition for an ap in engineering: Reps.
Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) and Larry Buchson (R-Ind.) have gathered
signatures from 53 colleagues on a letter applauding the National
Science Foundation's partnership with the College Board in funding a
computer science principles curriculum framework. "We encourage the NSF
to similarly invest in the development of an AP Engineering course as
well."
RAMI IN LIMBO: Rep. Tom
Reed (R-N.Y.) hopes the lame-duck Congress will push the Revitalize
American Manufacturing and Innovation bill that he co-sponsored
"accross the finish line," Chauttauqua Today reports.
The legislation would create a national network of manufacturing
institutes, each focused on a particular technology or process. Reed
said he had corresponded with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-Nev.), urging the Senate to take up the measure. However, three
Republican senators are reported to have placed holds on the the bill,
which has already passed the House.
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RESEARCH AGENCIES
scouting new frontierS: The National Science Foundation's Emerging Frontiers in Research
and Innovation (EFRI) is seeking ideas for interdisciplinary topics not
currently supported by NSF that could "potentially lead to
transformative results that address national needs or a grand
challenge." They will be considered by the Engineering Directorate in
choosing topics for the 2016 EFRI solicitation. Ten submitters will be
invited to NSF to discuss their topics. To submit ideas, click on the
following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/efritopicideas.
BETTER STATS:
NSF's
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, whose charts
appear in Capitol Shorts frequently, wants to enhance analytical and
methodological research in support of its surveys. So it's inviting
proposals for individual or multi-investigator research projects,
doctoral dissertation improvement awards, workshops, experimental
research, survey research and data collection and dissemination projects. Learn more.
Webinars are set for Improving Undergraduate STEM Education. Also, NSF has updated its proposal guide.
DISASTER PREVENTION: That's
one of the goals of NSF's Engineering for Natural Hazards program.
Another is "consideration of the multi-hazard environment within which
the constructed civil infrastructure exists." The programs is
welcoming proposals in a wide variety of research areas. Find out more.
HELP WANTED:
NSF's Engineering Directorate has three current openings: Director of the
Engineering Education and Centers division; director of the
Broadening Participation in Engineering program (within the EEC
division); and director
of the Engineering Education program (also within EEC).
BRAIN SCAN: The National Institutes of Health is funding "planning activities and the initial stages of
development of entierly new or next generation brain imaging
technologies and methods that will lead to transformative advances in
our understanding of the human brain." Find out more.
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PUBLIC
POLICY AND HIGHER
ED
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OFFSHORE RESEARCH: Cisco has announced a
new Innovation Center in Tokyo, joining similar centers in Rio de
Janeiro, Toronto, Berlin, Songdo, Barcelona, and London. These "enable
us to co-innovate vertical solutions with regional customers, partners,
governments, universities, and startups," writes Padmasree Warrior, the firm's chief technology and strategy officer.
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ASEE
& COMMUNITY NEWS
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ATTENTION, DEANS AND DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
 Please
help ASEE provide high-quality professional development to engineering
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.
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.
deadline for wepan: The
Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) is holding its 2015 Change Leader Forum
- Roadmap to Inclusion: Engineering Excellence for the 21st Century
next June 9-11 in Broomfield Col., outside Denver. The deadline for
proposals is Nov. 26, 2014.
ENGINEERING EDUCATION FOR
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: The
Seventh International Conference
on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development
(EESD15) "will
explore current and future ways of thinking in the emerging field" and
the groundbreaking worth since 2002. It will be held June 9-12, 2015 at
the University of British
Columbia’s (UBC) Point Grey campus. 7 of EESD and
will celebrate the ground-breaking work accomplishing in EESD since
2002.
The conference will be held from June 9-12, 2015 at the University of
British
Columbia’s (UBC) Point Grey campus in Vancouver. See the conference
themes.
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.
STAY
UP TO DATE
on ASEE's Retention Project by
clicking here
for updates.
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EDITOR: Mark Matthews;
CONTRIBUTORS:
William E. Kelly, Nathan Kahl; MASTHEAD DESIGN by Francis Igot,
incorporating the new ASEE logo.
To read previous issues of Capitol Shorts, click here.
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