October 31, 2014
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CONGRESS AND THE BUDGET
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OMNIBUS SPENDING BILL MAKES QUIET HEADWAY
 House
and Senate appropriations staffers "are quietly laying the groundwork
for an ambitious wrap-up spending package" -- an omnibus bill -- in the
post-election lame-duck session, CQ reports. House Appropriations chair
Harold Rogers tells CQ that "we need . . . to get that whole business
behind us," so that come January, Senate GOP leader and fellow
Kentuckian Mitch McConnell "will have a clean slate rather than looking
backwards to old fights." Even assuming Republicans will capture
control of the Senate, not all agree with Rogers' approach.
Some "could be tempted to cut Democrats out of the process" by punting
2015 appropriations into the new Congress -- a path urged by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
RAMI RESCUE MISSION: Supporters
of RAMI, the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act,
think an omnibus could be the best route to passage of their bill in
the current Congress. RAMI would enshrine in law the national network of manufacturing institutes begun by the Obama
administration. So far, three Republican senators have placed holds on the legislation, a lobbyist tells Capitol Shorts: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Mike
Lee of Utah. (Their staffs have not responded to requests for
confirmation.) These holds could sink chances of passage in the
lame-duck session. But the lobbyist says that if RAMI can be attached
to a massive appropriations measure, these three senators might not be
able to block it. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) speaks in favor of RAMI in
this video.
SENATE ODDS: Republican
chances of capturing control, as assessed by data crunchers, are 70
percent (New York Times Upshot); 68 percent (FiveThirtyEight); and 95
percent (Washington Post Election Lab). |
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DATA
POINTS
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FUNDS SPENT FOR BUSINESS R&d IN THE UNITED STATES, BY SOURCE OF FUNDS, SIZE OF COMPANY
Source: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
InfoBrief
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ADMINISTRATION AND RESEARCH AGENCIES
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 IN A HURRY: The White House has released "Accelerating U.S. Advanced Manufacturing,"
building on the work of its Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. The 11
recommendations fall under three pillars: enabling innovation; securing
the talent pipeline, and improving the business climate. Some of the
recommendations are already being pursued, such as a public-private
manufacturing R&D infrastructure. The report calls for
interoperability of manufacturing technologies, exchange of materials
and manufacturing process information, and nationally scalable, portable,
and stackable skill certification. It also urges a public-private
scale-up investment fund to reduce investment risk.
TIME IS MONEY:
That was underscored by Tom Khalil, of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, during this week's rollout of the
advanced manufacturing report. ASEE's Bill Kelly, who attended, says
Khalil "made the point that to
attract more venture capital, advanced manufacturing is going to have
to speed up the development process." That should be a research focus,
Khalil argues.
THE CORPS ISSUE: The
Obama administration's drive to move research-based innovation from lab
to market is spreading beyond the National Science Foundation, which
launched Innovation Corps (I-Corps) under former director Subra Suresh.
Meet Lab-Corps, which takes the same idea to the national labs. It's "a
specialized technology accelerator and commercialization training
curriculum" for national lab researchers "who have developed
potentially marketable technology breakthroughs," according to a White House blog.
Five labs -- Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and
Pacific Northwest -- will support teams seeking to commercialize
transportation, renewable power, and energy efficiency technologies.
The National Renewable Energy Lab will manage the training.
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE . . . a 3D holiday season. OSTP and the Smithsonian have launched the White House 3D-Printed Ornament Challenge.
'payline +': That's the name attached to an "experimental funding plan" at the National Institute of
Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. It was developed in response to
flat or reduced budgets and a simultaneous increase in funding
applications. An "expanded opportunity zone" will allow funding of
proposals ranked outside the very narrow range that currently qualifies
them for grants. Factors that will be considered include scientific
program priority and alignment with the strategic plan; research
uniqueness and innovation; career stage of the investigator;
investigators from underrepresented groups; and current level of
investigator funding.
OPEN CAMPUS, OPEN HOUSE: The
Army Research Laboratory is making an effort to stress collaboration
between its scientists and engineers and their peers outside ARL with
the Open Campus, a "changing business model." At an open house planned
for Dec. 9 and 10, ARL hopes to attract a national audience and one
"not limited to U.S. citizens." Find out more here and here.
 interactive stem: A
new National Science Foundation data tool allows users to explore a
range of information on STEM education and careers from the 2014
Science and Engineering Indicators published by the National Science
Board. Check it out here.
HELP WANTED: NSF is searching for a new division director
for the Division of Engineering Education and Centers, who would
oversee the education, workforce development, and Engineering Research
Center activities. The deadline for receiving applications is Nov. 21.
They are also looking for a new program director for engineering education.
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NATIONAL ACADEMIES
A straighter, smoother path to development of technology needed by the Air Force is the intent of a new report
from the National Academies. It reviews past uses of development
planning and "offers an organizational construct that will help the Air
Force across its core functions." Developmental planning will help the
service answer the key question of what "capability gaps" must be
filled.
SEE PRESENTATIONS AND VIDEOS from the National Academy of Engineering's annual meeting, including the Gordon Prize Lecture by Joseph J. Helble of Dartmouth, right; plenary address by Frances Arnold of Caltech; and a panel discussion on NAE's 50 years.
SOLICITING YOUR OPINION:
The
National Academy of Engineering plans a colloquium in November on
Understanding the Engineering Education-Workforce Continuum. It is
seeking feedback from stakeholders that will help shape topics to be
addressed. The NAE wants to hear from, among others, professional
society leadership; faculty;
engineers working in industry;
employers and managers of engineers; students; administrators; and
career counselors. See the questionnaire.
Address questions to
naeworkforce@gmail.com.
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PUBLIC
POLICY AND HIGHER
ED
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COLLEGE ACCESS: The Association of American Universities reports
that the White House will seek new, specfic goals with serious
commitments at a Dec. 4 summit in Washington, D.C. It will focus on
four areas: college completion, K-16 collaboration, K-12 postsecondary
counseling, and STEM degree production. Examples of completion
initiatives mentioned favorably in an invitation include community college-university articulation agreements and the 11-school University Innovation Alliance.
LOST EXPERIMENTS: Among
research casualties from the explosion of the Antares rocket right
after liftoff was a Tahe Assa high-resolution camera developed by the
Southwest Research Institute. It was being sent to the International
Space Station to observe the chemical composition of meteors entering
Earth's atmosphere, ScienceInsider reports. Research into solar sails
"also experienced a setback." These are "incredibly thin sheets of
reflective materials that can harness pressure differences in space
caused by the sun to propel a spacecraft without burning fue." Another
experiment would have fitted ISS astronauts "with high-tech collars to
monitor the blood flow in their necks," an attempt to find the cause of
headaches and neurological disorders reported by astronauts.
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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.
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.
APPLICATIONS FOR WORKSHOPS and
distinguished lectures at the ASEE Annual Conference may be submitted until November 2, 2014.
YES, 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.
PATHWAYS
TO INNOVATION: Engineering deans
are invited to join the Pathways to Innovation program, run by the
Epicenter at Stanford. It's designed "to
help
institutions transform the experience of their undergraduate
engineering
students and fully incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into a
range of
courses as well as strengthen co- and extra-curricular offerings."
Teams receive "access to models for
integrating entrepreneurship into engineering curriculum, custom
online
resources, guidance from a community of engineering
and entrepreneurship
faculty, and membership in a national network of schools with similar
goals'' See the call
for proposals. For more information, contact Liz Nilsen at lnilsen@nciia.org
THE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL HISPANIC
ENGINEERS (shpe) Deans’ Summit will take
place in Detroit, Michigan on Friday morning, November 7 as a part of
the
annual SHPE National Conference. The Summit will focus on the
challenge
of building a diverse pipeline of engineering students.
Leaders
from SHPE, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE),
and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) will present their
current efforts
and needs for support in this area. The goal is to develop
recommendations and
actions to strengthen the ties between these organizations, academia
and
industry.
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. Abstracts are due October
13.
 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.
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.
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