In this issue:
STEM ENTERPRISE WORKSHOP TO BE HELD IN D.C. ON JUNE 6TH
On June 6th, ASME is one of the lead sponsors of a one-day workshop entitled, “STEM Enterprise: Measures for Innovation and Competitiveness,” which will be held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington D.C. IEEE-USA is the lead organizer of the event, and the United Engineering Foundation, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) are also lead sponsors.
The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) enterprise is a unique ensemble of R&D accomplished by the federal, academic and private sectors, both national and international. It is the driving force for economic and social advancement for humankind. The economic health of this enterprise is of importance to all people.
The event goal is to bring thought leaders together to discuss important questions facing the enterprise and to develop policy positions based on concrete data and proven algorithms. It is prudent to develop STEM policies that are derived from incorruptible data and measures to best plan for a healthy and productive enterprise, future economic growth and rapid innovation.
The first STEM Workshop was held at George Washington University on 21 October 2009 in Washington, D.C., to address these issues.
For further information and details, please visit: http://www.ieeeusa.org/calendar/conferences/stem/
Melissa Carl handles public policy-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education issues for ASME. She can be reached at: carlm@asme.org
HOUSE CLEARS COMMERCE-JUSTICE-SCIENCE APPROPRIATIONS BILL
The House of Representatives passed the first of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 appropriations bills last week. The Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 5326, cleared the House on a vote of 247-163. The Senate has introduced its own version of this legislation, S. 2323, but has not yet taken a final floor vote on the measure.
During House floor debate, amendments affecting the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Rep. Chip Cravaak (R-MN) offered an amendment to cut funding for NSF’s $6 million Climate Change Education program, which succeeded by a vote of 238-188. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) offered two amendments on NSF funding, one cutting funding for the $11 million Political Science research program, which succeeded by a vote of 218-208, and one cutting NSF’s total funding by $1.2 billion, which failed 121-291. Under the terms of the successful NSF amendments, cut funding may be redistributed to other NSF activities.
For NIST, Rep. Dan Qualye (R-AZ) proposed an amendment to cut the new $21 million Advanced Manufacturing Technological Consortia (AMTech) competitive research program and count the cut funding as savings; the amendment was defeated (147-259). Finally, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) successfully cut $20.0 million from NASA’s Science account and applied the funding to the Economic Development Administration by a simple voice vote.
Highlights of the final House CJS appropriations bill (H.R. 5326) include:
- $7.3 billion for NSF, an increase of $299 million, or 4.3 percent above FY12 for basic research and science education. This level is $41 million less than the President’s FY 2013 request for the NSF. The House included full funding of 148.9 million for NSF’s Advanced Manufacturing initiatives, and $69 million for the Advanced Technological Education program – which supports technical and vocational training programs – a level $5 million above the President’s request.
- $830 million to support NIST, which is $80.8 million more than the FY 2012 appropriated amount but $27 million less than the Administration’s FY 2013 request. The House bill includes $128 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, and $21 million for AMTech, matching the President’s request.
- $17.6 billion to support NASA which is $226 million below fiscal year 2012 and $138 million below the President’s FY 2013 request. This funding includes $569.9 million for NASA’s Aeronautics Research programs, half a million over the FY 2012 amount and $18.4 million over the President’s request, and $5.1 billion for the Space Science programs, which is $5 million over the FY 2012 level and $189 million over the President’s request. The bill also includes $632.5 million for Space Technology programs, which is $66.5 million under the President’s request, but $84.5 million over the FY 2012 level.
To view the full text of H.R. 5326, please visit: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.5326:
To view a list of successfully adopted amendments, please visit: http://appropriations.house.gov/UploadedFiles/05.10.12_FY_13_CJS_Floor_Adopted_Amendments.pdf
The House Appropriations Committee report accompanying H.R. 5326 is available at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-112hrpt463/pdf/CRPT-112hrpt463.pdf
Additional information on ASME’s public policy research and development activities is available at http://www.asme.org/about-asme/advocacy-government-relations/programs,-public-policy,---society-policies/federal-funding-of-research-and-development-issues
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related research and development (R&D) issues for ASME. He can be reached at: fakesp@asme.org
ASME FELLOW ARUN MAJUMDAR, DIRECTOR OF ARPA-E AND ACTING UNDER SECRETARY OF ENERGY, RESIGNS FROM DOE
ASME Fellow Arun Majumdar, Ph.D., director of ARPA-E and President Obama’s nominee to be Undersecretary of Energy, has announced he will be leaving the Department of Energy (DOE). He will be returning to California so that he can spend more time with his family. He has not announced any plans to return to either the University of California or the Berkeley lab.
Eric Toone, currently ARPA-E's deputy director of technology, will assume the director position effective June 9th. The position does not require him to be confirmed by the Senate.
Effective May 9th, Dr. Majumdar has given up his title as the Energy Department's acting undersecretary to David Sandalow, currently the assistant secretary for policy and international affairs. Sandalow will take over the acting undersecretary's post in addition to his current tasks.
U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a strong advocate for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, released the following statement: “As the director of ARPA-E, Dr. Majumdar has been an extraordinary ambassador for the ecosystem of innovation that will power the next generation of energy production in this country, and is certainly one of the most inspiring people I’ve met in my time here in the Senate. Dr. Majumdar’s research experience at UC Berkeley and investment experience with startups helped him seamlessly bridge the worlds of government, laboratory, and finance.”
Dr. Majumdar is a recipient of the Institute Silver Medal, NSF Young Investigator Award, ASME Melville Medal, the Best Paper award of the ASME Heat Transfer Division of ASME, Gustus Larson Memorial Award of the ASME, and Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT-B. He is a fellow of ASME and AAAS, and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.
Robert Rains handles public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at: rainsr@asme.org
EIA ANALYZES CLEAN ENERGY STANDARD ACT OF 2012
Earlier this month, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its analysis of S. 2146, the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012. That legislation, which Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Jeff Bingaman introduced in March, seeks to modernize our nation’s power sector and guide it toward a future in which more and more electricity is generated with cleaner and cleaner energy.
EIA’s analysis shows that the 25-page bill, called CES for short, would drive greater usage of the clean energy resources that already are in service, while also providing a long-term market signal to drive innovation and greater deployment of new clean energy for the future. It also shows that the CES would have little impact on national electricity rates for the first decade of the program.
EIA projects that the technology-neutral, inclusive design of the legislation will lead to substantial amounts of new clean energy from a wide range of sources, including wind, solar, natural gas and nuclear power. EIA also projects enhanced industrial efficiency would result from enactment of the legislation, with 21 percent more combined heat and power (CHP) deployed in 2035. EIA estimates that the legislation would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 20 percent in 2025 and by 44 percent in 2035.
The legislation employs a straightforward, market-based approach that encourages a wide variety of electricity-generating technologies. It sets a national goal for clean energy and establishes a transparent framework that lets resources compete based on how clean they are, then gets out of the way and lets the market and American ingenuity determine the best paths forward. The Senate Energy Committee will hold a hearing on the bill on Thursday, May 17. For additional information, go to: http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=0e90e4ea-a5be-44ae-b7f0-a9cd9b98dbdb
EIA’s analysis of S. 2146 is available at: http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/bces12/
The full text of S. 2146, as well as a section-by-section summary, is available at: http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/featured-items?ID=1cac9909-e86f-4486-89d5-a13a763ad6ee
Robert Rains handles public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at: rainsr@asme.org
INTERAGENCY MANUFACTURING OFFICE ASKS FOR IDEAS ON DESIGN OF PROPOSED INNOVATION NETWORK
The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO) has issued a formal request for information (RFI) on a new public-private partnership proposed by President Obama: the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). Published in the Federal Register and posted on the AMNPO's advanced manufacturing website, the request for information (RFI) seeks ideas, recommendations and other public input on the design, governance and other aspects of the network, proposed to begin in the next fiscal year.
The NNMI is envisioned to be the foundation of a U.S. innovation infrastructure of up to 15 linked regional hubs of manufacturing excellence, called Institutes of Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs). The NNMI is intended to address a crucial challenge to U.S. competitiveness and threat to economic growth: closing the gap between research and development (R&D) activities and the deployment of technological innovations in domestic production of goods.
While the AMNPO welcomes all comments relevant to the design and impact of this new advanced manufacturing effort, the RFI lists four topics of specific interest:
- Technologies with Broad Impact;
- Institute Structure and Governance;
- Strategies for Sustainable Institute Operations; and,
- Education and Workforce Development.
In addition to the RFI, the AMNPO is soliciting input through regional workshops. The first of these events, “Designing for Impact: Workshop on Building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation,” was held April 25 at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The office also has launched an Advanced Manufacturing Wiki (https://collaborate.nist.gov/amnpo/bin/view/AdvancedManufacturingNPO/WebHome) to foster public discussion on the NNMI, in particular, as well as on the competitiveness and innovation performance of U.S. manufacturing, overall.
\ The Federal Register notice with the detailed RFI is available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/05/04/2012-10809/request-for-information-on-proposed-new-program-national-network-for-manufacturing-innovation-nnmi. Comments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on October 25, 2012, and must be sent to: nnmi_comments@nist.gov with the subject line "NNMI Comments."
A public announcement of initial actions to create a pilot institute on additive manufacturing was posted April 13 in FedBizOpps. To read the announcement, go to: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6345b7b9254b6b5009236043c888f9e9&tab=core&tabmode=list&=Fed
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related research and development (R&D) issues for ASME. He can be reached at: fakesp@asme.org
REPORT WARNS OF RAPID DECLINE IN US EARTH OBSERVATION CAPABILITIES
A new National Research Council (NRC) report says that budget shortfalls, cost-estimate growth, launch failures, and changes in mission design and scope have left U.S. earth observation systems in a more precarious position than they were five years ago. The report cautions that the nation's earth observing system is beginning a rapid decline in capability, as long-running missions end and key new missions are delayed, lost, or cancelled.
"The projected loss of observing capability will have profound consequences on science and society, from weather forecasting to responding to natural hazards," said Dennis Hartmann, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "Our ability to measure and understand changes in Earth's climate and life support systems will also degrade."
The report comes five years after the NRC published "Earth Science and Applications From Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond," a decadal survey that generated consensus recommendations from the earth and environmental science and applications community for a renewed program of earth observations. The new report finds that although the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) responded favorably and aggressively to the decadal survey, the required budget was not achieved, greatly slowing progress. Changes in program scope without commensurate funding, directed by the Office of Management and Budget and by Congress, also slowed progress. A further impediment, the report says, is the absence of a highly reliable and affordable medium-class launch capability.
Despite these challenges, NASA has been successful in launching some of the missions in development when the survey report was published. It has also made notable progress in establishing the "Venture-class" program, as recommended in the decadal survey. The suborbital program and the airborne science program are additional areas where significant progress is being made. In accord with the decadal survey's recommendations, NASA also aggressively pursued international partnerships to mitigate shortfalls and stretch resources.
In the near term, the report concludes, budgets for NASA's earth science program will remain inadequate to meet pressing national needs. Therefore the agency should focus on two necessary actions: defining and implementing a cost-constrained approach to mission development, and identifying and empowering a cross-mission earth system science and engineering team to advise on the execution of decadal survey missions.
The report also reviews the state of NOAA's satellite earth observation program, an integral part of the decadal survey's overall strategy and tied to the success of NASA's program. Budget shortfalls and cost overruns in NOAA's next generation of polar environmental satellites account for the slow rate of progress. An interagency framework, recommended in the decadal survey to assist NASA and NOAA in optimizing resources, has yet to be realized. This framework is even more crucial now that both agencies face fiscal constraints, and its importance is reiterated in the present report.
To read the 122-page report, go to: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13405
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related research and development (R&D) issues for ASME. He can be reached at: fakesp@asme.org
THE ARTICLES CONTAINED IN CAPITOL UPDATE ARE NOT POSITIONS OF ASME OR ANY OF
ITS SUB-ENTITIES, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY NOTED AS SUCH. THIS PUBLICATION IS DESIGNED
TO INFORM ASME MEMBERS ABOUT ISSUES OF CONCERN BEING DEBATED AND DISCUSSED IN
THE HALLS OF CONGRESS, IN THE STATES, AND IN THE FEDERAL AGENCIES.
EDITOR: Mary James Legatski, ASME Government Relations, 1828 L Street, NW, Suite 810, Washington, DC 20036-5104.