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Lee Cheatham announced he is leaving his position as executive director of the Washington Technology Center and has accepted the position of operations director at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Chris Coleman, WTC's current CFO and director of business operations, has been selected to serve as interim executive director for the organization.

Congressional conferees on the FY10 Consolidated Appropriations Act picked the higher funding level between the House and Senate versions of the FY10 budget on many line items of interest to the TBED community. Despite its high-wage job potential, direct support for innovation-based regional growth strategies is not as easy to come by in the federal budget as is money for conventional economic development/infrastructure projects. That said, the most adaptable source of funding – the Economic Development Administration – received a $20 million increase over last year’s appropriations, excluding ARRA funds. Included in the $293 million appropriation is language encouraging EDA to support climate change mitigation and regional cluster initiatives. Highlights from the appropriation language [Emphasis added.]:

The FY10 Consolidated Appropriations Act that passed Congress during the past week includes $124.7 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and $69.9 million for the Technology Innovation Partnership (TIP). Both initiatives are within the National Institute of Standards & Technology. MEP is a nationwide network of centers that strives to make U.S. manufacturers leaner, more competitive and more innovative. The partnership centers are funded by industry, states and NIST. TIP competitively funds high-impact applied research in areas of critical national need. February 15 is the next suggested deadline for submission of white papers to shape future TIP solicitations. More information is available at: http://www.nist.gov/tip/call_for_white_papers_sept09.pdf.

The program has not been authorized yet, but that did not stop Congress from including $2 million in the FY10 Consolidated Appropriations Act for the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program (FAST). The funding, tucked in one sentence of the conference report for the Small Business Administration appropriations, will provide grants to state-based SBIR/STTR outreach and assistance programs on a competitive basis. Enabling legislation for FAST is contained in SBIR’s Reauthorization, which has been stalled in contentious conference negotiations for several months.

SBA’s appropriation also includes funding for 80 additional full-time staff at the Administration, $113 million for the Small Business Development Centers, and $10 million for a proposed Entrepreneurial Development Initiative (EDI). Within 45 days of enactment of the budget, the Administrator is to submit a spending plan for EDI to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for their approval prior to making any awards.

More information is available at: http://appropriations.house.gov/FY2010_consolidated.shtml.

To help train future scientists and support cutting-edge research in health and environmental issues, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is recommending $109.5 million in the FY11 capital budget for the University of Alaska Life Sciences Facility in Fairbanks. The multi-purpose teaching and research facility would house the Department of Biology and Wildlife and accommodate a wide-range of research programs, reports Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The proposal hinges on legislative approval of $88.9 million in financing through certificates of participation and $20.6 million in bond financing through the University of Alaska for construction, according to the governor’s press office. Read more at: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=5191.

To keep alive the underground deep science laboratory, a National Science Foundation (NSF) research priority for scientific discovery in geophysics, Gov. Mike Rounds is asking lawmakers to approve $5.4 million in special appropriations for bridge funding through May 2011. During his budget presentation to the legislature last week, Gov. Rounds told lawmakers the $35 million allocated toward the effort in 2004 and 2005 would run out this month and $250 million in anticipated NSF funding would not be available until 2011. South Dakota’s Homestake gold mine was selected by NSF in 2007 as the site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, which extends more than 8,000 ft. into the earth (see the July 18, 2007 issue of the Digest).

Gov. Rounds’FY11 budget also recommends $970,000 for the creation of a Ph.D. program in Physics, complementing the mission of the Sanford Underground Laboratory. Funding for both requests totaling $6.4 million would come from other fund special appropriations, according to budget documents.

Three University of Idaho agricultural research and extension centers slated for possible closure this month due to budget cuts will remain open through June following monetary pledges from industry groups. Last week, the state Board of Education accepted a $1.5 million offer from the J.R. Simplot Co. allowing the Parma Extension and Research Center to remain open for the next five years in return for up to half of the center’s 100 acres of cropland and other facilities for the company’s own research, reports The Idaho Statesman. University officials also announced additional industry contributions will allow two other centers facing closure in Sandpoint and Tetonia to remain open through June 30. The Idaho Legislature reduced the state appropriation to the Agriculture Research Extension Service budget by 11.5 percent in FY09 due to declining state revenues, and in September, Gov. Butch Otter ordered an additional 6 percent cut. The centers conduct field crop research to create more efficient processes for growers across the state.

In an effort to spur greentech innovation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has announced that the next 3,000 green technology patent filings will be eligible for an accelerated review process. About 25,000 pending applications will also be eligible for the pilot program, which could shave as much as a year off the process. Read more at: http://www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2009/09_33.jsp.

Recent college graduates may be thinking otherwise as their unemployment rate is twice what it was two years ago, but &#quot;nearly 75 percent of future jobs will require a postsecondary degree or certificate,&#quot; according to Increasing College Success: A Road Map for Governors. The 14-page issue brief by the National Governors Association outlines four steps states can take to help improve the nation’s international ranking of 12th in college success rates. Examples are provided for each step: 1) improve student’s readiness for college and careers; 2) support students during college to keep them on a degree-track; 3) remove barriers for transferring between two-year and four-year colleges; and, 4) experiment with performance-based funding.  Read more at: http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0912INCREASINGCOLLEGESUCCESS.PDF

The Kansas Bioscience Authority - Heartland Bio Ventures, and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation are jointly recruiting for a federal research funding specialist. This new position will provide professional management counseling and technical business assistance to early-stage Kansas companies in the area of SBIR/STTR and technology commercialization, administer and monitor any related programs for participants, coordinate periodic training seminars and workshops, and provide mentoring and intermediary services for businesses with federal agencies and federal laboratories.

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Carl Bauer is retiring from federal service and leaving the National Energy Technology Laboratory effective Feb. 28, following a four-year tenure as the laboratory’s director.

Joining the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse as executives in residence are Maureen Peszko and Michael Lang. Pierre Queiroz de Oliveira will be joining the program as an executive associate.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has tapped Gwyn Riddick, director of its Piedmont Triad Office, to lead a new statewide agricultural biotechnology initiative as the vice president, Ag/Bio Initiative.

Outlining his budget recommendations for the 2011-12 biennium last week, Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked lawmakers to continue support for research projects funded by the state’s share of federal Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds. Using $116.1 million available for appropriation in the coming year, the governor recommends $45 million for continuation of carbon sequestration research, $17.4 million to continue operating the University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, and $14 million for the Clean Coal Technology matching grant program.

Gov. Freudenthal also recommends a reserve account in the auditor’s office of $17.5 million in general fund monies to allow continuing operation of the UW School of Energy Resources if AML funding is lost, budget documents note. Other recommendations in the UW budget include:

$985,000 for a mass spectrometer to be used for advanced energy research and related studies at the university; and, $660,000 to continue work at the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center.