SSTI Digest

Complete descriptions of the position openings described below are available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. Georgia Tech's Enterprise Innovation Institute is seeking someone for the position of SBIR Development Manager. For the SBIR Assistance Program, which provides development guidance for Georgia small businesses/companies, the SBIR Development Manager will aid small Georgia technology-based companies in developing commercialization plans and helping with understanding the commercial market for their product. Four to six years of job-related experience in accounting/business, engineering, supervisory/management is preferred. A master's degree also is desired.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week it will invest up to $375 million over five years in three new Bioenergy Research Centers to be located in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Madison, Wisc., and near Berkeley, Calif. The winning sites were selected through a competitive, peer-review process that began last year and included more than a dozen applicants from across the country.   Using multidisciplinary teams from several institutions, the centers' research will emphasize understanding how to reengineer biological processes to develop new, more efficient methods for converting the cellulose in plant material into ethanol or other biofuels that serve as a substitute for gasoline. DOE believes this research is critical because future biofuels production will require the use of feedstocks more diverse than corn, including cellulosic material such as agricultural residues, grasses, poplar trees, inedible plants, and nonedible portions of crops.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently named 13 more regions to receive grants through the third round of the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) program. As with the previous round of awards (see the Jan. 22, 2007 issue of the Digest), the recipients will each receive $5 million over the course of three years to integrate workforce training initiatives into a regional technology-based economic development strategy. The winners include:

With less than two weeks to go before the new fiscal year, Arizona and New Jersey lawmakers approved funding for cutting-edge research at the close of their 2007 legislative sessions last week. Following is a synopsis of the TBED initiatives slated to receive funding under the respective budget agreements.   Arizona Following several months of debate, Arizona lawmakers reached a budget agreement last week that is on target with many of Gov. Janet Napolitano’s priorities, including investments in innovation and education (see the Jan. 22, 2007 issue of the Digest).  

Last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed off on the state’s budget, but not before making substantial use of his line-item veto. Overall, the approved $151 billion FY 2008-2009 budget increases general revenue spending by $7.7 billion (11.8 percent) over the current biennium. Much of that new spending will support education in the state; however, a number of programs, particularly those connected to higher education, failed to receive the governor’s approval.   In all, Gov. Perry vetoed nearly $200 million in higher education spending. The largest of the cuts resulted from the governor’s decision to end group health insurance for faculty at the state’s community colleges. The veto is the result of a long-standing argument over whether or not the state should bear the financial responsibility for these benefits, according to a recent Austin-American Statesman article. The governor charged that many community colleges had inappropriately inflated their budget requests to receive funding for costs that should be covered by local taxes and tuition.  

Capturing an overwhelming majority of the votes needed to override Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto, the South Carolina Legislature prevailed last week in its efforts to position the state as a leader in hydrogen technology. The Hydrogen Infrastructure Development Act, S. 243, authorizes the state to offer up to $15 million over the next four years in grants for research related to hydrogen production, storage, distribution and dispensing infrastructure. The bill also offers $300 tax rebates for in-state purchases of flex- and hydrogen-fuel vehicles and up to $500 for conversion equipment purchases. The veto was overridden with a 40-2 vote in the Senate and a 99-1 vote in the House.                       

The national economy is a dynamic system, and the techniques to measure the system must be updated in order to understand its complexity, according to a recent report published by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In Understanding Business Dynamics: An Integrated Data System for America’s Future, NAS outlines steps that could be taken to properly capture pertinent information about firms, especially the young and small ones that are driving the emerging sectors of the economy. While the report primarily concentrates on the operations of federal agencies and the recording of statistics that are national in scope, it raises an alternative question: Are the states properly measuring small business dynamics?   The report’s recommendations are divided into three categories, which may be applicable to states wishing to improve their data collection systems:

Every year, the National Science Foundation releases Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in S&E, a report filled with detailed statistics about the characteristics of science and engineering graduates enrolled at U.S. institutions. Using the annual report, SSTI has prepared a table showing the total number of graduate students for each year from 2001 to 2005 in each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Additionally, each state is ranked by the percent change in science and engineering graduate enrollment from 2001 to 2005. For the U.S. as a whole, the country’s science and engineering graduate population increased by 11.5 percent over the five years. Among states, Minnesota experienced the largest increase at 61.8 percent, rising from 6,602 students in 2001 to 10,685 in 2005. North Dakota, Alaska, Idaho and Hawaii rounded out the states with the largest percent increase, all over 30 percent.

SSTI is pleased to announce that Mr. Kevin Plank, chairman and chief executive officer of Under Armour Inc., will be a keynote speaker at SSTI's 11th Annual Conference on Oct. 18-19 in Baltimore.

As a former special teams captain for the University of Maryland, Kevin Plank began to foster the idea that is now Under Armour in 1995 during his time on the football field. Tired of repeatedly changing the cotton T-shirt under his jersey as it became wet and heavy during the course of a game, he set out to develop a next-generation shirt that would remain drier and lighter and consistently perform under the most extreme conditions. 

After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, Mr. Plank has taken Under Armour from a small operation in his grandmother's basement to a company employing more than 1,000 people in just one decade. 

The following were named recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Technology:

The following were named recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Technology:

Alfred Cho, adjunct vice president of semiconductor research at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J. Dean Sicking, professor of civil engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Team in Madison, N.J. Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge, Mass. Semiconductor Research Corporation in Durham, N.C. Xerox Corporation in Stamford, Conn.

Gary Carter is stepping down as the executive director of the Tax Increment Financing Commission in Kansas City to become a senior vice president of Davenport One, a regional economic development agency in Davenport, Iowa.