SSTI Digest

The Administration's FY 2002 budget request of $7.3 billion is $56 million, or 0.08 percent, higher than the FY 2001 appropriation. Funding for EPA science programs would be cut by $27 million or nine percent. Highlights of specific programs within the science budget include: Human Health Research -- $50.81 million (decrease of 0.3 percent from FY 2001) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program -- $32.99 million (increase of 12 percent over FY 2001) Pollution Prevention Tools and Technologies -- $21.89 million (cut of 11 percent from FY 2001) Regional Science and Technology -- $3.59 million (47.5 percent cut from FY 2001 levels) Environmental Technology Verification -- $3.62 million (42.5 percent cut from FY 2001)

The Administration’s budget request includes a 13.8 percent increase of $2.8 billion in biomedical research within the National Institutes of Health. Not to be outdone, the Senate has already passed a budget resolution calling for an additional $700 million in NIH funding for FY 2002.

Total funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is reduced by $9.7 million or 0.3 percent over FY 2001 levels. A new $80 million Community Technology Centers initiative within the CDBG program budget will provide competitive grants to support the development and expansion of technology centers in high poverty urban areas. The budget request says the new centers will enhance the Dept. of Education's Community Technology Centers program and will build off of the 680+ Neighborhood Networks, a community-based HUD program that encourages the development of resource and computer learning centers in privately owned HUD-assisted and/or -insured housing. Budget language has been deleted that required $44 million of CDBG funding go toward initiatives to stimulate investment and encourage economic diversification and community revitalization in distressed neighborhoods. The Administration's FY 2002 budget request includes $150 million for Round II Urban Empowerment Zones.

The Administration's $14.5 billion request for NASA reflects an increase of just under two percent over the FY 2001 appropriations. While funding for the Science, Aeronautics and Technology unit of the budget would grow from $7.067 billion in FY 2001 to $7.192 billion in FY 2002, the distribution of funding across areas within the unit shifts: Space Science -- $2.786 billion (6.16 percent increase over FY 2001) Biological & Physical Research -- $360.9 million (4.73 percent decrease from FY 2001) Earth Science -- $1.515 billion (11.72 percent decrease from FY 2001) Aerospace Technology -- $2.3776 billion (7.28 percent increase over FY 2001) Academic Programs -- $153.7 million (15.83 percent increase over FY 2001) Commercial Technology Programs within the Science, Aeronautics and Technology includes Commercial Programs, Technology Transfer Agents, and the Small Business Innovation Research program. Requested funding for the unit in FY 2002 total $146.9 million, a decrease of $15.5 million over FY 2001.

NSF would receive $4.47 billion dollars in FY2002, up $56.1 million (or 1.3 percent) from FY2001 under the President’s budget request. S&T highlights are: Math and Science Partnerships Initiative - $200 million new initiative, part of the President’s No Child Left Behind plan to strengthen and reform K-12 education. Partnerships between state and local school districts and institutions of higher education will provide students with enhanced opportunities to perform to high standards in math and science. Nanoscale Science and Engineering - $174 million (up 16 percent from last year) to explore phenomena at molecular and atomic scales and new techniques to facilitate a broad range of applications. Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) - $100 million same as FY 01 level. Science and Technology Centers - $26 million to initiate a new group of centers in topics across the range of disciplines supported by NSF. Centers and Networks of Excellence - $29.39 million to support four new research and education centers, a multidisciplinary…

The Administration's budget request eliminates the New Markets Venture Capital Program, the New Markets and the Venture Capital Technical Assistance Grants. The programs are designed to increase access to equity capital and technical assistance to women, minorities and to businesses located in low- and moderate-income rural areas and inner cities. The SBA budget also eliminates BusinessLINC, a New Markets initiative linking large and small businesses in mentoring and direct technical assistance relationships. Other potentially technology-relevant highlights include: Continuation funding of $3.5 million and $1.5 million respectively for the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) and the Rural Outreach Programs, both of which support state efforts to encourage small business technology development and commercialization  $88 million for Small Business Development Centers, while also requiring the SBDCs charge fees for services The Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program is to become self-financing through increased fees (…

The FY 2002 budget for Transportation proposes $59.5 billion, the highest funding level in the Department’s history. A summary of research and technology related programs follows: Federal Aviation Administration - $188 million including $53 million for continued research in aircraft structures and materials and $50 million for explosive detection and other security research. The remaining $85 million would be used in weather information, resolution of environmental issues, human factors, safety issues and support of FAA laboratories. Federal Highway Administration - $253.2 million for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) (32 percent above FY 2001); $135 million for ITS to accelerate rural, regional, and commercial motor vehicle deployment; and $118.2 million for ITS standards, research, operational tests, and development. National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration - $57 million for research and analysis activities such as the National Transportation Biomechanics Research Center, crash avoidance research, and other statistics tracking and safety research…

Whether it is "pink slip parties" in San Diego, the Washington DC beltway, or Chicago to encourage networking and placement of laid-off information technology (IT) workers or Wall Street analysts lamenting the condition of the tech-related stocks, much of the talk in the IT hot spots of the U.S. has been doom and gloom. Many other areas of the country, though, whose economies do not have a preponderance of dot-com companies that went bust are still trying hard to educate and retain IT workers. The spin of the stories and headlines on the release of When Can You Start?, the latest IT employment survey from the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) gives some indication of the perceived condition of local IT worker situations. Demand for new IT workers is down from last year -- way down. The good news is the gap or shortage between workers needed and those available is shrinking quickly -- very quickly. Only the executive summary of ITAA's report has been released so far, but the more salient findings include: Total projected IT…

The latest Issue Brief from the National Science Foundation (NSF) shows research and development (R&D) expenditures remain heavily concentrated in a few states. Ten states -- California, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Maryland -- account for nearly two-thirds of national R&D investments. With the exception of California, which can claim one-fifth of the nation's R&D activity, there has been some movement in rankings of the top ten in the last four NSF reports: State 1998 1997 1995 1993 California 1 1 1 1 New York 2 3 3 2 Michigan 3 2 2 3 Massachusetts 4 5 4 4 New Jersey 5 4 5 5…

The Council on Competitiveness has received a $2.3 million federal grant to support the establishment of BEST, a new nonprofit organization designed to turn around the critical shortage of women and minorities in the high technology workforce. The National Science Foundation awarded the grant, which includes funds from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the U. S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce-NIST, Defense, and Energy. BEST (Building Engineering and Science Talent) will implement the recommendations of the Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology Development. The bipartisan commission conducted a 16-month assessment of gender, racial, and ethnic imbalance in the nation’s technological workforce. The commission found white males – 40 percent of the nation’s overall workforce – occupying 68 percent of all science, engineering, and technology jobs, while white women, at 35 percent of the national workforce, hold only 15 percent of these jobs. African-…

The state-by-state results for the 2000 SBIR Phase II awards are presented on the accompanying webpage — as reported individually by 9 of the 10 participating federal agencies and compiled by SSTI. NASA awards will not be made until this fall. Totals may not reflect new awards or cancellations made by an agency after the initial award announcements. Abstract information for funded SBIR projects may be obtained on each agency’s SBIR website or by calling the federal agencies directly. Agency web sites are available on SSTI’s resource page. The SBIR Phase II table for 2000 is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/040601t2.htm

President Bush is nominating Floyd Kvamme as co-chair of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST). Mr. Kvamme is a Partner with Kleiner Perkins, a high-tech venture capital firm based in California. The President is nominating Bruce P. Mehlman to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy. Mr. Mehlman has served as Telecommunications Policy Counsel for Cisco Systems since 1999. Before joining Cisco Systems he was General Counsel and Policy Director for the House Republican Conference and served as General Counsel for the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1996 to 1999. For the Department of Agriculture, President Bush is nominating Iowa-resident Tom Dorr to be Under Secretary for Rural Development. The office oversees the USDA's economic development and digital divide programs. The President also intends to nominate Joseph J. Jen to be Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. The NIST Advanced Technology Program recently announced several …