SSTI Digest

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) and the American Physical Society (APS) are offering qualified scientists the opportunity to spend a year on Capitol Hill as Congressional Science Fellows. The fellowships provide a mechanism for scientists to make a unique, personal contribution to national R&D policy by applying their knowledge to science-related policy matters while working as a staffer for a Member of Congress or congressional committee.



The two programs are now accepting applications for the 2000-2001 Fellowships. The application deadline is January 15, 2000. Further information on the programs, qualification requirements, and how to apply can be found on the AIP web site at: http://www.aip.org/pubinfo/ or the APS web site at: http://www.aps.org/public_affairs/fellow.html



Since 1973, APS has been one of the 20 to 30 professional scientific and engineering societies that sponsor Fellows annually under a program organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AIP has participated in the program since 1988. Two other AIP Member Societies, the American Geophysical Union and the Optical Society of America, also participate in the Fellowship program. (For information on the AGU program, see http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/congress_fellow.html   and for the OSA

program, see http://www.osa.org/aboutosa/policy/news/intro.htm .)



In 1973, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International became the first engineering society to offer a Fellows Program. Prospective candidates can find more information on the ASME program at http://www.asme.org/gric/fedfellow.html

In this off-year election, there were only a few races that are significant to the S&T community.



Democrat Paul Patton, incumbent Governor of Kentucky, easily won re-election over three contenders. Patton becomes the first Kentucky Governor to be elected to a second term since 1800.



On October 23, Louisiana Governor Mike Foster avoided a runoff election by winning 62 percent of the vote. Foster became Louisiana’s first Republican governor to be re-elected to a second term. Foster switched to the Republican party five years ago.



Meanwhile in the neighboring state of Mississippi, the governor’s race is too close to call. Republican Congressman Mike Parker and Democrat Lt. Governor Ronnie Musgrove have split the vote with two minor party candidates. Absentee ballots to be counted over the next ten days may determine the outcome. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the Mississippi House — heavily controlled by the Democrats, 86-33 — will decide the winner.



The other closely watched contests in this election were for control of the Virginia House of Delegates and the Washington House of Representatives. In Virginia, Republicans captured the House to secure control of both legislative chambers and the Governorship for the first time since Reconstruction. The Washington House of Representatives will remain tied 49-49.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made a first round of grants to researchers at 31 institutions nationwide under a new program enabling talented graduate students and advanced undergraduates in science, mathematics, engineering and technology to serve as teaching fellows in K-12 schools.



The grants, made under the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program, will go to institutions in 24 states from New York to Hawaii, as well as Puerto Rico. The multi-year awards were made after reviewing proposals from 157 institutions in 46 states. Collectively, the 31 new grants, totaling $13.4 million for the first year, will fund about 300 graduate and 100 undergraduate students annually.



Planned as a pilot effort in 1999, the program received such a positive response from colleges and universities that NSF allocated more funds than originally planned. A formal program has been requested and approved by Congress as part of NSF's 2000 budget.



Graduate students in the GK-12 program will receive annual stipends of $18,000, plus a cost-of- education allowance. Undergraduate students will receive as much as $5,000 per academic year, plus up to an additional $5,000 for service in the summer.



Academic institutions that offer graduate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering and technology can apply for two to three-year awards ranging from $200,000 up to $500,000 per year. The institutions are responsible for selecting the teaching fellows.



The accompanying table, http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/110599t.htm,   presents the awards for 1999. For more information on the program, contact Sonia Ortega at (703)306-1697 or by e-mail sortega@nsf.gov  

The House of Representatives approved an amendment to H.R. 2, the Student Results Act, that would require all states to develop standards and testing requirements for science education. Similar standards and testing requirements already exist for math and reading. The amendment to add the words “and science” to the list of standards and testing requirements in section 1111 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was offered by Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers (R-Michigan) and Congressman Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin). As written, the new requirements take effect for the 2005-06 school year, allowing districts time to meet the new standards.



H.R. 2 now advances to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions for its consideration. The bill can be downloaded through: http://thomas.loc.gov/  

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) seeks proposals that support innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship programs in U.S. colleges and universities. Through December 1999, NCIIA will award $400,000 in grants to faculty and students of member institutions. The next deadline is December 15, 1999.



The NCIIA is interested in proposals for courses and projects which further the concept of E-Teams. E-Teams (the "E" stands for "excellence" and "entrepreneurship") are groups of students, faculty, and professionals who join together to pursue the development of an idea, product, or invention, or to solve a problem in a way that has the promise of developing an enterprise that will generate jobs and social benefits.



NCIIA offers two types of grants:

The North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) will host a six-state regional conference promoting three federal business technology investment programs: the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, the Advanced Technology Program (ATP), and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program.



All ten federal agencies participating in SBIR will make presentations and have representatives available for one-on-one sessions with conference attendees. ATP will be the focus of a plenary session led by Marc Stanley, ATP Associate Director for Policy & Operations.



The two-day event will be held December 14-15 in Research Triangle Park, NC, and was developed and promoted in cooperation with Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina. The event also is supported by the Department of the Navy and the NC Biotechnology Center.



More information on the conference and the SBTDC can be found at http://www.sbtdc.org  or by contacting Kay Etzler at ketzler@sbtdc.org .

The Air Force Dual Use Science & Technology Program (DUS&T) will be holding a pre-solicitation conference to provide businesses an opportunity to participate in the process of generating topics for the Air Force DUS&T solicitation to be released in January.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded almost $13 million in grants for distance learning and telemedicine projects in rural areas of 34 states and Puerto Rico. The announcement was made on the 50th anniversary of the program. Since the program’s inception, $11 billion in loans and grants have been made, resulting in more than 1 million miles of phone lines and thousands of miles of optic cable being laid.

The Economic Development Administration has funded the creation of EconData.Net (http://www.econdata.net/), a website providing a searchable database with approximately 400 links to web-related socioeconomic data resources. EconData.Net provides a single site for referencing many materials used for developing science and technology indices or for comparing a state or region’s economic posture with other jurisdictions.



More than 300 information links are sorted across ten subject categories, including:

The Florida legislature recently approved legislation creating the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI), an independent, industry-led organization designed to coordinate the space-related research capabilities of several public and private universities. FSRI will strive to expand the universities’ involvement in space research and education, and to insure that state academic resources are available to support the space-related needs of industry, NASA, and the military.

The U.S. Department of Education has selected 40 awards for the Community Technology Centers program, a new federal initiative to promote the development of model programs that demonstrate the educational effectiveness of technology in urban and rural areas and economically distressed communities. Community Technology Centers provide access to information technology and related learning services to children and adults.

Pennsylvania’s $187 million investment in the Ben Franklin Partnership boosted the state’s economy by $2.9 billion between 1989 and 1996, according to a new economic impact study. A Record of Achievement: The Economic Impact of the Ben Franklin Partnership concludes that between 1989 and 1996 the Ben Franklin Partnership achieved the following: