SSTI Digest

NASA has identified ten government-owned inventions that have been filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and are available for licensing. Invention titles and contact information may be viewed at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/121799t.htm

Arizona Governor Jane Dee Hull has announced the formation of the Arizona Partnership for the New Economy, a 35-member steering committee appointed to purse the following goals:

Define the New Economy and its importance to Arizona; Assess Arizona’s current readiness and establish benchmarks for measuring progress; and, Develop strategies for correcting any perceived deficiencies in responding to the opportunities presented by the New Economy.

Alan Hald and Ted Ferris were named as co-chairs of the committee. Hald is co-founder of MicroAge and Ferris serves as the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff and policy advisor on economic matters. Other members of the committee come from high-tech industry, financial and investment firms, business and trade associations, academia, the media, and the general public.

On February 3, the Department of Defense will be holding a Dual Use Science and Technology (DUS&T) Investment Strategy Conference at the Superdome in New Orleans. The FY 2001 Solicitation, to be released January 18, will have approximately $60 million available to fund industry projects. The deadline for proposals will be April 28, 2000.

AT&T has made a $1 million grant to support the development of technological expertise in 13 institutions of higher education in Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia.

The grant was made to the Virtual Institute for Technology Advancement in Education and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (VITAE- HBCU). The VITAE-HBCU program is a partnership to foster collaboration between Virginia Tech and the HBCUs.

Specifically, the grant will be used to improve teaching and learning through the effective use of technology. The initiative will be funded for three years and will support faculty training for the use of information technology and the development of technology-based curricula. It will also support outreach activities by VITAE-HBCU to communities with limited technological resources.

Beginning January 7, the SSTI Weekly Digest will be distributed only by electronic mail. Fax delivery service will end with the December 31 edition.

Because the Digest is available to its readers through subscription revenues, we ask that redistribution be limited to your immediate, internal staff. Forwarding or redistributing of the Digest outside the offices of our subscribers is considered a breach of our copyright.

We retain the right to cancel any subscription when this request is violated. We are open to negotiating rights for greater redistribution.

Recent issues of the Federal Register and Commerce Business Daily (CBD) have had a number of research and technology funding announcements. Highlights for the Department of Defense include (date of publication in the CBD is provided in parentheses):

The Air Force has issued a Broad Agency Announcement for Air Base & Environmental Technology. Research proposals addressing the extensive list of topics identified in the announcement may be submitted until September 30, 2000. Projects may last up to two years. (11/17/99, CBD)

The Air Force Air Expeditionary Force Battlelab (AEFB) seeks ideas from industry and academia to demonstrate the benefits of using common interchangeable Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells in place of diesel and JP-8 fueled engines. More info can be found at: http://www.mountainhome.af.mil/aefb/contract/contract.htm   (11/15/99 CBD)

The following people in the science and technology community have made or announced career changes recently.

Jack Haenichen has been promoted to Deputy Director for the Arizona Department of Commerce.

Shaye Mandle is the new President of the Illinois Coalition.

Bill Sibley has been named as President of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Mike Irby, who has been serving as Acting President for OCAST, will be retiring at the end of the year.

Bill Todd, President of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), has announced he will leave GRA early in 2000 to join a new technology seed investment fund.

Jack Haenichen has been promoted to Deputy Director for the Arizona Department of Commerce.

Shaye Mandle is the new President of the Illinois Coalition.

Bill Sibley has been named as President of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Mike Irby, who has been serving as Acting President for OCAST, will be retiring at the end of the year.

Bill Todd, President of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), has announced he will leave GRA early in 2000 to join a new technology seed investment fund.

In addition, a couple of new faces have been added to the SSTI team. We warmly welcome Shannon Burnett as our newest Policy Analyst and Ruth Carr as our Executive Assistant.