SSTI Digest

Dr. Jack Gibbons, the President's science advisor and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, announced late last week that he will resign effective March 15. Dr. Neal Lane, the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been nominated by President Clinton to replace Gibbons. Replacing Lane at NSF will be Dr. Rita Colwell, the president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Colwell was nominated earlier this year to become deputy director of NSF. Indications are that Dr. Joseph Bordogna, who has been acting deputy director, will continue in that capacity for the near term.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge recently announced the release of The Technology 21 Report — The Keystone Spirit: Putting Technology to Work. Commissioned by Ridge and the Ben Franklin/IRC Partnership Board, the Technology 21 initiative is an industry-led project that will implement a comprehensive technology policy for Pennsylvania.

The Washington Technology Center (WTC) is seeking an Executive Director. WTC is the state of Washington's enterprise for joint industry-university technology development partnerships. The Center supports technologies for industry application for Washington companies in the areas of advanced materials and manufacturing, biotechnology/biomedical devices, computer systems and microelectronics.

On Monday, the Clinton Administration released its detailed budget proposal for FY99 that requests a 2.57% increase in research and development funding. The FY99 budget proposal calls for increasing spending on R&D to roughly $78.16 billion, up $1.96 billion from FY98.

The Clinton Administration has announced initiatives to finance computer training and retraining programs to meet the dramatically increasing demand for Information Technology (IT) workers. The announcement occurred at the National Information Technology Workforce Convocation, an event to facilitate broad-based solutions to the worker shortage.

The United States could be on the verge of a major resurgence in the funding of research and development (R&D), according to the annual forecast by Battelle Memorial Institute and R&D Magazine. R&D spending in 1998 is expected to reach more than $215 billion, a 4.66 percent increase over the $206 billion that the National Science Foundation estimates was spent in 1997. The prediction comes after years of stagnation in R&D spending.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Advanced Technology Program (ATP) has launched a new Internet website entitled the ATP Alliance Network. The website is designed to aid organizations interested in applying for an ATP Joint Venture award.

Dr. Rita R. Colwell, the current President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a former member of the National Science Board, has been nominated by President Clinton to serve as the next deputy director of the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Rita R. Colwell, the current President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a former member of the National Science Board, has been nominated by President Clinton to serve as the next deputy director of the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Walter Plosila has joined Battelle Memorial Institute as Vice President, Public Technology Management. He served most recently as the executive director of the North Carolina Alliance for Competitive Technologies (NC ACTs).

Joseph Magno, the executive director of the New York State Science and Technology Foundation, has resigned his position. He has accepted a position with the State University of New York Research Foundation.

Dr. Robert Center has retired. Dr. Center was the executive director of the Washington Technology Center.