SSTI Digest

The National Governors' Association (NGA), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce are holding two more regional meetings to get input from state officials and others on the direction of the U.S. Innovation Partnership (USIP).

USIP is a state/federal effort to leverage science, technology, and engineering resources to achieve new economic growth, high quality jobs, and globally competitive businesses. The meetings will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 13-14, 1997 and in Kansas City, Missouri on January 23-24, 1997.

For more information, contact Tom Unruh at NGA, 202/624-7833 or tunruh@nga.org

During the past decade, the European Union (EU) invested heavily in civilian R&D by building first-class laboratories and expanding higher education in science and engineering. Its efforts, according to the Data Brief for a new National Science Foundation report, Human Resources for Science and Technology: The European Region, are narrowing the lead the U.S. holds in R&D.

For example:

Department of Defense figures show there is approximately 35 percent excess capacity in its laboratory infrastructure, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report.

The finding comes in a GAO long term study of the Department of Defense's progress in reducing infrastructure costs to offset increases in spending for readiness and weapons modernization. As part of that study, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) infrastructure and, in the fall of 1996, conducted briefings on the results. A summary of those briefings has been released as a GAO report, Defense Acquisition Infrastructure: Changes in RDT&E Laboratories and Centers.

In a continuing effort to improve the services the State Science and Technology Institute provides to its users, SSTI has made changes to its World Wide Web home page and the SSTI Weekly Digest.

The home page has moved to a new site (http://www.ssti.org) and expanded its offerings. In addition to continuing to provide access to state profiles, archived FYI messages, links to SSTI sponsors and other organizations, and technical assistance provided by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the home page will now offer:

Ohio's Edison Technology Centers generated a direct economic impact for Ohio of more than $730 million from 1992 to 1995, according to a new study prepared by Battelle Memorial Institute for the Edison Centers. The seven Edison Centers are non-profit organizations that combine state, industry and academic resources to solve industrial problems and develop new technologies.

When the impacts were traced through the economy and a multiplier was applied, the total impact on the gross state product was $1.27 billion. Battelle arrived at its results by applying its proprietary econometric model of the Ohio economy to economic data collected by the Edison Centers.

State funding during that time for the Edison Centers totaled approximately $70 million.

Along with estimating the total economic impact of the Edison Centers, the Battelle study found that the Edison Centers have:

The first recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers were announced earlier this week. The 60 winners will receive up to $500,000 over a five year period to further their research.

"The Presidential Awards are intended to recognize some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the 21st century. The Awards will foster innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, increase awareness of careers in science and engineering, give recognition to the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhance connections between fundamental research and national goals, and highlight the importance of science and technology for the nation's future," according to the National Science and Technology Council.

Criteria used by one of the largest funders of basic research to evaluate research proposals is slated to change in 1997. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is revising the criteria used to evaluate approximately 30,000 proposals per year and is seeking comments on the proposed criteria.

NSF has undertaken the process to revise the criteria because "an examination...is prudent from time to time. The current criteria have not changed since 1981, and the proposed changes are intended to make the criteria clearer to the community and to bring them more in line with the 1994 NSF Strategic Plan."

The current criteria ask reviewers to evaluate a proposal for: 1) research performance competence, 2) intrinsic merit of the research, 3) utility or relevance of the research, and 4) the effect on the infrastructure of science and engineering.

A panel of external evaluators has concluded that the National Science Foundation's State/Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (S/I/UCRC) Program supports NSF's strategic goals. The panel also found that "the development of cooperative research centers involving states, industries and NSF can be an important contributing element to maintaining and developing a competitive US industry."

The S/I/UCRC program was established in 1991 as the result of discussions between NSF and the National Governors' Association's Science and Technology Council of the States (STCS). There have been three competitions for awards and a total of 13 awards have been made. This is the first time a Committee of Visitors (COV) has evaluated the program.

U.S. Representative Robert Walker (R-PA), the retiring chairman of the House Science Committee, was recently awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal. The Medal was established in 1959 and is awarded to any person in the federal service who, by distinguished service, ability, or courage, has personally made a contribution representing substantial progress to the NASA mission in the interests of the United States. The contribution must be so extraordinary that other forms of recognition by NASA would be inadequate.

Past recipients include astronauts Alan Shepherd and John Glenn.