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Last week, in contrast to the mid-April House and Senate approval of a budget resolution that is projected to result in a double digit decline in federal R&D spending by 2004, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved the Federal Research Investment Act, which would double federal basic research funding over an eleven-year period. S. 296 establishes a long-term plan for federal funding of fundamental, scientific, and pre-competitive engineering.

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Cheryl Lyman, policy analyst with the State Science and Technology Institute, will be leaving SSTI today to accept a position with the Ohio Department of Commerce as its fiscal officer. Cheryl has worked with SSTI since its opening in 1996. We wish her well in her new position!

Robert Templin, president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), has resigned. Wolfgang Tolle, managing director, has been named acting president. Patsy Brown, CIT's director of public affairs, also has left CIT.

Steve Jarvis resigned as the director of California Trade and Commerce's Office of Strategic Technology. Jeff Newman has been named as acting director.

Marty Grueber has left the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council (RIEPC) to join Battelle Memorial Institute and the Environmental Technology Commercialization Center. Beth Ashman Collins has been named director of research at RIEPC.

John Dougherty resigned his position with the Illinois Coalition to accept a job in the private sector.

Kate Latta Hoffher, senior public affairs specialist with the National Science Foundation's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, is on detail to NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) until the end of July.

Terri Adams is serving as Chief of the Science, Technology and Energy Division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Martha McInnis resigned from ADECA in January.

U.S. dominance as a source of technology for other economies is in serious trouble, according to "R&D Trends in the U.S. Economy: Strategies and Policy Implications," a new report by Gregory Tassey, senior economist with the Strategic Planning and Economic Analysis Group of the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST).

An interagency task force of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has released its findings on the state of the science and technology partnership between the federal government and universities.

The United States Innovation Partnership (USIP) reported on a recent roundtable discussion on the 21st Century Economy. The topic of the discussion was the role of states in science and technology. The roundtable highlighted "best practices" in technology-based economic development in five states (Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Utah, and Pennsylvania).

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds selected Richard Benda as the new Secretary for the Department of Tourism and State Development.

Bob Dayton was named president of the Delaware BioScience Association.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds selected Richard Benda as the new Secretary for the Department of Tourism and State Development.

Bob Dayton was named president of the Delaware BioScience Association.

Effective in May, Ken Janoski will be the president and CEO of BioGenerator, a nonprofit in St. Louis that helps scientists commercialize their discoveries.

Medical Alley and MNBIO, two organizations that merged in 2005 to promote medical sciences in Minnesota, have changed their name LifeScience Alley.

The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development appointed Christine Plater as its new director of small business programs.

The South Dakota Biotech Industry Association, a new resource for biotech companies in the state, has formed.

The Mid-America Commercialization Corporation (Manhattan, Kansas) announced that the Eaton Corporation is donating a substantial portfolio of patented technologies for the benefit of the corporation and Kansas State University.

The number of technology degrees awarded have declined by 5 percent since 1990, according to a new report issued by the American Electronics Association (AEA). The one area in which there has been a significant increase in degrees conferred is business information systems, which increased by 24 percent.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced two new programs to assist small businesses.

Y2K Loans

SBA will begin accepting applications in early May for a loan program to help small businesses with problems related to the date change from 1999 to 2000 (Y2K).

In what could be the beginning of a new trend in state economic development incentive/inducements, bills receiving bi-partisan support in the Michigan and Delaware state legislatures would address businesses= needs for more technically skilled workers by having the states pick up the students' tab for community college tuition and technical training.

The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) is seeking a chief executive officer. OCAST's statutory mandate is to contribute to the public policy goals of expanding and diversifying Oklahoma=s economy, providing new and higher quality jobs to improve Oklahoma's per capita income and encouraging the development of new products, new processes, and whole new industries in Oklahoma. The full description can be found on the SSTI homepage at http://www.ssti.org

Science, technology and workforce development are prominent themes in the plans 42 governors outlined for their states, according to the latest SSTI Issue Brief, Science & Technology in the States: Excerpts from the 1999 Governors' Addresses.  The publication provides a collection of 109 research, workforce development and technology-related quotes from 1999 Inaugural Addresses, State of the State Addresses, and Budget Addresses by the governors.