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If you know any secondary school teachers or, like millions of Americans, you are heavily involved in high school graduation season right now, you know that the Class of `06 is not like the Class of `05 or the upcoming Class of '07. Assemblages of students tend to develop discernable class personalities as they march from kindergarten through grade 12, distinct and possibly very different than most of their individual personalities.

A recent survey of 343,336 of the nation's fourth and eighth graders indicates more students are performing better in mathematics, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). In the math portion of NCES' National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), large gains were shown among the lowest 10 percent of fourth grade students and most of the lower-scoring eighth grade students since the study was last conducted in 2000.

Nothing in the performance of the residential broadband market suggests that federal subsidies or other government intervention will enhance the market from the perspective of economic efficiency, concludes the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in a new report, Does the Residential Broadband Market Need Fixing? CBO prepared the report for the Senate Budget Committee, reviewing recent trends in the market for residential fast Internet access to determine whether there are impediments to the market's growth.

Alaska Technology Councils To Merge

The National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges elected University of Georgia president Michael Adams as chairman of its council of presidents.

The National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges elected University of Georgia president Michael Adams as chairman of its council of presidents.

Lizabeth Ardisana was elected Chairperson of the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the state.

Sonya Buckner has resigned her position as director of the small business incubator for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce to become vice president of special projects for the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce. Douglas Jones will assume leadership of the Montgomery Incubator.

The Chicago based Committee of 200, an organization of leading women in business, has named Diane Graham as its new chair.

The University of Minnesota Duluth Center for Economic Development has named Elaine Hansen as its new permanent director.

The winners of the Siemens Westinghouse/AAAS Competition for the Best Teen Scientists and Mathematicians of the Year were announced this week: 17-year-old Yin Li of New York City was the individual grand prize winner for his project "Characterizing the Prion Properties of a Translational Regulator Expressed in Mouse Brain." Brothers Mark and Jeffrey Scheider, 18 and 16, respectively, of South Windsor, Conn., won the grand prize in the team category for the "Simulation of the West Nile Virus u

Ken Olsen will become the new executive director of the Palouse Economic Development Council in Washington State.

Tom Wallace has stepped down as president of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.

Building on the his first economic plan, Vermont Governor James Douglas has announced a second set of proposals to retain and create jobs in the state. The governor's eight-page Creating Jobs for the 21st Century embodies several tech-based economic development elements within the four primary goals outlined below. Some of the highlights include:

The high tech economy of Massachusetts is emerging from the recent recession with its fundamental strengths in science, technology and entrepreneurship in good shape, according to the Executive Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy. Significant innovation in the state’s industries, however, is necessary to make up for the jobs lost since 2000, the index states.

The promise of high-wage jobs, increased business competitiveness and wealth creation makes the commercialization of university research a central element in the technology-based economic development strategies of many states, provinces and regions of North America.

Steve Bryant has been named the project director for the Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership in Indiana.

Patrick Rea recently was selected as administrator for the Small Business Administration's six-state region involving Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The Idaho Economic Development Association has named Jan Rogers as new president.

The Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp. has named Klaus Thiessen as its new president.

The Association of American Universities has selected Patrick White as the new director of federal relations.

Two months into the fiscal year and several federal offices of importance to the state and local tech-based economic development community are finally learning how much money they will have available in fiscal year 2004 — once the consolidated appropriations bill is signed by the President in January.

Economic Development Administration (down $2 million from 2003)

Legislation that would authorize $3.7 billion over the next four years for the National Nanotechnology Initiative awaits the President's signature, having cleared Congress before the Thanksgiving Holiday recess. The 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (S. 189) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 20, following passage in the Senate two days earlier.

The University of Southern California (USC) will serve as the first Homeland Security Center of Excellence, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last week. DHS anticipates providing USC with $12 million over the course of the next three years for studying risk analysis related to the economic consequences of terrorist threats and events.

The risks of identity theft, e-mail viruses, denial-of-service attacks, system glitches and other online hazards can make the average person's reliance on computer systems more of a leap of faith than a bond of trust. To promote research into more dependable, accountable and secure computer and network systems, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued a solicitation for the Cyber Trust program, which expects to fund up to $30 million in awards.