More than 240 of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers, including 14 Nobel laureates, will begin sharing their passion for discovery with middle school students across the nation as a result of the “Scientists and Engineers in the Schools” program. Announced last week, the program is a new initiative of the National Science Foundation.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the world's largest organization dedicated to the improvement of science teaching, and ExxonMobil Foundation today announced a $3.9 million grant from the Foundation to expand the Building a Presence for Science initiative.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the first request for proposals under the new Partnerships for Innovation Program (PFI).

The National Science Foundation seeks applications to fill the position of Legislative Specialist (GS 301-11/12). The Legislative Specialist's work is closely related to the often-time critical flow of information about NSF programs and activities to the Congress, Congressional staff, state officials, industrial leaders, and the general public.

The South Atlantic region leads the nation in doctoral scientist and engineer employment rates, according to Characteristics of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers in the United States: 1997 (NSF 00-308), prepared by the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF completed an in-depth demographic and employment study of doctoral scientists and engineers taken from the 1997 Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR).

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has several solicitations open currently. Four opportunities of particular interest to the S&T community are highlighted below. These and additional funding opportunities from NSF can be found on a web page that conveniently lists the solicitations by deadline: http://www.nsf.gov/home/deadline/deadline.htm 

This past winter, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released most of the statistical tables compiled from the 1998 surveys of federal, academic and industrial research and development expenditures. Also included are early release tables presenting federal support for science and engineering to universities, colleges and nonprofit institutions.

Universities play a central role in supporting regional technology-based economic development and only one small federal grant program focuses each funding cycle toward new models for improving university-centered collaborative innovation strategies. The Partnership for Innovations (PFI) Program within the National Science Foundation (NSF) opened a new round of competition last week, offering funding of up to $600,000 for 10-15 successful proposals.

On Friday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released Science & Engineering Indicators 2006, an update for the nation's most significant, quantitative and neutral assessment of the health of the U.S. and international science and engineering communities.

National R&D spending increased by $10.1 billion in fiscal year 2003, according to a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) InfoBrief. The increase followed an $8.1 billion decrease in FY 2002 expenditures over the FY 2001 level, the data show.

Industrial R&D intensity — measured by the ratio of industry R&D to Gross State Product (GSP) — can be a useful S&T indicator, because it indicates the level of private sector R&D activity and standardizes the data to eliminate geographic, demographic, historical, and natural resource differences among the states. 

John Glerum, former president and CEO of Ore-Ida Foods, has been named science and technology coordinator for the Idaho Department of Commerce. Glerum also will serve as director of the new Technology and Entrepreneurial Center, to be built on the campus of Boise State University West.

The National Science Foundation has released a new set of statistical tables that show research and development (R&D) funding levels, reported by 31 federal agencies for the last three fiscal years.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has published the Science & Engineering State Profiles: 1999-2000, an online database. One-page statistical summaries are given for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, permitting calculation of per capita statistics and rankings.

Increasing globalization of research and development (R&D) and the prolific growth of information technology (IT) are major elements in a "science and engineering enterprise that is in transition," the National Science Board (NSB) reports in Science and Engineering Indicators 2000.

The National Science Foundation has released two statistical reports that present several science and engineering statistics by state: 

One of the more interesting uses of funds from the national tobacco settlement with the states, Virginia officials announced a $12 million economic development and broadband technology infrastructure initiative to serve more than 25 towns, cities and counties of rural Virginia.

Robert Templin, Jr., has been named the new president of Northern Virginia Community College, effective August 17. Templin, currently a senior fellow at the Morino Institute, was a previous president of Virginia' Center for Innovative Technology.

Virginia is one of the most connected states in the country with 5.19 million access lines, 2.76 million wireless telephone subscribers and 218,808 high-speed lines, according to a report issued by Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT).

Governor Dirk Kempthorne has announced the creation of TechConnect East, a regional science and technology office to be located at the Idaho State University Incubation Center in Pocatello, Idaho.

The National Science Foundation's Directorate for Education and Human Resources has released A Report on the Evaluation of the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. The report (NSF 99-115) was prepared under contract by the COSMOS Corporation.

Among the report's findings are:

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research has announced that approximately $22 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support 10-15 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs).

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology is seeking a new President and Chief Executive Officer. The CIT president's primary responsibility will be to assist the Secretary of Technology in implementing the Commonwealth's technology strategy by developing and directing CIT's key role in the strategy. Applications are due by June 22, 1999.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation have announced approximately $5 million will be awarded in FY 2000 for grants to support research toward "Technology for a Sustainable Environment."

Entities eligible to submit proposals include universities and not-for-profit institutions. The agencies anticipate making 20 grant awards for the solicitation in January 2000. Proposals are due July 26, 1999.

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.