SSTI Digest

A complete description of this opportunity and others is available at http://www.ssti.org/posting.htm. The U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes international scientific and technical collaboration, is seeking a program manager for its Partner Development Program. The ideal candidate for this position is a highly motivated individual with a background in business development, marketing or international business who can network with U.S. industry and pursue new U.S. and Russian partner development opportunities. A bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience is required; a master's degree is preferred. Candidates also must have 2-4 years of prior work experience managing projects, with specific expertise in one or more of three fields: business development, marketing or international business.

Chris Copenhaver, an employee of the Department of Economic Development in Roanoke, Va., was named the city's first entrepreneurial specialist.

Many Digest stories in recent years have described the actions of states and regions to build a stronger educational foundation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The National Science Board (NSB), the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation, released its recommendations to improve the ability of all American students to receive the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully participate in the workforce of the future. In A National Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education System, NSB describes two central challenges of equal importance that form the core of their actionable steps: (1) Ensure a coherent STEM education system throughout the entire country, and (2) ensure that U.S. students are educated by well qualified and highly effective teachers.  

Virginia could capitalize on its strong energy R&D foundation of universities, federal laboratories and businesses through coordination among research activities and by creating a consistent funding stream for federal R&D funding and technology commercialization, finds a new state energy plan released last week.   Mandated by SB 262 from the 2006 General Assembly, the Virginia Energy Plan outlines specific goals and recommendations that set forth energy policy for the Commonwealth over the next 10 years. Under the plan, the state will reduce the rate of growth in energy use by 40 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent and seek to increase in-state energy production by 20 percent. The plan also calls for expanding consumer energy education and increased R&D within the areas of nuclear technologies, alternate transportation fuels, coastal energy production, and carbon capture and storage.

The deepest mine in the U.S. has been selected by the National Science Foundation as site of its Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. Also known as the “Homestake” in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the site contains 375 miles of tunnels, some extending more than 8,000 feet into the earth. Why build a national laboratory with some components more than a mile below the earth’s surface? Because the unique environment deep under the earth allows for some very interesting experiments to occur. In the field of particle physics for example, thousands of feet of rock can be used to shield equipment from the cosmic rays that make particle detection difficult. In microbiology, tiny organisms living without sunlight miles below the surface with the ability to degrade waste and produce energy can be observed and studied. And in the earth sciences, geophysical characteristics of the earth’s crust including thermal properties and tectonic stresses can be further explored.

The National Science Foundation has released the 2004 results of its annual survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development series. The report provides a breakdown of federal R&D obligations by R&D and R&D plant for federal agency, type of performer, character of work, field of science and engineering, and geography. Estimates for 2005 and 2006 obligations are included for most statistical tables, with the exception of geographic distribution of funds. The most recent data available by state is for fiscal year 2004. Securing more federal R&D funds captivates significant attention from many state TBED initiatives. Tables 128-131 provide historical data by state from 1985-2004.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) projects U.S. spending for R&D in 2006 will be 6 percent higher than it was in 2005, once all figures are compiled for all sources of funds surveyed: industry, the federal government, universities, colleges and other nonprofit institutions. (Note: State sources of funds are captured only through the separate surveys of industrial and university performers.) Total 2006 U.S. R&D expenditures are expected to surpass $342.9 billion, up $19 billion from 2005.

Browsing the business section of a bookstore may yield dozens of titles purporting to explain the process of innovation. This newsletter and most others serving the nation’s policymakers and science and technology communities have covered reports calling for a national innovation strategy. Unfortunately, most meetings on the subject have to begin by developing a working definition of the term innovation that most can accept. The use or overuse of the word, particularly in calls for needing more of it or business books on how to do it, threatens to reduce innovation to a meaningless buzzword that loses hope of having any real value.   Fortunately, slightly removed from political circles, there are those interested in understanding the basis of innovation and discovery with a scientific grounding. The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released the proceedings of an August 2006 workshop exploring what is known about how innovation and discovery occurs on the individual and team level. The panelists' conclusion? Not much, particularly related to understanding engineering and design.

The American science and technology workforce is undergoing a major demographic shift. A report issued last week by the National Science Foundation shows that more women are participating in university science and engineering (S&E) programs than ever before. The biannual NSF report, entitled Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering, provides a broad overview of demographic trends within university S&E programs. In 2007, the report's overriding theme is that although U.S. science and technology fields remain predominantly male, trends at the university-level indicate this may be changing.  

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the 2005 statistics for science and engineering (S&E) doctorate awards. Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2005 details trends in doctorate awards by S&E field and recipient characteristics, institutions awarding doctorates, and postgraduation plans of recipients. Using NSF and U.S. Census Bureau data, SSTI has prepared a table providing state ranking for doctorate awards by major field and state rankings for the total S&E doctorates awarded per 100,000 residents. The top five states in 2005 for total S&E doctorates awarded per 100,000 residents are the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware and Maryland. SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/010807t.htm NSF’s Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards: 2005 is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07305/

The number of doctorates awarded in the U.S. within science and engineering (S&E) fields reached an all-time high in 2005, according to a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) issue brief. After the previous high of 27,273 S&E doctorates awarded in 1998, the number decreased for four years until 2002, and has steadily increased the past three years to the 2005 number of 27,974 Ph.D. graduates.   NSF’s Division of Science Resources Statistics reports that several groups, including women and non-U.S. citizens, also received a record number of S&E doctorates in 2005. In fact, from 2001 to 2005, S&E doctorates awarded to non-citizens increased by 25 percent, which accounted for almost all of the recent growth in the number of total doctorates awarded. The issue brief indicates there is little evidence of a decline of non-citizen S&E doctorate attainment since the terrorist attacks in September 2001.  

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a total of $76 million over the next five years to fund multi-university collaborations to support four cross-disciplinary centers to address fundamental questions in the areas of next-generation polymers, climate modeling, microbial oceanography and coastal environments. With the new awards, NSF currently supports 17 Science and Technology Centers that involve nearly 100 academic institutions, national laboratories, industrial organizations or other entities. The centers build intellectual and physical infrastructures within and between disciplines, and bring together the creation, integration, and transfer of new knowledge to the mainstream and industrial communities. Centers offer the research and engineering community an effective mechanism to undertake long-term scientific and technological research and education activities, to explore better and more effective ways to educate students and to develop mechanisms to ensure the timely transition of research and education advances into service in society.