SSTI Digest

"How we view -- and treat -- the environment is a critical question for the 21st century," begins the letter from Eamon Kelly, chair of the National Science Board, that accompanies Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation. The study outlines the scope of the $600 million in current NSF environmental activities and conveys policy guidance for NSF to design a future $1.6 billion portfolio of programs and initiatives. Twelve recommendations are described in detail, including, in addition to the increased funding for NSF: 

The U. S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration (TA) has announced the establishment of a joint public-sector private-sector Technology Demonstration Center. The purpose of the Center will be to demonstrate state-of-the-art and future technological advances in a variety of technologies and to encourage future development. The Center is a joint activity, conducted under the auspices of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements between TA and one or more private sector parties. TA will not be providing financial assistance through the center. Nor will the center be used for sales of merchandise, solicitations, orders or for the advertisement of specific products or services. The Center will be physically located at the United States Department of Commerce's Herbert C. Hoover Building, in Washington D.C. 

Companies seeking venture capital investments through the Great Midwest Venture Capital Conference have until August 25 to apply for consideration. The conference, this year taking place October 30-31 in Knoxville, Tennessee, annually draws around 200 investors and other financial professionals. The tenth annual event is organized by the Indiana Business Modernization and Technology Corporation and Technology 2020, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

Additional information on the event can be found at: http://www.gmvcc.com 

The National Institutes of Health, the Departments of Energy, and the Navy have announced a total of 46 inventions available for license. The invention titles, descriptions, and contact information is provided on the following SSTI web page: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/081800t.htm 

With significant emphasis on academic research and commercialization, the New York Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR) has provided Governor George Pataki its first strategic plan. The $130 million NYSTAR, which absorbed the functions of the NY State Science and Technology Foundation, was formed in 1999 as a result of the state’s Jobs 2000 legislation (see the 12/3/99 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest). 

The plan calls for several new academic initiatives: 

The next U.S. supercomputing system operating at speeds well beyond a trillion calculations per second will reside at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) through an expected $45-million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Last week, the National Science Board (NSB), NSF's governing body, authorized the three-year award following a national competition. Pending negotiations between NSF and PSC, the Terascale Computing System (TCS) would begin operation in February 2001, reaching peak performance by the end of that year. 

The TCS will be incorporated into the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure program as a third leading-edge site, joining the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Urbana, Illinois and the San Diego Supercomputer Center in California. Computational scientists and engineers across the U.S. will access the TCS through a nationwide grid of research networks. 

Ten multi-state consortia have been selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education through the FY 2000 competition of the Eisenhower Regional Mathematics and Science Education Consortia Program. Each consortia will receive $1.47 million in the first year and $1.475 million annually for years 2-5 of the award. 

The consortia program supports a regional and national technical assistance and dissemination system that focuses on mathematics and science education to help build the capacity of states and schools to implement their school reform initiatives. Grantees also help coordinate federal, state and local education plans and activities, and assist educators to adopt, adapt and implement promising and exemplary practices for improving teaching and learning. 

The awardees are: 

The Department of Energy has posted its selections for Phase I and Phase II awards under the FY 2000 competition of the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. SSTI has been unable to obtain proposal statistics from DOE. Lists of the SBIR Phase I and Phase II awards can be found at: http://sbir.er.doe.gov/sbir/  and the STTR award lists are located at: http://sttr.er.doe.gov/sttr/