SSTI Digest

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting grant proposals to establish a national network of pollution prevention information centers. Currently there are limited mechanisms to coordinate the development, review, and dissemination of pollution prevention information among those promoting source reduction technologies, according to the EPA. Access to pollution prevention information and assistance varies across the country. In addition, not all programs providing assistance to small businesses have access to pollution prevention information. As a result, EPA is supporting a program to: create new centers for the collection and dissemination of pollution prevention information for states not currently served by a pollution prevention regional center (although the solicitation is not clear as to exactly which states those are), support existing regional pollution prevention information centers, and coordinate work among centers. "The development of a pollution prevention information network of centers would allow state pollution prevention information…

The "Baldrige Index" for 1996 outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 for the third year in a row, according to a study prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The fictitious index is made up of winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. NIST "invested" a hypothetical $1,000 in each of the five publicly traded, whole company winners of the Baldrige Quality Award and a percentage of $1,000 in the parent companies of nine subsidiary winners. The percentage represented the number of employees the subsidiary has as a percentage of the whole company's employee base. An equal amount was hypothetically invested in the S&P 500 at the same time. NIST found that the group of five whole company winners outperformed the S&P 500 by 3.5 to 1, achieving a 380 percent return on investment compared to a 110 percent return for the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the group of all publicly traded winners (which includes the five whole company winners and the parent companies of winning subsidiaries) outperformed the S&P 500 by about 3 to 1, a 325…

The steel industry has experienced painful changes over the past 10 to 15 years, but has now emerged in much better financial and operating condition, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy (OTP). Downsizing, a strong economy that's allowing the industry to operate near capacity, and substantial sums invested in modernization have made the U.S. steel industry competitive for the U.S. market, the study finds. The Basic Steel Industry is part of OTP's Meeting the Challenge: U.S. Industry Faces the 21st Century series of studies that assesses the competitive position of a number of major U.S. industries and the factors influencing their growth. Previous reports have focused on the automobile manufacturing and chemical industries. Copies of the report can be obtained by calling OTP at 202/482-3037 or sending an e-mail to OTPReports@doc.gov

The U.S. Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has established a new subcommittee to focus on manufacturing and competitiveness issues. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) will chair the Manufacturing and Competitiveness Subcommittee. Joining Abraham on the subcommittee are: Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John Ashcroft (R-MO), Bill Frist (R-TN), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). The membership of the subcommittee has a large degree of overlap with the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee, which is chaired by Frist. Five of the nine members of the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee are on the Manufacturing and Competitiveness Subcommittee (Frist, Abraham, Rockefeller, Bryan, and Dorgan). The remaining four members are: Conrad Burns (R-MT), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Ted Stevens (R-AK), and John Kerry (D-MA).

Only 13 percent of midsize manufacturers reported that the growth of the Internet has had "a great deal of" or "some" impact on their companies over the past two years, according to a survey conducted for Grant Thornton LLP. However, the manufacturers expect that to change in the next two years. The survey found that 50 percent of the manufacturers expected the growth of the Internet to have "a great deal of" or "some" impact on their companies. The percentage of manufacturers with sites on the World Wide Web has increased significantly in the past year. In October 1996, 25 percent reported that they had a site, while in November 1995, only 14 percent had a site. Most significantly, 59 percent indicated that they either would have or planned to have a site by the end of 1997. Yet, less than half of the manufacturers with Web sites expect the Internet to have much of an immediate impact on sales. Just 41 percent rated "providing customers with another way to purchase products" as an important reason for establishing a Web site, and only 17 percent cited starting or enhancing mail-…

Last Thursday, the Clinton Administration released its detailed budget proposal for FY98. The requested 2% rise in research and development funding reflects the constraints facing discretionary spending programs: the call to balance the budget while costs for entitlement programs and debt service are growing. The FY98 budget proposal, which totals $1.69 trillion, calls for increasing spending on R&D to roughly $75.5 billion, up $1.6 billion from FY97. The following is an overview of the Clinton Administration's proposed spending for programs of interest to the science and technology community. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The FY98 budget proposal is for $692.5 million. Extramural programs would receive $399 million, including $275.6 million for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and $123.4 million for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). Funding would support a new general ATP competition and increase the coverage of MEP centers. Additional NIST funding would go for research at NIST laboratories,…

An agreement between the White House and the National Governors' Association (NGA) to establish a new mechanism, the U.S. Innovation Partnership, for coordinating federal and state technology efforts was announced by Vice President Gore and NGA's Lead Governors on Technology John G. Rowland, (R-CT), and Parris N. Glendening, (D-MD), earlier this week. "Building on the work of the State-Federal Technology Partnership Task Force led by former Governors Richard Celeste and Richard Thornburgh, I am committed to working with our nation's governors to establish a U.S. Innovation Partnership. This partnership will coordinate federal and state efforts to stimulate the development and use of new technologies that can help us meet our common goals of generating economic growth, improving our schools and health care, better protecting the environment at lower cost, and reinventing our government at all levels," President Clinton said in a letter to Gov. Bob Miller (D-NV), chair of NGA. Four USIP task forces have held meetings in Connecticut, Nevada, and Missouri to help set priorities and to…

A State-Federal Technology Executive (SFTE) to serve in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is being sought. The SFTE, sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), is a one year old initiative designed to encourage broad-scale science and technology cooperation between the states and the federal government. The SFTE will have responsibility for facilitating state-federal collaborative efforts via the newly formed United States Innovation Partnership (consisting of the National Governors' Association, OSTP and the Dept. of Commerce). With the announcement of a new partnership between the states and the White House on science and technology issues, the position could have significant impact in shaping the partnership. Anticipated activities for the SFTE include: coordination of federal and state science and technology initiatives; promotion of opportunities available at state and federal levels for science and technology efforts; and, serving as an information resource for state governments, industry, and universities. The SFTE should be a…

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health is seeking input as it updates its 1994 strategic plan, NCRR: A Catalyst for Discovery. The plan is designed to anticipate, meet, and set priorities for the biomedical research community's critical resource and technology needs. The center is requesting comments to help it identify barriers to research progress and define future needs for shared research resources and technologies. Specific questions NCRR is interested in receiving input on include: What are the most important research trends that will drive biomedical research? What research resources and technologies will be critical in addressing these trends? What strategies will eliminate barriers to progress and enhance access to research resources and technologies? Who should serve on the panel for the strategic planning process? NCRR's mission is to strengthen the nation's biomedical research infrastructure and is charged with creating and providing critical research technologies and shared resources. NCRR plays a key…

Calls for an end to "corporate welfare" increased this week with an unusual coalition unveiling a list of targeted programs and nine senators calling for a commission to review federal subsidies to companies. A coalition of liberal and conservative organizations has agreed to a list of twelve federal programs, including three technology-related programs, that should be terminated or modified because they are "corporate welfare." Members of the Stop Corporate Welfare Coalition include the National Taxpayers Union, Friends of the Earth, and Ralph Nader's Public Citizen. The Coalition has worked with Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), chairman of the House Budget Committee, to identify target programs. Among the programs targeted for elimination are three conducted through the Department of Energy: research on clean coal technology; fossil energy research; and, a pyroprocessing program that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel. "The groups on the right would not allow tax breaks to be eliminated, and environmental groups allowed only programs that harm the environment to be included on the…

The final appropriation for federal science and technology (FS&T) for FY 1997 is $43.4 billion, a slight increase (0.7 percent) over the FY 1996 appropriation, according to a new report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The budget is 5.0 percent less than it was in FY 1994, and would be 9.7 percent less than in FY 1994 if the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was not included. Overall, only two of ten major science and technology agencies and departments, the National Science Foundation and HHS, have more FS&T funding in FY 1997 than they had in FY 1994. NAS considers that "part of the federal R&D budget that is devoted each year to expanding fundamental knowledge and creating new technologies" as the FS&T budget. It does not include, for example, the part of federal R&D devoted to the production engineering, testing and evaluation, and upgrading of large weapons and related systems. FS&T appropriations by agency for FY 1997 is: HHS $12,998,000,000…

Women and minorities continue to take fewer high-level mathematics and science courses in high school; earn fewer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in science and engineering (S&E); and remain less likely to be employed in S&E jobs than white males. Those are the conclusions of a new government report, Women, Minorities and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering 1996. The National Science Foundation (NSF) report reveals progress as well as signs of continued underrepresentation. Among the report's findings: Minorities (except Asians) remain a small proportion of U.S. scientists and engineers. African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans as a group were 23 percent of the U.S. population, but 6 percent of the S&E labor force in 1993. Among 1994 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) takers, fewer women (13 percent) than men (31 percent) intended to pursue natural science, mathematics, or engineering fields. Yet, women's grades among first-year college students planning S&E majors are higher than men's. A substantial gap in mean salary…