Jeffrey Brancato has recently joined NorTech as vice president. Prior to joining NorTech, Brancato was the associate vice president for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts.

Randal Charlton has announced his retirement as executive director of TechTown, the Wayne State University research and technology park. Leslie Smith, the general manager of TechTown has been appointed to fill the position beginning Nov. 1.

To help meet the goals of Virginia's Top Jobs Act enacted earlier this year, Gov. Bob McDonnell proposed $200 million in additional higher education funding over the next two years. A large portion of the new funds would support cancer and high-tech research, competitive research grant awards, and efforts to graduate more science, technology, engineering, mathematics and healthcare (STEM-H) majors.

SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series has returned for its 12th annual edition. The series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural addresses across the nation. The first installment includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Georgia, Iowa, New York, Kentucky, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, State of the State Address, Jan. 10, 2012 "... I want to announce two ambitious goals.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled his 2012 legislative and budget actions that support his administration's ongoing Opportunity to Learn K-12 education agenda. The governor's proposed budget also includes $438 million in new K-12 funding over the next biennium.

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.

This is the second installment of SSTI’s look at the Inaugural, Budget and State of the State Addresses delivered in the past week. With a heavy emphasis on alternative energy, TBED priorities continue to receive significant time in the speeches delivered by the nation’s governors at the start of the 2007 legislative season. Selected excerpts of new initiatives are provided below:



Arkansas

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.

The Department of Defense (DoD) distributed $152.9 million in awards under its fiscal year 2003 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program competitions. A total of 1,882 awards were selected from a pool of more than 15,000 proposals across all states and the District of Columbia.

The National Science Board recently named Mary Good to be the recipient of the 2004 Vannevar Bush Award for "her life-long contributions to science, engineering and technology, and for leadership throughout her multi-faceted career."

Best practices and a how to guide written by real practitioners of angel financing are just two of the new resources available through the Angel Capital Association (ACA). The following papers for understanding and growing a local seed capital activity within a region are available through the association's website:

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced last month a partnership with the Loudoun County, Va., school district to donate $1 million per year to establish a biotech magnet program for area high school students.

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.

 

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.

Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology has promoted Dan Mills to vice president for regional operations.

Two new grants, each greater than $1 million, have been awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the societal implications of nanotechnology — the emerging discipline that seeks to control and manipulate matter on a molecular scale. The grants are the largest awards the foundation has ever devoted exclusively to research in societal implications.

Seven grants totaling nearly $4.76 million will help Southwest Virginia achieve greater high-speed bandwidth access by enabling deployment of fiber optic cable throughout much of the region. The Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission awarded the grants, including $2.03 million via five grants to Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU). The balance of the funds was distributed between the Cumberland Plateau and Lenowisco planning district commissions.

The director of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development has announced his retirement. Jim Pickens will remain in the position until his replacement is named, according to local news reports.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has published online the Science & Engineering State Profiles: 2000-2001, a set of 52 science and engineering (S&E) profiles summarizing state-specific data on personnel and finances. Rankings and totals are given for the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and the report includes a data source page.

Jan Griffen has accepted the position of Director of Contracts for the National Institute of Aerospace. Griffen was formerly the director of federal programs for the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology.