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).

While tight state budgets have slowed the number of tech-based economic development programs being created by states, Kentucky and Oregon have both approved new laws designed to encourage the growth of technology companies.

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.

The Board of Directors for Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) announced last week their selection of Peter Jobse as the new president of CIT. Jobse has been CIT’s executive vice president and chief operating officer since joining the organization in October 2002.

A strategic plan issued in 2002 by the Fifth Planning District Regional Alliance in Virginia may officially have completed the first phase when the Alliance recently awarded $273,342 in grants and earmarked funds.

A technically-skilled workforce is one of the elements required for a tech-based economy, so the issue of stopping the brain drain is of critical importance to some regions and states.  The choice for some states, it has been observed, is to turn into retirement homes or to retain their college graduates; in short, to avoid losing their minds.  Maine, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are just a few of the states that have been looking at the issue.

With the goal of supporting partnerships that unite the efforts of local school districts with science, mathematics, engineering and education faculties of colleges and universities, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the first request for proposals (RFP) for the $160 million Math & Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Involvement of additional stakeholders, especially states, is highly encouraged, according to the RFP.

While 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, it also may be remembered as the first time an agency successfully finagled its way out of SBIR's requirement that 2.5 percent of extramural R&D be awarded to small technology companies.

To create new research centers in FY 2003, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering approximately $26 million through its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program. 



At least two awards totaling up to $13 million each will be made. The awards, subject to 10 percent cost sharing, will be distributed as follows: $2.5 million (year 1), $3 million (year 2), $3.5 million (year 3), and $4 million (years 4 and 5). 

A National Science Foundation (NSF) program to foster significant public/private partnerships and help better position local communities to accommodate new and enhanced research and development is continuing into a second year, NSF announced last month. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced it intends to award approximately $30 million in FY 2005 funding under the Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program. NSF is encouraging proposals for high quality innovative research projects that undertake investigations across or within disciplines.

Jeff Bond, former long-time manager of the BMDO SBIR program, has been named Acting DoD SBIR/STTR Administrator, replacing the retiring Ivory Fisher.

Virginia's Institute for Defense and Homeland Security recently named Henry Connors Jr. as its business development director.

While some regional assessments attempt to benchmark economic indicators of smaller regions to those of notable accomplishment such as Silicon Valley or Research Triangle Park, a new study from the Center for Regional Strategies at Virginia Tech compares regions with similar economic and demographic characteristics, a potentially more useful model for other metro areas.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering: Fall 2002, a collection of 54 statistical tables presenting the distribution of graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) across population segments, fields of science or engineering, and by college and state. Overall long-term trends for S&E graduate students from 1975 to 2002 and short-term trends from 1995 to 2002 by detailed fields are presented as well.

The National Science Foundation has released its report on Federal Science and Engineering (S&E) Support to Universities, Colleges and Nonprofit Institutions for Fiscal Year 2002, revealing the government distributed nearly $24.4 billion to the nation's research institutions during the year. The figure is 8.5 percent higher higher than the FY 2001 total of $22.5 billion.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed Denise Bentley to serve as liason to the Louisville Metro and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government councils under the Governor’s Office for Local Development. The position is newly created.

Eric Davis, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corp, resigned last week.

On Friday, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Michael D. Griffin, of Virginia, to be administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Dr. Griffin currently serves as Space Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of In-Q-Tel, Inc.

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.

The Northern Kentucky E-Zone has become a part of the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corp. The E-Zone will operate as a program of Tri-ED, with Casey Barach, the former head of E-Zone, leading the program as vice president of entrepreneurship services for Tri-ED.