Upon ruling in favor of a $50 million bonds issue last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court cleared the way for an endowed chairs program at colleges and universities throughout the state .

Voters in Oklahoma approved 54 percent to 46 percent State Question 725, which was intended to provide financial assistance to "high-risk" manufacturers in the state, in order to minimize the possible loss of employment. Funds provided to each manufacturer by the state would be limited to 10 percent of the manufacturers in-state capital investment.

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.

 

To develop and promote higher education research facilities and faculty in Virginia, Gov. Mark Warner proposed $218.8 million in his fiscal year 2006-08 biennial budget proposal for investment in university R&D. In response, state institutions of higher education have pledged to match the governor's proposal with a $299 million commitment.

One of the most critical federal partners involved either directly or indirectly in determining the success of most state tech-based economic development strategies seeks input from the science and engineering (S&E) community in the development of its next five-year plan.

Amit Yoran replaces Gilman Louie as In-Q-Tel's new CEO.

States such as Oklahoma must leverage scarce resources if they hope to attract top scientists, stimulate development, and achieve measurable economic impact, says the latest impact report from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).

On the final day of March, Gov. Brad Henry signed legislation establishing a $475 million bond issue for a slate of higher education projects, much of which targets research and laboratory facilities. The Oklahoma Higher Education Promise of Excellence Act of 2005, which the governor called "desperately needed," was one of his top legislative priorities for the year (see the Feb. 7, 2005, issue of the Digest).

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.

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.

Galynn Beer succeeds Johnny Roy as the new chairman of the board of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.

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.

Criteria used by one of the largest funders of basic research to evaluate research proposals is slated to change in 1997. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is revising the criteria used to evaluate approximately 30,000 proposals per year and is seeking comments on the proposed criteria.

A panel of external evaluators has concluded that the National Science Foundation's State/Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (S/I/UCRC) Program supports NSF's strategic goals. The panel also found that "the development of cooperative research centers involving states, industries and NSF can be an important contributing element to maintaining and developing a competitive US industry."

The Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, Inc. will receive $1.5 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). The Alliance, a program of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, is an MEP affiliate that received its initial federal funding through the Technology Reinvestment Project.

President Clinton recently announced his intention to nominate Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, to the National Science Board, an advisory body to the National Science Foundation. The National Science Board recommends overall national policies for promoting basic research and education in the sciences.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected 13 new Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers, bringing the total number of centers to 24. NSF support for the new centers is expected to amount to $105 million over the next five year years. The centers are university-based programs that support interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary materials research and education.

The new centers are located at the following universities:

Dr. Elbert L. Marsh has been named to head the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Engineering. Dr. Marsh will now assume responsibility for all engineering funding at the federal agency--in excess of $300 million in 1995.

The Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) has completed a review of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Science and Technology Centers (STC) program. COSEPUP recently released its conclusions which call for the continuation of the STC program, with some modifications.

Yolanda Hunter is the new manager of the New River Valley Competitiveness Center in Radford, Va. Wayne Carpenter, former manager of the incubator, left to pursue private consulting work.