1) CAPITOL HILL WATCH

• FY 2009 Appropriations Bills Update
• White House Signs Long Debated Housing Reform (Formerly a Bill to Provide for Energy Independence) Bill

2) WHITE HOUSE & EXECUTIVE AGENCY WATCH

• USPTO Extends Peer To Patent Pilot Program

3) REPORTS, SPEECHES & DOCUMENTS OF NOTE

• Government Accountability Office Reports
• Library of Congress Reports
• White House Science Policy in a New Administration
• AAU, COGR Praise DOD Memo, Issue Report on Restrictive Clauses in University Defense Research
• McKinsey Quarterly Article: Next Steps in Open Innovation
• Council on Competitiveness, IDC Release Study on HPC and Innovation
• FAS Launches OTA Archive Web site
• For British Policymakers, a Report on The New Inventors

4) U.S. COURTS ACTIVITY

5) U.S. STATES WATCH

6) AWARDS & GRANTS

7) CONFERENCES, FELLOWSHIPS, PROGRAMS & INTERNSHIPS FOR ENGINEERS, and STUDENTS and SCHOLARS OF ENGINEERING

8) LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES

• IEEE Energy 2030
• Former IEEE-USA Government Fellows Available to Speak to Sections
• New & Revised IEEE-USA Position Statements
• IEEE-USA's Recent Policy Communications
• IEEE-USA Public Policy Priority Issues - 110th Congress, 2d Session (2008)
• Track IEEE-USA's Progress
• IEEE-USA In The News
• 2008 Elections

9) OTHER ITEMS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST

1) CAPITOL HILL WATCH

• FY 2009 Appropriations Bills Update

Two months from now, FY 2009 begins. As usual, Congress' appropriations process is seriously bogged down and they may not finish their work until March 2009 - six months into FY 2009.

In recent years, Congress routinely passed stopgap funding bills (known as continuing resolutions) to maintain funding at current levels until they could pass final appropriations legislation. At times, they bundled more than one appropriations bill into a larger bill to secure passage. Despite early optimism that Congress could pass all 13 appropriations before the end of the summer, things changed in mid-July when Democratic and Republican appropriators clashed over a Republican effort to expand offshore oil drilling. After Republicans failed to amend the FY 2009 Interior appropriations bill to permit drilling, a similar attempt was made with a highly unusual amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services, FY 2009 appropriations bill. At that point, Committee on Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.)denied further amendments.

Although the full committee had approved five of the 12 appropriations bills by June 25th, none were filed with the full House. Since then, there have been no further markups. The potential for confrontations and delay during House floor consideration is high in areas ranging from policy to funding levels to earmarks and contributes to the appropriations impasse. The Democratic leadership contends that the President would veto any appropriations bill sent to him, which is likely based upon last year's experience.

While the House process has stalled, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its bills. Both Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS) predicted that their committee would complete work by the end of July (see July 10, 2008 statement) . However, Chairman Byrd postponed the markup of the FY 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill, citing "the uncertainty in how the oil and gas drilling issue is currently playing out on the Senate floor." The Senate now has only the Defense, Interior, and Legislative Branch appropriations bills to
complete.

• White House Signs Long Debated Housing Reform (Formerly a Bill to Provide for Energy Independence) Bill

This week, the President signed into law a bill that was once an energy and housing bill which gradually morphed into a measure addressing only the mortgage crisis. Late on July 29th, Congress passed and sent to the White House, a massive housing finance package. The bill includes two White House priorities: A backstop for Fannie and Freddie and creation of a strong new federal regulator for the two companies that will be empowered to set capital levels and limits on their mortgage portfolios.

The Senate cleared the legislation (HR 3221) last Saturday, ending months of debate between the chambers and two parties. The compromise package includes provisions to help borrowers get out from under loans they cannot afford, offers a one-time tax credit of up to $7,500 to first-time home buyers and throws a lifeline to struggling mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. worked closely with key lawmakers to craft the final compromise, and urged Congress to expedite action to stabilize the turbulent financial markets. The energy and renewable production tax provisions were stripped out of the bill months ago over arguments about how to pay for the credits.

2) WHITE HOUSE & EXECUTIVE AGENCY WATCH

• USPTO Extends Peer To Patent Pilot Program

On July 16th 2008, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the extension of the Peer to Patent: Community Patent Review Pilot until June 2009, and expansion of subject matter to include review of applications pending in Technology Center 3600 Class 705 (Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, or Cost/Price Determination).

Peer to Patent is a pilot program by New York Law School Center for Patent Innovations, in cooperation with the USPTO, launched June 15, 2007 with open review of pending published applications in Technology Center 2100 (Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security). In June 2008 the Peer to Patent team released the First Anniversary Report demonstrating pilot success in the first year - 73 percent of participating USPTO examiners want Peer to Patent implemented as regular office practice, and 21 percent of participating examiners stated prior art submission by Peer to Patent community was inaccessible by the USPTO. Some first year pilot highlights include over 2000 participants from over 140 countries and 173 items of prior art references submitted on 40 applications.

Peer to Patent is currently accepting applications pending in Technology Center 2100 and Technology Center 3600 class 705 (see web site for a complete list of classes), and requesting all members of the scientific/technical community to participate in improving the patent system. To join, go to: www.peertopatent.org For more information email: info@peertopatent.org

3) REPORTS, SPEECHES & DOCUMENTS OF NOTE

• Government Accountability Office Reports

Digital Television Transition: Broadcasters' Transition Status, Low-Power Station Issues, and Information on Consumer Awareness of the DTV Transition GAO-08-881T  (June 10, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 19 pages)   Accessible Text

Higher Education: United States' and Other Countries' Strategies for Attracting and Funding International Students GAO-08-878T  (June 19, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 10 pages)   Accessible Text

Department of Energy: New Loan Guarantee Program Should Complete Activities Necessary for Effective and Accountable Program Management GAO-08-750  (July 7, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 62 pages)   Accessible Text

Nuclear Safety: NRC's Oversight of Fire Protection at U.S. Commercial Nuclear Reactor Units Could Be Strengthened GAO-08-747  (June 30, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 40 pages)   Accessible Text

Los Alamos National Laboratory: Long-Term Strategies Needed to Improve Security and Management Oversight GAO-08-694  (June 13, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 64 pages)   Accessible Text

Telecommunications: Survey of State Regulatory Commissions (GAO-08-662SP, June 2008), an E-supplement to GAO-08-633 GAO-08-662SP  (June 13, 2008) Summary (HTML)

Individual Retirement Accounts: Government Actions Could Encourage More Employers to Offer IRAs to Employees GAO-08-890T  (June 26, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 29 pages)   Accessible Text

Critical Infrastructure Protection: Further Efforts Needed to Integrate Planning for and Response to Disruptions on Converged Voice and Data Networks GAO-08-607  (June 26, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 22 pages)   Accessible Text

Intellectual Property: Leadership and Accountability Needed to Strengthen Federal Protection and Enforcement GAO-08-921T  (June 17, 2008)
Summary (HTML)    Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 8 pages)   Accessible Text

Personnel Clearances: Questions for the Record Regarding Security Clearance Reform GAO-08-965R (July 14, 2008) Summary (HTML)    Full Report (PDF, 4 pages)   Accessible Text

• Library of Congress Reports

Congressional Research Service:
--The U.S. Science and Technology Workforce - (June 20, 2008)
--Government Activities to Protect the Electric Grid - (October 20, 2004 The report says that it will be updated as events warrant; a more recent issue does not appear available.)
--U.S. Civilian Space Policy Priorities: Reflections 50 years After Sputnik - (June 20, 2008)

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, The Joint Information Systems Committee, The Open Access to Knowledge Law Project, and the SURF Foundation - International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation

• White House Science Policy in a New Administration

A new Wilson Center study details some interesting new ideas on how the November 2008 presidential elections are likely to revamp White House science and technology policy making. Four researchers with extensive past experience working in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) prepared, OSTP 2.0: Critical Upgrade. The report brings an insider's perspective to a very detailed roadmap for how OSTP might operate in a McCain or Obama Administration and contains dozens of recommendations. Among the highlights are:

--The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology should be a Cabinet-level position held by a nationally respected leader.
--OSTP must be fully staffed and funded, operating as an integral part of the White House policymaking process.
--Strong and robust partnerships must be developed between OSTP and various other science policy organizations such as the National Academies.

• AAU, COGR Praise DOD Memo, Issue Report on Restrictive Clauses in University Defense Research

Defense Undersecretary John Young issued a memorandum to the U.S. military services and defense agencies reiterating that the Department of Defense (DOD) will not restrict disclosure of DOD-funded basic and applied research results unless the research is classified for national security reasons or otherwise restricted by statute, regulation, or executive order. This reaffirmation of DOD policy was prompted, in part, by results of a report by the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR) which shows that DOD agencies and contractors are adding clauses to fundamental research contracts and grants that inappropriately restrict publication of research results and participation of foreign nationals.

AAU based their report - "Restrictions on Research Awards: Troublesome Clauses 2007/2008" - on a survey of 20 U.S. research universities that conduct significant DOD-funded research. The new report follows up on a 2003/2004 survey of the same institutions, and shows that, despite the concerns and recommendations contained in the earlier report, the situation among federal funding agencies, particularly DOD, has not improved during the past four years. Federal research funding agencies have not only expanded the nature of the controls imposed in award terms but also extended such terms beyond contracts to grants and cooperative agreements.

The AAU-COGR findings reinforce those of the National Academies of Science 2007 report, "Science and Security in a Post 9/11 World," which similarly found increasing use of the "sensitive but unclassified" category and other restrictive language in DOD contracts for fundamental research.

The AAU-COGR report praises the DOD memorandum as "a very positive development in response to concerns raised in this report." AAU President Robert Berdahl added, "It will now be important for DOD contracting officers to abide by this agency-wide policy." COGR President Anthony DeCrappeo encouraged both DOD and other federal agencies to "take additional steps to address other concerns and recommendations contained in the AAU-COGR report, including eliminating restrictive terms that industry prime contractors pass down to university subcontractors and more selective use of export control compliance clauses."

• McKinsey Quarterly Article: Next Steps in Open Innovation

Open innovation—once championed nearly exclusively by forward-thinking web geeks—is becoming an increasingly popular concept in mainstream circles. Companies like Procter & Gamble are opening their product development processes so that customers and other partners can offer their ideas and input. Some companies are now moving beyond this basic concept to an even more open process known as "distributed cocreation." This model, profiled in a new McKinsey Quarterly article, is being effectively deployed by LEGO toys and by the Threadless t-shirt company. The Threadless approach is instructive. Anyone can develop his or her own t-shirt design. Web site visitors vote on their preferred designs, and the top vote getters move into production.

Other firms, like Wikipedia and Red Hat, also employ variants of this approach. McKinsey researchers believe more traditional firms can also deploy this model as long as they can identify ways to motivate outside co-creators, and structure problems and governance mechanisms in way that promotes participation in collaborative problem solving. Access the June 2008 McKinsey Quarterly article, The Next Step in Open Innovation, by Jacques Bughin, Vincent Choi, and Brad Johnson. Registration is required.

• Council on Competitiveness, IDC Release Study on HPC and Innovation

The Council on Competitiveness released a groundbreaking study that benchmarks the extent to which the U.S. private sector is leveraging high performance computing (HPC) to drive innovation for global competitive advantage. The study is a continuation of the Council's leadership in benchmarking competitiveness drivers and the critical components to long-term economic success. The study was conducted in partnership with the Council's research partner, market analyst firm IDC.

• FAS Launches OTA Archive Web site

The Federation of American Scientists launched the Office of Technology Assessment Archive. The site gives public to access more than 720 OTA-produced documents, including many that have not been previously available to the public. OTA served as an independent branch of the U.S. Congress, providing nonpartisan S&T advice from 1972 until it was defunded and forced to close in 1995.

The site also features a video interview with Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ), who has been spearheading the effort on Capitol Hill to bring OTA back to life. "If OTA were here, doing this kind of
work, we would have better legislation for school safety, chemical exposure, grain dust explosions, the R&D tax credit, on and on," said Holt.

The OTA Archive will track efforts to reinstate the agency and will highlight items not previously available to the public in a "Document of the Day" feature. The web site also includes a new search engine that allows users to quickly and easily find specific content in OTA reports.

• For British Policymakers, a Report on The New Inventors

User-generated innovation is a hot topic that has been the subject of many new books and research reports. The latest addition - a UK National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts report called The New Inventors: How Users are Changing the Rules of Innovation - notes that Great Britain has a long and distinguished history of user-led innovation. For example, Timothy Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web while trying to find ways to better communicate with his work colleagues. According to NESTA, "we're all innovators now," and the lines between firms, consumers and suppliers will become increasingly blurred. While the UK has many bright spots in terms of user-led innovation, its public policies are still focused on innovation as a linear model moving from R&D to prototype to production. Some are calling for British policy makers to provide additional incentives, such as new tax credits, for user-led innovations and also consider relaxing copyright and intellectual property rules that impede collaborative innovation processes if the UK hopes to capture the benefits of this new innovation approach.

4) U.S. COURTS ACTIVITY

None at this time.

5) US STATES WATCH

If you like to keep up with going on in state politics, StateLine.org provides a good overview of the activities in all 50 state legislatures.

6) AWARDS & GRANTS

• AAAS Grant Site

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has a service called GrantsNet Express.  Each week GrantsNet will provide a listing of science funding opportunities from private foundations and organizations, and new U.S. government grant announcements in the sciences. AAAS will send GrantsNet by e-mail to AAAS member subscribers. The weekly emails will include: — New science funding programs, divided into opportunities for postdocs/graduate students and undergraduates — Submission deadlines for funding opportunities scheduled in the upcoming week — New listings of funding for science-related research.

• National Science Foundation

For information on NSF Engineering (ENG) Active Funding Opportunities, visit: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_list.jsp?org=ENG

Opportunities include:

EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is a program designed to fulfill the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. The EPSCoR program is directed at those jurisdictions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF Research and Development (R&D) funding. Twenty-five states, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands currently participate. Through this program, NSF establishes partnerships with government, higher education and industry that are designed to effect lasting improvements in a state's or region's research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D competitiveness. Research Infrastructure Improvement Program:  Track-1 (RII Track-1) awards provide up to $4 million per year for up to 5 years to support physical, human, and cyber infrastructure improvements in research areas selected by the jurisdiction's EPSCoR governing committee as having the best potential to improve future R&D competitiveness of the jurisdiction.

7) CONFERENCES, FELLOWSHIPS, PROGRAMS & INTERNSHIPS FOR ENGINEERS, and STUDENTS & SCHOLARS OF ENGINEERING

8) LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES

• IEEE Energy 2030

IEEE-USA has signed onto the IEEE Energy 2030 Conference, an upcoming forum for the exchange of ideas among experts from the disciplines - technology, policy and economic - required for the creation of a global sustainable energy infrastructure by 2030. The IEEE, as a global technology leader in electrical and related technologies, with 43 societies and 370,000 members, is uniquely positioned to help define what the transformed infrastructure is likely to look like, and to initiate the discussion on the challenges that need to be overcome to achieve success. This will be a great networking opportunity as well as a learning venture. Please plan to attend. Click here for the Call for Papers.

• Former IEEE-USA Government Fellows Available to Speak to Sections

Recently, former IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow George Hanover spoke to an IEEE PACE group in the San Francisco Bay area about the innovation and competitiveness issues that he worked while serving as staff to both the Environment, Technology and Standards Subcommittee of the House Science Committee, and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). George also discussed an engineer's perspective on the "government process" and the IEEE-USA's involvement in that process. Former fellow Marty Sokoloski is scheduled to make a similar presentation about his year-long fellowship experience at the PDS (Professional Development Seminar), part of the WIE (Women in Engineering) Conference "Engineering Your Future," to be held on October 3–5, 2008, in Atlantic City NJ.

If your section is interested in having one of the former government fellows speak to your group about the program, how the legislative process works in Washington, and how IEEE-USA is influencing it, please contact Erica Wissolik at e.wissolik @ ieee.org. For more information on the IEEE-USA Government Fellows Program, please visit: http://ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/default.asp

• IEEE-USA's Recent Policy Communications

Read a full listing of IEEE-USA lobbying activities at: http://ieeeusa.com/policy/policy/index.html

• IEEE-USA Public Policy Priority Issues - 110th Congress, 2d Session (2008)
  

The public policy priorities list is available at: http://ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/index.html

Position statements are available at: http://ieeeusa.com/policy/positions/index.html

• Track IEEE-USA's Progress

View the 2007 Annual Report (542MB): http://www.ieeeusa.org/about/annual_report/2007.pdf

View the Strategic & Operational Plan: http://www.ieeeusa.org/volunteers/strategicplan/index.html

• IEEE-USA In The News

For IEEE-USA in the News items, see: http://ieeeusa.org/communications/inthenews/default.asp.

• 2008 Elections

1) Make sure that you're a part of the solution. Register to vote: http://www.engineeringthevote.org/register.asp

2) Given the many urgent scientific and technological challenges facing all of us, the increasing need for accurate scientific information in political decision making, and the vital role scientific innovation plays in spurring economic growth and competitiveness, NPR called for a public debate in which the U.S. presidential candidates could share their views on the issues of the environment, health and medicine, and S&T policy. http://sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php

9) OTHER ITEMS OF POSSIBLE INTEREST

Top of Page | What's New@IEEE | IEEE-USA

What's New @ IEEE-USA's Eye on Washington highlights important federal legislative and regulatory developments that affect U.S. engineers and their careers. In addition to this biweekly newsletter, subscribers receive legislative bulletins and action alerts on IEEE-USA priority issues, including: retirement security, employment benefits, research & development funding, computers and information policy, immigration reform, intellectual property protection and privacy of health/medical information.

You can change your IEEE-USA Eye on Washington subscription status by using the forms at http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/emailupdates/default.asp

Copyright © 2008, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.  Permission granted to copy for personal use or for non-commercial republication with appropriate attribution.

Updated: 31 July 2008