What's New @ IEEE-USA - Eye On Washington, Vol. 2010, No. 10 (28 September 2010)

Dear Readers,

The latest issue of IEEE-USA's Eye on Washington is now available.  For complete text and links to additional resources, please visit: http://ieeeusa.org/policy/eyeonwashington/2010/10eow2010.asp

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Highlights include:

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CAPITOL HILL

Changes to Human Spaceflight Program Waiting on Appropriators - The future of President Obama's proposal for reorienting NASA’s human spaceflight program remains uncertain. The agency cannot fully implement the proposal until Congress finishes its appropriations process for FY 2011, something that is not likely to happen until after the elections, 2 months after FY 2011 has begun. Even if appropriators manage to move on spending legislation in the post-election session, NASA provisions could prove difficult to finalize, especially in view of the protracted disagreement between the House and Senate authorizing committees. However, House Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), has announced that his committee is likely to take up the Senate-passed NASA authorization bill this week but he still has concerns.

Chairman Gordon Statement on House Consideration of NASA Reauthorization - Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) offered a statement: laying out a number of his concerns with the Senate bill.

House Bill to Pursues Net Neutrality Deal - Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to unveil a bill this week to set rules governing non-discrimination of communications traffic on the Internet — commonly referred to as net neutrality. Waxman's goal is to push for House passage this week, before Congress adjourns for the midterm election campaign.

Senate Hopes To Take Up Bills to Prevent Job Loss to Overseas Markets - The Senate will vote early this week on two bills aimed at sparking a pre-election floor debate over how best to prevent manufacturing jobs from moving overseas. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, and "a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create American jobs and to prevent the offshoring of such jobs overseas."

From the Office of Don't Hold Your Breath - Senators Ask Reid to Make Time for Patent Law Overhaul - A bipartisan group of senators has again urged Majority Leader Harry Reid to schedule floor action on legislation to overhaul patent laws. Twenty-five senators, including Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), signed a letter to Reid urging him to call up the long-stagnated manager’s amendment to the patent reform bill (S 515).

House Hearing on Standards for Health IT: Meaningful Use and Beyond - The House Science and Technology Committee has scheduled a hearing o for September 30th on the issue of health IT. Witness testimony will be available online.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

OSTP Director Roster Is Now Complete  - Office of Science and Technology Policy staff gathered last week to celebrate a significant event: For the first time in a decade, OSTP has the full complement of four Associate Directors authorized by Congress. Completion came with the swearing in of Nobel Prize winner Carl Wieman, who the Senate confirmed, as OSTP’s Associate Director (AD) for Science. He joins Phil Coyle (AD for National Security and International Affairs), Shere Abbott (AD for Environment), and Aneesh Chopra (AD for Technology and the first ever U.S. Chief Technology Officer), under the leadership of OSTP Director John P. Holdren, who also serves as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

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FEDERAL AGENCY ACTIVITY

Secretary Clinton Announced New Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves at Clinton Global Initiative - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a new public-private initiative to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions that will save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change. Along with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and other Founding Partners, Secretary Clinton outlined partnership and financial commitments of the Alliance. Led by the United Nations Foundation, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves will address one of the greatest threats facing developing countries and their populations— the extraordinarily high exposures to toxic smoke from indoor fires and inefficient cookstoves which lead to nearly 2 million deaths each year, with young children and adult women suffering the vast majority of this disease burden.
Former IEEE-USA State Department Fellow William Behn started work on this two years ago while he was serving as a fellow. At the time, the project was not a visible issue in the Department. Behn said his work "would not have been possible without the wonderful opportunity of the IEEE-USA Diplomacy and Engineering Fellowship at State. Inefficient cooking is a key contributor to keeping people poor in developing nations, in addition to the impact on women's and children's health, and on climate." Even though his fellowship has completed, Behn continues to work with the founding partners of the Alliance.  

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U.S. COURTS

New Federal Circuit Ruling Highlights the Ongoing Tension Between IP and Standards-Setting Bodies - On September 20, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in a patent case involving sections of the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard.  In the case, although the lower court did not find the defendant (Netgear) liable, that court held that any product that complied with certain sections of the IEEE 802.11 standard infringed the asserted patent. Read an article on the issue here.

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AWARDS, FELLOWHIPS & GRANTS

National Science Foundation Recent opportunities include:
Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond (NEB) A Joint Activity between NSF and NRI - The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Directorates for Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Computer & Information Science & Engineering, together with the semiconductor industry’s Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (NRI) plan to jointly support innovative research and education activities on the topic of Nanoelectronics for 2020 and Beyond (NEB). These activities will be supported as interdisciplinary research team awards.

WISE 2011 Internships - Apply for WISE 2011 - The application period for the summer 2011 program is open All application forms for all of the sponsoring societies are available online. The deadline for 2011 applications is 31 December 2010.

IEEE-USA 2012 Government Fellowships - Each year, IEEE-USA sponsors three government fellowships for qualified IEEE members.  The fellows - chosen by the IEEE-USA Government Fellows Committee and confirmed by the Board - spend a year in Washington serving as advisers to the U.S. Congress and to key U.S. Department of State decision-makers. Known as either a Congressional Fellowship or an Engineering & Diplomacy Fellowship, this program links science, technology and engineering professionals with government, and provides a mechanism for IEEE's U.S. members to learn firsthand about the public policy process while imparting their knowledge and experience to policymakers. 2012 Application materials are now available. Deadline is 18 March 2011.

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REPORTS, DOCUMENTS OF NOTE & INFO RESOURCE

Center for American Progress: Innovation and the Broader Impacts of Science and Technology - Technological innovation takes center stage with the release of the Center's third major report on regional innovation clusters. " Silos of Small Beer," by Maryann Feldman and Lauren Lanahan, gives a detailed case study of technology innovation in a key Midwestern regional economy anchored in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and identifies areas for improved federal engagement.

National Academies - Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5 - In the face of so many daunting near-term challenges, U.S. government and industry are letting the crucial strategic issues of U.S. competitiveness slip below the surface. Five years ago, the National Academies prepared Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a book that cautioned: "Without a renewed effort to bolster the foundations of our competitiveness, we can expect to lose our privileged position." Since that time we find ourselves in a country where much has changed--and a great deal has not changed.

Center for Strategic and International Studies:

     A Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity - Evidence continues to build showing our information infrastructure is vulnerable to threats not just from nation states but also from individuals and small groups who seek to do us harm or who wish to exploit our weaknesses for personal gain.

      A Few Thoughts on the National Security Implications of the U.S. And Global Commercial Space Launch Industry Commentary By John J. Hamre Jul 29, 2010 - The Administration recently released the President’s new National Space Policy. CSIS subsequently hosted senior Administration officials, who noted that the new policy builds on and only slightly modifies the space policies of previous Administrations. Administration officials, however, clearly stated that without the commercial space industry, America would have no space capabilities.

      National Security and the Commercial Space Sector Report By David J. Berteau, Gregory Kiley, Guy Ben-Ari, Joshua T. Hartman, Gary Powell, Stephanie Sanok, Brian Green Jul 26, 2010 - This report examines the relationship between U.S. national security and the commercial space sector, with specific focus on the current state of the space launch industry and launch market. Building on a CSIS annotated briefing released in 2008, entitled “Health of the U.S.

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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.

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