What's New @ IEEE-USA - Eye On Washington, Vol. 2011, No. 10 (26 July 2011)

Dear Readers,

The latest issue of IEEE-USA's Eye on Washington is available on-line.  For complete text, additional content and links to resources, please visit:

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 Highlights include:

CAPITOL HILL

Comparing House and Senate Debt Limit Plans - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) released competing plans this week to raise the federal debt limit and reduce the need for additional borrowing over the next decade.   A House vote that was planned for today has been post-poned. An unfavorable score from the Congressional Budget Office forced Republicans to pull their plan, at least temporarily, and try to find a new way forward.

THE WHITE HOUSE & FEDERAL AGENCY ACTIVITY

Obama Administration Officials and Industry Leaders Unveil Federal Strategy to Promote U.S.-Based Electronics Recycling Market and Jobs - In Austin, Texas, at a certified electronics recycling center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, General Services Administrator Martha N. Johnson, and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley were joined by the CEOs of Dell Inc. and Sprint, and senior executives from Sony Electronics to release the Obama Administration’s “National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship” – a strategy for the responsible electronic design, purchasing, management and recycling that will promote the burgeoning electronics recycling market and jobs of the future here at home.

E. William Colglazier named State Department Science and Technology Adviser - E. William (Bill) Colglazier, recently retired executive officer of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council, has been selected to be the new Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

DoD Could Use Force in Cyber War - The Pentagon stated that it "reserves the right" to use military force against cyberattacks in a newly declassified cyberstrategy document.

LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES

IEEE-USA Teams Up with Industry to Promote High-Tech Immigration and Job Creation - Some of world’s top international students earn their advanced high-tech college degrees in the United States, and many would like to remain here. But with an immigration system that makes them wait as long as 10 years for a chance to become permanent residents, many choose to return home or move to a country more welcoming. So the question for the United States is: do we want to educate these brilliant minds and then send them home to compete against us, or do we want to allow them to stay here and contribute to our economy?

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS

The ASPIRE Prize The United States announces the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (“ASPIRE Prize”) to recognize young scientists who have demonstrated: excellence in scientific research, as evidenced through scholarly publication; commitment to cooperation with scientists from other APEC member economies; and contribution to the year’s selected theme, which for 2011 is green growth. John Wiley & Sons and Reed Elsevier, two of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly scientific knowledge, have generously committed to funding prize money in the amount of $25,000 USD.

Department of Energy Announces Funding for Nationwide Student-Focused Clean Energy Business Competitions - This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will consider applications that propose annual U.S. university-based business creation competitions for student entrepreneurs with business ideas in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

REPORTS, DOCUMENTS OF NOTE & INFO RESOURCES

U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration - STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future

National Academies - Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - Science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (STEM) are fundamental aspects of everyone's lives as citizens, consumers, parents, and workers. Providing all students with access to high-quality education in STEM is important to their futures and that of the U.S. What can schools do to meet this goal for their students?

National Robotics Initiative - The goal of the National Robotics Initiative is to accelerate the development and use of robots in the United States that work beside, or cooperatively with, people. Innovative robotics research and applications emphasizing the realization of such co-robots acting in direct support of and in a symbiotic relationship with human partners is supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): October 01, 2011.