IEEE-USA Eye on Washington, No. 3 2009

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Vol. 2009, No. 3 (9 February 2009)
125 Years of Innovation and Ingenuity

CAPITOL HILL ACTIVITY

UPDATE: Senate Stimulus Bill Likely to Hit Floor Tonight - February 9th

AWARDS & GRANTS

Presidential Management Fellowships

LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES

14th Annual Science Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day

IEEE-USA Now Accepting 2010 Government Fellowship Applications

CAPITOL HILL ACTIVITY

Senate Stimulus Bill Likely to Hit Floor Tonight - February 9th

9 MON: If all goes as planned, the Senate may hold a vote tomorrow on its version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Once the Senate passes the bill, its on to what is sure to be a very contentious conference between the House and Senate to write the final version of this stimulus legislation. Congress has lofty goals of sending the bill to President Obama by the weekend.

However, getting final Senate passage will be no easy task. Once leaders realized that no Republican senator would vote for the bill as they originally drafted , a group of moderates in both parties worked into this past weekend to craft a compromise version that cut approximately $100 billion in proposed spending. The Senate bill totals $820 billion in new spending and tax reductions.

Below is a comparison of the $819 billion House-passed version of this legislation, and the Senate "compromise" version the Senate may vote on tomorrow. There is a considerable range in the recommended funding levels in the House and Senate versions of this bill for science and technology programs.

HOUSE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Scientific and Technical Research and Services Recovery funding: $100 million

Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Technology Innovation Program Recovery funding: $100 million

The House report states: "Industrial Technology Services includes the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Technology Innovation Program: $30 million is for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and $70 million is for the Technology Innovation Program (TIP)."

Science Building Construction Grants Recovery funding: $300 million

The House report states: "This program is a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings. These grants are awarded to colleges, universities, and other nonprofit, science research organizations on a merit basis."

SENATE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

The Senate summary states: "$475 million total for NIST including: $307 million for renovation of NIST facilities and new laboratories using green technologies; $168 million for scientific and technical research at NIST to strengthen the agency's IT infrastructure; provide additional NIST research fellowships; provide substantial funding for advanced research and measurement equipment and supplies; increase external grants for NIST-related research."

HOUSE: NASA

Science Recovery funding: $400 million

The House report states: "Within the funds provided, not less than $250 million will be used to accelerate the development of the Tier 1 set of Earth science/climate research missions recommended by the National Academies decadal survey as being critically important for answering key Earth science/climate research questions. . . "

SENATE: NASA

The Senate summary states: "$1.3 billion total for NASA including: $450 million for Earth science missions to provide critical data about the Earth's resources and climate; $200 million to enable research and testing of environmentally responsible aircraft and for verification and validation methods for complex aerospace systems and software; $450 million to reduce the gap in time that the U.S. does not have a vehicle to access the International Space Station; and $200 million for repair, upgrade and construction at NASA facilities."

HOUSE: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Research and Related Activities Recovery funding: $2.500 billion

The House report states: "Within the R&RA appropriation, $300 million is provided for the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program."

Education and Human Resources Recovery funding: $100 million

The House report states: "$100 million is provided for Education and Human Resources at the NSF. Within this amount, $60 million is provided for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program and $40 million for Math and Science Partnerships."

Construction and Development of Major Research Equipment and Facilities Recovery funding: $400 million

SENATE: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The Senate summary states: "National Science Foundation (NSF) Research: $1.2 billion total for NSF including: $1 billion to help America compete globally; $150 million for scientific infrastructure; and $50 million for competitive grants to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education."

HOUSE: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - SCIENCE

Science Recovery funding: $2.000 billion

The House report states: "Within this amount, $400 million is included for the Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy to support high-risk, high-payoff research to accelerate the innovation cycle for both traditional and alternative energy sources and energy efficiency."

SENATE: DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY - SCIENCE

The Senate summary states: "The Department of Energy's Science program sees $330 million for laboratory infrastructure
and construction."

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS

Presidential Management Fellowships

The PMF - formerly known as Presidential Management Internships (PMI) - calls to Federal service, outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. The rigorous two-year paid fellowship program recruits thousands of candidates, assesses their skills, and selects only the top finalists, saving agencies time and expenses, and ensuring a premium candidate pool. Agencies can then hire Fellows as capable new staff members, and as investments in succession planning for their agencies. More than 80 Federal agencies currently partner with the PMF Program Office to hire Fellows annually. The application period for applying to the PMF Class of 2010 is expected to open in the fall of 2009. Fellows engage in solving domestic and international issues including, but not limited to:

Public Administration,
Foreign Policy,
Technology,
Science,
Criminal Justice,
Health, and
Financial Management.

IEEE-USA Government Fellowships

Each year, IEEE-USA sponsors three qualified IEEE members to serve as government fellows: one Engineering & Diplomacy Fellow and two Congressional fellows. The fellows spend a year in Washington, serving as advisers to the U.S. Congress or key U.S. Department of State decision-makers. IEEE-USA's Government Fellowships link engineers with government, providing a mechanism for IEEE-USA members to learn firsthand about the public policy process through personal involvement.

The congressional fellowship consists of an appointment to the personal staff of a U.S. Senator or Congressman, or to the professional staff of a Congressional Committee. The Fellow along with the Congressional sponsor and IEEE-USA, negotiates a starting date, although IEEE-USA recommends that Fellowship terms run from January 1st to December 31st. For an application Kit for the 2010 Congressional Fellowship Program, visit: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/cfapply.asp

The State Department fellowship begins in January of each year and offers an opportunity for an engineer to provide technical expertise to the State Department, and help raise awareness of the value of engineering input while learning about and contributing to the foreign policy process. For an application Kit for the 2010 Engineering & Diplomacy (State Department) Fellowship Program, visit: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/state.asp

Fellows must be U.S. citizens.The postmark application deadline for 2010 Fellowships is 13 March 2009. For more information, visit: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/default.asp

2009 Lawrence Award Call for Nominations

The Department of Energy invites nominations for the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Awards, which are among the longest running and most prestigious science and technology awards given by the US. Government. Nominations for the 2009 Lawrence Awards must be submitted by April 1, 2009. All nominations are made via an electronic submission process.

AAAS GrantsNet Express - A weekly American Association for the Advancement of Science 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.

Grants.gov - The President's 2002 Fiscal Year Management Agenda established grants.gov as a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs. The site provides access to approximately $400 billion in annual awards. Most agencies, such as the DOE's Office of Science, use only grants.gov to list all funding opportunities. Other funding opportunities of interest include the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and NASA.

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

LATEST IEEE-USA & IEEE ACTIVITIES

New Publication from the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee

IEEE-USA National Energy Policy Recommendations - 2009 ( http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/energyplan/default.asp)

14th Annual Science Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day

Registration for the 14th Annual Science Engineering and Technology Congressional Visits Day is now open. The event is scheduled for April 28-29. We encourage first time participants and student members of IEEE-USA to participate. The event includes training and scheduling of Congressional appointments with your Congressional delegation. Additional information is available at: http://ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/default.asp

The 2009 CVD Flyer:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/2009/CVD09-flyer.pdf

The 2009 Registration Page:
http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/registration.html

A printable 2009 Registration Form
http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/cvd/2009/CVD09-registration.pdf

New IEEE Video Available on YouTube and Google Video: A smart Grid for Intelligent Energy Use

The Smart Grid involves the use of communications and computing technology to transmit and distribute energy more efficiently. This new video describes the smart grid and how it will reduce our carbon footprint through energy efficiency and the integration of renewable sources of energy. It features interviews recorded at the IEEE Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles: Accelerating Innovation Conference (2007), and the IEEE Energy 2030 Conference (2008).

Former IEEE-USA Government Fellows Available to Speak to Sections

Former IEEE-USA Congressional Fellows are available to speak spoke to IEEE Sections, PACE and student groups anywhere in the U.S. They are able to discuss the issues they worked on during the years they served as IEEE-USA government fellows, as well as provide an engineer's perspective on the "government process" and the IEEE-USA's involvement in that process. 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

Public Policy Priority Issues - 111th Congress, 1st Session (2009): http://ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/index.html

Position Statements: http://ieeeusa.com/policy/positions/index.html - IEEE-USA position statements identify important technical and/or engineering career-related aspects of specific public policy issues deemed to be of concern or affecting IEEE's U.S. members. They make specific public policy recommendations and provide recommended approaches for consideration by the U.S. Congress, Executive Branch officials, the Judiciary, representatives of State and Local Government, and other interested groups and individuals, including IEEE members. Check out the new positions statements approved in January 2009 . Many more are under review by committees.

IEEE-USA In The News: http://ieeeusa.org/communications/inthenews/default.asp

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