Reece Lumsden—9/2/11

Report to AESS BoG

on

IEEE-USA R&D Policy Committee (IEEE RDPC)

Discussion/Topics of focus

The primary areas of discussion/focus via e-mail/online-forum have been:

□ Federal employees given greater latitude to participate in the management of professional societies

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-05-03/pdf/2011-10629.pdf

□ Amendment to ITAR regulations regarding dual/third country nationals

http://www.state.gov/t/us/163325.htm

□ Measuring the impacts of Federal Investments in Research

□ Coburn Report: The National Science Foundation—Under the Microscope

□ Supreme Court Upholds Inventors' Rights, sending Congress Message on Patent Reform

□ Atlanta Journal article “Research dollars pave way for jobs”

□ Committee letter on Innovation and Competitiveness

□ Article: AAAS CEO “Innovation needs novel thinking”

□ Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) 5th anniversary policy forum

□ IEEE R+D caucus event on university research

□ Committee letter; Permanent extension of R+D tax credit

□ Article “Obama announces push to train 10k engineers yearly”

□ House subcommittee hearing on STEM education

□ Article; Council on Competitiveness Report Says America's Innovation Leadership is in Jeopardy

Meeting minutes

□ The IEEE RDPC held one meeting since the last AESS BoG meeting in April 2011 (19 May) which can be found below.

19 May 2011:

  1. Chair’s remarks:

a) The “Nanotechnology Research and Development” position statement approved by the IEEE-USA Government Relations Council.

b) Bill Williams will be on a leave of absence. He doesn’t anticipate any major effect on the STEM enterprise measures conference in October.

  1. Discussion of SBIR bill, which passed the Senate on May 4.
  2. Discussion of “Manufacturing and Innovation” draft position statement. Changes made, including the position’s title, “Job Growth Through Manufacturing Innovation.”
  3. Jim Barbera; doesn’t think the committee should consider a position statement on “Education and Training of Government Technical and Programmatic Managers.” He thinks this would best originate in the Career & Workforce Policy Committee.
  4. Tom Tierney; in next six months International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) components would be merged. A position statement should wait “until we see what the final regulations look like.” As the rule is now written, academic institutions would not be exempt. Bob Newcomb said this is a problem that he thinks IEEE-USA should address.

ACTION: Tierney will circulate a new draft position statement.

  1. Committee went back to discussion on “Job Growth Through Manufacturing Innovation” position statement. More changes made.

ACTION: Bernadette Concepcion will forward the latest draft to the committee.

  1. Discussion of potential June 16 Congressional Research and Development Caucus briefing on Capitol Hill that IEEE-USA was supposed to lead. Because no planning has been done to host the briefing, it was decided not to pursue it.
  2. Jim Barbera showed the committee the latest National Energy Policy Recommendations position statement booklet. He decried that it doesn’t mention the ocean as a source of energy. Jim Bielefeld said a number of staff members he talked to during the recent CVD are interested in a copy of the new booklet.
  3. Chris McManes gave an overview of IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer and IEEE-USA in ACTION. Tom Tierney asked if we’d be interested in an article on export controls and Sherrie Gillespie said she would write an article in the fall to help boost applicants for the IEEE-USA Government Fellowship program. Tierney said he would assist in the latter story. Gillespie then discussed fellowship program in more detail.

ACTION: Tierney and Gillespie will write the above-described articles for Today’s Engineer.

  1. Discussion on drafting a letter pertaining to the House budget plan to cut FY 2012 science and technology funding to 2008 levels.

ACTION: Jim Bielefeld and Brendan Godfrey will work on the letter.

  1. Discussion on STEM Measures conference in October. Committee was informed that an ad hoc committee chaired by Marty Sokoloski has already made extensive plans to hold the conference and lined up most of the speakers.

ACTION: Jim Barbera will contact Sokoloski to discuss the conference.

  1. Tom Tierney reported on the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Meeting:
  • OSTP asked all federal agencies to develop scientific integrity guidelines and report them to OSTP by August. This is expected to impact the contracts people receive to conduct R&D research.
  • Attendees thought federal R&D budgets will be cut in FY 2012.
  • NAE President Chuck Vest gave a keynote address on innovation.
  • SBIR and STTR policies came through well in Congress.
  • Attendees thought innovation will be a driver of job and economic growth.
  • NSF Director Subra Suresh talked about secure computing in a cloud environment and cybersecurity becoming a growing focus area for NSF.
  • Sherrie Gillespie also attended the meeting.
  1. Brendan Godfrey briefly discussed the science of science policy.

ACTION: Godfrey will try to get a luncheon speaker to discuss the science of science policy at the next committee meeting.

  1. Tom Tierney and Brendan Godfrey said they support relaxing rules on government employees serving in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). “It’s a good thing for us to endorse,” Godfrey said. The committee agreed and Chris Brantley will draft IEEE-USA’s response.

ACTION: Committee members wishing to contribute to the letter should contact/provide input to Brantley () by July 5.

  1. Next Meeting Date: September 9, 2011

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