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AAES Fast Facts
13 December 2002
13 December 2002
Allison Salyer, editor
asalyer@aaes.org
WASHINGTON UPDATE
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard A. Meserve, who has held his post for more than three years has announced his resignation, effective in March of 2003. Chairman Meserve has accepted the Presidency of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, effective next spring. Additional information may be found at http://www.nrc.gov
The Bush administration has endorsed a proposal for a small increase in fuel economy standards for light trucks, increasing the mileage requirement for such vehicles by 1.5 miles per gallon over three years. The decision endorses a recommendation made to the White House last month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The requirement, covering sport-utility vehicles, minivans and pickups, will begin with the 2005 model year and increase the average standard for such trucks to 22.2 miles per gallon in the 2007 model year. Democrats and environmentalists criticized the increase as too small, while Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, who oversees NHTSA, said it will save 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline. Additional information may be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com
Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill and National Economic Council director Lawrence B. Lindsey resigned during the week of December 1st, after President Bush decided that he needed stronger messengers to communicate with voters, investors and lawmakers as he headed into his reelection race. During the week of December 9th, President Bush has nominated CSX Corp. Chairman John Snow as O'Neill's replacement and named banker Stephen Friedman as Lindsey's replacement. Additionally, the President has tapped William H. Donaldson, former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional information may be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com
Bush administration efforts to speed logging and fire-prevention projects in national forests was set back by a federal appeals court ruling whose most immediate impact could be to halt road building in some Idaho road-less areas and planned timber sales in southeastern Alaska. The court ruling means the administration must allow a road and logging ban to take effect that is a pivotal part of former President Clinton's environmental legacy. The Clinton era rule prohibits virtually all road building or other development in road-less parcels of 5,000 acres or more, acreage that covers a third of America's national forests or 2 percent of the nation's land mass. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge of Idaho's temporary injunction that had blocked the rule and sent the case back to Lodge for further consideration. Environmentalists cheered the ruling, while logging interests and an Indian tribe recoiled. Additional information may be found at http://news.yahoo.com
Association News
IEEE-USA
IEEE-USA R&D Policy Committee Chair Ron Hira gave a presentation on "Leveraging Technical Professional Societies To Improve U.S. Human IT Capital" and IEEE Computer Society editor Frank Ferrante gave a presentation on "National and International Issues in the IT Labor Market" at a Workshop on Sustaining a Workforce for the Information Economy hosted by the National Research Council on December 12.
IEEE-USA joined a Nov. 20 letter by the Coalition for National Security Research to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics encouraging support for defense S&T programs in the FY 2004 budget request. See: http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POLICY/2002/02nov20.pdf
IEEE-USA joined a Nov. 18 letter by the Aviation Coalition to the U.S. Senate supporting action on the Federal Aviation Administration Research, Engineering and Development Act (S.2951). See: http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POLICY/2002/02nov18.pdf
On Nov. 12, IEEE-USA President LeEarl Bryant gave a presentation on "Trying Times for American Engineers" to a pan-organizational summit on the U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce organized by the National Academies' Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. See: http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POLICY/2002/12nov02.pdf
In mid-November, the IEEE-USA Board of Directors released a new position statement on creation of "An Electric Power Reliability Organization." See: http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POSITIONS/reliability.html
ASME
ASME TASK FORCE RECOMMENDS THREE PERCENT OF TOTAL DOD BUDGET BE ALLOCATED TO S&T IN FY 2004
ASME's Department of Defense (DOD) Task Force recently joined members of the Coalition for National Security Research (CNSR) in a letter to the Bush Administration to express strong support for the DOD Science and Technology (S&T) programs in the fiscal year 2004 (FY 2004) budget request and in the future years' defense plan.
The letter commends the Administration for their support of DOD S&T in the FY 2003 Defense Appropriations bill, and recommends that three percent of the FY 2004 DOD budget request be allocated to the core S&T programs to sustain this momentum.
DOD's S&T programs provide critical investments in scientific disciplines vital to ensuring future security, including engineering, mathematics, and physical, computer, and behavioral sciences. These S&T programs make essential contributions to national defense by fueling innovation and training future scientists and engineers. Defense S&T programs support research in our nation's universities, DOD laboratories, and private sector laboratories, linking fundamental scientific discoveries and future military applications.
The DOD Task Force supports the findings and recommendations of the 1998 Defense Science Board Task Force and the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) to provide three percent of the total Defense Department budget, or $11 billion, for the DOD basic (6.1), applied (6.2) and advanced technology development (6.3) accounts, which make up the S&T program.
The statement is available online at http://www.asme.org/gric/ps/2002/02-36.html
For more information, contact Kathryn Holmes at holmesk@asme.org.
NIBIB ESTABLISHES NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL, SOLICITS APPLICATIONS FOR BIOENGINEERING RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
Ten scientists and engineers have accepted appointments to serve on the recently established National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NACBIB). The Council is the advisory group to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and provides recommendations on the conduct and support of biomedical imaging and bioengineering research and research training. The first meeting of the Advisory Council is scheduled for January 16 and 17, 2003, at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.
In the fall of 2001, ASME's Bioengineering Division recommended six members for the Council, including newly selected appointee, Dr. Frank C. P. Yin. Dr. Yin, an ASME fellow who has been a member since 1986, is Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also the Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering, director of the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, and a professor of medicine. He received his master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his doctorate in bioengineering and M.D. from the University of California, San Diego.
For a full list of the Council membership, go to http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov2002/nibib-22.htm. For more information, contact Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.
Also, the NIBIB, together with several other NIH centers and institutes, is soliciting applications for awards to support Bioengineering Research Partnerships for basic and applied multi-disciplinary research that address important biological or medical research problems. The partnership must include appropriate bioengineering or allied quantitative sciences in combination with biomedical and/or clinical investigators. The number of awards and level of support will depend on the number of applications received and the availability of funds. A copy of the solicitation is available at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-03-032.html
General information about the NIBIB can be found at: http://www.nibib.nih.gov, or by contacting Melissa Murray at murraym@asme.org.