Subscribe

Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • The Science of Digital Fabrication

    Posted by Tom Kalil and Philip Rubin on April 30, 2013 at 3:42 PM EDT

    One of President Obama’s top priorities is advanced manufacturing—the use of cutting-edge technologies to spur innovation in product development or manufacturing processes. As he said during his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama wants to make America “a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.”  That’s why his FY14 budget includes $2.9 billion for advanced manufacturing R&D, including $1 billion to launch a network of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes.

    To advance this Presidential priority, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has been working closely with experts in industry and academia to identify advanced manufacturing technologies that could help create the industries and jobs of the future. 

    On March 7, 2013, OSTP and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms co-hosted a workshop at MIT on the science of digital fabrication— which could one day allow individuals to design and produce tangible objects on demand, wherever and whenever they need them. The purpose of the workshop was to gather representatives from academic institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to document the state of the art today, and survey the roadmap for its future development.

    read the rest
    Learn more about , Innovations, Technology

  • First Lady Michelle Obama Announces a New Program to Help Transitioning Servicemembers Get IT Jobs

    Posted by Becky Fried on April 30, 2013 at 9:26 AM EDT

    This article is posted in full on the Joining Forces website

    First Lady Michelle Obama Announces the IT Training and Certification Partnership, April 29, 2013

    First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building South Court Auditorium, April 29, 2013. The First Lady announces the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private partnership that will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology (IT) certifications before they transition from military service. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

    In the ongoing effort to help our service members and veterans transition from active duty service to the civilian job market, the White House today invited leaders from the private sector, the military services, industry trade associations, unions, educational institutions, state legislatures, veteran service organizations, and state licensing boards for a forum on military credentialing and licensing.

    At the event, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private program that addresses an issue that can prevent our troops from gaining employment in the private sector: Active military personnel typically do not have the industry-recognized certifications that reflect the IT skills and expertise they gained through their military service.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Technology

  • President Obama Celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences

    Posted by Becky Fried on April 29, 2013 at 3:57 PM EDT

    President Obama Speaks at the 150th Anniversary of the National Academy of Science, April 29, 2013

    President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the National Academy of Sciences on its 150th anniversary, in Washington, D.C., April 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

    In March of 1863, President Lincoln and Congress established the National Academy of Sciences as an independent and nonprofit institution charged with providing the government with the scientific advice that it needed. Today President Obama joined the current members of that body to celebrate the advances in science, engineering, infrastructure, innovation, education and environmental protection that can be attributed to the 150 years of work by the brilliant and committed scientists who have been elected and volunteered to serve their country.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Innovations

  • Guest Blog: How IT Training for Troops Got Me on the Job Track

    Posted by Dan Wojciechowski on April 29, 2013 at 1:22 PM EDT

    Dan Wojciechowski is a Washington National Guard Major who recently completed the IT Training and Certification Program pilot. The pilot provided him with the necessary licenses for a new position at Costco Corporate Headquarters, where he will start as an Information Security Analyst in June, 2013.

    Today, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, where she announced the IT Training and Certification Program. This program will offer Service members an opportunity to receive industry-recognized information technology (IT) certifications as they transition from military service. That announcement had special meaning for me. Last year I had the great honor of being asked to participate in the pilot for the IT Training and Certification Program as part of the President's Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force, with the goal of finding ways to smooth Service members’ transition to working in the private sector. Today’s announcements by the First Lady showed that the work the Task Force has done is definitely going to make a difference for a growing number of Service members.

    I know the potential of this kind of program from personal experience. I was part of the pilot program at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, and it has already paid significant dividends for me. Through the pilot program I have now acquired several certifications that have been huge enablers for my transition into a civilian career. Basically, the training and certification processes helped align my military experience as a signal officer in the Washington Army National Guard with the business needs of employers who are looking for people with IT skills. With those certification credentials following my name on my resume, I got a solid job at Costco Wholesale, working as an Information Security Analyst.

    read the rest
    Learn more about , Technology

  • Standing Watch against Space Weather

    Posted by Tamara Dickinson on April 26, 2013 at 3:17 PM EDT

    Just as there is weather on Earth, there is weather in space. And though we cannot directly see or feel it when we step outside, it has the potential impact our daily lives.

    “Space weather” originates on the Sun, can release the energy-equivalent of 100 hurricanes in just minutes, and can produce wind gusts that exceed one million mph. Every 11 years, the Sun undergoes a period of heightened activity called the "solar maximum”—a  period that is occurring right now—that can bring especially powerful solar eruptions and hurl energetic particles into space, sometimes toward the Earth. Though the likelihood that these solar storms will thrust particles in our planet’s general direction is very low—when they do, they can damage satellites, harm astronauts in space, make GPS information erratic or undependable, and in some cases even cause electricity blackouts on the Earth.

    That’s why the Federal Government works to maintain a range of sophisticated instruments on the ground and in space, which collect data on space weather phenomena spewing particles outward from the Sun. And, that’s why today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report, Space Weather Observing Systems: Current Capabilities and Requirements for the Next Decade—an assessment of our Nation’s capacity to monitor and forecast potentially harmful space weather aimed at ensuring these critical capabilities continue to be supported and maintained.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Technology

  • Scientists Share Skills to Crack Cancer Cell Secrets

    Posted by Robbie Barbero on April 26, 2013 at 1:33 PM EDT

    In its November 2012 report, “Transformation and Opportunity: The Future of the U.S. Research Enterprise,” the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) encouraged the Federal Government to adopt policies that enable researchers to collaborate more efficiently. The recommendation recognized that interdisciplinary collaboration can increase productivity and innovation by ensuring that the best expertise and widest range of capacities are brought to bear on the toughest problems.

    Across the Federal Government, agencies are stepping up to do just that. In one recent example, the Physical Sciences – Oncology Centers Network (PS-OC), a program run by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), assembled an interdisciplinary group of physicists, engineers, mathematicians, chemists, computational scientists, and biologists from 20 laboratories across the country to investigate the biophysical progression of malignant tumor cells.

    Using identical cells and chemicals, and under carefully standardized and well-documented conditions, 95 researchers, including 46 graduate students and post-doctoral scholars, used nearly 20 distinct laboratory techniques to perform coordinated molecular and biophysical studies on tumor cells to accomplish what no scientist could have done alone: track what happens to a cell as it gains the capacity to  spread to other parts of the body—a key transition that makes cancer much more difficult to treat and is the main cause of cancer-related mortality.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Innovations