Collection

2012 Public Policy Colloquium

Authors

Tobin Smith

2012 Engineering Deans Council Public Policy Colloquium Tobin Smith Vice President for Policy Association of American Universities February 7, 2012 Overview• The current political and economic climate• A snapshot of the 112th Congress• Key messages for Capitol Hill visitsThe Typical Legislative Process The Legislative Process in a Presidential Election Year!• Election year means deep partisan divide• 41 GOP senators; loss of Democratic filibuster- proof majority; margins in both House and Senate will tighten further after election• Strong divisions on health care, climate change, and spending• R&D, STEM education, and competitiveness still draw bipartisan support

Collection

2012 Public Policy Colloquium

Authors

Alex Huang

FREEDM Systems Center Partnership Overview and Challenges Dr. Alex Huang, Professor & Director NSF FREEDM Systems Center Advanced Transportation Energy Center (ATEC) www.freedm.ncsu.edu A Global Partnership Industry Guided Research•A generation-III Engineering ResearchCenter (ERC) established in 2008•Potentially a ten year investment by NSF•Must be a multi-school configuration withinternational school participation Industry Research•Must address a transformative grandchallenge engineering problem

Collection

2012 Public Policy Colloquium

Authors

Jack M. Wilson

1MGHPCC A partnership between 5 universities $736.1M $468.7M $280.8M $61.3M $462.3Total Research Revenue in 2009 of $2,009,078,000 ( $2.0B ) (Source NSF: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf11313/content.cfm?pub_id=4065&id=2) With additional support from the commonwealth and industrial sponsors 3MGHPCC1/6/09 Discussion: Boston Research University Presidents’ Dinner– At MIT President, Susan Hockfield’s, home.1/9/09 Friday call from Susan Hockfield, MIT to Jack Wilson, UMass– The Scientific Fantasy: Boston Research Universities Build

Collection

2012 Public Policy Colloquium

Authors

Sarah Rajala

administration energy initiatives, including ARPA-e.The committee and its Hall is a member of the Teasubcommittees have Party caucus and a spaceconcentrated on oversight of exploration enthusiast.administration performance,holding hearings on: Transparency and results of ARRA (Stimulus) spending. Challenges in completing the James Webb Space Telescope on time. “Significant concerns” about EPA science. Government vs. private role in STEM education.Science, Space, and Technology Key SubcommitteesOversight andInvestigationsRep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) chair.Physician, critic ofadministration’s commitment toscientific integrity.Research andScience EducationRep. Mo Brooks