The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) on Wednesday released a report on health information technology titled “Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans:  The Path Forward.”  The report “calls for adoption of a universal exchange language to mobilize data, improve healthcare, enhance privacy, and cut costs.”  Meantime, PCAST yesterday announced that a Congressionally-mandated biennial review of the NITRD program will be released next Thursday afternoon. During Wednesday’s health IT report roll-out at the Department of Health and Human Services, PCAST co-chair Eric Lander said, “The United States spends more on healthcare as a fraction of gross domestic product than any other […]

Lots of interesting stories this past week of relevance to the field: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers On Tuesday, the White House announced the names of 85 early-career researchers who will receive the government’s highest honor for young scientists and engineers — the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE awards were established in 1996 and are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Awardees are selected on the basis of their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology as well as their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. […]

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) today unanimously approved a draft report reviewing the 14-agency, $4 billion Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program. The 14-person working group that assisted with the biannual review, completed this summer, was co-chaired by Ed Lazowska (full disclosure: Ed is Chair of the CCC Council) and PCAST member David Shaw. In their summary of the major findings during a public session of PCAST in Washington, DC, this morning, Ed and David noted how networking and information technology (NIT) has greatly enhanced our nation’s economic competitiveness, all the while significantly accelerating the pace of discovery in all fields. They […]

Our colleagues at ACM today announced a landmark report that presents, for the first time, a state-by-state breakdown of current K-12 standards for computer science education, including specific high school graduation requirements: http://www.acm.org/runningonempty. At the same time, a new non-partisan coalition of associations, corporations, scientific societies, and other non-profits was unveiled. Computing in the Core, as it’s called, comprises CRA, NCWIT, the Anita Borg Institute for Women & Technology, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), Microsoft, Google, and SAS. It strives to elevate computer science education to a core academic subject in K-12 education, giving young people the college- and career-readiness skills necessary in a technology-focused society. CinC’s new website […]

Dr. Ken Gabriel, the deputy director of DARPA, delivered a plenary address at CRA’s biannual Snowbird Conference on Monday morning — one day short of the one-year anniversary of the arrival of DARPA’s new leadership, including new DARPA director Dr. Regina Dugan. Gabriel spoke about DARPA’s incredible transformation over the past 12 months, including its renewed commitment to academic research. Specifically, Gabriel started by highlighting five key changes that have occurred at DARPA in the past year: – “Go/no-go” is gone. – Contracting has been simplified. The process is as clear, simple, and fast as the law allows. – More realistic conflict of interest rules have been applied to people […]

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) held its July 2010 meeting at the National Academies in Washington, DC, on Friday. The hearing began with a session on “Science, Technology, and Diplomacy” that featured the three founding members of the Science Envoys program – Bruce Alberts, Elias Zerhouni, and Ahmed Zewail – speaking candidly about their experiences as part of this new diplomatic effort, which places U.S. scientists in foreign nations to promote international relations. The three envoys shared insights they had gleaned while trying to improve diplomatic relations with Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, Qatar, Turkey, and the U.A.E. A prevailing sentiment was the urgent need for a […]