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R. D. Shelton, Editor:  rds@itri2.org
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In This Issue of ITRInews
Marburger Shakes Up OSTP
Congress Ups R&D Budgets for Non-NIH Agencies
Counter Terrorism R&D
A New OTA?
OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2001 Report
Japan Aims to Make its Universities World Class
WTEC Workshop on MEMS in Japan in January

Featured Organizations in International S&T:
List of Clearinghouses Compiled in Previous Issues of ITRInews
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Marburger Shakes Up OSTP The newly confirmed presidential science advisor, Dr. John Marburger, has reorganized the Office of Science and Technology Policy.  OSTP will now have only two substantive divisions;  the former National Security and International Affairs Division and the Environment Division will be subsumed under the existing Science Division and Technology Division.  This information comes from the November Science Magazine; the OSTP website has not yet been updated to reflect these changes.  Science also reports that OSTP is being moved out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, to an office building a few blocks away.  To help staff the new OSTP organization, the President has nominated Richard M. Russell to be Associate Director of OSTP for technology.  Mr. Russell has been the acting Chief of Staff at OSTP since April, 2001.  Before that he worked as a staffer on the Hill, most recently on the House Science Committee. He graduated from Yale in 1988 with a B. S. in Biology. Most previous Associate Directors have been senior scientists with advanced degrees.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011026-13.html These changes have raised concerns in the S&T policy community about the access of OSTP to the President; Dr. Marburger's statement at his Senate confirmation hearing is somewhat reassuring. http://www.ostp.gov/html/01_1012.html

Congress Ups R&D Budget Increases for Non-NIH Agencies In April the Bush Administration requested much smaller budget increases in FY2002 for R&D than in FY2001, except for continued progress toward doubling the NIH budget.  For example at NSF it requested a $56 million or 1.3 % increase in the total NSF budget, after a 13 percent increase in FY 2001. Because of emphasis on education and human resources programs, NSF's R&D programs were actually proposed to decline 1.6 %. Congress has greatly increased these figures at NSF and other physical science agencies, and the President is expected to sign these bills.  At NSF Congress would provide $4.8 billion, an increase of $372 million or 8.4 %. NSF's R&D funding, which excludes NSF's education and training activities and overhead costs, would total $3.5 billion in FY 2002, an increase of 7.6 percent or $249 million. Table 1 below based on AAAS analysis shows that other physical science agencies also fared much better than in the President's request.

Table 1. Research and Development Budgets in Non-NIH Agencies
(FY2002 Compared to FY2001 in Percent)

Agency	Bush Budget Proposal	Congressional Budget Proposal	Details
NSF	-1.6%	+7.6%	http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/nsf02c.htm
DOE	-4.4%	+3.1%	http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/doe02c.htm
NASA	+0.4%	+3.5%	http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/nasa02c.htm
EPA	-6.5%	+3.8%	http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/epa02c.htm
Interior	-6.0%	+5.0%	http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/int02c.htm

These figures are for current dollars.  One needs to subtract expected inflation in 2002 of about 2.8.% to estimate the real increases. For comparison, President Bush requested a 13.7% increase in health care research at NIH.  The Congress trimmed that to 12.8%.  http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/nih02h.htm

Counter Terrorism R&D  In August the Office of Management and Budget sent its annual report to Congress summarizing Federal investments in countering terrorism.  An AAAS issue brief shows that the Bush Administration requested $555 million for counter terrorism R&D, a cut of 4.1% from FY2001.  In the aftermath of September 11, Congress has authorized $40 billion for counter terrorism, increased national security, and disaster relief.  While vulnerable Federal labs would get improved security from these funds, early indications are that little additional R&D is planned.  http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/terror.pdf

A New OTA?  The House and the Senate have approved a conference report for the FY 2002 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (H.R. 2647) that directs the General Accounting Office (GAO) to allocate $500,000 for "a pilot program in technology assessment".  This initiative, championed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), is designed to provide S&T advice to Congress. by filling the void created by the elimination of Congress' Office of Technology Assessment in 1995.  From Chris Brantley's IEEE-USAA Eye on Washington e-letter;  to subscribe visit http://whatsnew.ieee.org/
 

OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard: Towards a Knowledge-based Economy  The STI 2001 report brings together over 160 indicators, 60% of which new to this edition, providing a picture of the trends and implications of the knowledge based-economy across the 30 OECD member countries.  This picture is a composite from 4 different perspectives: 1) the creation and diffusion of knowledge (e.g. R&D, scientific personnel, patents), 2) the information economy (e.g. the production and use of IT, e-commerce, IT skills) , 3) global integration (e.g. international trade, foreign direct investment) and 4) economic growth and performance (productivity, role of technology- and knowledge-intensive industries).  With the essential findings presented in bullet points and methodological notes on indicators and data sources, the publication combines statistical rigour with readability. New this year is an electronic version that gives instant access to the underlying data.  http://www.oecd.org/sti/statistical-analysis  For other similar work in progress see http://www.oecd.org/sti/working-papers.

Japan Aims to Make its Universities World Class The details of the Toyama Plan which aims to advance the level of Japan's top 30 universities to the world's highest level have been revealed.  MEXT (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology) requested Yen 42.2 billion (ca. $352 million) for this plan in the JFY2002 budget.  Each subject in a Ph.D. course will be regarded as one unit which will receive competitive funds of Yen 100-500 million (ca. 0.8-4 million) per year for five years with an interim review in the second year.  The funds will be provided to 10 fields, including life science, medical science, mathematics and physics, chemistry and earth science, and each of these fields will have sub fields.  During JFY2002 fifty subjects in five fields will be selected to receive the competitive funds.  A more detailed implementation plan will be compiled by the end of the current calendar year and the solicitation will start in January, ending in March 2002.  (Summary translation of an article on Kagaku Shinbun (Science Newspaper) - 9/7/01 by NSF/Tokyo)

WTEC Workshop on MEMS Announced.  Readers of ITRInews are invited to attend.  In early November WTEC sent a delegation of American experts, chaired by Prof. Roger Howe of UC Berkeley, to Japan to assess R&D in micro-electro-mechanical systems there.  Their findings will be presented at a workshop on January 18 at NSF, 4201 N. Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, VA.  For more information:  http://www.wtec.org/mems1/

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FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS THIS MONTH
Clearinghouses of International S&T

Each of the 38 issues of ITRInews lists several sites on international S&T, including clearinghouses compiled by others.  The issues below have clearinghouses compiled specifically for ITRInews.
 

U.S. Science Counselors Abroad	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N37.html
Leading Universities and S&T Schools	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N36.html
11 S&T Clearinghouses	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N35.html
Academies of Science and Engineering	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N34.html
S&T Offices in Washington Embassies	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N33.html
International News Sites with S&T Sections	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N32.html
S&T Policy Think Tanks	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews28.html
National Organizations for S&T Policy	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html
International Divisions of Federal Research Agencies (Continued)	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
International Divisions of Federal Research Agencies	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Ministries of Technology	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Ministries of Science	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Technology Foresight Exercise Reports	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html

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Copyright © 2001 ITRI, Inc. Comments to rds@itri2.org please.
 

DATE	FEATURE ARTICLE	URL
Aug 98	Left Hand/Right Hand: NSF and NAS Both Assess US Math Research	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews1.htm
Sep 98	The Y1.998K Problem: Y2K Arrives 0.002K Early. Markets Crash, PMs Fired, Orioles 31 Games Behind	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews2.htm
Oct 98	Is S&T to Blame for the Asian Financial Crisis?	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews3.htm
Nov 98	NRC to State:  Ignoring S&T is Ignorant	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews4.htm
Dec 98/Jan 99	The Bottom Line: US Trade Deficit Skyrockets	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews5.htm
Feb 99	Who's the Bear, and Who's the Bull? Japan Doubles R&D; The US Cuts It	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews6.html
Mar 99	Who's On First? (US, But Not for Long)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews7.html
Apr 99	GPRA Metastasizes Abroad	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews8.html
May/Jun 99	Teraflops Computers Meet Gates' Law	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews9.html
July 99	More Good News / Bad News from the Academy	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews10.html
Aug 99	Rep. George Brown Adjourns	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews11.html
Sep 99	200GB Disk: 40 Films on One CD	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews12.html
Oct 99	Is International S&T Assessment Needed?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews13.html
Nov 99	Output in Papers: We're Number One?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html
Dec 99 / Jan 00	New Technology Czar(ina)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews15.html
Feb 00	S&T: Ready for Prime Time?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews16.html
Mar 00	Bottom Line II: Trade Deficit Skyrocket Explodes	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews17.html
Apr 00	Who's Getting U.S. Patents?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews18.html
May 00	Think That Government is Investing More in Research? Think Again.	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews19.html
Jun 00	American Leadership of S&T: Reality or Myth?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews20.html
Jul 00	Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Released by NSF	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Aug 00	Pale Green Manufacturing: US is 3rd out of 3	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Aug 00 (Extra)	Americans Like Being No. 1 and Want to Keep It That Way	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews23.html
Sept 00	Industry Leads U.S. R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Oct 00	Gingrich Praises Clinton	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
Nov 00	Research Feasts: FY2001 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews26.html
Dec 00	S&T Policy of the Bush Administration	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html
Jan 01	Andreessen's Law for the Internet	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews28.html
Feb 01	Sherwood Boehlert: New Science Committee Chair	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews29.html
Mar 01	Research Famines: FY2002 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews30.html
Apr 01	As DotComs Wilt, Internet Sprouts	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N31.html
May 01	R&D Budget Crash	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N32.html
Jun 01	Nano is Huge, and Getting Bigger	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N33.html
Jul 01	Marburger to be OSTP Director	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N34.html
Aug 01	Doctors of Economic Warfare	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N35.html
Sep 01	US Technologies Lead;  US Technologists Lag	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N36.html
Oct 01	Impact of Terrorism on R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N37.html
Nov 01	Marburger Shakes Up OSTP	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/N38.html