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Illinois Team Wins Prize for Innovative Oil Spill Cleanup Technology

A prize launched in July 2010 inspired a competition among entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists to develop innovative, rapidly deployable, and highly efficient methods of cleaning up oil spills from the ocean surface.
October 18, 2011 at 10:08 AM ET by Tom Kalil and Robynn Sturm Steffen

President Obama Meets the Nation's Cutting-Edge Researchers

PECASE awards are bestowed each year upon outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership, and have demonstrated a commitment to community service and the advancement of science, technology, engineering and math education.
October 17, 2011 at 5:14 PM ET by Maya Uppaluru

Applying iPhone Innovation to Better Schools and Cleaner Energy

Apple announced that a virtual personal assistant called Siri would be the premier feature of the new iPhone 4S. What you may not know is that this technology is a direct outgrowth of a federally-funded research project called the “Personalized Assistant that Learns.” This project was backed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same agency that supported the early research that led to the Internet, GPS and stealth aircraft.
October 17, 2011 at 12:32 PM ET by Tom Kalil and Kumar Garg

Embracing Diversity as Hispanic Heritage Month Ends

As National Hispanic Heritage Month comes to an end, OSTP's Chelsea Martinez, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Fellow, writes about her upbringing and how being the daughter of an electrical engineer and an elementary school teacher of a bilingual classroom helped shape her life.
October 15, 2011 at 1:25 PM ET by Chelsea Martinez

¡Saludos!

You may not know it, but Tuesday, September 27, 2011, was a momentous day for us Latinos in science, engineering, and technology. On that day, President Obama announced the names of seven prominent scientists and engineers who will receive the National Medal of Science. One of these luminaries is Dr. Richard Tapia, University Professor and Maxfield-Oshman Professor of Engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
October 14, 2011 at 4:27 PM ET by Mayra Montrose

Happy World Standards Week!

Imagine a world where shoe sizes were not standardized, or where golf balls came in a variety of sizes and weights. What if your favorite CDs didn’t fit in your friend’s CD player? None of these things are problems today, thanks to an army of unsung heroes known as standards.
October 14, 2011 at 10:01 AM ET by Mary H. Saunders and Nick Sinai

Building a 21st Century Bioeconomy

On September 16, President Obama announced that his Administration will develop a National Bioeconomy Blueprint detailing Administration-wide steps to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment.
October 12, 2011 at 12:25 PM ET by Mary Maxon and Mike Stebbins

Stamping All Corners of the Globe With ‘Made In America’

On Monday, President Obama transmitted to Congress three free trade agreements that will make it easier for American companies to sell their products in South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, and provide a major boost to our exports.
October 5, 2011 at 2:09 PM ET by Quentin Palfrey

President Obama Welcomes Science Fair Winners to Oval Office

In keeping with his promise to honor the winners of science competitions as much as those who win sports championships, President Obama welcomed the winners of the first-ever Google Science Fair to the Oval Office yesterday.
October 4, 2011 at 2:00 PM ET by Lauren Andersen

NASA Contest Heralds Dawn of the Electric Plane

NASA is providing the $1.65 million prize purse for the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation Green Flight Challenge competition, sponsored by Google, taking place this week outside of Santa Rosa, Calif.
September 30, 2011 at 1:54 PM ET by Administrator Charles Bolden

Back to Classes and Science Labs Today for Good Jobs Tomorrow

The next generation of American leaders is hitting the books again, and the challenges they face today are greater than ever.
September 28, 2011 at 6:51 PM ET by Phil Larson and Greg Gershuny

America's Universities Growing the Economy With “Lab to Market” Initiatives

America’s universities play an important role in the national imperative to spur innovation, encourage entrepreneurship, and jumpstart the economy. A wide range of life-changing technologies were nurtured in university labs, from the Internet, to the global positioning system (GPS), to leading-edge vaccines.
September 28, 2011 at 9:05 AM ET by Tom Kalil and Nick Maynard

Laying the Groundwork for American Competitiveness Throughout the 21st Century

Last week, President Obama sent to Congress the American Jobs Act, which will put people back to work and put money back in the pockets of working Americans. Meanwhile, the Administration is working hard to make sure that we focus both on immediate needs and the long term health of the U.S. economy.
September 26, 2011 at 5:49 PM ET by Quentin Palfrey

Supporting Scientists at the Lab Bench ... and at Bedtime

Today in the East Room, First Lady Michelle Obama is announcing a National Science Foundation 10-year initiative to provide greater work-related flexibility to women and men in research careers.
September 26, 2011 at 1:31 PM ET by John P. Holdren

Delivering on the Promise of Innovation to Help Prevent CyberBullying

Following on President Obama's March 2011 Bullying Prevention Summit, Facebook, MIT, and MTV announced their efforts to help prevent cyberbullying.
September 26, 2011 at 10:15 AM ET by Aneesh Chopra and Howard Schmidt

Rocketry Winners Come to Washington

John Easum, an engineering freshman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, writes about his rocketry team's trip to Washington last week to meet with leaders in the Obama Administration.
September 23, 2011 at 11:48 AM ET by John Easum

21st Century Learning: A Digital Promise

Today, the White House and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are announcing the launch of “Digital Promise,” a new national center created by Congress with bipartisan support to advance technologies to transform teaching and learning.
September 16, 2011 at 8:57 AM ET by Rick Weiss

Modeling a Green Energy Challenge after a Blue Button

Last year, the US Department of Veterans Affairs launched Blue Button, a simple, common-sense project allowing people to access and download their own health information. CTO Aneesh Chopra has challenged the smart electric grid industry to deliver on the vision of a "Green Button" to provide customers access to their energy usage information electronically.
September 15, 2011 at 4:55 PM ET by Aneesh Chopra

A Bold Initiative to Improve Undergraduate STEM Education

Outstanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is vital for the future of our Nation, as has been reiterated frequently by President Obama and many others.
September 14, 2011 at 11:26 AM ET by Carl Wieman, Martha Kanter, and Joan Ferrini-Mundy

Startup America Partnership: Entrepreneurs Wanted

Today is a big day for the Startup America Partnership – and for entrepreneurs all across the country looking for immediate resources to grow and create jobs.
September 13, 2011 at 4:28 PM ET by Tom Kalil and Doug Rand

US Ignite: A New Foundation for America’s Broadband Future

The Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation are planning an initiative called US Ignite designed to promote US leadership in applications and services for ultra-fast broadband networks.
September 12, 2011 at 12:38 PM ET by Tom Kalil and Nick Maynard

Air Force Jumpstarts Electric Vehicle Program

This week, Air Force officials unveiled a plan to establish Los Angeles Air Force Base as the first Federal facility to replace 100% of its general-purpose fleet with Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV’s).
September 9, 2011 at 4:49 PM ET by Camron Gorguinpour and Arun Seraphin

The President’s American Jobs Act: Fueling Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The President’s jobs plan, specifically crafted to garner quick bipartisan support, also promises to dramatically accelerate the pace of American innovation and the success of U.S. entrepreneurs, who have historically been responsible for virtually all new job growth across the country.
September 8, 2011 at 11:20 PM ET by Aneesh Chopra and Tom Kalil

Highlighting Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs at Tonight’s Speech

While the President addresses the Nation this evening, there will be several guests joining the First Lady in the Capitol gallery. These Americans exemplify what the United States needs to emphasize as we continue to create jobs of the future and ensure our competitiveness in the 21st century economy.
September 8, 2011 at 5:33 PM ET by Rick Siger

A Clearer Vision for American Innovation and Jobs

U.S. Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos will celebrate another remarkable milestone tomorrow morning — the issuance of U.S. patent No. 8,000,000.
September 7, 2011 at 6:48 PM ET by Quentin Palfrey

New Competition Brings Robots to Market

The field of robotics has a long and rich tradition of competitions, from FIRST and Botball to the DARPA Autonomous Driving Grand Challenges and the Google Lunar X-Prize. By inspiring contestants to out-innovate one another, competitions like these have helped generate great technology as well as excitement among students and researchers.
September 7, 2011 at 10:37 AM ET by Chuck Thorpe

Competition Provides Solution for Stopping Uncooperative Vehicles

Is there a viable, sustainable and affordable means of stopping an uncooperative fleeing vehicle (small car or truck) without causing permanent damage to the vehicle or harming any of the occupants?
September 1, 2011 at 2:56 PM ET by Alok Das

Path to Emergency Response Standards

In pursuit of the President’s goal of national preparedness, it is essential that the Nation has reliable chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) countermeasures equipment that can be used with confidence for the protection of life, health, property, and commerce.
August 30, 2011 at 2:38 PM ET by Franca Jones and Phil Coyle

Rural America = Smart America

Today, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced that the USDA will fund $900 million of smart grid technologies and improvements to generation and transmission facilities, as part of the Obama Administration commitment to supporting energy efficiency and economic growth in rural America.
August 29, 2011 at 4:42 PM ET by Nick Sinai

Entrepreneur All-Stars Join the Startup America Partnership

To help increase the success of young companies, the White House-led Startup America initiative has rolled out new policies in tandem with the independent Startup America Partnership, which has been hard at work mobilizing the private sector to “raise the entrepreneurial game of the United States."
August 23, 2011 at 5:26 PM ET by Tom Kalil and Doug Rand