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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • Roundtable Informs Wireless Innovation for Transportation

    Posted by Aneesh Chopra, Peter Appel, and David Strickland on May 27, 2011 at 11:24 AM EDT

    This past Monday, as part of President Obama’s Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative -- the three of us hosted a roundtable discussion at the White House Conference Center with a number of top technology leaders and visionaries representing the transportation and communications industries.  The intent was to explore ways to catalyze innovation through research and development in the arena of emerging broadband wireless technologies and applications aimed at the transportation sector. 

    The transportation component of this initiative, called for in the President’s FY 2012 budget, is called the Wireless Innovation for Transportation (WIN for Transportation) Initiative.  This initiative would complement and build upon the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) ongoing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research program.  The WIN for Transportation Initiative would provide the USDOT’s ITS Program and its stakeholders the ability to seek new and innovative opportunities to pursue ground-breaking research and development toward deployment of wireless technology applications. It proposes to develop and demonstrate innovative wireless transportation applications that deliver safety, mobility, emergency response, energy, and environmental benefits to passenger, fleet, and freight transportation systems. 

    Part of the roundtable discussion focused on the roles that policy, technology, and applications play in advancing transportation wireless innovation.  During this discussion, participants addressed a number of important issues such as standards, availability of open data, the advantages of top-down or bottom-up approaches to accelerating technology innovation, and the importance of the proper driver interface.  Participants were encouraged to further share their ideas through our recently announced Request for Information. We also exchanged several ideas as part of the proposed wireless research, technology, testing, and model deployment program.

    We would like to personally thank the incredibly busy and talented leaders who took the time to prepare and discuss these matters. Their commitment and enthusiastic participation reinforced our faith in our ability to collaborate in the advancement of America’s technology-driven future.

    WIN Initiative for Transportation Roundtable Attendees:

    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bharat Balasubramanian, Daimler AG
    Alan Balutis, Cisco
    Roger Berg, Denso
    Dr. Andrew Brown, Delphi
    Charles Davies, TomTom Group
    Bob Denaro, NAVTEQ
    Scott Edmonds, Webtech Wireless
    Lee Godown, General Motors
    Syed Zaeem Hosain, Aeris
    Russell Hsing, Telcordia
    Paul Mascarenas, Ford
    Leo McCloskey, Airbiquity
    Chris Murray, Kapsh TrafficCom
    Dr. Carolyn Nguyen, Microsoft
    Nick Pudar, OnStar
    Minoru Shinohara, Nissan
    Dean Soucy, Clever Devices
    Gary Wallace, ATX Group
    Colin Warkentin, XATA
    Tim Yerdon, Visteon
    Marios Zenios, Chrysler Group

    Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

    Peter Appel is Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, USDOT

    David Strickland is Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, USDOT

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  • Connecting Students to America’s Energy Challenge

    Posted by Aneesh Chopra on May 25, 2011 at 5:18 PM EDT

    The Obama Administration believes it is critical to tap the ingenuity and creativity of America’s students if we are to find solutions to the grand challenges of today. Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan helped launch a new initiative based on this theme that will help address the Nation’s energy challenge while arming American families with beneficial information.

    Along with Dr. Francis Eberle, Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Secretaries Chu and Duncan launched America’s Home Energy Education Challenge, a new initiative to help teach students and families about energy use at home, the overarching benefits of being energy efficient, and the potential synergy of saving money while saving energy.  The competition will encourage educators to use school spirit and competition as ways to unleash the creativity of students and equip them with the information to make smart energy choices.

    “Energy efficiency is all about helping families save money by saving energy,” Secretary Chu said yesterday. “America’s Home Energy Education Challenge leverages the passion and curiosity of students to encourage families across the country to reduce energy waste in their homes while inspiring the next generation of America’s energy leaders.”

    One of the reasons I’m excited about America’s Home Energy Education Challenge is because it will encourage students and parents to access their own energy usage data online to measure their progress in this exciting competition.  But this challenge shouldn’t be limited to students and their parents.  It is just one example of how energy information can empower all consumers to better manage energy use and save money, all while helping to reduce the Nation’s overall power bill.

    All consumers—residential and commercial—deserve timely access to their own energy data in machine readable formats.  With proper privacy protections, we can empower consumers, enable better decisions, and spur innovation. In light of that, I issued today an energy-data challenge in my remarks at Connectivity Week to the electric power industry. Here is the challenge: 

    How can we securely provide customers electronic access to their energy information, thereby supporting the continuing development of innovative new products and services in the energy sector?

    Engaging Americans of all sorts as well as American institutions—be they students, parents, or businesses—will help ensure the United States answers this call to action as it has many times before.  To learn more, check out the newly-revamped SmartGrid.gov and stay tuned for a White House summit on grid modernization in the next month.

    Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

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  • New Common-Sense Immigration Reforms to Strengthen Our Economy

    Posted by Aneesh Chopra and Alejandro Mayorkas on May 25, 2011 at 12:32 PM EDT

    President Obama recently reaffirmed the urgent need to fix our broken immigration system, so that America can compete and win in the 21st century.  Immigrants make extraordinary contributions to our economic well-being, as demonstrated in study after study. For evidence, you can turn to recent analyses from the Treasury Department, the bipartisan Partnership for a New American Economy, or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

    Or simply visit Silicon Valley.  Aneesh participated in a roundtable yesterday hosted by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group where nearly half of the executives in the room were immigrants. They were unanimous in their call for action in the high skilled area -- a top priority for the group, along with a new service campaign to connect the  best and brightest in the Valley with  kids in need.  But they were also frustrated with our inability as a country to tackle these issues as it has been several years since they began such conversations.

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  • America’s Students Step Up to the Challenge

    Posted by Tom Kalil on May 25, 2011 at 9:14 AM EDT

    On the 50th anniversary of one of the most memorable “grand challenge” declarations in history—President Kennedy’s call for a commitment of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth”—I want to congratulate America’s Grand Challenge Scholars. These undergraduate engineering students have organized their research, coursework, and extracurricular activities to find solutions to some of the most important problems facing the Nation in the 21st century.

    The Grand Challenge Scholars Program was inspired by the National Academy of Engineering’s 2008  promulgation of 14 “grand challenges"—global problems whose solutions could vastly improve people’s lives, such as providing access to safe drinking water, dramatically lowering the cost of solar energy, enabling personalized learning, and developing computers capable of emulating human intelligence.  President Obama also featured grand challenges in his national innovation strategy.

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  • President Obama, Dr. Biden Hail Nation's Top Math and Science Teachers

    Posted by Bobby Rosen on May 24, 2011 at 1:38 PM EDT

    President Barack Obama greets teachers in the East Room of the White House

    President Barack Obama greets teachers in the East Room of the White House, before the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching group photo, May 20, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) (Official White House Photo)

    Some of the very best K-6 math and science teachers from across the country were zipping around Washington, DC, last week for a whirlwind series of exciting events. The teachers—all recipients of this year’s Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST)—spent several days engaging with members of Congress and Administration officials and topped off their week with a meeting with President Obama in the East Room of the White House late Friday afternoon. The President, who has made science and math education one of his key priorities since taking office, congratulated the teachers and thanked them for their commitment to training the Nation’s youth in these subjects, which are so critical to America’s future.

    The PAEMST is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on elementary and secondary school science and math teachers. In addition to meeting with the President, this year’s awardees were greeted earlier on Friday by Dr. Jill Biden, a longtime educator herself, as they and their guests participated in a tour of the White House’s East Wing.  Dr. Biden took a moment to specially recognize two awardees who are currently teaching children of military families stationed in Hohenfels, Germany, through the Department of Defense’s Education Activity program.

    Military students and their parents face a particular set of challenges, including parental deployment and frequent transitions.  For this reason, Dr. Biden and the First Lady have made education at schools heavily attended by students from military families a focus of their Joining Forces initiative, which was launched last month to encourage all Americans to recognize and support military families, service members, and veterans.

    Each year the PAEMST award, which is administered by the National Science Foundation on behalf of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, alternates between granting honors to teachers of grades K-6 and grades 7-12.  Recipients are given a $10,000 award and an expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, for an awards ceremony—hosted this year by OSTP Associate Director for Science and Nobel laureate Carl Wieman—and several days of educational and celebratory events.  In addition to the President and Dr. Biden, the awardees met with NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charlie Bolden; EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson; Assistant Secretary of Commerce Kathryn Sullivan; Jim Gates of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology; and members of Congress.

    President Obama talks frequently about the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to our Nation’s strength and prosperity, and has visited science fairs as well as hosting one at the White House last fall.  In his most recent State of the Union address, the President committed to training 100,000 new high-quality math and science teachers within the next decade.  Meanwhile, his signature “Educate to Innovate” campaign has attracted more than $700 million in donations and in-kind support from corporations, philanthropies, service organizations, and others to help bolster science and technology education in the classroom.

    The PAEMST awardees are among the very best of the countless teachers in classrooms around the country who are working every day to nurture young minds and forge a better and brighter future for our country.  Congratulations to them and their families!

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  • "Know Before You Owe"

    Posted by Aneesh Chopra on May 21, 2011 at 5:59 PM EDT

    This week, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launched an initiative to engage every American in the design of a simpler mortgage disclosure form. By visiting Know Before You Owe, your voice will be heard on what information lenders and brokers should share when any American applies for a mortgage. It is the latest “startup” of the Obama Administration and embodies three important principles:

    1. A More Open, Participatory Government. On his first full day in office, President Obama signed a memorandum on transparency and open government, ushering in a new era in which the gap between the American people and their government would close. He called for a more participatory government to tap into the expertise of the American people when addressing the biggest challenges facing the country. “Know Before You Owe” offers a simple gaming dynamic to generate data on what works and what doesn’t as they work to improve the disclosure forms in the coming months.
    2. Customer Service at Private Sector Standards. Last month, President Obama issued an Executive Order calling on Federal agencies to streamline service delivery and improve customer service. Noting the dramatic advances in customer service by other sectors, it challenges federal agencies to improve the customer service experience, especially through the effective utilization of technology and innovation. As a brand new agency, CFPB is demonstrating it can put the interests of consumers first.
    3. A “Lean Government Startup” Culture. I’ve spent a good deal of time recently with Eric Ries, a leader in a movement to define a set of principles to guide successful new companies. He’s written about the possibility of translating the “Lean Startup” concept into the government. By establishing a clearly defined problem, recruiting a small, nimble team of innovators and financial experts to design an innovative product, and then rapidly learning from public feedback, the CFPB team might be the right case study to demonstrate the merits of such an approach.

    Congratulations to the CFPB team on an impressive launch. It’s now up to you to visit Know Before You Owe and let your government know how to design a mortgage disclosure form that empowers you.

    Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

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