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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • New Steps to Build an Innovative, 21st Century Detroit

    Posted by Brian Forde and Don Graves on April 29, 2014 at 12:26 PM EDT

    The Obama Administration is committed to partnering with the City of Detroit—its citizens, local leaders, and community stakeholders—to support the City’s vision for economic revitalization. As part of this effort, last November, the White House brought together, in Detroit, a team of top municipal-government technology officials from around the country to meet with city officials and local private-sector, non-profit, and civic innovators. The goal of the trip, and the ongoing engagement between this Tech Team of municipal officials and the City, has been to identify ways technology can be leveraged in support of economic revitalization and improved services for city residents.

    The five individuals on this “Tech Team” have led innovative efforts in other cities—Boston, Chicago, Louisville, New Orleans, and Raleigh—that ultimately created significant costs-savings for their respective local governments and facilitated the development of customer-facing tools that made government services easier to access.

    Today, we are transmitting to the City of Detroit a report from the “Tech Team” which include initial impressions, observations, and suggested areas of focus for the city. These recommendations are based on the team’s experiences in their cities and the two days they spent with the incredible municipal leadership and staff in Detroit. The full report is here.

    Ultimately, the City of Detroit and its leadership will know best how to interpret and apply the observations and recommendations, but we are confident that collaborative efforts such as this one can complement and amplify the important work already underway by the City and local stakeholders.

    Upon receipt of the report Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan issued the following statement:

    We're deeply grateful to the Obama administration for making Detroit's technology needs a priority by sending us this Tech Team.  The recommendations the Team has presented us will help light a path toward improved efficiency and customer service across every city department. They also will help us establish greater transparency in our local government.  We've already fulfilled one of the report's key recommendations by creating the position of Chief Information Officer to lead our efforts.  We are thrilled that one of the team's members, Beth Niblock, recently joined my administration to become our new CIO and she already is doing great work to move Detroit forward.

    As noted by Mayor Duggan, one of the Tech Team’s key recommendations has already been fulfilled by the City: the establishment of a cabinet-level position within city government to lead technology and government service delivery efforts. Mayor Duggan recently recruited Beth Niblock, one of the original members of the team, to be the City of Detroit’s first-ever cabinet level Chief Information Officer. The creation of this new position—with Beth on the job— further solidifies the critical role of technology and innovation in the City’s policies and economic revitalization efforts. In her role, CIO Niblock will play a leading role in applying insights from the Tech Team to benefit the citizens of Detroit.

    In addition, the Teach Team’s report includes the following recommended areas of focus:

    • Evaluating IT Infrastructure: Identify opportunities for streamlining government processes and realizing cost-savings in city spending, including areas such as standardizing software applications and consolidating data centers and servers;
    • Promoting Civic Innovation in Detroit: Leverage the knowledge and expertise of Detroit’s lively, diverse civic innovation ecosystem of social and civic entrepreneurs, foundations, and business owners to develop tools and technologies to benefit the City and local residents.
    • Opening Government Data: Make freely available government data more open and accessible to fuel entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth while ensuring privacy and security;
    • Creating a 311 System:  Create a 311 system to improve citizen-relationship management and decrease non-emergency related service requests to emergency lines such as 911;
    • Improving Enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS): Facilitate the build-out of citywide enterprise Geographic Information System.
    • Enabling Online Permitting: Develop and provide the capability for local residents to apply and pay for business, safety, building, and other permits online.

    As previously announced and in conjunction with the Administration’s efforts to support Detroit revitalization, Kresge Foundation funded the Tech Team’s trip to Detroit. In addition, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Rock Ventures committed to provide $500,000 to help implement key elements of this report, which could include hiring innovation fellows, making necessary technology upgrades, and supporting local tech-training and mentoring.

    Going forward, the White House, the Tech Team, and the City of Detroit will continue to collaborate on revitalization efforts and to help build a robust, 21st century Detroit.

    Brian Forde is Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

    Don Graves is Executive Director of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at the White House

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  • Planetary Plating: Cooking up Extra Terrestrial Meals

    Posted by Bill Yosses and Phil Larson on April 25, 2014 at 3:16 PM EDT

    The artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f , the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone
    Artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. (Credit: NASA)

    This weekend, we’re teaming up with NASA to figure out what Extra Terrestrials (if they’re out there!) might be eating on planets outside of our Solar System.

    The White House kitchen will be at the USA Science and Engineering Festival this Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27, at the Washington Convention Center.  The largest science event in the country, the expo attracts over 250,000 people hoping to get a glimpse into the future of science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM.

    This year, the White House chefs are bringing culinary arts to this STEM festival, as we explore the intersection of planetary science and cooking.  We are pairing up with Steve Howell, a scientist at the Ames Research Center, who works on the Kepler Telescope, a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. The spacecraft, named after the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler, searches for exo-planets, or planets outside of our Solar System, specifically seeking out Earth-sized planets that might be able to sustain life.

    Since exo-planet scientists can predict a lot about the conditions for life on these planets, we are imagining what these conditions tell us about plant life that could exist there, teaching us about how things like presence of water or methane, the density, gravity, and atmospheric pressure affect plants.   We can use that information to inspire our alien menus and invigorate our foods.

    At the USA Science and Engineering Festival, we will demonstrate recipes that reflect the science behind the study of exoplanets, such as the effect of gases such as carbon dioxide on baking (e.g. CO2 is what makes the holes in bread). We’ll be showing how ionic bonds enable complex emulsions to form in some recipes such as mayonnaise or chocolate ganache, and how cross-linking polymers help build the spheres that are essential to cooking.

    So if you are in Washington this weekend, be sure to stop by the NASA booth at the USA Science and Engineering Festival to learn more about how the science of exo-planets helps the food we eat here on Earth taste out of this world.

    Bill Yosses is the White House pastry chef.

    Phil Larson is Senior Advisor for Space and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

     

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  • President Obama’s Science Advisor Kicks-Off USA Science & Engineering Festival

    Posted by Danielle Carnival on April 24, 2014 at 5:36 PM EDT

    Holdren X-STEM 2014

    White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Director Dr. John P. Holdren kicked off the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival at the Washington Convention Center on April 24, 2014, in Washington, DC.

    Today in Washington, DC, OSTP Director John P. Holdren helped launch what promises to be one of the geekiest events to land inside the Beltway – the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival, a massive celebration of science, innovation, and imagination.

    Before an audience of hundreds of DC-area high school students at the Washington Convention Center, Holdren kicked off three-days of public activities, exhibits, and events by calling on students to “think big” about how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) can be used to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges. He reminded students that pursing STEM studies can open doors to some of the most fulfilling, high-paying, and impactful career opportunities around and spoke on behalf of President Obama about the importance of STEM to keeping America on the cutting edge of innovation and discovery.

    This weekend, on April 26th and 27th at the Washington Convention Center, students, families, and geeks of all ages can come get inspired to research, innovate, and make at the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival. The free expo will include more than 3,000 hands-on activities and 150 live stage performances – all focused the power and promise of STEM.

    Exhibits at the Festival will address such questions as: What is the universe made of? What does science have to do with extreme sports? And how would you survive a zombie invasion?

    It will feature well-known STEM superstars, as well as explorers, astronauts, athletes, and experts in fields like robotics, genomics, advanced manufacturing, and 3D printing.

    And the Obama Administration is getting in on the STEM action too. In addition to participation by Dr. Holdren, NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan, NIH Director Francis Collins, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg and leading scientists from more than 50 government agencies and Federal labs will participate in the Festival. And Federal agencies will share their wares by demonstration the impressive STEM they use in service of ensuring the health, prosperity, and sustainability of our Nation. Federal exhibitors include:

    • At the Health & Medicine Pavilion with the National Institutes of Health find out how researchers are advancing science with new 3-D printers that transform digital files into physical objects, see your brain in action, measure your lung capacity, or become a forensic detective.
    • At the National Defense Pavilion you can defy gravity, learn about night vision goggles, design bridges, or discover prosthetics with the U.S. Army, design boats and airgliders with the Navy, or explore telescopes with the Air Force.
    • Learn how the State Department keeps us safe with visual recognition technology, biometrics, or drug testing to identify counterfeit medicines.
    • Explore underwater remote-controlled vehicles or simulate a hurricane with NOAA.
    • Discover a wearable technology fashion show, meet extreme weather chasers, or check out some “animal selfies” with National Science Foundation-funded scientists.

    And we at the White House couldn’t resist getting in on this excitement: a special feature at the NASA booth will feature the White House Pastry Chef, Bill Yosses, who will connect cooking to space, inspired by NASA's Kepler mission to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars!

    The Festival’s co-founder, Larry Bock, explained, “Science is amazing…that’s our message to kids and adults attending the Festival. Staying competitive as a nation means we have to encourage more kids to think about careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).”

    We couldn’t agree more.

    To learn more about the USA Science & Engineering Festival, visit www.USAScienceFestival.org or watch the video at www.usasciencefestival.org/festival-highlight-video. 

    Our Federal STEM experts and many others, look forward to seeing you this weekend!

    Danielle Carnival is a Senior Policy Advisor at OSTP

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  • We the Geeks: Extreme Science

    Posted by Danielle Carnival and Bess Evans on April 21, 2014 at 1:50 PM EDT

    Our nation is built upon a legacy of discovery, innovation, and ingenuity – forged over centuries by creative minds, inventors, and thinkers who inspire American citizens, and especially young people, to discover and solve problems in the world around them.

    Throughout history, these STEM all-stars have gone to great lengths—including to the heights of Earth’s atmosphere; the depths of our oceans, and into the far reaches of space—in order to unlock new discoveries and expand the frontiers of knowledge. These “extreme” scientists and engineers conduct their work atop mountains and volcanoes, in frigid temperatures, at high speeds, and on the ocean floor – all in pursuit of new insights that will push the boundaries of science and technology.

    read the rest
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  • Protecting Students from Sexual Assault: Building Tools to Keep Students Safe and Informed

    Posted by Lynn Rosenthal and Vivian Graubard on April 18, 2014 at 4:22 PM EDT

    The prevalence of rape and sexual assault at our Nation's institutions of higher education is deeply troubling. Studies show that students experience some of the highest rates of sexual assault—with nearly one in five women having been a victim sexual violence while in college and a substantial amount of men experience sexual violence during college. The need for action could not be more urgent. 

    That is why in January, President Obama established a White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.  The Taskforce is charged with sharing best practices, and increasing transparency, enforcement, public awareness, and interagency coordination to prevent violence and support survivors.

    As part of this effort, more than 60 innovators, technologists, students, policy experts, and survivors of sexual assault gathered last week at the White House for a “Data Jam” to brainstorm new ways to address the alarming rates of sexual assault on college campuses, including through prevention, more effective and transparent responses to incidents, and opportunities to better support survivors on their journey to recovery.

    The event was co-hosted with the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a future free of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and whose mission is to heal, educate, and empower survivors of sexual violence. Presenters, including Nancy Schwartzman, creator of the Circle of 6 anti-violence application and the winner of the White House Apps Against Abuse Challenge, and Henry Lieberman and Karthik Dinakar of the website A Thin Line, kicked off the day by demonstrating ways that technology and data could be applied to educating and protecting students from sexual assault.

    Included among the responsibilities of the President’s Task Force a charge to increase transparency around sexual assault reporting, school response to claimants’ reports, and their compliance with Title IX obligations. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of the Vice President both recognize that improving access to relevant data is critical to fulfilling this goal, helping students and their families access this key information, and allowing innovators to leverage this data to support these efforts.

    As a key step, last week Federal agencies, including the Departments of Education, Justice, Interior, and Health & Human Services, made publicly available 103 datasets that included non-sensitive information related to higher education and sexual assault reporting. These data were posted on data.gov and used by participants during last week’s Data Jam to inform their work to combat sexual assault.

    Later, participants broke out into groups and developed a number of interesting ideas about how open data can be used effectively to combat sexual assault, including:

    PocketAdvocate-  a mobile app that would provide information about local resources for survivors of sexual assault, such as geo-tagged information on location and hours of crisis centers, health resources,  advocacy organizations, and more;

    Stories Like Mine- a site where survivors of sexual assault can anonymously share their stories and see the stories of other survivors who may have had a similar experience, helping them realize that they are not alone, offering them links to resources and support, and helping to build awareness and prevention.

    Campus Count- an incidence mapping tool that identifies where sexual violence took place and where formal complaints have been filed against an institution, to help create a feedback loop where students can effectively communicate their concerns and suggestions about campus policies and response to sexual assault.

    We know that the great ideas and impactful data aren’t limited to the people that joined us last week. If you are a student, an advocate, a survivor, a technologist, or just a person with a passion for using technology to solve big problems, we need your help.  If you’re interested in contributing your own ideas or suggesting valuable datasets that can be used to combat sexual assault and inform these efforts, please email: digitaldata@ostp.gov.

    Lynn Rosenthal is the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women

    Vivian Graubard is an Advisor the United States Chief Technology Officer

     

  • Celebrating the Second Annual National Day of Civic Hacking

    Posted by Brian Forde on April 17, 2014 at 3:49 PM EDT

    Next month, for the second year in a row, civic activists, technology experts, and entrepreneurs around the world will gather together for the National Day of Civic Hacking. By combining their expertise with new technologies and publicly released data, participants hope to build tools that help others in their own neighborhoods and across the globe.

    We’re excited to support this event which will take place on May 31 – June 1, 2014.

    The National Day of Civic Hacking is an opportunity for software developers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to collaborate and create innovative solutions—using publicly-released data, code, and technologies—to tackle pressing challenges and improve our communities and the governments that serve them.

    Last year more than 11,000 innovators from the private-sector, non-profits, and Federal, State and local governments worked together to hack on projects—95 civic hacking events took place in 83 cities including Austin, Baltimore, Denver, Louisville, New Orleans, San Francisco, and even here at the White House. Several of these projects were recognized by the White House at a Champions of Change for Civic Hacking event, including:

    • Technology-Enabled Volunteers Curbing Hunger and Food Waste: In Austin, Texas, the founder of Keep Austin Fed worked with a team developers at a National Day of Civic Hacking event to create a website and electronic volunteer management system that allows its program to distribute food in Austin to those in need.
    • Crowd-Powered Conflict Mediation: In New Orleans, Louisiana, “Stop Beef” was built as a conflict-resolution app to connect mediators to resolve street conflicts without violence, ultimately seeking to reduce the number of murders in the city. 
    •  Search and Rescue App for Disaster Relief: In Tulsa, Oklahoma the Open Search and Rescue web app was developed by civic hackers to help improve the effectiveness of urban search and rescue operations through an online search area tracker and task force notification system to prevent duplication of efforts and help first responders identify areas of most need in the wake of a disaster. 

    As President Obama has said, “In this democracy, we the people recognize that this government belongs to us, and it’s up to each of us and every one of us to make it work better… We all have a stake in government success—because the government is us."

    The Federal Government also has some great resources that participants in the National Civic Day of Hacking can use, including:

    • Data.gov, the central site to find U.S. government data, which has thousands of data sets across topics such as health, energy, education, public safety, and more.
    • Challenge.gov, the central site to find important government challenges for public collaboration.

    We encourage you to join the movement and participate in the National Day of Civic Hacking. If you’re a local civic innovator, rally your community group to host a hackathon. The White House will be hosting our own hackathon around the We the People petitions API later this year.

    If you’re a policymaker, identify which goals could be addressed with open data and technology tools. If you’re a local government official, don’t miss out on this opportunity to make a positive impact on your town or city.

    You can learn more about the National Day of Civic Hacking at: http://www.hackforchange.org/.

    Brian Forde is Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Mobile and Data Innovation