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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • First-ever White House Codeathon targets Apps for Equal Futures

    Posted by Sarah Hurwitz and Brian Forde on December 20, 2012 at 12:38 PM EDT

    Codeathon 2 20121217

    On December 17, 2012, the White House hosted its first-ever Codeathon to support the "Equal Futures App Challenge" to create apps that inspire young women to become leaders in our democracy.

    Yesterday, we hosted the first-ever White House Codeathon! 

    The goal of this event was to support the Equal Futures App Challenge, a challenge to create apps that inspire girls and young women to become leaders in our democracy.  This challenge is in response to President Obama’s call to countries around the world to politically and economically empower women and girls. Seventeen girls from the Girl Scouts, Girls Inc., and the National Girls Collaborative Project worked with nineteen prominent women coders and designers (and one brave man!) to start developing and designing apps that inspire girls to run for office (either in school today or one day as adults), engage with their elected officials, learn how to become more effective leaders, and more.

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  • One Decade, One Million more STEM Graduates

    Posted by Michael Feder on December 18, 2012 at 12:29 PM EDT

    Last week, the Obama Administration announced that increasing the number of students who receive undergraduate degrees in  science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by 1 million over the next decade has been formally designated as a Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal—one of a limited number of such articulated goals designed to focus cross-agency coordination and encourage sharing of best practices among agencies with complementary missions. The announcement signals a concrete step toward addressing recommendations made earlier this year by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in a report to the President entitled “Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.”

    President Obama has said time and again that science and innovation are key components of a strong American economy and that increasing opportunities for young Americans to gain STEM skills can both create jobs and enhance our national competitiveness. The Department of Commerce estimates that STEM occupations will grow 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations over the period from 2008 - 2018. In order to meet these workforce needs, the United States will need approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than are projected to graduate over the next decade.

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  • Encouraging Innovations that Help Americans Take Control of Their Financial Lives

    Posted by Neal S. Wolin and Todd Park on December 14, 2012 at 10:42 AM EDT

    This blog is cross-posted on Treasury.gov

    Data sets published by Federal agencies are increasingly being harnessed by private-sector innovators to empower consumers to take control of their financial lives.  Recently, Treasury hosted a Finance Data Convening (webcast link) and Working Session to highlight the variety of features, apps, products, and services that use finance data released by Federal agencies.  Senior officials from the White House, Treasury, the IRS, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, and the SEC joined over 50 private-sector leaders for a day devoted to data and innovation.

    We’ve already seen innovation driven by freely available government data in other sectors.  As just one example, entrepreneurs have used data from the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) to power navigation systems, build precision crop farming tools, and launch other innovations that add more than $90 billion per year in value to the American economy.  The Obama Administration has launched a series of Open Data Initiatives—in education, energy, health, and public safety—to help catalyze the development of innovative apps and services fueled by open data, while rigorously protecting privacy and confidentiality.  Open data in these sectors is spawning new businesses that promote economic growth, create jobs, and generate new value for American consumers.

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  • Get with the Programming!

    Posted by Lauren Andersen and Jan Cuny on December 13, 2012 at 10:12 AM EDT

    This week marks what would have been the 106th birthday of Grace Hopper—an American Naval Officer known to some as “Amazing Grace” and to others as the “Mother of Computing,” whose work laid the foundation for one of the first modern computer programming languages. In recognition of her pioneering example, students, parents, schools, and communities across the Nation are spending a week in celebration of computer science education.

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  • Backing PCAST, Commissioners Propose Spectrum Sharing

    Posted by Tom Power on December 12, 2012 at 4:29 PM EDT

    Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed new rules governing how wireless broadband providers can share the airwaves with Government users, adopting an innovative model first proposed earlier this year by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in its landmark report, Realizing the Full Potential of Government-Held Spectrum to Spur Economic Growth.  The FCC action comes amidst an array of Administration initiatives aimed at freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband in order to drive productivity, jobs, and innovation, while also protecting the essential Government systems – including public safety, law enforcement, border protection, and military defense -- that also rely on spectrum and are relied upon by the American taxpayer.  It is this type of public-private commitment and collaboration that is crucial to maintaining America’s leadership in the development and use of advanced wireless technologies.

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  • Making Makers in Los Angeles

    Posted by Tom Kalil on December 12, 2012 at 10:31 AM EDT

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    Tara Tiger Brown, at left, is a leader of the LA Makerspace. Quin (age 12), at right, is a young Maker. (Image credit: family photo)

    Soon after taking office in 2009, in a speech at the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama called on the science, engineering, and technology communities to “encourage young people to create and build and invent – to be makers of things not just consumers of things.” Since then, across the country, communities, organizations, private companies, and grassroots leaders have been stepping up to respond to the President’s call to action.

    I recently sat down for a conversation with one of those leaders: Tara Tiger Brown, Technical Director of UC Irvine’s Digital Media Learning Research Hub and Director’s Board member for the Los Angeles Makerspace—a non-profit community of practice for inventors, builders, and creators (“makers”) to work and learn in a range of areas, including software, hardware, electronics, robotics, art, filmmaking, bio-tech, eco-tech, wearable-tech, and more.  Though some such “makerspaces” are for adults only, the LA Makerspace is specifically designed to be family friendly and welcomes makers of all ages.

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