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Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

  • Unlocking the Power of Energy Data

    Posted by Todd Park, Jason Bordoff, and Dave Danielson on May 22, 2012 at 8:00 PM EDT

    The U.S. Government, as well as the private sector, is sitting on a vast – and in many cases, untapped – supply of energy data.  Sets of data aren’t what most people think of when we talk about safely and responsibly developing American energy resources such as wind, solar, oil, and gas. But data are also essential components of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.  To help harness the power of these data through a combination of technology and ingenuity, the Obama Administration has launched the Energy Data Initiative (EDI).  The goal of EDI is to drive entrepreneurs to use data to create tools that can help Americans save money on utility bills and at the pump – by, for example, virtually identifying cost-effective retrofits or delivering route- and vehicle-optimization tips to improve fuel efficiency. In doing so, this will generate a rising tide of innovation that can help grow the economy and create jobs. 

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  • Statement from the White House on the Falcon 9 Launch

    Posted by Phil Larson on May 22, 2012 at 4:18 AM EDT

    Following Tuesday's launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, issued the following statement:

    Statement by John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, on Launch of Falcon 9 Rocket and Dragon Spacecraft

    "Congratulations to the teams at SpaceX and NASA for this morning’s successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Every launch into space is a thrilling event, but this one is especially exciting because it represents the potential of a new era in American spaceflight. Partnering with U.S. companies such as SpaceX to provide cargo and eventually crew service to the International Space Station is a cornerstone of the President’s plan for maintaining America’s leadership in space. This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of NASA’s resources to do what NASA does best -- tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space, including those of human space flight beyond low Earth orbit. I could not be more proud of our NASA and SpaceX scientists and engineers, and I look forward to following this and many more missions like it."

     

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  • Evidence Points to Benefits of Active Teaching in STEM Education

    Posted by Carl Wieman on May 21, 2012 at 5:32 PM EDT

    An exciting new report was released today by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academies.  The report, “Discipline-Based Education Research; Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering,” provides some clear direction, backed by extensive evidence, on how to improve science and engineering education in this country.  Improvement in this domain has long been a national goal. But despite good intentions and the launch of numerous programs over the past few decades, progress has been too slow.

    The new study summarizes a large body of research and concludes that, across the science and engineering disciplines, scholarly studies clearly indicate that “student-centered instructional strategies can positively influence students’ learning, achievement, and knowledge retention, as compared with traditional instructional methods.” It specifically cites such approaches as making lectures more interactive, having students work in groups, and incorporating authentic problems and activities into coursework as being superior to traditional lectures, which remain the mainstay approach to teaching in too many classrooms.

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  • Administration Safety Data Initiative Challenges App Developers

    Posted by Ray LaHood and Todd Park on May 18, 2012 at 11:20 AM EDT

    Safety is the number one priority at the US Department of Transportation (DOT), so National Transportation Week is the perfect time for DOT to help launch the Obama Administration's critical Safety Data Initiative--an historic effort to make government data relating to every aspect of safety, from transportation to crime to consumer products, much more accessible, and to stimulate the development of innovative apps and services fueled by those data.

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  • Responding to the President’s Call, a New Effort to Help More Students be Makers

    Posted by Tom Kalil and Kumar Garg on May 17, 2012 at 7:14 PM EDT

    Earlier this year at the White House Science Fair, President Obama met Joey Hudy, a 14-year-old from Arizona who developed the “extreme marshmallow cannon.” Joey showed the President his business card. It had a simple motto: “Don’t be bored. Make something.”

    Joey is a self-described “maker,” part of a growing community of young people and adults who are designing and building things on their own time. This weekend, in San Mateo, California, over 100,000 people are expected to show up at "Maker Faire" to see what community members are making. Sixty “mini-Maker Faires” are planned this year alone.

    President Obama believes we need to give more young people the ability to be makers like Joey.

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  • Robotics Initiative Gets DOD Boost

    Posted by Tom Kalil and Chuck Thorpe on May 17, 2012 at 11:15 AM EDT

    It's been almost a year since the President announced his National Robotics Initiative to accelerate the development of next-generation robots capable of working closely with human operators. The initiative launched with tens of millions of dollars in combined commitments from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Agriculture, and NASA, and has already resulted in a number of projects moving forward.

    Then, last fall, the Department of Defense (DOD) added momentum of its own, with the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program explicitly encouraging proposals "for instrumentation supporting research in robotics."

    The results are in! We count at least a dozen winning proposals involving robotics research in areas such as unmanned underwater vehicles; mobile robots for field assembly, repair and maintenance; autonomous seagliders for Arctic research; and micro air vehicles. These DOD grants to university researchers will allow them to invest in robots and other kinds of high-tech equipment to augment their research.

    Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to DOD for its strong support of the National Robotics Initiative. We look forward to seeing all of these robots at work!

    Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy at the Office of Science and Technology Policy

    Chuck Thorpe is Assistant Director for Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics at the Office of Science and Technology Policy

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