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Tar Heel Techies Trek To Washington
by Maureen Sirhal
In a year that has seen a global anti-terrorism campaign, pervasive corporate malfeasance and a declining economy, technology industry leaders from North Carolina had plenty to tell members of Congress when they made their annual trek to Washington last week. And education remained foremost on their agenda.
"We are deeply concerned that once the economy gets refueled, are we going to have enough workers" to fill information technology positions, said Joan Myers, president of the North Carolina Electronics and Information Technology Association (NCEITA).
In meetings with North Carolina's congressional delegation, NCEITA asked the principal of Elfand-Cheeks Elementary School in Elfand, N.C., to brief lawmakers on innovations in educational technology. Elfand received an Education Department grant last year to help foster technology in schools.
Myers credited Sen. John Edwards and Rep. David Price, both Democrats, for steering such grants to the state. And NCEITA member firms demonstrated to lawmakers from the state how new technologies and devices are improving teachers' ability to enhance knowledge.
Myers said that "technology is here to stay" and argued that "it impacts every single component of our economy." As a consequence, she added, "people of all ages need to engage in lifelong learning."
Education was just one aspect of the daylong meetings, during which the group continued an "ongoing" dialogue with lawmakers about issues impacting North Carolina tech firms, including fallout from the new corporate accounting law and the push by some in Congress to require companies to record employee stocks options as expenses.
In consultations with staffers of the White House Office of Science and Technology, NCEITA members focused on ways to "get the tech sector moving," Myers said. "There is new innovation and new opportunities that we just don't even know about yet ... that could be the next big change."
The group is trying to spur economic revitalization, in part, by drawing attention to North Carolina's trove of IT security firms. NCEITA members met with Steven Cooper, the chief information officer of the White House Office of Homeland Security, to learn more about his vision for a technology infrastructure within the proposed Homeland Security Department.
"The message that we wanted to convey was that ... North Carolina has incredible strength in the security areas," she noted. The key is to make sure the government is aware of the opportunities from North Carolina firms, she said.
The group's members also emphasized in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin that "corporate America is waiting for Washington to speak," Myers said. Before firms begin making hefty investments in the economy, particularly in the telecom and IT sectors, "we need to get an idea of the framework we would be operating under."
Nebraska Governor Endorses Security Deal
President Bush's bid to win managerial flexibility over potential workers for the proposed Homeland Security Department received an endorsement from the hinterlands last week. Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns urged his state's two senators, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Ben Nelson, to give the Bush administration that flexibility.
"I strongly believe the president needs the power and authority for homeland security vested in a single department free of the artificial walls of government agencies that currently exist," Johanns said after a meeting with Richard Falkenrath, the special assistant to the president for homeland security.
He specifically endorsed the compromise language offered by Republican Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia. "I have asked Lieutenant Governor David Heineman to contact Nebraska's two U.S. senators to again urge them to support the creation of a federal Department of Homeland Security and specifically to support the Gramm-Miller alternative," Johanns said.
Nelson has been a key player in another group seeking a compromise on the labor issue. That group also includes John Breaux, D-La., and Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I. So far, Bush and most Republicans have rejected their language, and debate over the security bill, H.R. 5005, has stalled as a result of the dispute.
Here A Grant, There A Grant
Three New York companies have been awarded more than $13.5 million in grants under the Commerce Department's Advanced Technology Program (ATP), which helps businesses, nonprofits and universities with high-risk research and development projects.
Gene Network Sciences won $2 million to develop cost-effective drug-detection technology; Starfire Systems will receive more than $1.7 million to create composite boards for specialized electronic packaging systems; and General Electric won nearly $10 million for laser and microelectronics projects.
Illinois Gov. George Ryan also unveiled one of the largest grants to his state's technology centers last week. The state Commerce and Community Affairs Department will award $3 million for eight Illinois technology enterprise corporation centers (ITECs), which will serve as incubators for technology startups. The Grantees include the:
- Northwestern University ITEC Center, which received $490,000 for research in information technology, advanced materials and manufacturing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, medical technology and devices, and telecommunications.
- Illinois Medical District Commission ITEC, which received $332,059 for a partnership with the University of Illinois-Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Chicago Technology Park.
- Northern Illinois University West Suburban Technology Enterprise Center (WeSTEC), which received $300,000 for a partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology and the College of DuPage.
- Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, which received $375,000 for university-based and regional technologies to enhance the development of local innovations.
- University of Chicago/Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) ITEC, which received $225,174 to help expand the commercialization of the technology developed at ANL.
- University of Illinois, which received $500,000 for aid to emerging companies and for commercializing high-technologies.
Warming To The Business Of Technology
Meanwhile, South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow last week announced that his state has approved $500,000 to create a new technology incubator in Sioux Falls.
The project will offer leased space and provide business-development services, such as accounting, legal assistance and business planning. Forward Sioux Falls, a joint-venture economic development partnership between the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, is sponsoring the center's development and has raised $2.5 million for the project.
Follow The Education Money
The National Science Foundation has awarded $14 million to the University of Arkansas to develop programs to improve physics education in the state's middle schools, Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday.
Under the program -- known as KIDS, which is short for "K-12, I Do Science" -- nine University of Arkansas graduate fellows and nine to 12 middle-school teachers will participate in a six-week summer program, along with doing related teaching activities during the school year. With $2.75 million in funding, the KIDS program will focus on electronics and optics in an effort to increase math and science proficiency in middle schools.
Huckabee noted recent improvements in test scores for Arkansas elementary students in math and science, including a 19 percent increase in sixth-grade math scores since 2001.
Meanwhile, the federal Education Department is soliciting applications for grants under the Upward Bound Math and Science Program, which aims to lure high-school students into careers in math and science. Eligible applicants include colleges, public agencies and private organizations. The program will award $31.77 million in fiscal 2003, with nearly 772 grants ranging from $200,000 to $690,000.
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