Dec 29, 2008

NIST Seeks White Papers on Critical National Needs

Newswise — The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is interested in detailed pitches for critical national and societal needs that could be the basis for new competitions for research funding under its Technology Innovation Program (TIP).

TIP promotes innovation in the United States through cost-shared funding for high-risk, high-reward research projects by single small-sized or medium-sized businesses or by joint ventures that also may include institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations and national laboratories. Competitions for TIP funding target large national and societal needs that arguably could be addressed or reduced through a program of high-risk, transformational research. The first TIP competition in 2008 sought new technologies for inspecting, monitoring and evaluating critical components of the nation’s roadways, bridges, and drinking and wastewater systems.

In a Federal Register notice posted on Dec. 16,* NIST asked interested parties to submit “white papers” describing an area of critical national need and the associated societal challenge and explain how those needs might be addressed through potential technological developments that fit the TIP profile of high-risk, high-reward R&D. The white papers, along with the input from NIST, the TIP Advisory Board, other government agencies, the technical communities and other stakeholders, will be incorporated into the TIP competition planning process.

NIST announced that, while it is accepting papers in any topic area of concern to the submitter, it is particularly interested in white papers that would help further refine several topic areas now under consideration, including:
  • Civil Infrastructure—for example, construction technologies or advanced materials for transportation or for water distribution and flood control;
  • Complex networks and complex systems—for example new theory or mathematical tools to enable better understanding and control of the complex networks that have evolved for energy delivery, telecommunications, transportation and finance;
  • Energy—technologies that address emerging alternative energy sources;
  • Water—technologies that address growing needs for fresh water supplies and ensure the safety of water and food supplies from contamination;
  • Manufacturing—for example, advanced manufacturing technologies that have shorter innovation cycles, more flexibility, and are rapidly reconfigurable;
  • Nanomaterials and nanotechnology—for example technologies that enable the scale-up of nanomaterials and nanodevices from lab prototypes to commercial manufacturing;
  • Personalized Medicine—for example, advances in proteomics and genomics that could enable doctors to select optimal drug treatments and dosages based on the patient’s unique genetics, physiology, and metabolic processes; and
  • Sustainable Chemistry—for example, novel, advanced process chemistries and technologies that are inherently safer and cleaner while creating products and processes with attributes superior to conventional methods.
White papers can be submitted to meet several due dates, including: Jan. 15, 2009, March 9, 2009, May 11, 2009, and July 13, 2009. White papers may be mailed to: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Innovation Program, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 4750, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4750, Attention: Critical National Needs Ideas, or may be emailed to tipwhitepaper@nist.gov.

The white papers are expected to contain: a description of an area of critical national need and the associated societal challenge, why government support is needed, the consequences of inaction and a high level discussion of potential technical solutions, and the audience for such a competition. They should not include specific project proposals. Detailed instructions on preparing TIP white papers may be read at “A Guide for Preparing and Submitting White Papers on Areas of Critical National Need” (http://www.nist.gov/tip/guide_for_white_papers.pdf). Detailed discussion of the seven areas of particular interest is in the Federal Register notice “Technology Innovation Program (TIP) Seeks White Papers” (http://www.nist.gov/tip/frn_seeking_whitepapers.pdf).

* Federal Register, Vol. 73, No. 242, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2008, p. 76339.

16 comments:

  1. Frank,

    Thanks for this post. I have technologies that fit more than one of these categories. I should contact NIST very soon.

    Commenters who might like to part of these efforts can contact me directly for more information.

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  2. I thought that Eric was kicked off the blog some time ago?

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  3. No one has ever been "kicked off the blog". Eric either switched to commenting anonymously or wasn't commenting at all.

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  4. Be serious. I try to allow everyone to have a voice in the comments. You are much closer to the limit of what I will allow than Eric has ever been.

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  5. Amen to that! Eric, nobody cares. Give it up. You should not contact NIST soon, you should kill yourself soon. The rest of us would be eternally grateful. We'll visit you in hell to talk about opportunities for LANL employees.

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  6. I am totally serious. Get rid of eric.

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  7. Come on Frank! We don't take anything seriously, we just make up shit when we've had too much to drink. Lanl is a bad joke, and we are trying to entertain ourselves until we find a better job. There isn't anything else to do in this goddamn town.

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  8. Hey 6:32 wadda ya mean too much to drink?

    This town has only trusted Q cleared-HRP'd-SCI safe and secure folks. There is never more than 3 drinks (not a tankard full of whiskey per drink) in a day. Yep that is right 4 measly Miller Lites in one day is "binge drinking". Even if it is one beer every 2 -3 hours. At least that is the advice/requirement of the HRP nazis in our annual (anal) examination.

    All kidding aside...how much is too much? I usually just pass out and wake up just in time to get to work making bombs ;-)

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  9. Seriously folks, we can keep bitching and moaning about Eric/LANL etc etc, or we can get off our backside and start to contribute to these new initiatives.

    Folks, lets roll up are sleaves and get back to doing some honest scientific work on important missions like energy, instead of this polical nitpicking and masturbation.

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  10. too much to drink? let's see:
    1 drink= a gallon of jim beam
    week= 7 days
    therefore 3 drinks divided by the square root of 7 equals less than 1!
    Now i can tell my q investigator i have less than one drink per week.
    Awesome! bottoms up.

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  11. "Folks, lets roll up are sleaves and get back to doing some honest scientific work on important missions like energy,"

    I agree but is it possible under the current managament? I think not so we should work on getting out.

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  12. I believe that I share the general sentiment about "Eric" but only because his statements resemble the baseless optimism of lab managers and a number of LANL employees. Lets face it; there is a very large impediment to funding the lab in any substantial way. These “new energy programs” don’t come easily.
    For those without experience in the review of proposals I list a few criteria that don't favor Los Alamos.

    1. A history of performance that shows expertise in the subject.
    2. A record of success in the field.
    3. A competitive cost for the proposed work.

    I don’t have to detail the reasons why the lab is not a good competitor. The Domenici years
    did not prepare the lab for peer-reviewed, competitive research. Aside from the weapons work , idiotic programs brought the lab to its present condition. I don't think that I am the only one who remembers the very bad laser programs and the neutral particle beam and its sad children. I recommend that the lab, in some manner, must be reformed to remove a management style that has no place in our nation's future. Lots of the present jobs, of course, must disappear.

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  13. Folks, lets roll up are sleaves and get back to doing some honest scientific work on important missions like energy, instead of this polical nitpicking and masturbation.

    12/30/08 3:05 PM


    Are you trying to tell us that LANL scientists spend most of their expensive lab time in the carnal pursuit of jerking off?

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  14. "Folks, lets roll up are sleaves and get back to doing some honest scientific work on important missions like energy, instead of this polical nitpicking and masturbation."

    Hopefully these scientists already have their sleeves rolled up while jerking off. Might get messy otherwise.

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  15. The hrp nazis already got rid of the obvious drunks and druggies in hrp. I think they are now going after the Q's. The pickings will be plenty in that arena.

    Help!! I'm at LANL and I can't drink beers for lunch anymore.

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