January/February 2007

IEEE-USA Technology Policy Activities

By Cliff Lau

If you are a U.S. member of the IEEE, and you think that U.S. technology policies do not impact you, think again. If you work in the telecom industry, telecom reform and deregulation legislation would certainly impact your job. Decisions by the Federal Communication Commission would also impact what you do. If you work in RFID technology, you would want to know the potential markets and especially if there are any standards governing RFID. If you work in the energy sector, you would want to know the policy on pluggable hybrids, or alternative energy sources. If you work in the electric power industry, you would want to be informed about workforce trends in the electric utility industry because they might impact your job in the future.

If you work in the health care industry, you would want to know how information technology can help to improve health care. And, as a patient, you would want to know how your privacy can be protected. If you work in aerospace, all the gyrations with NASA can impact your job. And if you work on the satellites and other space projects, you would want to know what the future of space exploration holds, as well as the future of the Hubble Space Telescope. If you work in the defense industry, defense science and technology authorizations and appropriations would certainly impact your job. If you work in the IT industry, policies on computer networks and cybersecurity can greatly impact your job. If you work in research and development, federal support for R&D would be critical to your livelihood. If you are a professor in the university, deemed export control policy can greatly impact the way you and your students would conduct research. If you are a student about to graduate and enter the job market, you would want to know what the prospects are in various sectors of engineering. You would want to know the impact that offshoring of R&D to other countries might have on your chance of getting a job in the United States. If you have your own startup, you would want to know how the R&D tax credit could affect your research activities. If you are unemployed and are looking for a job, you would want to know how the H-1B visa program is affecting your job prospects. If you are retired and enjoying the fruit of your labor, you would want to know about pension reforms and how to protect your pension.

In short, no matter what station your is in, U.S. science and technology policy can affect you and your career. For these reasons, IEEE-USA undertakes substantial activities in advocating technology policies of interest to the U.S. membership. The Technology Policy Council (TPC) is organized into six committees whose members are all volunteers supported by excellent IEEE-USA staff.

• The Committee on Communications Policy (CCP), chaired by Emily Sopensky, focuses on issues in telecommunication reform and deregulation legislation, broadband deployment, FCC governance, wireless access, spectrum utilization, emergency communication interoperability, and RFID. Sopensky has been working with Senate staffers to put together a Senate caucus on RFID.

• The Energy Policy Committee (EPC), chaired by Tim Gentile, focuses on reliability of the electric power grid, renewable and alternative energy resource legislation, workforce trends in the electric utility industry, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

• The Medical Technology Policy Committee (MPTC), chaired by Michael Corrigan, addresses healthcare issues, personal health records, the use of IT for the delivery of healthcare, genetic discrimination, e-health, privacy and security.

• The Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy (CTAP), chaired by Edge Nowlin, covers port security issues, the future of the Hubble Space Telescope, the state of remote sensing technology, aviation safety, civil aeronautics R&D, and NASA programs.

• The Research and Development Policy Committee (R&DPC), chaired by Jim Bielefeld, takes on R&D policies, such as innovation and competitiveness legislation, offshoring of R&D, deemed export control and DFAR regulations, the R&D tax credit, and DoD authorization and appropriation. The R&DPC actively participates in the House R&D Caucus to put together Congressional workshops and briefings for Members of Congress and their staffs.

• The new Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC), chaired by Luis Kun, concerns itself with technology policies designed to secure our critical infrastructures, including cybersecurity, spyware protection, and computer networks that control much of our civil infrastructures.

IEEE-USA, working with other professional societies, also organizes Congressional Visit Day (CVD), where IEEE members can meet one-on-one with their Congressional Representatives and Senators. The many science and technology policy position statements prepared by the TPC can be found on the IEEE-USA Web site [www.ieeeusa.org]. No matter what you do, science and technology (S&T) policies do have an impact on your life. With the new session of Congress in 2007, it is going to be an exciting year with new S&T policy agenda. I encourage you to participate in one of these committees, or if there are emerging technology policy issues that are not covered by these committees, contact me and we can create an ad-hoc committee to focus the issues.

For more information:

• Committee on Communications Policy
• Committee on Transportation and Aerospace Policy
• Energy Policy Committee
• Medical Technology Policy Committee
• Research and Development Policy Committee
• IEEE-USA Congressional Visit Day (1-2 May 2007)

Cliff Lau, Ph.D., is IEEE-USA Vice President for Technology Policy Activities, 2007. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.