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09.09

Select government documents and reports are provided through the IEEE-USA e-book catalog as an information service to IEEE members. The catalog has been recently updated to include the following titles:

Building a Sustainable Energy Future Draft Report (10 April 2009) was prepared by the National Science Board (an arm of the National Science Foundation). This report offers key findings, recommendations to the U.S. Government, and guidance to the National Science Foundation (NSF) on how to transform the nation to a sustainable energy economy.

Appended to the report is the history and context of sustainable energy; the charge to the Task Force on Sustainable Energy; agendas and participant lists of roundtable discussions held; and the bibliography and other related sources.

Science and Technology Policy-Making: A Primer (27 May 2009), prepared by the Congressional Research Service as an introductory guide for Members of Congress and their staff, provides an overview of U.S. science and technology policy-making, describes the processes and key players that contribute to that policy. The guide concludes by highlighting the opportunities and challenges facing the current S&T policy decision-making process.

The guide provides useful charts and graphs, including:

• The Projected Federal Obligation for R&D by Agency and Character of Work in Fiscal Year 2007, illustrating the magnitude of federal funding in each of the R&D categories, by agency

• Major Alternative Perspectives in the Scientific and Technology Community on the Allocation of Resource for Research, representing views held by various entities in various ways

• One Perspective on the Relationship of Federal Investment to Innovation, illustrating the linear model of innovation. According to the report, this model “leads some policy-makers to believe that it is inappropriate to use federal resources to invest in technological development.”

• Pasteur’s Quadrant Model of Science and Engineering Research describes a closer link between research and its intended outcome.

• Organizations and Individuals Who Influence Science and Technology Policy Decision-Making, which includes the press, professional organizations, the public, federal advisory committees, industry and others.

The President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): Issues for Congress (3 June 2009) is a background report prepared by the Congressional Research Service for Congress. This report provides a brief history of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy and its current role before focusing on a series of issues and options regarding the future of OSTP and its relationship to Congress.

Issues covered include:

• Title, Rank, Roles and Responsibilities of the OSTP Director

• Number and Issue Focus of OSTP Associate Directors

• Sufficiency of OSTP Budget and Staffing

• OSTP and NSTC (National Science and Technology Council)Participation in Federal Agency Coordination, Priority-Setting and Budget Allocation

• OSTP Role in Communication of Scientific and Technical Information by Federal Agency Scientist and Engineers

• Stature and Influence of PCAST

These Government documents and reports can be downloaded at www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks and are FREE to IEEE Members. The non-member price is $9.95.

To purchase IEEE Members-only products and to receive the Member discount on eligible products, Members must log in with their IEEE Web Account.

Ideas for New E-Books            

IEEE-USA E-Books invites IEEE members and volunteers to submit queries for e-books they may want to write. If you’ve got an idea for an e-book that will educate other IEEE members on career guidance and development topics for engineers, e-mail your e-book queries and ideas to IEEE-USA Publishing Manager Georgia Stelluto at g.stelluto@ieee.org.

Sharon Richardson is IEEE-USA’s Communications Assistant and Editorial Assistant for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer Digest.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.