And the winner is . . . . you!by Kathy Chambers 01 Apr, 2013 in Products and Content
Did you ever stop to think what makes it possible for you to have immediate, free access to Department of Energy (DOE) scientific findings from billions of dollars of annual research? A lot of behind-the-scenes work and dedication of an entire community make it all possible. The heart and soul of this endeavor is the DOE Scientific and Technical Information Program (STIP), a collaboration to ensure your access to DOE research and development results. The DOE Office of Science provides overall leadership and policy direction of the STIP program consistent with the DOE mission and legal requirements. The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) coordinates the Department-wide STI program across DOE programs, field offices, national laboratories, and contractors to disseminate and preserve the Department’s scientific and technical information (STI) for your use. And, OSTI maintains state-of-the-art information management systems, databases, national and international web portals to provide you immediate, easy access to publicly available information. In total, about 50 designated representatives from the DOE Headquarters Program Offices, National Laboratories and Technology Centers, and Field Offices work together with OSTI’s staff to collect, review, release and provide you access to the outcomes of DOE-sponsored research. Through STIP, you are made aware of emerging technologies and amazing research made possible through DOE’s preeminent user facilities. You always have access to this information in OSTI’s new... Related Topics: Department of Energy, doe, labs, osti, Scientific and Technical Information Program Website, stip Read more... |
Science and Innovation Create Jobsby Kate Bannan 13 Jan, 2012 in Science Communications
“The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business . . . . In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It is how we make our living. . . .This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.” President Obama 2011 State of the Union Address The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE) is to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy, environmental and nuclear challenges through transformative science and technology solutions. DOE delivers breakthroughresearch and innovation. Scientific research is the foundation for innovative solutions that will enable us to solve many challenges. The benefits investment in science and technology to the U.S. economy, U.S. competitiveness and job creation are well known. The National Academies Report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” stated: “…the economic value of investing in science and technology has been thoroughly investigated…estimates of return on investment for publically funded R&D range from 20 to 67%.” The seed corn is federally funded basic scientific research that produces the discoveries and trains the scientists that eventually create millions of skilled jobs. “While only four percent of the nation’s workforce is composed of scientists and engineers,” the report said, “this group disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent.” Johns Hopkins University’simmediate past-president William R. Brodyexplains it this way: "Knowledge drives... Related Topics: doe, jobs, obama Read more... |
OSTI: The Storefront for the DOEby Philip Ellis 14 Nov, 2011 in Science Communications
The Department of Energy has made a formidable contribution to the advancement of the scientific and technological knowledge frontier. In particular, DOE sponsors more basic and applied scientific research in the physical sciences than any other U.S. federal agency and all of this is made possible by the taxpayer. Additionally, in the March 2011 Federal Laboratory Technology Transfer Summary Report to the President and the Congress, it was noted that in FY09 across the federal government there were over 4,400 new inventions of which 33% were from DOE; 1,500 new patents issued with 35% from DOE; and over 2,000 new patent applications of which 44% were from DOE. If the DOE is thought of as an organization that generates innovative “products”—the cutting edge research, discoveries, patents, inventions and other technological results—then the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is its “storefront”. It is precisely from this storefront that the taxpayer—the citizen, the businessperson, the entrepreneur, the student, or the researcher—is able to access transparently this enormous array of products, know-how and scientific information. OSTI recognizes that in this storefront capacity, it plays a crucial role not only in generating return on investment (ROI) for the taxpayer in terms of making the fruits of their “investments” available to those that are interested, but also in being a catalyst for the generation of economic activity which supports and creates jobs each year from the commercialization of government-funded research. OSTI is continuously looking at creative and innovative ways for increasing the access to and awareness of this wealth of information, which, to take the storefront analogy further, would constitute marketing and distribution for DOE “products”. It is aggressively aiming to enable pursuit of the mandates of the recent October 28, 2011... Related Topics: doe, osti, product offering, ROI, scientific information Read more... |
Commemorating DOE, a Science Agencyby Kate Bannan 30 Sep, 2011 in Personal Perspectives
The energy crisis of the 1970s demonstrated the need for unified energy planning within the federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Organization Act (Public Law 95-91) was signed into law, centralizing the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission and other energy-related government programs into a single presidential cabinet-level department. Related Topics: 1970s, anniversary, doe, federal, nuclear, osti, r&d, research, tools Read more... |
Energy Quadrennial Technology Review Releasedby Kate Bannan 28 Sep, 2011 in Science Communications “The Department is uniquely situated to serve as a resource for energy and technology data, information, and analysis that can enhance understanding, operation and planning across all organizations… ." — From the Energy Quadrennial Technology Review
— From the media announcement regarding the Energy Quadrennial Technology Review On September 27, Secretary Steven Chu and Under Secretary Steven Koonin released the first Report on the Department of Energy Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR). Related Topics: 21st century, doe, energy, r&d, research, Technology Read more... |
Mutual Benefits at Work!by Mary Schorn 23 Mar, 2011 in Products and Content DOE OSTI recently hosted a graduate student from the University of Michigan (UM) School of Information (SI) for a week in our Germantown offices. The student, Ryan Tabor, was participating in the UM SI Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, which matches graduate students with professional-experience projects identified by host organizations. Ryan's graduate school specialty area is human-computer interaction. That, coupled with his undergraduate degree in psychology and his work experience on IT Help Desks, created a great match for OSTI's project -- a usability study of DOE R&D Accomplishments. Ryan tested and evaluated the site via various methodologies and reported his findings and recommendations. He provided some valuable insights which will result in an even more user-friendly website. This collaboration was mutually beneficial in that Ryan gained experience by working in a professional environment doing professional-level work and OSTI gained from having a 'third-party' review and feedback about one of its core products.
Mary Schorn Related Topics: accomplishments, collaboration, doe, DOE Research & Development (R&D) Accomplishments, osti Read more... |
Science.gov Enhancementsby Valerie Allen 27 Jan, 2010 in Products and Content Science.gov has an updated look this week to make room for enhancements. The enhancements will both faciliate use and awareness of Science.gov and highlight findings and activities of the participating agencies. Want to share or save a permanent link on Science.gov via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook? There is now a sharing and bookmarking toolbar on the main Science.gov page as well as on each subject page . Science in the News is a new feature providing current news from many of the participating Science.gov agencies. Aggregated headlines from agency RSS feeds scroll on the Science.gov page, allowing users to keep up with agency news by consulting just one location. The most current headlines are on the main Science.gov page while headlines from the past several days are continued on a separate page. Headlines are linked to the full agency information. Current agencies providing RSS feeds to the aggregated feed are: Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Department of Education, Federal Resources for Educational Excellence Department of Energy Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Department of Health and Human Services, NLM MedlinePlus Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Department of Transportation Environmental Protection Agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Science Foundation More Science.gov agency RSS feeds will be integrated soon, so keep watching! Valerie Allen Science.gov webmanager Related Topics: doe, dot, fda, nist, rss, Science.gov Read more... |
OSTI Lights Candlesby Dr. Walt Warnick 25 Sep, 2009 in Personal Perspectives
Despite DOE's frequent leadership in science and technology (think "human genome" or winning 46 of the "R&D 100" awards in 2009), it's widely acknowledged within DOE that the public isn't particularly aware of DOE's role. Not that we in DOE are shamelessly craving a little credit, but in a representative government, an informed and supportive public is essential to sustain DOE's important programs. In terms of public awareness, it is as though the DOE program unintentionally operates in the dark. By disseminating DOE's R&D results to the public, including those who do not customarily have access to subscription journals of science and technology ,OSTI plays a role in making such results useful and visible to the public. Dissemination to the public is OSTI's mission as defined by law. One inevitable consequence of OSTI pursuing its mission is that DOE's R&D program becomes better known beyond the inner circles of the science and technology community. For a number of years now, OSTI's information transactions have been increasing exponentially, reaching 84 million in FY 2008 (see OSTI's web metrics ). To my way of thinking, this is tantamount to OSTI lighting 84 million candles that shine on DOE's R&D results and illuminate R&D breakthroughs for the public. This is just the beginning, we are doing everything we can to accelerate this exponential growth into the future and further increase awareness of DOE R&D results by the public. As the old saying goes, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. ... Related Topics: doe, osti, r&d results Read more... |
A Unique Insight into DOE Research Accomplishments: A Special Collectionby Mary Schorn 25 Aug, 2009 in Products and Content Unique and interesting insights into U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Research and Development (R&D) accomplishments are available in a special collection that features research of DOE and its predecessor agencies, the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This special collection contains historically significant government documents that have been specially selected and digitized to make them accessible via the Web. Landmark documents such as The Eightfold Way: A Theory of Strong Interaction Symmetry and The First Weighing of Plutonium are among approximately 300 specially-selected documents included in the database. Additionally, documents are aggregated with related aspects of the collection into more than sixty (60) Feature Topic pages with diverse topics such as Video Games -- Did They Begin at Brookhaven? and Human Genome Research: Decoding DNA. The collection features a large number of DOE-associated Nobel Laureates and showcases a diversity in DOE research areas, including Solar Energy (with related educational materials) and Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) that are used to power spacecraft. Easy access to this unique collection is provided via... Related Topics: doe, DOE Research & Development (R&D) Accomplishments, legacy collection, nobel laureates, Nobel Prize, research results, technical reports Read more... |
You Can Be a Part of Accelerating Scientific Discovery!by Susan Tackett 13 Aug, 2009 in Products and Content Did you know that you can help make important research available online by adopting a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) technical report? There are more than 300,000 DOE technical reports in need of digitization. In fact, most DOE technical reports from the 1940s to 1991 are still only available in hard copy or microfiche. This means that important research is not electronically accessible by researchers and the public. You may find a technical report that you want to share with others or you think worthy of making indefinitely available on the web to support the advancement of science. When you search for important science information in your area of interest, you can choose to sponsor the digitization of any adoptable technical report. The cost is $85 (approximately the same cost as ordering a hard copy). You can request recognition via a sponsor "certificate" indicating that the technical report was made electronically available through your contribution. The certificate will appear as the first page of the document. Or, you may request an acknowledgment in honor of . . . or in memory of . . . , etc. to appear as the first page of the document. However, if you prefer to be an anonymous sponsor, no recognition will be placed in the report. ...Related Topics: Adopt-A-Doc, digitization, doe, technical reports Read more... |
Accelerating Science Discovery - Join the Discussion
