(CRADA) process to better address

national security and broader economic concerns are also being

reviewed by the Working Group.

The Committee and Working Group

have traditionally served as mechanisms for sharing information, experiences and concerns among the

managers of technology transfer programs within each of the major

research agencies. It played an

important role in initial implementation of the Federal Technology

Transfer Act and its successors and

also provided a means of communicating concerns of the R&D agencies

on subsequent issues affecting the

resulting programs, including the

negotiation of the GATT Subsidies

Code in the Uruguay Round.■

Office of Technology Policy ■ U.S. Department of Commerce

1

IN THIS ISSUE

Two Important

Gatherings Take

Place on the West

Coast

Page 2

1997 Medal of

Technology

Festivities Celebrate

the Spirit of

American Innovation

Page 3

Under Secretary

Bachula Goes on

Mission to Explore

Cape Canaveral/

Spaceport

Page 4

President Clinton

Honors National

Medalists

Page 5

Something to Talk

About in the Next

Pacesetter

Page 6

ments were presented in testimony

by Raymond Kammer, Director of

the National Institute of Standards

and Technology. The principal

industry witness called by proponents of the bill indicated his agreement with the majority of the recommendations developed by the

Working Group and most of these

changes were made to the bill at a

markup session recently held by the

Subcommittee.

OTP representatives will continue to

meet with committee staff on technical changes to the bill as it is reported to the full committee. Proposed

amendments to the bill calling for

executive branch review and revision of the Cooperative Research

and Development Agreements

OTP Leads Interagency Response to 

Technology Transfer Legislation

News From the Office of Technology Policy ■ Spring 1998

▲▲

▲▲

▲▲

PACESETTER

The Office of Technology Policy

successfully led an interagency

group to formulate the

Administration’s response to proposed technology transfer legislation

and played a central role in communicating that response to Congress.

OTP chairs the Interagency

Committee on Technology Transfer

and its staff level counterpart, the

Interagency Working Group on

Technology Transfer. These groups

were created twelve years ago to

lead executive branch efforts to

implement federal technology transfer legislation.

In the fall of 1997, legislation was

introduced proposing revisions of

the procedures for agency licensing

of intellectual property. At the

request of several agencies, OTP

called a meeting of the Interagency

Working Group to determine

whether it was possible to arrive at

a common position concerning the

legislation.

After several months of work, the

group produced a single set of comments on the bill which it shared

informally with the staffs of the

House Science Committee. It then

submitted the comments to the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) for clearance as the position

of the Clinton Administration on the

bill. The comments received OMB

clearance and were forwarded to the

Technology Subcommittee of the

House Science Committee, where

the legislation was being considered.

At a subsequent subcommittee

hearing, the OTP-coordinated comWomen In Technology International

Conference Held In Texas

Women in Technology International

(WITI) held its annual “Business of

Technology” Conference in Austin,

Texas this year. Before the audience

of 800 attendees, Deputy Assistant

Secretary Kelly Carnes delivered a

keynote address on the importance

of and strategies for developing an

information technology workforce.

Carnes also held a closed-door

roundtable discussion with 40 Texas

academics, corporate Vice Presidents

and other area leaders on issues

relating to general business climate

as well as training and high tech

work force development.■

■ (Left to right) Marci Rossell from the

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Carol

Thompson, President of The Thompson

Group and DAS Kelly Carnes share a laugh

during the conference.

▲▲

▲▲
2

PACESETTER ■ Office of Technology Policy Spring 1998

LOOKING TO

THE FUTURE

Conference Focuses on

Developing the IT Workforce

In January, the Department of

Commerce, in partnership with the

Departments of Education and

Labor, joined the Information

Technology Association of America

in hosting a two day conference in

San Jose, CA, aimed at developing an

information technology (IT) workforce. The conference served as a

forum for the presentation of findings by task force groups which were

formed after the September 1997,

the Office of Technology Policy

release of a report entitled “America’s

New Deficit: The Shortage of

Information Technology Workers.”

The task force groups were charged

with looking into specific aspects of

IT workforce development including: 

■ Basic Math and Science 

competencies.

■ Image of the IT Professions.

■ Quality and Productivity Issues.

■ Recruiting Under-represented 

Groups.

■ Responsiveness of Industry and 

Higher Education to Each Other’s

Needs.

■ Skill Upgrading of the Current 

Workforce.

At the conference, task force chairs

reported on their findings and innovative partnerships were featured in

breakout sessions. According to the

findings, there are things that can be

done today in order to build a

stronger IT workforce for the future,

including:

■ Designing math and science programs to be more relevant and

appealing to girls and minorities.

The task force found that the

pipeline for technical education and

careers begins in the early years,

and that if under-represented

groups aren’t successfully engaged

in grades K-8, they are much less

likely to pursue more advanced

technical studies.

■ Working to improve technology’s

image among young people from

“geeky” to “cool” by inviting IT professionals to schools, for example,

for “high tech” demonstrations and

presentations.

■ Working with the media to help

portray technical careers as exciting,

challenging and rewarding (such as

the compelling manner in which

lawyers were portrayed on the TV

show, LA Law.)

Students Meet with Award

Recipients to Kick off the

Museum Exhibit

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce

Robert Mallett, along with National

Medal of Technology recipients and

officials of The Tech Museum of

Innovation in San Jose, met to kickoff the design phase of a new exhibit,

“The American Spirit of Innovation.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce

has partnered with the museum to

develop the exhibit, which will

Two Important Gatherings Take Place On the West Coast

showcase the achievements of

National Medal of Technology recipients. The exhibit will provide visitors

with a lively and inspiring introduction to the world of innovation as

told through the achievements of the

nation’s leading innovators.

Taking a positive step toward

achieving the conference goal of

developing the IT workforce, the

group invited local students from

Silver Oak Elementary School to the

museum to learn about the challenges and thrills of developing

breakthrough technologies and how

to prepare for careers in technologyrelated fields. Research shows that

the choice of subjects that students

study in the sixth and seventh

grades, particularly whether they

continue to study math and science,

can have a significant impact on

whether they later pursue careers in

science, engineering or other technology-related fields.■

■ Secretary Daley, along with Chancellor Robert

Berdahl, Education Secretary Richard Riley and Labor

Deputy Secretary Katherine (Kitty) Higgins, speak to

reporters during the IT press conference hosted by 

the University of California, Berkeley. 

■ Deputy Secretary Robert Mallet visits 

the Tech Museum of Innovation in San

Jose. He was joined by Dr. Cheryl Shavers,

Director of Emerging Technology at Intel

Corporation and Medal of Technology winners, Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni and Dr. Carl

Djerassi, and students from Silver Oak

Elementary School.
3

Spring 1998 PACESETTER ■ Office of Technology Policy

1997 Medal of Technology Festivities Celebrate 

the Spirit of American Innovation

A black-tie banquet, the unveiling of

a special photo exhibit, and the

guest appearance of actor Alan Alda

were among the highlights of the

1997 National Medal of Technology

award festivities held in Washington.

The events, which took place on the

day prior to the White House presentation ceremony, were a fitting

celebration of the Medal winners

and their remarkable achievements.

Scientific American magazine hosted

a National Medal of Technology

Luncheon Forum debuting a documentary film on the 1997 Medalists

in conversation with Alan Alda, narrator for Scientific American’s popular

FRONTIERS PBS series. The film

captured the excitement and creativity behind the process of technological discovery, exemplified by

remarks like Robert Kahn’s on his

pioneering of the Internet with

Vinton Cerf: “From the moment we

began this work, it was technologically exciting. We knew it had the

potential to change computing.”

The Forum was followed that

evening by a black-tie banquet at

Union Station honoring both the

National Medal of Technology winners and the National Medal of

Science winners, and co-hosted by

the National Science and Technology

Medals Foundation, Department of

Commerce, and the National Science

Foundation.

In his keynote address to the banquet audience, Secretary of

Commerce William Daley emphasized the practical importance of

the Medalists’ achievements.

“Leading economists have identified

technical progress as the single

most important factor in sustained

economic growth. Technologically

advanced companies boost the

economy and help American workers and American families create

better lives,” Daley said.

Acting Under Secretary Gary Bachula

introduced the five Medalists, calling

them “role models of ingenuity and

perseverance and standard bearers of

excellence, who have made major

contributions to our knowledge of

the universe, to our economy,

America’s prestige around the world,

and the quality of our lives.” A short

video presentation highlighting the

Medalists’ achievements preceded the

Undersecretary’s remarks.

Earlier in the day the Medalists

joined Secretary Daley for a ribbon

cutting ceremony at the Department

of Commerce to mark the opening

of a special photo exhibit,

“Celebrating American Innovation.”

The permanent exhibit features dramatic photographs of technologies

made possible by past Medalists.

The busy day for the Medalists

began with a reception at the

Department of Commerce honoring

the Medal recipients and members

of the Medal Nomination

Evaluation Committee. The

Committee conducts the annual

peer review process that results in

recommendations being forwarded

to the Secretary of Commerce and

then the President of the United

States for final decision.■

1997 MEDAL

LAUREATES

Nominations Now Being Accepted

If you know of an individual, team, or company deserving of recognition for outstanding technological innovation and leadership, send for a

1999 National Medal of Technology Nomination Packet.

Nominations will be accepted for achievements that have strengthened

the American economy and standard of living through:

■ Advanced product & process innovation ■ Technology management

■ Human resource development ■ Technology infrastructure

■ Advanced manufacturing technology ■ Technology transfer

Revised Categories and Guidelines

Guidelines and forms have been revised for the 1999 Medal program

year, and are undergoing review by the Office of Management and

Budget. Revisions will be posted on the Medal website.The official call

for nominations will begin June 29 and conclude December 1, 1998.

For more information or to receive your nomination packet, contact:

Katie Wolf, Director, National Medal of Technology

Office of Technology Policy, Room 4226

14th & Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230

Phone 202.482.5572

email nmt@mail.ta.doc.gov

URL www.ta.doc.gov/medal

■ National Medal

Winners cut the ribbon to dedicate the

Innovation Hallway.
4

Spring 1998 PACESETTER ■ Office of Technology Policy

TECH

TRAVELS

Acting Under Secretary Gary

Bachula traveled to Cape Canaveral

Air Station, Florida with the Office

of Air & Space Commercialization

(OASC) in February to tour 

commercial launch facilities in

Florida and observe the first launch

of the Globalstar satellite communications system.

The Globalstar system is a constellation of 48 satellites which will provide voice, data, fax, and other

telecommunications services to

users worldwide. The first launch,

aboard a Boeing Delta II launch

vehicle, will lift four satellites to low

earth orbit. Due to high winds however, the launch was postponed

until later in the month.

While at the Cape, Bachula

hosted a roundtable of space

industry representatives and

local government officials. It

was an opportunity to discuss

issues impacting the growth of

the commercial launch industry, and the commercial space

industry in general.

The group also toured launch

facilities at the Cape. They first

toured commercial launch facilities

operated by Spaceport Florida

Authority (SFA). SFA is a state

agency which has refurbished an

old launch pad so it can be used by

small commercial launch vehicles.

The first launch from the new SFA

Under Secretary Bachula Goes On Mission To Explore 

Cape Canaveral/Spaceport

facility was NASA’s

Lunar Prospector mission aboard a Lockheed

Martin commercial

Athena II launch vehicle in January.

The second tour was of

Air Force facilities at

Cape Canaveral Air

Station (CCAS). CCAS

is run by the Air Force,

but is used for commercial launches of Boeing’s

Delta II and Lockheed

Martin’s Atlas launch vehicles. The

Air Force also launches government

payloads out of CCAS, aboard the

Delta, Atlas, and Titan IV launch

vehicles. The tour included

overviews of the Range Operations

Control Center and the Atlas and

Titan launch pads.

Although the postponement of the

Globalstar launch was a disappointment, the mission of exploring the

commercial space industry was a

huge success.■

■ Under

Secretary Gary

Bachula (Acting)

listen to Edward

Ellegood from

Spaceport

Florida describe

launch comples

number 46, a

commercial

spaceport.

■ Welcome to Titan

Department of Commerce employees and military

escorts: (Left to right) Nicholas Flagler, Jason Kim,

Keith Calhoun-Senghor, Byron Whitman, Col.

Ronald Larivee, vice Wing Commander, 45th

Space Wing, Under Secretary Gary Bachula

(Acting) Lt. Col. Everett Thomas, Commander, 

5th Space Launch Squadron. 

Acting Under Secretary Gary Bachula

and Deputy Assistant Secretary Kelly

Carnes recently participated in a

Government-University-IndustryResearch Roundtable at UCLA to discuss “Overcoming Barriers to

Government, University and Industry Team Up For 

A High Tech Roundtable and Tour

Collaborative Research.” After the

roundtable, they joined UCLA faculty members from the Graduate

School of Education & Information

Sciences, the School of Engineering

and Applied Science and the School

of Medicine for a twoday tour of information

technology.

The stops included visits to Amgen, Solgene

Therapeutics, and HRL

Laboratories where participants discussed a

wide range of research

and policy issues ranging from gene and cell

research to intellectual

property,

microelectronics and information technology. At the

Jet Propulsion

Laboratory,

Gary and

Kelly viewed

satellite images

of the Amazon

River and a

video of Mars 

to discuss how

information

technology

impacts space

exploration.■

■ Above: (Left to right) Ed Pope of Solgene

Therapeutics, Deputy Assistant Secretary Kelly

Carnes and Under Secretary Gary Bachula.

■ Left: HRL Laboratory Tour. (Left to right) Art

Chester of URL, Gary Bachula, Ed Johnsen,

Kelly Carnes, Kim Savage of UCLA, John

Bartelt of HRL and Ron Stevens of UCLA.
5

Spring 1998 PACESETTER ■ Office of Technology Policy

FIRST 

ANNUAL ISTF

Five leaders in technology whose

achievements range from spearheading America’s defense capabilities to

dramatically changing the

way we hear recorded sound

were presented the 1997

National Medal of Technology

by President Clinton at a

White House ceremony this

past December.

The President hailed the

Medalists for their “extraordinary individual accomplishments,” which exemplified

“the American passion for

discovery that has driven our

nation forward from field to factory

to the far reaches of cyberspace.”

The President made his remarks

during a joint ceremony that also

honored the National Medal of

Science winners. The 1997 Medal of

Technology laureates include

Norman Augustine, (CEO of

Lockheed-Martin), Ray Dolby

(President of Dolby Laboratories),

Robert Ledley (inventor of the first

whole body CT scanner), and the

team of Vinton Cerf and Robert

Kahn (the “fathers of the Internet”).

Secretary of Commerce William

Daley joined the President in saluting the Medalists, noting that their

efforts had created “practical technologies that are driving economic

growth, U.S. competitiveness and

higher standards of living.”

After the Medal presentation, a

reception was held for the Medalists

in the Indian Treaty Room of the

Old Executive Office Building.■

President Clinton Honors 

National Medalists

As any parent knows, student

research projects have changed a lot

in recent years. Surfing the Net is at

least as important a resource and

skill as sifting through library

shelves. This past fall, students from

around the country scoured the Net

in search of answers to critical technology issues facing America, as

part of their participation in the first

annual Internet Science and

Technology Fair (ISTF).

The distinctive feature of the Fair, a

project developed by the University

of Central Florida and involving the

Department of Commerce’s National

Medal of Technology program, is

that students have to do all of their

research for their projects via email

and the Internet — from tracking

down newspaper and journal articles to consulting technical advisors

in corporations and academia, and

then submitting their actual entry as

a website. In the future, the Office

of Technology Policy hopes to have

National Medal of Technology winners interact with students via the

Internet and email.

The goals of ISTF are more than

simply increasing Internet skills

alone. “First and foremost, we want

to pique students’ interest in science

and engineering and increase their

‘technology literacy,’” explains Bruce

Furino of the University of Central

Florida, ISTF’s director. “The more

comfortable students are working

with technology related issues, the

more likely it is that they will consider careers in technology related

fields,” Furino says.

Working in teams, students first

chose a technical topic involving one

of the National Critical Technologies

as identified by the White House

Office of Science and Technology

Policy. Categories range from energy

and transportation to living systems

and environmental quality.

Internet Science and Technology Fair Sharpens 

Students’ Research Skills

The students then used on-line

resources to define the problems

involved with their topic and

explore the existing or potential

technologies relevant to solving

them. This year’s topics included

robotic tools, alternative fuels, and

the effects of acid rain.

Results of the students’ efforts were

posted in “Project Homepages,”

which were evaluated by a panel of

expert judges. Those teams judged

the Best of each National Critical

Technology category received a

Certificate of Meritorious

Achievement from the National

Medal of Technology program.

This year’s inaugural program was

aimed at students from middle

school and junior high, reflecting

that age level’s critical role in influencing a student’s long-term interests. “We must be able to interest

middle school students in science

and engineering careers prior to

high school if we expect them to

take the necessary math and science courses in high school that

will adequately prepare them

for college,” Furino says.

Even so, Furino believes the

Fair can offer valuable lessons to

students of all levels. Beginning in

1998, the program will include

senior high participants, and eventually hopes to include the elementary grade levels as well.■

■ (Left to right)

Katie Wolf, Director of

the National Medal of

Technology Program,

Norman R. Augustine,

Vinton Gray Cerf,

Robert E. Kahn, 

Ray M. Dolby, 

Robert S. Ledley 

and Kate Dobson,

Associate Publisher 

of Scientific American.
United States Department of Commerce

Technology Administration

Office of Technology Policy

Room 4814C HCHB

Washington, DC 20230

Official Business

Penalty for private use $300.00

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FIRST-CLASS MAIL

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The PACESETTER is a publication of the Office of Technology Policy, a division of the United States Department of Commerce Technology Administration.

Any mention of organizations, companies or products is for informational

purposes only; it does not imply any recommendation or endorsement.

■ Editors

Cheryl Mendonsa, Director, Public Affairs

Kathleen Sullivan, Public Affairs

■ Directors of the Office of Technology Policy 

Kelly H. Carnes

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy

■ Comments and Inquiries

Cheryl Mendonsa, OTP Public Affairs

Telephone 202.482.8321

■ World Wide Web Address

http://www.ta.doc.gov/otp

■ Design and Layout

Alpha MicroDesigns, Inc.

Something to Talk About!

In the Next PACESETTER

UPCOMING ARTICLES

■ “Take Our Children To Work”

Get the details on how Department of

Commerce celebrated the traditional “Take Our

Daughters to Work” day by also including sons

of employees. The innovative and participatory

career day, themed “Sparking a Child’s Interest

in Science & Technology,” got the children

involved in the S&T work done every day at

DOC.

■ First IT Town Hall Meeting

Department of Commerce joined high tech

businesses and officials in Montgomery

County, MD, including Senator Paul Sarbanes

and MD Representative Connie Morella, for the

first in a series of town hall meetings designed

to address strategies for developing the IT

workforce. Find out what was said concerning

this important issue.