THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE...
	ASME Hosts Maryland Technology Summit --Over 200 Attend Annual Summit of Government, Business, and Academia
	President's Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Proposal Unveiled --Contains Good, Bad News for Research and Development
	Department of Defense Budget Request for Science and Technology --Despite Large Defense Increase, S&T Budget Essentially Flat
	Department of Energy Research and Development Budget Request --Fossil Takes Hit; Renewables, Yucca Mountain, Hydro, Science, Nuclear Get Increases
	National Science Foundation Budget Request --Five Percent Increase Large in This Budget Climate
	NIST Budget Request --Some Increase, but ATP and MEP Get Hit Hard
	Environmental Protection Agency Budget Request --Overall, a Slight Increase; Big Brownfields Boost

THIS WEEK...

ASME Hosts Maryland Technology Summit

Over 230 leaders from government, industry, and academia convened in Annapolis earlier this week to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with technology-based entrepreneurship in the state. The Fifth Annual State of Technology in Maryland Summit was co-sponsored by ASME Government Relations and Region III, Technology Council of Maryland, Greater Baltimore Technology Council, and the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Schlomo Carmi, Vice President, Engineering Education for ASME and Dean of Engineering at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, joined Casper Taylor, Speaker of the Maryland House, in giving welcoming remarks. Other featured speakers included Maryland Senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski. For more information, contact Reese Meisinger at meisingerr@asme.org. Information regarding the program and select speaker handouts are located at http://www.asme.org/gric.

PRESIDENT'S FISCAL YEAR 2003 BUDGET PROPOSAL UNVEILED

As part of his proposed $2.1 trillion fiscal year 2003 budget proposal, President Bush is seeking an 8 percent increase in the nation's research and development programs. Most of the additional funds will go toward programs at the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health. Of the $111.1 billion in proposed R&D funding, $54.5 billion would go to the Department of Defense - an 11 percent increase over current levels.

Fulfilling his campaign promise to continue the path toward doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health, the President proposes to spend $27.3 billion on NIH research programs, a $3.9 billion boost.

The President's proposed budget also calls for a 17 percent increase in the overall federal budget for nanotechnology research - for a total of $679 million across several agencies.

Information on other increases - and decreases - is outlined below.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) BUDGET REQUEST FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

The President's budget proposes $379.3 billion for the Department of Defense for Fiscal Year 2003, an increase of $48 billion over the fiscal year 2002 budget. This is the largest single defense hike in 20 years.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the budget request of $379.3 billion reflects the six transformation goals set down in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) which includes: protecting the U.S. homeland and critical bases of operation; denying enemies sanctuary; project and sustain power in access-denied areas; leverage information technology; improve and protect information operations; and enhance space operations.

DOD's budget for research, development, testing and evaluation, which the administration says will provide transformational military capabilities, is funded at $53.9 billion in fiscal 2003, up from $48.4 billion this year. The administration provides $9.7 billion for Science and Technology in FY03 - down about $300 million from current levels -- including $1.4 billion for basic research, $3.8 billion for Applied Research, and $4.5 billion for Advanced Technology Development.

The QDR, issued every four years to guide changes in program direction, calls for a significant increase in funding for S&T programs to a level of three percent of DOD spending each year. The QDR also addresses the need to maintain a "robust R&D effort" and DOD's aging workforce and the need to bring talented bright young civilian personnel into the Department to develop and fill leadership positions.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BUDGET REQUEST

Overall, the budget for Department of Energy would increase 5 percent under the President's proposed budget, for a total of $21.9 billion. Within that amount, there are some clear winners and losers.

Renewable energy R&D would receive an overall 6 percent increase next year, for a total of $407.7 million. Winners include hydrogen (+$10.7 million for $39.9 million total), wind (+$5.4 million for $44 million total), high-temperature superconductivity (+$15.5 million for $53.5 million total), and hydropower (+$2.5 million for a $7.5 million total) would receive the largest increases.

Within the fossil energy budget, carbon sequestration research would increase $21.8 million, for a total of $54 million; and the Vision 21 program (excluding hybrids) would increase $3.6 million, for a total of $31.6 million. The new FreedomCAR fuel cell vehicle program would receive $150 million. The President's Coal Research Initiative, which is a consolidation of the Clean Coal Power Initiative, and the coal research and development program, would be reduced $12.7 million, to $325.5 million. The Clean Coal Power Initiative would receive level funding of $150 million.

Nuclear energy research would increase 35 percent, rising $18.5 million to $71.5 million mainly because the administration intends to expand the use of nuclear power in the United States. Toward that end, the budget creates a new Nuclear Power 2010 program to focus on resolving the technical, institutional, and regulatory barriers to the deployment of new nuclear power plants by 2010. The NP2010 program would receive $38.5 million in FY03, and the Generation IV power plant research program funding would be doubled from $4 million to $8 million.

To pay for the increases, the administration would eliminate the Nuclear Plant Optimization Program (-$6.5 million), and would reduce funding for the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (-$7 million, for a $25 million total), and for spent fuel pyroprocessing and transmutation (-$59 million for an $18.2 million total).

Finally, the nuclear waste disposal program would get a huge increase (+$149.8 million for a $527 million total) because of the Secretary's recent certification of the suitability of the Yucca Mountain, Nevada site for long-term nuclear waste storage.

The full DOE budget can be found at: http://www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/03budget/index.htm.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) BUDGET REQUEST

The National Science Foundation is requesting $5.036 billion for FY2003, $240 million or five percent more than the previous fiscal year.

The FY 2003 Budget Request for Engineering (ENG) is $487.98 million, an increase of $15.66 million, or 3.3 percent, over the FY 2002 level of $472.32 million. The Engineering (ENG) Activity seeks to enhance the quality of life and national prosperity by investing in research and education activities that spur new technological innovations and create new products and services and more productive enterprises. ENG also makes critical investments in facilities, networks, and people to ensure diversity and quality in the nation's infrastructure for engineering education and research. ENG will support research in areas including information technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and microelectronics. Funds are included to meet the mandated level for the Foundation-wide Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Details can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/bud/fy2003/nar_eng.htm.

The budget also includes a second installment of $200 million for the President's five year Math and Science Partnership program to link local schools with colleges and universities to improve preK-12 math and science education, train teachers, and create innovative ways to reach out to underserved students and schools. In order to attract more of the nation's most promising students into graduate level science and engineering, NSF is requesting an investment of approximately $37 million to increase annual stipends for graduate fellows to $25,000.

Another investment of $185 million is directed toward NSF's Learning for the 21st Century Workforce priority area. A key centerpiece includes $20 million to fund three to four new multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional Science of Learning Centers to enhance our understanding of how we learn, how we remember, and how we can best use new information technology to promote learning.

The NSF request also includes $221 million for nanotechnology research and $286 million for information technology research. In addition, as part of the Administration's new multi-agency Climate Change Research Initiative, NSF will implement a $15 million research program to advance understanding in highly focused areas of climate science, to reduce uncertainty, and to facilitate policy decisions.

Details of the full NSF budget can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/home/budget/start.htm.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) BUDGET REQUEST

The budget request for NIST is mixed between increases and decreases. The budget for the Scientific and Technical Research and Services would increase $76 million, to $397.2 million. This is the main line item in NIST's budget, and funds NIST's in-house laboratories and the Baldridge National Quality Program. The total includes $50 million to ensure that the Advanced Measurements Laboratory becomes fully operational.

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP), which the administration tried to suspend funding for last year, would see its funding reduced to $108 million, from $185 million. That is unlikely to happen as long as Senator Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State. After the administration tried to "suspend" the program last year, Hollings managed not only to save the program, but obtained a hefty increase.

The budget calls for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which funds centers in all 50 states whose mission it is to provide information and consulting services to help businesses adopt advanced manufacturing technologies and business practices, to become self-sufficient within six years. The administration points out that self-sufficiency was the original plan for the program. Accordingly, the administration requests just $13 million for the program, which received $111 for this fiscal year.

Details of the full NIST budget can be found at: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/budget/2003overview.htm#nist.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) BUDGET REQUEST

The FY03 request for the EPA totals $7.7 billion, up slightly from the Bush administration's FY02 request of $7.5 billion. The agency is asking for $129.7 million to meet its climate change objectives, which it said would be achieved "by working with business and other sectors to deliver multiple benefits." Nearly 45 percent of the EPA's proposed budget, $3.46 billion, consists of grants for states, tribes and other EPA "partners." The budget also provides $2.06 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds. For homeland security, EPA is seeking $124 million in new funding for a total agency investment of $133.4 million in that area. Those funds include $16.9 million to conduct drinking water system vulnerability assessments, as well as $75 million to conduct research on better methods for cleaning up buildings contaminated by chemical or biological agents. The agency also is proposing to spend $200 million to continue brownfields cleanup and redevelopment, an increase of $100 million above its FY02 request level.

Details of the full EPA budget can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/budget/budget.htm.