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Mid-Continent News Briefs 2009 FLC Far West / Mid-Continent Regional Conference The FLC Far West and Mid-Continent regions are holding their joint 2009 Fall meeting August 31 - September 2, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Hotel, located minutes away from SFO in Burlingame, CA. The meeting site is perfectly located on San Francisco Bay between the excitement of downtown San Francisco and technology corridor of Silicon Valley. This year the conference will focus on the changing federal landscapes in energy and high technology projects. Various Perspectives on these changes will be presented by DOE, DoD and NASA. We will also explore the challenges and opportunities brought about by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and its effect on the FY-2010 R&D programs and budgets. An in-depth discussion will take place on changes to the Federal Technology Landscape imposed by the new Administration and what these changes will mean to our federal laboratories and programs. Tapping into the local resources of the of Silicon Valley, we will also present an agenda filled with Energy and High Technology topics. Energy partnerships will be scrutinized and include new and creative ways of working together, locating partners, etc. Local experts will also cover such subjects as innovative ways of doing software deals as well as implications of open source licensing. Updates on S&T Programs and Education will presented from SBIR to STEM to TIP. Complete details and registration is available on the conference web site at www.flc-fw.org/meeting 2009 Mid-Continent Regional Election Results The FLC Mid Continent has elected Susan Sprake as Regional Coordinator and Deb Covey as Deputy Coordinator. Both Sprake and Covey will take over the positions effective October 1, 2009.
FLC Mid-Continent/Far West regional Meeting Recap This year's conference focused on the hot topic of energy, including alternative, renewable, traditional and non-traditional forms.
Training sessions included topics such as Talking to the Investment Community, how to get their attention, outreach to technology based economic development entities, and commercialization strategies. There was also an update on IP bundling, and laboratory STEM activities.
Attendees learned about a new I.P. Auction model being tested by NASA and facilitated by Ocean Tomo. All conference presentations are available here on our web site under the Speakers / Presentations link above.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) brought their RnE2EW Translates to Renewable Energy & Efficiency Education On Wheels display to demonstrate how they are raising energy awareness by the K-12 sector.
As part of the conference, the FLC Mid-Continent and Far West regions held their Technology Transfer Awards Dinner honoring federal laboratories for success and excellence in technology transfer activities. The awards and presentations can be viewed at the Mid-Continent/Far West Meeting Site
Details are available on LANL's web site at www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/13804
Diversionary devices — also called stun grenades or flash-bangs — are a less-than-lethal device used in a wide variety of law enforcement and military operations. Like a grenade, the device is activated by pulling a pin. When thrown, the flash-bang creates a loud sound and bright flash of light to temporarily distract or disorient an adversary.
Flash-bangs are used in law enforcement and military operations such as hostage rescue, room-clearing, crowd control and other specialized operations. Military or law enforcement personnel will typically break down a door or smash a window of a building and toss in the diversionary device during a forced entry.
Details are available on Sandia's web site at www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2008/flashbang.html
In March, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo presented TAS with an initial $50,000 check and challenged the program to match the funds. The program did. Recently, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo gave TAS the additional $50,000, enabling 50 more Texas high school students to attend TAS’ yearlong high school program, High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS).
Details are available on NASA Johnson's web site at www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/education/nasa_education_program.html
Presentations from the meeting are available at www.flc-fw.org/meeting
Los Alamos National Laboratory Signs CRADA and License Agreement with Carbon Designs, Inc.
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Los Alamos National Laboratory and Carbon Designs, Inc. (CDI), signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to collaborate on the development of ultra-strong fibers made of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CDI will initially invest $2 million in this joint effort to develop fibers expected to be many times stronger than any current engineering materials. The carbon nanotube is a scientific development stemming from the discovery of soccer-ball shaped carbon molecules in 1985 by the chemistry department at Rice University. These microscopic molecules are usually a few nanometers in diameter, or billionths of a meter; comparatively, a virus is 100 nanometers in size. The current CRADA is one of the largest sponsored research agreements ever signed by the Laboratory.
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