A Review of the New Initiatives at the NASA Ames Research Center Summary of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
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IV. Proceedings
IV. Proceedings
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. These objectives are classified under four major "enterprises": aerospace technology, human exploration and development of space, space science, and earth science.
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The University of California at Santa Cruz, she remarked, is leading the effort to build an education and research center that connects the resources and intellectual capital of the entire University of California with the specific interests and needs of Silicon Valley including NASA's research agenda at Ames Research Center. The University of California' s plans include a new collaboration with San Jose State University and Foothill/ DeAnza Colleges that will specifically focus on bridging the digital divide in Silicon Valley and filling the workforce gap.
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OPENING REMARKS 37 House Science Committee, said that Congress' support for science is sometimes insufficient, but that she sensed a growing understanding on both sides of the aisle of the importance of science funding. This funding can serve to educate our young people, to advance basic research, and to support efforts such as the Ames project in order to make sure there is an interface that works for the economy.
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Venneri began by describing the commercialization of technology as a major strategy for NASA, and praised the proposal to create a research park at Ames as a step in this direction. He then presented his vision of NASA's technology strategy for the future, involving "highly complex, first-of-a-kind missions which cannot be accomplished or afforded using current systems." NASA's future mission challenges will require new systems for both space and Earth transportation.
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Dr. Venneri described these three areas in terms of a "mission triangle," designed in collaboration with NASA administrator Dan Goldin.
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The next stage would bring ultrarugged nanoscale materials and structures that can withstand the harsh extremes of space. These would include microstructures for planetary and small body exploration, huge apertures to characterize extra-solar planets, and huge apertures to study phenomena under extreme conditions, such as black holes.
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The third area is intelligent data understanding. This involves autonomous techniques to transform data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into understanding.
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Geographically dispersed teams would come and go from this virtual world, where intelligent agents would interact with each other and with humans to develop complex products or knowledge. A practical exercise for this kind of computing is to develop a new idea through virtual means to move a conceptual, detailed engineering design through manufacture, use and its entire life cycle in one year rather than the five years required today.
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Ames is our seed gene for really bringing this together in the agency." AMES' TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY Henry McDonald Ames Research Center Dr. McDonald extended the discussion of NASA's three primary theme areas, explaining that all the elements of the agency's new scientific and technological direction have significant leadership and representation at Ames.
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What is needed is a degree of self-healing a process developed in biological organisms. Autonomy and Intelligent Agents Space systems also need (like organisms)
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Predictive diagnosis, for planetary exploration (2003~; continuous response to unknown environments, e.g., for the Europa Submarine (2015~; collaborative intelligent agents, for robot colonies (2016~; and sciencedriven operations for fleets of spacecraft (c.
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McDonald said that a substantial amount of money will be dedicated toward establishing research partnerships at Ames. For example, approximately 25 percent of the budget of the new intelligent systems program will be available for extramural activities with universities and a further similar amount for academic-industrial-government initiatives.
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There are 295 members of the Association of University-Related Research Parks, several hundred members of the International Association of Science Parks, and dozens of members of regional science park organizations. The International Association of Science Parks defines a research park as one that has operational links to research centers, universities, and other institutions of higher education; is designed to encourage the formation and growth of knowledge-based industries or value-added tertiary firms; and has a management team actively engaged in transferring technology and business skills to tenant organizations.
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. Research parks, such as Research Triangle Park and Stanford Industrial Park, focus primarily on R&D and may exclude manufacturing or assembly.
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The standard model for clusters around research parks has four features: a) R&D activities appropriate to nearby industries; b)
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The "Green Door" Concept A third trend in research parks is the extension of the university-industry connection into something called the "green door" concept: scientists from universities, who are busy teaching and advising grad students, are offered convenient access to industry-supported labs that focus on commercializing the results of research. A leading example has been initiated at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
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. Measuring the Success of Research Parks The second question, how to measure the success of a park, cannot be answered by any single method, but a combination of several methods usually brings useful information.
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Benchmarking has become a routine exercise in science and technology policy, and research parks are no exception. He closed by offering a sobering statistic: one-half of the parks that were initiated between 1960 and 1990 have ceased to exist.
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QUESTIONS & COMMENTS Pursuing this point, Chancellor Greenwood asked what kinds of university connections are most likely to advance the goals of research parks.
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It revealed that California, with 12.5 percent of the nation's population, conducts about 25 percent of the nation's R&D in science and technology. Two Disturbing Trends However, two disturbing conclusions emerged as well, both of which suggest a need for substantial changes and carry important implications for the growth of the Ames research park.
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The reasons for the decline, she said, are many, and begin with the decreasing amount of money available to support graduate students. At the baccalaureate level, schools face rising costs for engineering programs, rapid obsolescence of equipment, and the loss of faculty to private firms.
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Dr. Luger responded that these same concerns were described when he was evaluating research parks in the area as long as 15 years ago, when companies feared they would not be able to import enough technicians to support company growth.
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The Ames property is adjacent to the Lockheed Martin Mis57
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Venneri described earlier, that is, information technology, nanotechnology, and biotechnology, with complementary programs in astrobiology. Related objectives are to: create new and unique research facilities and other related physical facilities that further the mission of NASA; conduct education and outreach programs, in partnership with universe ties and school systems, for multiple purposes· enhancing the education of the Ames work force; · creating graduate, postdoctoral, intern, sabbatical, and other opportunities for visiting scholars; · developing public educational programs on site; and · strengthening science and technology in regional school systems; develop the site in ways that are consistent with regional goals and that promote employment, sound land management, good environmental practices, clean and efficient transportation, and economic development; .
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Ames has entered into memoranda of understanding with potential partners through 2000: the University of California system, led by UC Santa Cruz; Carnegie Mellon University; San Jose State University; Foothill-DeAnza Community College District; the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) ; and Lockheed Martin.
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In addition, research is expected to be conducted on issues of social justice, education, labor, and economics, among other topics. UCSC, San Jose' State University, and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District: These schools have formed the "Collaborative," an unprecedented academic partnership to address Silicon Valley's critical education and workforce needs through joint research and education programs to be located at the NASA Research Park.
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The university has played a lead role in forming this HDCC consortium, and along with the branch campus, we will showcase our research and educational offerings in Silicon Valley, the information technology capital of the world," Cohon said. · Lockheed Martin: Ames has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin's space operations company (based in Houston)
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A Regional Vision Under the Space Act, NASA's use of federal land must be both appropriate to NASA's missions and responsive to the surrounding region. Ames, traditionally a fenced, stand-alone enclave, plans to open its gates to the community and enter more closely into the concerns of the surrounding region: .
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will take up to 18 months. NASA Ames plans to reach a Record of Decision in late 2001 that will allow a build-out of an additional approximately 3 million square feet of space for the Research Park.
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Greenwood's presentation explored why the University of California, and the Santa Cruz campus in particular, are interested in the Ames program. She emphasized two topics: research partnerships and the opportunity to "really deal with some of the issues around the digital divide" that is, providing better technology education for the present and future workforces.
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Outreach and Partnerships The University of California at Santa Cruz has an extensive outreach to the Valley, through, for example, its Lifelong Learning program, which now enrolls some 52,000 people with activities designed to respond to existing companies and their workforce needs. The university also collaborates in outreach with the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and San Jose State system on hightech educational initiatives.
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As lead university in the UC system for K-12 outreach, UC Santa Cruz has formed an educational collaborative with San Jose State University, the Foothills/ De Anza colleges, local organizations, and UC resources. The model combines outreach, articulation, and programming, focusing on digital divide issues.
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As one such partner, Lockheed Martin's goals would be to serve the customer's needs and to help reach the goals described by NASA. One reason that Lockheed Martin is an appropriate partner, he said, its is expertise in recruiting and managing human resources.
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He said that Ames as a facility is strong in each area, and that the new strategic plan could establish a "new model for doing business with NASA." Collaboration with Ames and Academic Partners Within this model, one of LM's goals would be to establish and direct a Research Initiative Fund to support new research programs. Profits from such programs would be held in an escrow account, and the use of profits would be decided jointly by NASA, LM, and UC Santa Cruz.
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Dr. Ballhaus closed his talk by congratulating the Ames leaders on their plan, and citing the value of linkages and collaborative research to Lockheed Martin.
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Adams said that Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) , of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was committed to working as a partner with NASA, with other universities, and with corporate partners in forming and operating a "world-class, shared-use research park." The focus of CMU's activities will be research, especially long-term, fundamental investigations in the areas of robotics, software engineering, and other aspects of information technology.
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. As a partner at Ames, CMU would have the following objectives: to perform collaborative research with NASA, other universities, and Silicon Valley companies; to participate in selected educational programs to benefit NASA and private partners; and to assist in the commercialization of technology by various means, including hosting and incubation services.
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private firms, including Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Compaq, Microsoft, Marimba, ILOG, SGI, Siebel, Novell, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard. Current Needs in Robotics and Computing Dr.
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Likewise, planetary exploration is a collaborative venture requiring diverse expertise. One of the challenges of planetary exploration is to seek out and use terrestrial venues that resemble the environments found on other worlds.
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Dr. Adams concluded with a few examples of the capabilities of some of CMU's exploration robots: .
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He said that the program is ambitious and broad, and many of its elements will have to be evaluated individually as well as in terms of their contribution to the core missions of Ames. Given the importance of the expanded Ames role in land management in one of the country's hottest real estate markets, the difficulties of regional governance systems will likely emerge.
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Dr. Greenwood said that UC Santa Cruz had developed a successful financing model in its outreach partnerships in Silicon Valley.
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Dr. Wilson asked for more detail about how the research fund mentioned by Dr.
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Louie In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel, which Mr. Louie described as a "nonprofit venture capital fund," was established by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
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By the time the CIA uses traditional means to identify a need, process it, acquire it, and adopt it, six months to two or more years may have passed, rendering the technology obsolete. The goal of In-Q-Tel as a nonprofit venture capital fund is to roll any profit back into R&D.
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Both, he said, were concerned that the program did not become corporate welfare, and that it maintained a fair and level playing field for all potential partners. He said that the company is "living under a lot of scrutiny." Kathy Behrens asked how the success of In-Q-Tel was being measured, and the time frame for success.
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Norwood described the concept of a technology investment fund, or what might be called an "enterprise fund"4 for NASA. The fund would be a new business organization, independent of government, with links both to NASA's technological resources and to the private investment community.
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An enterprise fund would attempt to structure venture partnerships based on the NASA technologies in a new way. Rather than using traditional contracts for Phase III activities, the fund would create an investment agreement between NASA, a contractor, and the investment partners.
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A VENTURE CAPITAL PERSPECTIVE ON RESEARCH PARKS Kathy Behrens Robertson Stephens Investment Management Dr. Behrens, who invests venture capital in high-tech firms for RS Investment Management, emphasized the "vast differences" between the world of scientific and engineering research and the world of venture capital.
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She said that Ames has a great geographical advantage in its Silicon Valley location, where the local economy is uniquely vibrant. At the same time, venture capital is "the most competitive business in the world today." Three years ago, she said, venture capitalists put $6 billion to work per year in new companies; by last year the figure had passed $50 billion in a single year.
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The office is the focal point for business incubation at Ames and will be for the research park. Its mission, in the words of NASA headquarters, is "leveraging opportunities and partnerships with organizations outside of NASA in areas of emerging technologies." 85
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It is also working on a Space Act Agreement, a land lease agreement, and a programmatic agreement, which will call for each partner to put in two dollars for every dollar NASA invests. Focus Areas Initial areas of collaboration will probably include nanotechnology, biotechnology, and internet security.
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She described an important distinction among start-up companies. Some have low technological risk and are able to attract angel or venture capital funding early on.
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Soon after that a Phase 2 grant from NSF provided an essential foundation for development, and was followed by grants from DARPA, NIH, the Air Force, and more recently, the ATP.6 In essence, "The company tries to mitigate the technology risk and make itself more appealing to outside investors by trying to solve some of the scanning and system architecture problems with government funding." She added that venture capital firms were not interested in her technology as long as it required further development. At present, the company has a "fairly substantial" materials R&D program under way to improve efficiency and brightness and to improve the image chambers as Dr.
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In regard to the In-Q-Tel program, Mr. Turner said that an SBIR program for the CIA might have some advantages over a venture capital fund.
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Turner praised the involvement of UC Santa Cruz and Carnegie Mellon, and also urged Ames not to rule out relationships with Stanford and Berkeley, "two of the best computer schools in the nation, right in your back yard." QUESTIONS & COMMENTS Dr. Penhoet extended Mr.
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Success rates for investments, even when made by outstanding venture capital firms, may not be high enough to meet Washington's admittedly ill-defined expectations. Nonetheless, while keeping in mind these cautionary comments, Dr.
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He pointed out that the area had been crowded and expensive since before he immigrated to the United States from Scotland many years ago, "yet we manage to recruit some of the best scientists in the country because of the stimulating intellectual opportunities we have to offer them." Some of these scientists eventually leave for tenure at a university, he said, but Ames gets some of their best years. Current plans to use housing on site, and to develop plans to extend that housing, can help alleviate the problem and allow for the expansion of on-site programs and the inclusion of graduate students, postdocs, and summer programs for faculty.
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