Message from the NUFO Steering Committee
The National User Facility Organization (NUFO) Steering Committee is happy to announce that a date and place have finally been confirmed for our upcoming User Facility Exhibition. The exhibition will be held in the Cannon House Caucus Room in Washington, D.C. on October 15, 2009. NUFO's goal is to provide an educational forum for our Washington officials that will highlight the significance and importance of the science that is being done at national user facilities.
The day's activities will be divided into three parts: (1) user representative visits with congressional leaders/staffers in the morning, (2) a poster session with posters from each of the 30 user facilities represented in NUFO, as well as four NUFO-specific posters, in the afternoon, and (3) a reception with complimentary beverages and appetizers in the early evening. The posters will highlight the four key areas of strength of national user facilities: science education, fundamental knowledge, scientific achievements, and economic competitiveness. Two or three Congressional speakers are being invited to kick off the event.
The NUFO Annual Meeting of was held at Argonne National Laboratory on June 10-12, 2009. Presentations from the meeting are now available on the meeting Website linked to the agenda. Key aspects of the meeting are highlighted below.
Harriet Kung (Director of Office of Basic Energy Sciences, DOE) addressed the role that user facilities will play in the country’s energy challenges and asked that the planned report from the June 11, 2009, NUFO workshop on industrial interactions with user facilities be provided to the DOE this summer. This report is currently in preparation.
Amy Flatten (Director of International Affairs, American Physical Society) followed with a summary description of the issues affecting visa processing and foreign national entry into the United States since 9/11. She encouraged foreign nationals experiencing difficulty obtaining a visa to enter the United States to complete a Visa Questionnaire form, which is available through the Board of International Scientific Organizations at the following site: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/biso/visas/PGA_048017. NUFO encourages our foreign colleagues working at user facilities to take advantage of this service. We would also like to make you aware of the following reports:
- APS Joins 30 Others in Calling for Handling Improvements which can be found at: http://www.aip.org/fyi/2009/078.html.
- The Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State were also sent a Statement and Recommendations on Visa Problems Harming America's Scientific, Economic, and Security Interests, which can be viewed at: http://www.aip.org/gov/Final%20Visa%20Delay%20Statement.pdf.
- A similar statement entitled Recommendations for Enhancing the U.S. Visa System to Advance America's Scientific and Economic Competitiveness and National Security Interests can be viewed at: http://www.aip.org/gov/commvisa518.pdf.
The afternoon focused on how NUFO fits into the national science agenda, the differences in the expectations of users and of user facilities, the role of user facilities in supporting academic research and workforce development, and the specific needs of U.S. users of international user facilities.
The Industrial Workshop (Day 2 of the NUFO meeting) started with a presentation from Mike Lubell (American Physical Society) entitled “A Fifteen-Year Science Policy Lessons: The Voices of Industry and Medicine Matter Most in Washington.” John Palafoutas (Task Force for the Future of American Innovation) followed by describing the primary mission of the Task Force, which is to advocate for science funding.
The remainder of the workshop focused on industrial stories from small and large businesses and outlined what works well at national laboratories and where improvements can be made. Representatives from GE, Eli Lilly, Dupont, Creatv MicroTech, Inc., SEMATECH, and AEgis Technologies, as well as members from national laboratories, provided their perspectives. The session ended with three breakout group discussions on the items listed below. Summaries from these sessions are being produced from these sessions.
- outreach to industry and best practices,
- industrial interactions (before site arrival: legal issues, site access, proposal acceptance, speed of scheduling, etc.). and
- industrial interactions (after site arrival: training, badging, use of resources, sample shipping, joint authorship, inducements for scientists to work with industry, etc.)
Twenty-two posters highlighting user facilities were displayed throughout the meeting. Similar posters will be displayed at the fall exhibit in Washington.
The meeting ended with a robust discussion n administrative issues, primarily those related to the foreign visits and assignments program and visas. Results from benchmarking studies were presented, and a consensus was reached on continuation of the benchmarking efforts.
NUFO Charter: The membership recommended some further modifications to the NUFO Charter. The Steering Committee will be sending a revised Charter to the membership in July for a vote.
Questions: Please send all inquires to info@nufo.org.