Browsing the 2009 December archive
NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer is featured in a new pamphlet from Elsevier: Library Connect.
The pamphlet deals with developing strong library budgets. Mr. Kramer’s article focuses on the bare essentials of advocacy for academic and research libraries. The full article and pamphlet are available online.
E-Books at the Capitol
By Jason | Filed under State Government
New York State budget books, those annual, thousand page, five book compendiums of the state budget data which gather dust are being eliminated in favor of E-books. With the budget already online, the Paterson Administration figures they can realize some savings, $75,000, and about 660 trees based on the paper they will save.
Senate and Assembly members though, as per state law, will continue to get bound, paper copies of the document as will the press.
According to the press release Governor Paterson announced that he will implement a new E-Budget initiative to help save taxpayer dollars and reduce environmental impacts, therefore he will eliminate the costly and redundant full printed version of his 2010-11 Executive Budget Books, while continuing to post those documents on the internet.
“With the State facing historic fiscal challenges, we cannot leave any stone unturned when it comes to reducing the cost of government,” Governor Paterson said. “In the internet age, printing millions of pages of budget books each year is inefficient and unnecessary. This E-Budget initiative will save taxpayers thousands of dollars and reduce environmental impacts, while still ensuring that Executive Budget information is transparent and accessible to the public.”
In 2009-10, the State printed 2,700 sets of Executive Budget documents. Each of these sets contained five separate books, which detailed the Governor’s proposed budget initiatives and other fiscal information. Stacked end-on-end, those documents would have been taller than the Empire State Building.
The Division of the Budget’s website (www.budget.state.ny.us ) will continue to include PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of each Executive Budget book in exactly the same format as it would have appeared in paper. An easily accessible, plain-language, hyper-link-format briefing document with an itemized listing of each proposed action that Governor Paterson puts forward in his Executive Budget will also continue to be posted online.
As required by State law, Governor Paterson will still provide each member of the Senate and Assembly with a printed copy of his proposed appropriation and Article VII legislation for the 2010-11 Executive Budget. Additionally, the Division of the Budget will continue to supply a limited-run printed briefing book to members of the press to help assist them in meeting immediate internet, wire, and television deadlines on the day the budget is released. This briefing book will also be provided to legislators on budget day.
The Division of the Budget conducted a survey of other state budget offices and found that 22 have either fully or partially eliminated their paper budget books in favor of internet publishing.
The funding includes:
- $603,633 in National Science Foundation grants for Mohammad Younis, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Younis works to understand the vibrations and mechanics of miniscule electro-mechanical systems. Applications for research include protecting the hard disk of a laptop computer to deploying a side-impact air bag.
- $550,584 in National Science Foundation grants for Eriks Rozners, associate professor of chemistry. Rozners studies ribonucleic acids, or RNA, and seeks a way to chemically modify RNA. The research could lead to new therapeutic measures such as antibiotics or anticancer drugs.
- $360,120 in National Institute of General Medical Sciences grants for Koji Lum, associate professor of anthropology and biological sciences. Lum studies how the malaria parasite evolved resistance to the once-effective medication chloroquine.
- $191,250 in National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grants for Michael Nizhnikov, a postdoctoral associate in the psychology department. He studies why infants exposed to alcohol have a higher incidence of alcohol abuse later in life.
- $126,226 in National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grants for Lisa Savage, professor of psychology. Savage is studying the brain’s cortex, including how it adapts to damage to other regions of the brain. Research could help with treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
- $156,922 in National Science Foundation grants for Adrian Vasiu, associate professor of mathematics. Vasiu is a numbers theorist who studies Shimura varieties, and will write several papers and two books to be used by graduate students.
- $233,427 in National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders grants for Patricia Di Lorenzo, professor of psychology. She studies how neurons communicate with each other in the brain. Her research could help with treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and could also help in the development of brain-machine interfaces like artificial limbs.
Governor’s Report Stresses Industry-Academic Partnerships
By Jason | Filed under ARIA State Government
Today, Governor David Paterson received the final report of the Task Force on Diversifying the New York State Economy through Industry-Higher Education Partnerships from task force chair and Cornell University President David J. Skorton.
The 93 page report set forth a series of recommendations and resources designed to boost the economic growth in the Empire State by enhancing collaborations between the academy and industry. Among its core findings the report emphasized that New York “needs to develop an innovation ecosystem that efficiently and effectively unites universities, industry and capital.”
The Task Force found, as NYSHEI argued, that “New York can and must do more to convert its tremendous research capacity into direct and sustainable economic impact.” NYSHEI engaged the task force by submitting a solicited white paper and by offering oral testimony at an October hearing.
Heading into the 2010 legislative and budgetary season, NYSHEI will use the Skorton report to continue pressing for greater state support of information resources, particularly as embodied by programs such as the Academic Research Information Access (ARIA).
Notable suggestions from the report include:
* “a fundamental cultural change that consolidates and sales existing efforts towards a statewide vision,”
* and endorsement of the Rawlings Commission report emphasis on faculty recruitment and retention, which was a factor leading the Rawlings Commission to endorse ARIA,
* the need for greater support for university-based incubators (something offered by the ARIA legislation,)
* “pursue and invest in long0term umbrella agreements with universities for access to a portfolio of intellectual property,”
* a focus on information intensive fields such as “health and life sciences, energy, and nanotechnology,”
* a strong recommendation to train a workforce for “general STEM-oriented service science” opportunities. Implementation of this goal will require an investment in bolstered STEM information resource collections at a broader range of colleges and universities than currently exists.
The Task Force also called attention to the “paramount importance” of collaborative practices and attitudes” at both public and private institutions of higher education.
NYSHEI is crafting a formal response to the Skorton report that will soon be delivered to the Governor and all members of the legislature that will underline the necessity of leveraging academic and research library resources to achieve the task force’s goals.
Skilled Workforce, University Partnerships High On Wish List
By Jason | Filed under ARIA State Government
According to the recently released Economic Developers Index by New Economy Strategies, economic developers rated access to a skilled workforce and university partnerships among the most important factors in site selection.
Additionally, the index reports that information intensive enterprises, such as those in energy, research and development, and biotechnology, were among the most dominate areas for prospective economic growth activity.
Why is this important? Because it underscores the need for NYSHEI’s ARIA plan for a statewide, high-tech, information infrastructure that leverages the strength of our massive higher education sector in support of job creation. The ARIA plan offers substantial growth and cost benefits to businesses and the academic and research communities – particularly the libraries.
Policy makers should take heed. The report also demonstrates that nearly 85 percent of economic developers rate federal and state policies for economic growth as fair to poor. Clearly there is a opportunity for New York State to sure ahead of the pack and dramatically change that perception.