Personal identity verification cards required for all federal employees and contractors will now be easier to use and more secure thanks to new draft standards just released by National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The changes incorporate the latest round of comments and revisions aimed at updating the original 2005 standard. “In 2011, we had our first draft,” said Hildegard Ferraiolo, a computer scientist with NIST. “We got about 1200 comments.” Keep reading →
Turns out, paying back student loans can result in more and better candidates for job openings within the federal workforce and better retention and satisfaction once they’re hired.
As the No. 1 federal department in helping employees pay back their student loans, the Department of Defense cities the program designed for doing so as a major factor in recruiting and retaining civilian personnel. Keep reading →
This is one among a collection of videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA’s mission. They are part of the agency’s efforts to create a collaborative and supportive community of women at the agency, inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage openness and accountability at NASA.
The potpourri of childhood and past experiences really does all add up to the present! Keep reading →
Trying to measure the real return on investment for allowing federal employees to telework has inevitably involved a bit more art than science. Intuitively and anecdotally, it seems obvious that giving federal workers more flexibility to work remotely makes smart economic sense; and it goes a long way toward improving employee productivity and satisfaction too.
Yet after years of trying to implement telework policies in the federal government, it’s clear from the Office of Personnel Management‘s first comprehensive report to Congress on Telework, released July 6, that assembling reliable figures about telework implementation is still not an easy task. Keep reading →
Nearly 169,000 federal employees are teleworking at least one day a week but there is a long way to go before the government’s entire workforce of 2.1 million can join the office of the 21st century, OPM said in a report to Congress.
The 2012 Status of Telework in the Federal Government report to Congress, released on July 6, is the first comprehensive look at the government’s telework world and the emerging changes in a culture that once required federal employees to physically be in the office at all times. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Science & Environment medal Barbara Linder, Senior Advisor, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
More than a decade ago, pediatricians across the country began seeing an alarming increase in children with type 2 diabetes, particularly among minorities and youngsters from low-income families. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medalfinalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Call to Service Medal, Shane Morris, Supervisor for the Diplomatic Courier Serviceat the Department of Statein Germany.
Shane Morris played a crucial behind-the-scenes role for the State Department during the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, ensuring that U.S. embassies were able to dispatch and receive critical classified documents and equipment to fully carry out their diplomatic missions. Keep reading →
This is one among a collection of videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA’s mission. They are part of the agency’s efforts to create a collaborative and supportive community of women at the agency, inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage openness and accountability at NASA.
Growing up as a girl in a small town in Colfax, Louisiana, I didn’t aspire to work for NASA because I thought, as a lot of people still do, that only engineers and scientists can work for such a highly technical organization. Keep reading →
The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) has announced winners of the 11th Annual NVTC Hot Ticket Awards, honoring the region’s best and brightest entrepreneurial technology companies.
More than 500 members of the Northern Virginia technology community celebrated the nominated companies this week at the home of NVTC President and CEO Bobbie Kilberg. Keep reading →
How large is the potential blast radius? Where will we evacuate people? Any schools, hospitals nearby? What roads should be closed? And on and on….
In the first chaotic moments after a reported bomb threat, first responders have myriad questions, assessments, and decisions to make amid rapidly changing circumstances.