innovation

Lab Breakthrough: Asteroid Killer Simulation

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The Lab Breakthroughs series is a collection of digital features accompanied by a Q&A from a lead researcher showcasing how innovation at National Labs have shaped our world, and how they are defining the technology of the future. The series originally appeared at Energy.gov.

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Bob Weaver took some time recently to talk about how his research would help avert a catastrophic asteroid impact; saving the world from complete destruction and rescuing humans from mass extinction. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 29, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Message To Innovation Fellows: Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

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There has been a lot of activity from the Obama Administration this week in the name of innovation and best practices.

There was a double-post on the White House Blog by Federal CTO Todd Park and the Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel about two new initiatives that would seem to be related, but it is not clear how. The first was a prelude to White House’s Plans To Announce Presidential Innovation Fellows and the second was from VanRoekel touting the progress of the Digital Strategy Progress. The latter featured the use of the term “building blocks.” Keep reading →

 /  Published August 24, 2012 at 10:30 AM

Biological Constructs As Metaphors For Developing System Architectures

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Last week I read about a research team at Harvard led by George Church that encoded Church’s next book into the molecules of DNA. As the write-up in the Harvard Medical School web page, said:

“Although George Church’s next book doesn’t hit the shelves until Oct. 2, it has already passed an enviable benchmark: 70 billion copies-roughly triple the sum of the top 100 books of all time.” Keep reading →

 /  Published August 24, 2012 at 8:19 AM

How 20 Is The New 30 In Today’s Workforce

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What makes today’s young professionals different than previous generations?

For the past decade at least, Americans have been subject to variations of “40 is the new 30.” A mantra that is supposed to allow older people to do the things that had previously been relegated to younger people, either because their bodies were more capable, or society looked at those activities as within the province of youth. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 17, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Rah, Rah HRU: Online University Gains Stature With HR Professionals

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At a time when education costs are soaring and student debt is rising, there’s one institution of higher learning that’s tuition free for most students and is saving money – lots of it.

It’s the federal Chief Human Capital Officers‘ innovative cross-government HR University, which has saved more than $17.6 million in taxpayer dollars since it was launched last year, according to the Office of Personnel Management, the council’s partner in HRU. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 16, 2012 at 10:00 AM

Lab Breakthrough: Neutron Science for the Fusion Mission

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The Lab Breakthroughs series is a collection of digital features accompanied by a Q&A from a lead researcher showcasing how innovation at National Labs have shaped our world, and how they are defining the technology of the future. The series originally appeared at Energy.gov.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist Robert McGreevy explains the accelerator’s role in the complex, seven-country consortium to develop an experimental fusion reactor. Fusion power technology is tricky, though with Oak Ridge’s help the international team anticipates the first commercial fusion energy reactor to be online by 2050. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 15, 2012 at 7:00 AM

How Curiosity Landed Itself On Mars

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One of the many extraordinary aspects of NASA’s successful landing of the Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars Aug. 5 was ensuring the spacecraft had the information it would need to make its own decisions in the final moments of its descent without any help from mission controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. And at least some of the credit can be attributed to the advanced work of two earthbound high performance computing systems called Nebula and Galaxy.

“What’s most nerve-racking is that the first time Curiosity goes through the whole landing sequence is on Mars,” said Ben Cichy, JPL’s chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory, which includes the Curiosity rover and its scientific instruments. “By the time we heard about it, it was already over.” Keep reading →

 /  Published August 13, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Rethinking Mobile Infrastructure: The New Last Mile

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The proliferation of mobile devices and applications is creating unique communication network challenges for federal government institutions. With the surge of new smartphones and multimedia devices, CIOs and CTOs are dealing with growing demands by employees to deliver improved productivity and efficiency that mobile networks are continuing to provide.

The resulting task is monumental and multifaceted, including managing smartphones and other mobile devices, ensuring multi-carrier support, setting security parameters and prioritizing access control for all the mobile devices on their networks. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 8, 2012 at 9:01 AM

Lab Breakthrough: ADM Leads to Petroleum-Free Glycol Production Facility

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The Lab Breakthroughs series is a collection of digital features accompanied by a Q&A from a lead researcher showcasing how innovation at National Labs have shaped our world, and how they are defining the technology of the future. The series originally appeared at Energy.gov.

Pacific Northwest National Lab’s Alan Zacher, engineer within the Energy and Environment Directorate and 2011 Inventor of the Year, recently took some time to discuss how applied research in renewable propylene glycol is changing the way major companies do business. Zacher and his team developed a soy-based substitute for a petroleum-based product that’s found in everything from lipstick to plastics. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 8, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Where Vendor’s Fit In The Government’s Cloud Mandate

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Cloud computing isn’t just about technology – it is about transformation, leadership and change. When it comes to government IT, cloud is typically 80% of the discussion, but only 20% of the budget.

With the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) 18-month “Cloud First” deadline passing in June and the federal government hoping to accredit three cloud service providers under FedRAMP by the end of 2012, cloud computing is at the forefront of government IT. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 7, 2012 at 1:30 PM
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