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International Space Station Demos Naval Research Lab’s Power Beaming Concept
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International Space Station Demos Naval Research Lab’s Power Beaming Concept

International Space Station Demos Naval Research Lab's Power Beaming Concept

A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station conducted a power beaming test with a light-emitting rectifying antenna developed by the Naval Research Laboratory.

ISS crew member Jessica Meir demonstrated the potential of NRL’s LEctenna technology to transform electromagnetic waves into an electric current, NRL said Monday.

The technology primarily served as a STEM project that sought to encourage student innovation through the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.

NRL researchers are studying the space-based solar power beaming concept as a potential clean energy source in various military and civilian systems.

The method seeks to collect and bring energy from the sun down to Earth where it can be turned into usable energy through a LEctenna-like approach.

Meir noted that NRL is exploring approaches to remotely power drones or charge mobile devices wirelessly.

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House Bill Would Create STEM Workforce Dev’t Program for DoD, Defense Industry
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House Bill Would Create STEM Workforce Dev’t Program for DoD, Defense Industry

House Bill Would Create STEM Workforce Dev't Program for DoD, Defense Industry

Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., have introduced legislation meant to develop the workforce for science, technology, engineering, math and computing jobs at the Department of Defense and the industry that supports DoD.

The bill would a establish a STEM Corps under the defense secretary to provide financial aid for students pursuing STEM careers with a background in computer science, Banks’ office said Tuesday.

Under the bill, the proposed program will give participants an opportunity to work for the Pentagon in exchange for two-year tuition coverage. A participant can serve as an intern at the DoD through industry sponsorship and work for an industry partner during the fourth year of the program.

The legislation would mandate that participants comply with GPA requirements and obtain a security clearance.

“We need to attract and recruit young STEM and computer science-oriented staff to work on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and other critical projects to create a more technologically agile national security workforce,” Banks said.

The Reagan Institute’s Task Force on 21st Century National Security Technology and Workforce urged Congress last year to authorize the formation of STEM Corps.

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Battelle Donates $1M to Organizations to Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts; Lou Von Thaer, Tony Collins, Michelle Heritage Quoted
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Battelle Donates $1M to Organizations to Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts; Lou Von Thaer, Tony Collins, Michelle Heritage Quoted

Battelle Donates $1M to Organizations to Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts; Lou Von Thaer, Tony Collins, Michelle Heritage Quoted

Battelle has announced that the company will donate $1 million to three central Ohio organizations to provide increased emergency support because of the coronavirus pandemic, Battelle released on Wednesday.

“It is well known that, in normal times, most of Battelle’s philanthropic efforts center around STEM education initiatives,” explained Lou Von Thaer, president and CEO of Battelle and 2020 Wash100 Award. “Given the impact that the pandemic is having on the health and well-being of our community, we turned to three trusted partners to understand the challenges they and their clients are facing so that Battelle could offer targeted support.”

Battelle will donate $500,000 to the YMCA of Central Ohio. Since the beginning of this crisis, the YMCA has worked to expand emergency shelter access to over 200 people, stand up pandemic childcare sites and services for first responders and launched a virtual phone health and wellness program. The company will support emergency efforts and the staff to serve the needs of our community.

“Battelle is a pillar of the Columbus community as evidenced by their groundbreaking research and development in response to the COVID-19 crisis,” said President and CEO of YMCA of Central Ohio Tony Collins. “The YMCA of Central Ohio is grateful for Battelle’s commitment to our community, city and state. We are also incredibly grateful for Battelle’s generous philanthropic support of the YMCA so we can provide essential human services support to our community during this time of crisis.”

The company will also allocate $250,000 to the Community Shelter Board (CSB). Battelle’s gift for homeless prevention programming will provide a safety net for those who may miss rent or house payments. “You can’t stay home if you don’t have a home,” said Michelle Heritage, executive director of Community Shelter Board. “With incredible partners like Battelle by our side, we are fighting to save the lives of those most vulnerable in our community.”

The final $250,000 will be donated to LifeCare Alliance (Meals on Wheels). Serving five central Ohio counties and delivering meals 365 days a year, LifeCare Alliance is one of the largest Meals-on-Wheels providers in the country, and the only provider that offers a daily delivery.

Battelle’s support will provide 75,000 meals purchased, packaged and delivered to seniors in need during the pandemic. In addition to Battelle’s relief efforts released on Thursday, the company has donated $250,000 to food banks and food rescues in several communities where it has a significant presence in lieu of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the company announced in March 2020.

“As we rapidly research and develop tools and diagnostics to fight this virus, we’re going to financially support those among us who are at greatest risk. When the country has most needed us during our 90-year history, Battelle always has risen to the challenge, and this time will be no different,” said Von Thaer.

Battelle’s donations will be made in $50,000 allotments to five different agencies: the Mid-Ohio Food Bank in Central Ohio; the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington D.C.; the Community Food Bank of New Jersey’s Egg Harbor Township location; the Boulder Food Rescue in Colorado; and the Maryland Food Bank in Aberdeen.

The Mid-Ohio Food Bank serves Central Ohio, location of Battelle’s headquarters as well as research facilities in West Jefferson and Hilliard. “We are incredibly grateful to Battelle, an extraordinary organization that has been on the journey of connecting food to our hungry neighbors with Mid-Ohio Foodbank for decades,” said Matt Habash, President & CEO, Mid-Ohio Food Collective.

About Battelle

Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries.

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Jamie Brown Sets Sights on Industrial Control Systems as IT Sector Coordinating Council Chairman
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Jamie Brown Sets Sights on Industrial Control Systems as IT Sector Coordinating Council Chairman
Jamie Brown
Jamie Brown

Jamie Brown, senior director of global government affairs at cybersecurity company Tenable, has been named chairman of the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Brown said he wants IT SCC to pursue an alignment with the government and other sectors to achieve consistency in recommendations for protecting industrial control systems.

The council plans to advance work on botnet mitigation and cloud security as well as within the information and communication technology supply chain risk management task force of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to the report.

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GSA Issues Memo on Accelerated Payments to Small Business Contractors, Subcontractors
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GSA Issues Memo on Accelerated Payments to Small Business Contractors, Subcontractors

GSA Issues Memo on Accelerated Payments to Small Business Contractors, Subcontractors

The General Services Administration has cleared a class deviation from the Federal Acquisition Regulation to allow accelerated payments to small business contractors and subcontractors and comply with a provision of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

The class deviation sets a 15-day goal following receipt of invoice for accelerated payments to prime contractors that are small businesses and those that contract with small businesses, according to a memo issued Friday.

The policy also blocks prime contractors from charging a fee to subcontractors when releasing accelerated payments.

The deviation does not apply to multiagency contracts or Federal Supply Schedule contracts and remains in effect until integrated into FAR or revoked, according to the memo signed by Jeffrey Koses, senior procurement executive at GSA’s office of acquisition policy.

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GSA Seeks AI-Based SaaS Tool to Back Regulatory Streamlining Efforts
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GSA Seeks AI-Based SaaS Tool to Back Regulatory Streamlining Efforts

GSA Seeks AI-Based SaaS Tool to Back Regulatory Streamlining Efforts

The General Services Administration has issued a solicitation for a commercial artificial intelligence platform that can support regulatory streamlining efforts.

GSA is using the commercial solutions opening method for the procurement action in compliance with the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and has partnered with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to look for a software-as-a-service platform.

GSA and CMS, which was named as the sponsoring customer in the solicitation, seek a SaaS tool that could be used to modernize workflows to comply with several executive orders that advance regulatory streamlining. The platform should have AI features, including natural language processing, prediction and clustering and grouping, as well as regulatory workflow component and document management capabilities.

Any contract award that will come out of the solicitation will not exceed $10M.

GSA will accept solution briefs through April 20.

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DHS Uses Machine Learning in COVID-19 Biosurveillance
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DHS Uses Machine Learning in COVID-19 Biosurveillance

DHS Uses Machine Learning in COVID-19 Biosurveillance

The Department of Homeland Security is using emerging technologies in efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Nextgov reported Monday.

DHS’ National Biosurveillance Integration Center has applied data analysis technologies to biosurveillance operations amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Aaron Firoved, NBIC director, wrote to Nextgov on the center’s COVID-19-related technology implementations such as the Biofeeds open-source tool that facilitates data analysis via machine learning and automation.

Biofeeds has helped biosurveillance personnel identify useable data from a global pool of sources, the director noted.

“This tool enables NBIC analysts to readily search for information on new and ongoing global biological events and, as they continue to use Biofeeds, that information is fed back into the system’s machine learning processes to improve the automatic detection of biothreats,” he said.

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Anniston Army Depot to Facilitate Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle De-Processing
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Anniston Army Depot to Facilitate Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle De-Processing

Anniston Army Depot to Facilitate Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle De-Processing

Anniston Army Depot will de-process or complete necessary work on the BAE Systems-made Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle as the service branch prepares the new transport machines for initial deployment.

The new AMPV will replace existing M113 units in the Army’s fleet of land vehicles, the service branch said Tuesday.

“Combat vehicles are sent from the production facility to a dedicated location to complete any required updates and stage vehicles for final shipment to a unit,” said Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, program executive officer for ground combat systems at the U.S. Army.

The Army achieved the AMPV program’s engineering development phase at the end of 2019 and has moved to low rate initial production.

BAE Systems received a $382.6M contract in 2015 to produce the AMPV units.

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Election Assistance Commission Seeks Input on Revised Voting System Certification Guidelines
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Election Assistance Commission Seeks Input on Revised Voting System Certification Guidelines

Election Assistance Commission Seeks Input on Revised Voting System Certification Guidelines

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is seeking feedback on an updated set of guidelines for evaluating voting systems’ capacity to meet government standards, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Ben Hovland, chairman of the EAC, said in an interview with the publication that the commission recently issued the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 to cover new technologies and best practices for security, accessibility and usability.

Hovland noted that the EAC worked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology-led Technical Guidelines Development Committee to establish the new requirements and will accept input through June 22.

Speaking on the agency’s other efforts, Hovland noted that the EAC is working with the U.S. Postal Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to assess the feasibility of alternative voting procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hovland said the team is looking at implementing online and mail-based voting and registration processes as the crisis continues.

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NASA Prepares Mars Helicopter for Mission
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NASA Prepares Mars Helicopter for Mission

NASA Prepares Mars Helicopter for Mission

NASA has docked the Mars helicopter to the Perseverance rover in preparation for the upcoming mission scheduled 10 months from now.

The space agency performed the installation at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility within Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s James Cawley wrote in a blog posted Friday.

The helicopter runs on solar energy and has two rotors to demonstrate flight on the red planet over a 30-day period. Flights will last for up to 30 seconds each without active control from an external operator.

NASA expects the Perseverance rover to arrive on Mars in February 2021, with a launch scheduled for either July or August 2020.

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