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AFRL-NASA Mission Concept Program to Collaborate With 8 Universities
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AFRL-NASA Mission Concept Program to Collaborate With 8 Universities

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s University Nanosatellite Program will team up with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative to launch a new Mission Concept Program.

The organizations chose eight universities to participate in the program, which will provide hands-on space mission development and design training to students, AFRL said Friday.

UNP has partnered with more than 40 universities since it began in 1999. The collaboration between UNP and CubeSat Launch aims to overcome challenges in areas such as proposals, scheduling, and full satellite development.

The program’s trainees will be prepped for the 2024 UNP nanosatellite cycle.

Universities were selected based on their proposals’ relevance to NASA and the Department of Defense, as well as their impact on their school and in education in general. Half of the chosen schools are minority-serving institutions.

The participating organizations are:

  • Columbia University
  • Florida Institute of Technology
  • Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • New Mexico State University
  • Tarleton State University
  • University of New Mexico
  • University of South Florida
  • University of the Virgin Islands
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NIST Casts Net for Participants in Software Supply Chain & DevOps Security Practices Project
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NIST Casts Net for Participants in Software Supply Chain & DevOps Security Practices Project

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has asked organizations to submit letters of interest to participate in a project that seeks to create and document an applied risk-based approach and recommendations for software supply chain and secure DevOps practices.

The Software Supply Chain and DevOps Security Practices project is designed to help organizations maintain the volume and velocity of software delivery via a cloud-native strategy and leverage automated platforms, according to a Federal Register notice posted Monday.

The notice serves as the first step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to work with technology companies through a cooperative research and development agreement to address challenges related to DevOps and software supply chain security.

The project also aims to demonstrate the use of existing and emerging secure development practices, tools and frameworks to address cybersecurity challenges.

According to the notice, letters of interest should include commercially available capabilities and components, including developer endpoints, network/infrastructure devices, services and applications, build systems, distribution/delivery platforms and production systems that host apps.

“Collaborative activities will commence as soon as enough completed and signed letters of interest have been returned to address all the necessary components and capabilities, but no earlier than June 14, 2023,” the notice reads.

Treasury Department Spearheads Publication of Domestic Content Bonus Guidance for Clean Energy Projects; Janet Yellen Quoted
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Treasury Department Spearheads Publication of Domestic Content Bonus Guidance for Clean Energy Projects; Janet Yellen Quoted

The Department of the Treasury worked with the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies to create guidelines on the domestic content bonus, an incentive for clean energy projects and facilities that are built using iron, steel and other products manufactured in the United States.

The guidance is expected to advance the Biden administration’s Investing in America agenda and is in compliance with the Inflation Reduction Act, the Treasury Department announced Friday.

Developed with the Departments of Transportation and Energy, the guidance sets a required amount of domestically manufactured products, especially steel and iron, used to construct clean energy projects and sites in order for them to qualify for the bonus. It also specifies the minimum percentage of cost that should have been spent on mining, processing and manufacturing the products and their components in the U.S.

“The domestic content bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act will boost American manufacturing, including in iron and steel, so America’s workers and companies continue to benefit from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen commented. “These tax credits are key to driving investment and ensuring all Americans share in the growth of the clean energy economy.”

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Commerce Department Issues 1st Funding Opportunity Notice for Tech Hubs Program; Gina Raimondo Quoted
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Commerce Department Issues 1st Funding Opportunity Notice for Tech Hubs Program; Gina Raimondo Quoted

The Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration has introduced a first-of-its-kind funding opportunity for the establishment of technological innovation centers in previously overlooked regions.

The agency on Friday launched a notice of funding opportunity for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs competition, which is applicable to projects designated as a tech hub.

The Tech Hubs statute enumerates 10 key focus areas, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, data storage, robotics, semiconductors, disaster prevention, biotechnology, advanced communications, nuclear technologies and materials sciences.

Applicants will be chosen based on the potential of their focus area to be cultivated in their specified region, and for the hub to become globally competitive within 10 years.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that the Tech Hubs program will help “create ecosystems of innovation to strengthen economic opportunity” in communities that have been left behind in technological advancement. “We’re going to do that by supercharging our existing innovation foundations, bringing together our premier research institutions with world class companies to create good-paying jobs in these communities, and ensuring the technological advances that define the next century are made in communities across America,” she explained.

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Oracle’s Pat Mungovan Receives 2023 Wash100 Award from EM’s Jim Garrettson
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Oracle’s Pat Mungovan Receives 2023 Wash100 Award from EM’s Jim Garrettson

Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson recently presented Pat Mungovan, senior vice president of Oracle’s North American government and education arm, with his 2023 Wash100 Award.

In its 10th run, the annual Wash100 Award honors its legacy of spotlighting the most prominent figures in the government contracting industry with yet another outstanding class of executives. To illuminate the highest level of talent in the field, the award conducts an exhaustive selection process that assesses each contender’s impact as a leader.

For the second year in a row, Mungovan joined the ranks of Wash100 for extending Oracle’s reach further into the public sector market. Under Mungovan’s leadership, Oracle received several FedRAMP authorizations as well as multiple other federal approvals for various cloud offerings. The company also secured a spot on the Department of Defense’s historic $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract. Click here to read his full profile.

A Wash100 Award not only recognizes past accomplishments, but also looks toward the future.

Since Mungovan’s induction into Wash100, Oracle’s relationship with the federal government has continued to grow. Last month, the enterprise expanded its partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency under a $22.3 million contract that will finance the renewal of software licenses through March 2024.

Executive Mosaic is excited to see Oracle continue to thrive under Mungovan’s leadership.

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Lawmakers Urge Biden to Nominate Kemba Walden for National Cyber Director Post
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Lawmakers Urge Biden to Nominate Kemba Walden for National Cyber Director Post

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., co-chairs of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, have called on President Joe Biden to fill the national cyber director role by recommending Kemba Walden, who currently serves as acting NCD.

The two lawmakers expressed concern with the delay in nominating a replacement to former NCD Chris Inglis could impact the implementation of the National Cybersecurity Strategy, King’s office said Friday.

They also urged the president to quickly send Walden’s nomination to Congress through a letter dated Thursday.

“Ms. Walden’s prior experiences in government and industry give her unique insight into protecting critical infrastructure and fostering public-private collaboration, key pillars of the National Cybersecurity Strategy,” they wrote in the letter.

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Data Science Specialist Christine Palmer Joins US Naval Observatory as CTO
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Data Science Specialist Christine Palmer Joins US Naval Observatory as CTO

Christine Palmer, a former data scientist at Frontier Technology and Booz Allen Hamilton, has taken on a public sector role as the U.S. Naval Observatory’s chief technology officer.

She announced her return to civil service in a LinkedIn post published Thursday and noted that USNO is “the official source of time for the Department of Defense, military, and standard of time for the entire United States.”

Palmer served as data scientist within the Department of Defense from July 2016 to March 2018 before moving to Booz Allen, where she worked through July 2019.

Previously, she worked as electrical engineer at Penn State University’s Applied Research Laboratory and supported navigation research and development efforts for the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

Her technical background spans data science, engineering and cybersecurity.

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Raytheon Technologies to Deliver PhantomStrike AESA Radar to Korea Aerospace Industries’ FA-50 Aircraft; Annabel Flores Quoted
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Raytheon Technologies to Deliver PhantomStrike AESA Radar to Korea Aerospace Industries’ FA-50 Aircraft; Annabel Flores Quoted

Raytheon Technologies is set to equip Korea Aerospace Industries’ FA-50 Light Combat Aircraft with the former’s PhantomStrike radar.

The product received approval to be exported as a Direct Commercial Sales product to KAI with assistance from the U.S. government, Raytheon Technologies announced from its Arlington, Virginia headquarters on Monday.

“Outfitting the FA-50 with the PhantomStrike radar upgrades the capability of a critical aircraft, providing unparalleled performance in a compact, affordable package all while keeping these jets fast, agile and easy to maintain,” said Annabel Flores, president of global spectrum dominance at Raytheon Technologies.

PhantomStrike is a fully air-cooled fire-control radar built for long-range threat detection, tracking and targeting. The compact active electronically scanned array radar is smaller and lighter than its predecessors and requires less power to function. It is compatible with a variety of platforms, such as light-attack and rotary-wing aircraft, uncrewed aerial vehicles and ground based towers.

To match the capability of modern AESA radars, PhantomStrike integrates Raytheon’s gallium nitride-powered array and its compact high-reliability integrated receiver/exciter processor. This combination reportedly enables digital beam forming and steering, multimode functionality and interleaved ground and air targeting.

Flores noted the evolving nature of battlefield threats. PhantomStrike, she said, allows KAI to leverage high-performance fire control radar capabilities able to operate with both U.S. and international weapons systems so FA-50 customers can maintain air dominance.

The radars will be produced in Forest, Mississippi and Tucson, Arizona as well as in Scotland. Raytheon UK will assist with the project, and deliveries are expected to begin in 2025.

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White House Establishes PCAST Working Group on Generative AI
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White House Establishes PCAST Working Group on Generative AI

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has created a working group that will expand efforts by other federal agencies in ensuring the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence.

The PCAST Working Group on Generative AI will consult experts from all sectors as well as the public to identify challenges and opportunities in the safe and secure deployment of the technology, the White House announced Saturday.

The working group will build on various government initiatives, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework, and the Congress-enacted National Security Commission on AI and National Artificial Intelligence Initiative.

Its first activity will be a public meeting on May 19, which will involve expert panel discussions and a public session on AI as an enabler to science and an influential element in society.

The PCAST Working Group is a nine-member team co-led by Laura Greene, chief scientist of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and Terence Tao, James and Carol Collins chair in the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Democratic Faction Instructs Biden to Use 14th Amendment to Raise Borrowing Limit
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Democratic Faction Instructs Biden to Use 14th Amendment to Raise Borrowing Limit

Senate Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to increase the debt ceiling amid a standoff with Republicans in Congress, The Hill reported Sunday.

“I personally feel that we should test that and I think that the language is very explicit in that amendment,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met at the White House on Tuesday, May 9, but failed to reach an agreement on the debt limit.

The U.S. government could default on its debt as soon as June 1 if Congress fails to raise or suspend the borrowing limit.

Congressional Republicans have warned of court challenges if the president decides to use the amendment.

CNN reported that Biden and congressional leaders are set to meet Tuesday following “productive” meetings over the debt ceiling among staff.

People familiar with the matter said negotiators have identified some areas where the White House and congressional representatives could find common ground such as canceling unspent pandemic relief funds, reducing spending and making revisions to the permitting process.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said Sunday that there have been “constructive” talks between Biden and Congress.

The president “looks forward to getting together with the leaders to talk about how we continue to make progress,” Adeyemo told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday on the network’s “State of the Union” program.

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