The vision of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing. It is a vision of a network of institutes that bring U.S. industry, academia, and government together to solve cross-sector manufacturing challenges that each sector simply cannot solve alone. Each institute is the manufacturing technology development and workforce training leader for a specific technical area. The institutes focus on transforming promising early-stage research into proven manufacturing capabilities that are ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. The...

This report provides an overview of the origin, primary goals, and early progress of the NNMI Program in the first year since the passange of the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation (RAMI) Act of 2014. Working together, the NNMI partners have undertaken a historic effort to support industry in establishing the ecosystems or industrial commons that will better enable innovators to develop the specific manufacturing technologies, processes, and capabilities needed to advance promising early stage technological inventions that continually arise in America's unparalleled basic...

The FSTW's recommendations are organized under four strategic priorities: focused effective leadership, S&T mission and workforce alignment, use of workplace authorities and flexibilities, and collaboration between human resources professionals and S&T managers. The recommendations provide valuable opportunities for the Federal agencies to maintain a world-class Federal S&T workforce; achieving these priorities, however, requires commitment to developing a personnel system and work environments in which the best and brightest are offered meaningful S&T careers in government service.

Section 254 of BBEDCA requires OMB to issue a sequestration preview report with the President's Budget submission. This preview report, the first of the three required sequestration reports for 2016, provides the status of the discretionary limits for the current year and each year thereafter through 2021 as of the end of the second session of the 113th Congress based on current law. At this time, section 251A of BBEDCA requires an adjustment to the budget year (2016) caps in this report based on the calculations included in the OMB Report to the Congress on the Joint Committee Reductions for...

Two years have passed since the President signed a Presidential Memorandum in 2014 establishing the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Task Force (the Task Force), a coordinated Federal effort to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. In response to the President's call to action, nearly 250 communities in all 50 states have accepted the President's My Brother's Keeper Community Challenge; more than $600 million in private sector and philanthropic grants and in-kind resources and $1 billion in...

Published and needed studies for pattern-based forensic science methods What studies have been published in the past 5 years that support the foundational aspects of each of the pattern-based forensic science methods, including (but not limited to) latent print analysis; firearms/toolmarks; shoe/tire prints; bitemark analysis; questioned documents? What studies are needed to demonstrate the reliability and validity of these methods? Have studies been conducted to establish baseline frequencies of characteristics or features used in these pattern-based matching techniques? If not, how might...

This report takes an early look at this generation's adult lives so far, including how they are faring in the labor market and how they are organizing their personal lives. This generation is marked by transformations at nearly every important milestone: from changes in parenting practices and schooling choices, to the condition of the U.S. economy they entered, to their own choices about home and family. However, in many cases, Millennials are simply following the patterns of change that began generations ago. Millennials are also the generation that will shape our economy for decades to...

The report that follows presents the results of completed projects and describes ongoing efforts in eight key policy areas: promoting retirement security, advancing economic opportunity, improving college access and affordability, responding to climate change, supporting criminal justice reform, assisting job seekers, helping families get health coverage and stay healthy, and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal Government operations.

This report reviews the economics of electric grid operation and integration of renewables into the grid, highlighting the promising opportunities for emerging technologies and approaches that allow for smart markets and energy storage. The next section provides a discussion of the fundamental aspects of the operational and economic considerations inherent in the adoption of high levels of renewable electricity generation. Section 3 analyzes grid operation to demonstrate how renewables are currently being integrated into the grid and uncover some of the value streams that can support the...

A primary objective of this document is to outline the key Big Data R&D strategies necessary to keep the Nation competitive in data science and innovation and to prepare for the data-intensive challenges of tomorrow. As a strategic plan, this document provides guidance for Federal agencies and policymakers in determining how to direct limited resources into activities that have the greatest potential to generate the greatest impact. The Plan profiles R&D areas that span multiple disciplines, surfacing intersections of common interest that could stimulate collaboration among researchers and...