Thursday, February 28, 2013

TEDMed in D.C. - April 16-19

Posted yesterday on the NoVA STEM Education Network Blog.





Dates:

Location:

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

Find out more:

Apply to Attend TEDMED 2013


About TEDMED 2013

TEDMED is a multi-disciplinary community of innovators and leaders who share a common determination to create a better future in health and medicine. So many of our great challenges in health and medicine are rooted in social and commercial causes as much as medical. We need everybody at the table for an inclusive conversation about how to get the future in health and medicine we all want.

Once a year at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, TEDMED curates an unusual and provocative program on the Opera House stage. The 3 ½ day program features brilliant short talks and stunning artistic performances that celebrate the power of unexpected connections to create important new possibilities.

The stage program allows us to recharge our brains, jumpstart new thinking, energize our work and worldview and alter how we imagine new possibilities forever.

1,800 leading thinkers and doers from across society form the delegation at our annual gathering. TEDMED is a place where the person sitting next to you is as important as the speaker on stage.

TEDMED believes that the future of health and medicine will be shaped by vital input from leading medical colleges, teaching hospitals, government agencies, and non-profit institutions around the world. And so, in a spirit of collaboration and information sharing, the entire TEDMED event is broadcast free to these institutions thanks to the generous support from our Partners. We call this TEDMED Live.
Further to the mission of inspiring cross-disciplinary collaboration and breakthroughs, TEDMED has added two new opportunities for innovators and thought leaders from varied fields to showcase transformative ideas, and to discuss new ways of thinking about the challenges we face in health and medicine: The Hive and Great Challenges Day.  

Delegates are as eager to connect with each other during informal social events, as they are to connect with themselves during the stage program. They come to meet people they would never otherwise meet, discover ideas they would never otherwise be exposed to and build relationships that often last a lifetime.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

VT-Arlington's Project Management Certificate




Project Management Certificate Program
Continuing and Professional Education at Virginia Tech is offering new certificate opportunities in project management. You can attend classes at the Virginia Tech Research Center–Arlington or participate online for the basic or advanced certificate, or choose from the individual course options. 
  • Gain hands-on experience with the latest project management tools, techniques and methodologies
  • Earn educational credentials sought by employers
  • Network with other project professionals
  • Increase on-the-job effectiveness
  • Prepare for or maintain PMI® certification

    UPCOMING COURSES:
    Monday, April 22 - Thursday, April 25      Skills for Success                            
    Monday, April 29 - Thursday, May 2         Developing User Requirements

    PMP PREP COURSES:
    April 13, 2013 - June 8, 2013 – Falls Church, VA – 8 weeks long on Saturdays only
    June 17, 2013- June 21, 2013 – Arlington, VA- 5 day Prep course, M-F
Add your future to your checklist today! For more information, visit www.cpe.vt.edu/pmcentral.

Volunteer Arlington's volunteer managers quarterly roundtable and networking - Feb 28

Click to return to the Arlington County homepage
Volunteer Arlington
Late notice but still time to register and attend Volunteer Arlington's volunteer managers quarterly roundtable and networking opportunity tomorrow Thursday Feb 28 1-2.30 pm at Shirlington. More details:

http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/HumanServices/volunteer/HumanServicesVolunteerAgencies.aspx

March 25 Careers and disABLED Career Expo

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The 2013 CAREERS & the disABLED Career Expo at the Ronald Reagan building on March 25, 2013 from 10 to 3.  It is a free job fair.

Students and alumni looking for new career opportunities can attend this event.  The corporate sponsors of this event are Boeing and Wells Fargo. and Association Sponsors include AHEAD, COSD, and the Mayor’s Office For People With Disabilities. This Career Expo is Hosted by Equal Opportunity Publications, Inc., Publishers of Minority Engineer Magazine, Woman Engineer Magazine, and Equal Opportunity Magazine.  
 
There will be over 100 recruiters from major corporations and government agencies at this career expo looking to hire new talent.





Registration, Exhibitor List and Resume Guide:  
http://www.eop.com/expo





Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Community college grads out-earn bachelor's degree holders


@CNNMoney 

February 26, 2013: 6:23 AM ET

    Nearly 30% of Americans with associate's degrees now make more than those with bachelor's degrees, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce
    NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

     Berevan Omer graduated on a Friday in February with an associate's degree from Nashville State Community College and started work the following Monday as a computer-networking engineer at a local television station, making about $50,000 a year.

    That's 15% higher than the average starting salary for graduates -- not only from community colleges, but for bachelor's degree holders from four-year universities.
    "I have a buddy who got a four-year bachelor's degree in accounting who's making $10 an hour," Omer says. "I'm making two and a-half times more than he is."
    Omer, who is 24, is one of many newly minted graduates of community colleges defying history and stereotypes by proving that a bachelor's degree is not, as widely believed, the only ticket to a middle-class income.
    Nearly 30% of Americans with associate's degrees now make more than those with bachelor's degrees, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. In fact, other recent research in several states shows that, on average, community college graduates right out of school make more than graduates of four-year universities.
    The average wage for graduates of community colleges in Tennessee, for instance, is $38,948 -- more than $1,300 higher than the average salaries for graduates of the state's four-year institutions.
    In Virginia, recent graduates of occupational and technical degree programs at its community colleges make an average of $40,000. That's almost $2,500 more than recent bachelor's degree recipients.
    "There is that perception that the bachelor's degree is the default, and, quite frankly, before we started this work showing the value of a technical associate's degree, I would have said that, too," says Mark Schneider, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, which helped collect the earning numbers for some states.
    And while by mid-career, many bachelor's degree recipients have caught up in earnings to community college grads, "the other factor that has to be taken into account is that getting a four-year degree can be much more expensive than getting a two-year degree," Schneider says.
    A two-year community college degree, at present full rates, costs about $6,262, according to the College Board. A bachelor's degree from a four-year, private residential university goes for $158,072.
    The increase in wages for community college grads is being driven by a high demand for people with so-called "middle-skills" that often require no more than an associate's degree, such as lab technicians, teachers in early childhood programs, computer engineers, draftsmen, radiation therapists, paralegals, and machinists.
    With a two-year community college degree, air traffic controllers can make $113,547, radiation therapists $76,627, dental hygienists $70,408, nuclear medicine technologists $69,638, nuclear technicians $68,037, registered nurses $65,853, and fashion designers $63,170, CareerBuilder.com reported in January.
    "You come out with skills that people want immediately and not just theory," Omer says.
    The Georgetown center estimates that 29 million jobs paying middle class wages today require only an associate's, and not a bachelor's, degree.
    "I would not suggest anyone look down their nose at the associate's degree," says Jeff Strohl, director of research at the Georgetown center.
    "People see those programs as tracking into something that's dead end," Strohl says. "It's very clear that that perception does not hold up."
    The bad news is that not enough associate's degree holders are being produced.
    Only 10% of American workers have the sub-baccalaureate degrees needed for middle-skills jobs, compared with 24% of Canadians and 19% of Japanese, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports.
    Over the last 20 years, the number of graduates with associate's degrees in the United States has increased by barely 3%. And while the Obama administration has pushed community colleges to increase their numbers, enrollment at these schools fell 3.1% this year, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports. Graduation rates also remain abysmally low.
    Meanwhile, many people with bachelor's degrees are working in fields other than the ones in which they majored, according to a new report by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
    "We have a lot of bartenders and taxi drivers with bachelor's degrees," says Christopher Denhart, one of the report's coauthors.
    Still, the salary advantage for associate's degree holders narrows over time, as bachelor's degree recipients eventually catch up, says Schneider.
    Although these figures vary widely by profession, associate's degree recipients, on average, end up making about $500,000 more over their careers than people with only high school diplomas, but $500,000 less than people with bachelor's degrees, the Georgetown center calculates.
    As for Omer, he's already working toward a bachelor's degree.
    "Down the road a little further, I may want to become a director or a manager," he says. "A bachelor's degree will get me to that point."
    This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University. It's one of a series of reports about workforce development and higher education. To top of page


    Saturday, February 16, 2013

    More Opportunities for Entrepreneurs


    Office of EntrepreneurshipOffice of Entrepreneurship

    The George Washington Office of Entrepreneurship invites you to their 2013 Start-Up Career Expo Fair on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 from 1:00pm-4:00pm at the Marvin Center on the Foggy Bottom GW Campus.  


    Friday, February 15, 2013

    Social Enterprise Symposium - March 1.



    The University of Maryland will be hosting their 5th Annual Social Enterprise Symposium on Friday, March 1st, 2013 from 10am -7pm at The Stamp (Adele H. Stamp Student Union) on UMD's campus. 

    The purpose of the Symposium is to explore the role of business in creating economic prosperity and lasting social and environmental change. From sustainability to social entrepreneurship, the event will help connect students with thought leaders who are using the tools of business to change the world.

    Thursday, February 14, 2013

    More opportunities for foreign-born STEM graduates

    Senators to introduce new startup-visas bill 
    By: Michelle Quinn
    February 13, 2013 04:19 AM EST
    Foreign-born entrepreneurs and foreign university graduates with advanced degrees in highly sought technical subjects now have a bill of their own — again.

    On Wednesday, Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are introducing Startup Act 3.0, a renamed version of a bill they introduced last year. It would create new visas for up to 75,000 foreign-born entrepreneurs and 50,000 foreign graduates of U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.
    “The economy continues to struggle,” Moran told POLITICO. “We should be doing everything we can to support economic growth and job creation.”

    The bill comes at a time when Congress is beginning the difficult work of wrestling with the various aspects of immigration that include finding a path of legalization for the 11 million undocumented people in the United States, examining border security and meeting business needs for skilled workers.

    The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the topic last week, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is hosting its own hearing Wednesday. Among those testifying will be Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and chairman and chief executive of Revolution, a venture firm based in Washington.

    Last month, the business community applauded the introduction of the Immigration Innovation Act, or I-Squared, which would greatly expand the number of temporary work visas available, known as H-1Bs, and also make more work-based green cards available by exempting some categories. The legislation is sponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla), Coons and others. Warner is also a bill co-sponsor.

    But the bill doesn’t include something startups and venture capitalists had hoped for — a special visa for those who want to stay in the U.S. and start businesses or who have an advanced STEM degree and want to work for a company.

    The Startup Act addresses those needs. The visa for the 75,000 immigrant entrepreneurs who hold either an H-1B visa or a F-1 student visa would provide the economy a one-time talent injection. To qualify, a person has to show an investment of at least $100,000 and have a business that employs two full-time, non-family members.

    The second visa is for up to 50,000 foreign students who graduated from U.S. universities with a master’s degree or higher in STEM fields. The recipients would hold the visa on a conditional status for five years and can become a permanent legal resident. The bill also eliminates the per-country cap on employment-based visas.

    “I’m encouraged to see continued enthusiasm and momentum in Washington to support entrepreneurs,” said Case, who was on the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which included some of the proposals of the bill in its recommendations.
    The bill “will make it easier for the best and the brightest from across the globe to start businesses, innovate and create jobs right here in the United States,” Case said.
    Moran added: “We’re going to do everything we can to champion the case that the American dream remains alive and well.”
    Last year, the bill garnered six co-sponsors. Rubio was a co-sponsor last year and hasn’t decided whether to join the bill. A House version of the bill last year also garnered six co-sponsors.

    Moran doesn’t necessarily see the Startup Act fitting in with a comprehensive immigration reform package. In fact, he said the longer the United States waits to act in terms of keeping and attracting entrepreneurs, the more other countries are doing to figure out how to lure talent to their nations.

    “We don’t have time to let others get the competitive advantage on us,” he said.
    But Warner says the Startup Act would complement the reforms in the I-Squared Act.
    Unlike an H-1B visa, the visa in the Startup Act would be issued to the individual not an employer, which would give the individual more latitude, Warner said.

    “The challenge is that people here on H1-Bs are almost like indentured servants,” he said. This bill would give them a chance to “build their own version of the American dream if they meet investor requirements and employee hiring requirements.”

    Learn about Federal Government Employment

    Logo

    GovLoop is hosting a FREE Virtual Career Fair on February 28th for students of ALL backgrounds.  Participants will be able to interact with agency representatives and learn more about participating organizations, cut through the cluster of resumes by submitting yours directly to agencies who are actively seeking to fill vacancies, and hear best practice strategies and lessons learned from experts that have succeeded in government.

     Click here for more information and to register for the event!

    Thursday, February 28th, 2013, 11:00am - 3:30pm

    Wednesday, February 13, 2013

    Women in Technology Job Fair - Feb. 25


    Come speak with hiring managers and recruiters seeking qualified candidates at Women in Technology (WIT)'s Annual Job Fair!   
    Click below to check out the 50+ participating companies and available job openings and register online for FREE.
      
    Men and women are both encouraged to attend!
     


    Tuesday, February 12, 2013

    Opportunity for Prospective Medical Professionals

    VCU Division for Health Sciences Diversity

    VCU's Health Sciences and Health Careers Pipeline is excited to announce a comprehensive six week, interdisciplinary summer program: The Summer Academic Enrichment Program (SAEP) is available for upper-level undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and recently graduated students interested in attending a health professions school at VCU!

    Application submissions are open NOW through February 15th, 2013. 

    Saturday, February 9, 2013

    Fairfax County makes push for biotechnology space

    Reposted from the Washington Examiner.

    Fairfax County makes push for biotechnology space

    February 7, 2013 | 8:00 pm

    Taylor Holland
    Staff writerThe Washington Examiner


    Fairfax County officials are hoping to lure scientists to the west side of the Potomac with state-of-the-art labs and a new focus on biotechnology.

    With the looming threat of sequestration -- $1 trillion in spending cuts and the cascading effect that shrinking federal budgets would have on government employees and contractors -- the county is looking to invest in a sector less reliant on government spending and says biotech is its answer.
    So officials are beginning to establish plans to build more wet labs, areas where chemicals and other materials are tested in fluids, to attract private companies and scientists to the county.

    "We have the information technology component," said Supervisor Pat Herrity, R-Springfield. "What we need is a little more of the biotech component. But you can't get that without wet lab space."
    But their push to build labs may not be good news for Montgomery County, where officials' focus on biotech has consistently attracted some of the nation's top science industries to Maryland.
    The main campus of the National Institutes of Health calls Montgomery County home, as does the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration. The county also has plans in place for construction of the Great Seneca Science Corridor, a massive center dedicated to various science industries, and hopes to continue to attract biotech businesses to Maryland.

    "We see [biotech] as the future of Montgomery County," said Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, D-at large. "Not only that, but it's an area Montgomery County is totally committed to."

    Gerald Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, said he expects only a little competition between the neighboring counties as Northern Virginia begins to shift its focus to studying microorganisms.

    "Maryland probably needs a little IT support, and Virginia needs a bit more wet lab space," he said.
    Fairfax has "a real interest" in creating labs and expects their development to create high-paying jobs in the county, Gordon said. The shift also will fill open office space and diversify the county's economy by lessening its reliance on federal contractors.

    Herrity said the county "needs to take advantage" of the opportunity to create more lab space while the opportunity exists.

    "Biotech and high tech are converging," Herrity said, "but we need lab space to take advantage of that convergence."

    Wednesday, February 6, 2013

    DC Region for Startups

    from MEDCITY

    Actually, Washington, D.C. does have a vibrant startup scene

    February 2, 2013 10:10 am by  | 0 Comments
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    A few days ago I was minding my own business, enjoying my morning Chocolate Cheerios, when I came across a guest blog post in Venture Beat asking “Is there Hope for D.C,’s Startup Scene?”  Yeesh.  Not a great way to start a day.
    Not one to let a good breakfast be ruined without fighting back, I wrote my own blog poststanding up for D.C.’s tech scene, and subsequently had some really great interactions with VentureBeat and others in the D.C. tech community about it. I will give VentureBeat full credit for taking my and others’ reactions to heart and recalibrating their headline. The retitled post now asks, “Does DC know startups?” Reading the retitled post, it raises two important questions for D.C. tech: Can you find tech leadership in Washington? And what is the proper role of government in fostering technology?
    There is no doubt that when I wrote my original blog, it was to stand up for the place where Amplifier Ventures and I make our home, and where every day I see entrepreneurs and government working hard to make things happen.  D.C. has a tech scene.  It is vibrant and frankly much more diverse and established than tech scenes in many other parts of the nation.  And, the government has a role — a large role in fact — in the tech world both locally and nationally. As someone who has been part of the D.C. tech community since the 1990s as an investor, and has worked in policy areas with both federal and local government officials, I have a firsthand view of the broad aspects of D.C. tech. I also have spent a great deal of time in Silicon Valley over the years, and think it is a terrific place. It has a vibrancy that is essential to our national economy, and is an extremely valuable resource for our future. I believe that D.C. tech has a similarly important role, and understanding its importance will allow all of us to benefit from its contributions and potential.

    D.C. startups: Diversity and dynamism

    Entrepreneurs follow opportunity (or as we VCs like to say, “entrepreneurs follow the money”).  The D.C. tech scene has a very distinct composition when compared to other regions.  Like Boston, New York, and the Valley, D.C. has a vibrant software startup scene.  We have accelerators, incubators, nationally recognized VC firms, and local government agencies that are committed to fostering further development of this scene.  Perhaps our light software development ecosystem is not as deep as some other regions, but if you aggregate all of the D.C. region’s entrepreneurial activity it is comparable to, and in some ways more dynamic than, Silicon Valley’s. What is not appreciated by many outside our region is that a substantial portion of local tech entrepreneurship is engaged in creating complex software and other technologies and providing it to serve national security and the government.  And, this portion of our tech community has been extremely successful and productive for the last 25 years.

    This kind of technology entrepreneurship might not be as blog-worthy as the newest way to share photos of cats, but it has created wealth and entrepreneurial rewards for many people in our region.  Moreover, there is a large technology work force here: There are as many software engineers in the D.C. region as in as the Valley, for example.
    Technology M&A is also comparable. Last year I published a report about our region’s M&A activity. I looked at every M&A deal in the D.C. region and the Valley from 2005 to 2011.  M&A in Silicon Valley is concentrated in what it does best: consumer Internet and semiconductors.  Tech M&A in the D.C. region is more diverse.  Overall activity by number of deals was very comparable.  Entrepreneurship in the D.C. region is very symbiotic with the federal government.  That has been its biggest strength, and creates its biggest opportunity.  When you combine that with a healthy light software innovation ecosystem the picture is more nuanced and much more exciting.
    If entrepreneurship is measured against its overall success rate, rather than its success against a particular type of innovative activity, the D.C. region has as many, if not more, opportunities for entrepreneurs to come up with a business idea and work it through to a rewarding exit than anywhere in the U.S.  It may not be sexy enough to be part of the tech blog echo chamber, but it’s a fact supported by data and my anecdotal experiences every day working with serial entrepreneurs in the D.C. region through FounderCorps and Amplifier Ventures.

    The importance of the federal government

    The second question I want to address in this post is the role of the federal government in technology entrepreneurship. Specifically, many in the Valley (and elsewhere) seem to share  a concept that “government doesn’t matter for entrepreneurship — it should just get out of the way.”
    I have a problem with that as a broad statement. One of the unappreciated facts about our economy is that there is an almost direct correlation between government spending on R&D (and government regulatory choices) and every successful industrial cycle that that the U.S. has benefitted from, since building the nation’s railroads.  The relationship between basic science, application, national security and subsequent commercialization denotes a highly symbiotic connection between government and investors.
    For example, the venture industry and entrepreneurs have benefitted mightily from the Internet, but the basic research to create it happened through U.S. government spending and policy choices.  The venture capital industry does not create industries, it finances incremental innovations in industrial waves.  That’s not a criticism, it’s a fact: Creating industries takes time and many blind alleys.  The VC industry needs rapid growth and returns.  It needs industrial waves to succeed for it to generate returns.
    I would argue that the current challenge in the venture industry (which is related to its inability to generate extraordinary returns) is a direct reflection of the maturing of the most recent industrial wave and its monopolization and concentration.  This is why you currently find two types of venture funds succeeding: funds that can make big bets and withstand monopolistic market power from the Five Horsemen of Technology, and funds (and angels) that grow quick acqui-hires for these same monopolies.  But, they are not funding new industrial waves.
    The big question to be answered is: Where do the next industrial waves come from?  Casting one’s eyes towards life extension, material science, artificial intelligence, man/machine interface, alternative energy, conservation, robotics and space, as just some examples, you see a large role being played by government R&D spending and policy in shaping these nascent industrial waves.  To say that government should just stay out of these things is to completely miss the point. In a world of hedge fund-driven financial investing and public company constraints, just about the only source of long-term R&D capital for emerging technology in our economy is the federal government.
    There is certainly a large ideological battle being played out in our society about the role and expense of government.  It is playing out in the grinding fight over tax rates and government spending.  Heck, when golfers complain about their tax rates (thanks, Phil Mickelson, for crying about your 62 percent tax rate and demonstrating that you have the worst accountant on the PGA tour) we clearly have reached a point of saturation.  But, balancing a budget without recognizing the importance to our economy of government funded tech R&D and consumption is just silly.  It is like burning your furniture to stay warm.  At some point you are going to need someplace to sit.
    Over the last 18 months I have worked with extremely committed people in DOD, DARPA and elsewhere in our federal government to figure out how to get the next generation of technologies matched with entrepreneurs and into the commercial world. This is a big effort and one that is of crucial importance to national and economic security. I expect that many of these technologies will get developed and industries will get established in Boston, New York, Silicon Valley, and the D.C. region, as our entrepreneurial communities innovate. But, make no mistake, the role of D.C., both in its entrepreneurs and in the government, will be an important part of our next industrial waves.
    My message therefore is pretty simple.  Either on the level of the entrepreneur, or on the level of being a source of industrial waves, the DC region is highly relevant and important to our national economy.  To my friends in the Valley I say hello, and invite them to come spend some time with me here in DC.  It might open your eyes — and, as is often the case for entrepreneurs — some of you might move here.  After all, entrepreneurs follow the money.

    Jonathan Aberman is the Founder of Amplifier Ventures, an investor in government related technology driven companies. He is also Chair of FounderCorps, a regional not-for-profit focused on mentorship and entrepreneurial development in the Washington, DC region, and an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland. He is the co-host of the nationally broadcast politics and business program Leftjab Radio on SiriumXM. Follow him at @jaberman.


    Read more: http://medcitynews.com/2013/02/actually-washington-d-c-does-have-a-vibrant-startup-scene/#ixzz2K8F07MuN

    Tuesday, February 5, 2013

    White House Looking for Coding Innovators


    From the White House Blog:

    Throw Your Hat in the Ring for Round 2 of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program


    Todd Park and Steven VanRoekel,  February 05, 2013   09:00 AM EST
    We are happy to announce that applications are now being accepted for Round 2 of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program!  You can apply here.
    Launched last year, the Presidential Innovation Fellows program recruits top innovators and entrepreneurs from the private sector for 6-12 month “tours of duty” in government to help develop innovative solutions in areas of national significance. Our 18 inaugural Fellows arrived last August, teamed up with top government innovators, and have been doing extraordinary work on five projects:
    • Open Data Initiatives have unleashed data from the vaults of the government as fuel for entrepreneurs and innovators to create new apps, products, and services that benefit the American people in myriad ways and contribute to job growth.
    • RFP-EZ has created a new online marketplace and built tools that make it easier for innovative small tech businesses to bid on government contracts, while also making it easier for government contracting officers to identify the bids that offer the best value for taxpayers.
    • Blue Button for America has moved personal health records ahead significantly by giving millions of veterans and other Americans massively improved, secure access to their own health information. 
    • Better Than Cash is working with an array of foreign and non-governmental partners to transition “the last mile” of international development assistance payments from cash to electronic mobile money, resulting in increased funding transparency and more impact for American taxpayer dollars.
    • MyUSA (formerly MyGov) has reimagined how citizens can interact with government, developing a prototype of an online system that allows people to more easily find and access the information and services that are right for them from across government.   
    Throughout the Federal Government, in every agency where Fellows have been working, we’ve been thrilled to see the exciting advances they’ve been achieving in concert with their government teammates. So we are excited to announce that the program is extending and expanding—and that we are ready to welcome applications for our next round of Presidential Innovation Fellows. 
    In addition to seeking applicants to work on the next phases of the Open Data Initiatives, MyData Initiatives (including Blue Button for America), RFP-EZ, and MyUSA projects, we are also inviting applications from those who would like to help launch the following new projects:
    • Disaster Response and Recovery will collaboratively build and “pre-position” critical tech tools ahead of future emergencies or natural disasters in order to mitigate economic damage and save lives.
    • Cyber-Physical Systems will work with government and industry to create standards for a new generation of inter operable, dynamic, and efficient “smart systems”—an “industrial Internet”—that combines distributed sensing, control, and data analytics to help grow the economy and new high-value American jobs.
    • 21st Century Financial Systems will work to move the financial accounting systems of Federal agencies out of the era of large-scale, agency-specific implementations to one that favors more nimble, modular, scalable, and cost-effective approaches.
    • Innovation Toolkit will develop a suite of tools that empowers our Federal workforce to respond to national priorities more quickly and more efficiently.
    • Development Innovation Ventures will help enable the US government to identify, test, and scale breakthrough solutions to the world’s toughest problems.
    We are looking for incredibly talented, entrepreneurial people from a diverse array of backgrounds and with a wide range of experiences. Many of the Fellowship roles require coding and other tech skills, but not all do. We are also looking for gifted and accomplished change agents with skills in user experience design, product management, project management, business development, operations reengineering, and more.  In a nutshell, we are looking for people who can help make big things happen rapidly to advance the public good.        
    So please throw your hat in the ring and apply to be a Round 2 Presidential Innovation Fellow! This is an opportunity to take a journey that will allow you to make an impact on a massive scale. The first step is to apply here.
    To learn more about the Presidential Innovation Fellows program and apply to be a Fellow, please visit: WhiteHouse.gov/InnovationFellows
    Todd Park is the US Chief Technology Officer and Steven VanRoekel is the US Chief Information Officer.