Federal Update for Thursday, May 6

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI), a Member of Congress since 1969, announced yesterday that he will not seek re-election in November.

The full text of Rep. Obey's remarks is available at the following URL: http://obey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=924 .

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Campuses will also be interested in a new program aimed at fostering innovation that was launched by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurs at the U.S. Department of Commerce this week.

The "i6 Challenge" will be administered by the Economic Development Agency (EDA) within Commerce and is designed to award six teams with $1 million each for the most innovative ideas on technology commercialization and entrepreneurship within their respective region of the country. The EDA will partner with both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and these agencies will provide additional $6 million in funding.

Additional information about the new completion, including deadlines, is available at the following website: http://www.eda.gov/i6 .

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Posters in the Rotunda: A Celebration of Undergraduate Student Research was held on the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday, May 5, and was an outstanding success. Approximately 250 administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni were on hand to demonstrate to Wisconsin's elected representatives the important undergraduate research experiences that are taking place across the UW System. As President Reilly said about Posters in the Rotunda 2010, "Wisconsin's best knowledge transfer and economic advantage is our students, who enter the workforce after graduation and immediately add value to our economy and society. It is incumbent upon the university that we produce students who are armed with the tools to compete in a world that values innovation, problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration. Undergraduate research experiences provide students with an opportunity to develop these tools." A special thanks to all who participated and made the event possible!

(APLU and the UW System Office of Federal Relations contributed to this report.)