CHIPS for America has launched a beta version of METIS designed to enable stakeholders to access research results of projects under the CHIPS Metrology program and help accelerate breakthroughs in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology said Thursday METIS, which stands for the Metrology Exchange to Innovate in Semiconductors, seeks to facilitate the exchange of data, models and other products to help transition microelectronics research to the marketplace.
According to NIST, the projects under the CHIPS Metrology program are aligned with seven grand challenges, including Metrology for Materials Purity, Properties and Provenance and Advanced Metrology for Future Microelectronics Manufacturing.
To date, CHIPS for America has distributed over $190 million in funding across 40 projects to help build new measurement instruments and measurement-informed simulations and models to advance the design and production of advanced microelectronics systems.
The awardees will conduct studies to develop tools and technologies to mitigate cyber, physical and natural threats to the energy sector, the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response announced on Sept. 27.
The selected projects and their leads are:
Brigham Young University’s quantum-based technology for enhanced distributed energy resource—or DER—communications within a zero-trust architecture
New York University’s enhanced physical security monitoring systems at substations using fiber-optics sensing technology
North Carolina A&T State University’s cyber-physical platform that simulates large-scale electric power grid with multiple DERs
Operant Networks’ use of zero-trust architecture to integrate security and access control across energy systems
SUNY Research Foundation’s fire spread prediction model and situational awareness system for critical energy assets and infrastructure
Southern California Edison’s technologies that enable DER to operate while mitigating cyber threats
Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s two climate-based projects, including the use of engineering software tools to prepare the electric grid for extreme weather, and the use of machine learning programming to detect failing devices and prevent fire
Texas A&M University’s integration of light, camera and siren systems into the GDI Gun Detection System to harden substation infrastructure
University of North Dakota’s use of sensors, machine learning algorithms and data systems to detect and respond to physical and climate-based threats to substations
Puesh Kumar, director of CESER, noting that the DOE is making strategic investments to secure energy systems, said “This work is accomplished through robust partnerships with academia, industry and technology companies. We know it will take the best and brightest to fully realize a secure and resilient energy future for all Americans, and the funding we are announcing today is a significant step toward that goal.”
Forty-eight Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health partners are set to receive $176 million for the first year of a 5-year-cycle under the National Partners Cooperative Agreement, a funding mechanism that seeks to finance organizations with the ability to support the needs of the public health infrastructure and workforce.
Using the funds, the health partners will work to bolster the ability of various agencies and organizations to deliver services to bring about positive health outcomes, the CDC said Wednesday.
For CDC Director Mandy Cohen, the financial support being provided through the National Partners CoAg demonstrates her agency’s commitment to building a public health system that is strong and resilient.
Regarding public health partners, Cohen said they are “critical to building trust with communities and providing the essential services and capacity needed to face health threats.”
For her part, CDC Public Health Infrastructure Center Director Leslie Ann Dauphin said the funding awards “will help build a strong public health infrastructure with enhanced ability to detect and control diseases, promote healthy lifestyles, and provide essential healthcare services to all communities.”
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a new program seeking to automatically translate obligations, permissions and prohibitions, known as deontic concepts, into logical programming language.
The project will develop innovative techniques for translating natural human language into a language form that artificial intelligence can readily process, according to CODORD Program Manager Benjamin Grosof.
CODORD will accelerate the transmission of deontic knowledge so AI researchers can take advantage of advances in large language models and logical programming languages, Grosof added.
DARPA projects that CODORD could enable automated and accurate deontic reasoning to support AI applications that comply with command orders, regulations, laws, operational policies, ethics and contracts.
The capabilities produced under the program are expected to advance military and civilian use cases, the agency noted.
Col. Robert Gerbracht, special assistant to the DARPA Director, said CODORD would assure commanders that an AI will transmit directives or intents “within the ethical, legal and moral guidelines.”
DARPA will hold a proposers day for the program on Oct. 8 and will publish a full solicitation on the effort in the weeks ahead.
Seven months after it delivered 60-plus recommendations to the Department of Agriculture earlier this year, the agency’s Equity Commission held a final convening with the department on Wednesday.
The commission launched in 2022 to help the department try to address historical discrimination in American agriculture by rooting out internal practices that perpetuate disparities.
U.S. agricultural policies excluded farmworkers from benefits, displaced Black farmers and more. Media analyses have also found that, even in recent years, farmers of color have been rejected by the agency for loans more than white farmers.
Now, “there’s a lot of reason to have faith,” Arturo Rodríguez, commission co-chair, told the audience at USDA’s headquarters last week. He’s president emeritus of the United Farm Workers, where he worked for decades, including as its president.
USDA has “made huge strides at trying to begin to implement many of the different issues that we’ve discussed… and also [trying] to position the department in such a way that it’s integrated into the work that they do,” he told Nextgov/FCW.
This year, the department and commission have fielded eight equity convenings nationwide, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small said at the event.
“We’ve transformed the loan process to make it easier for farmers and ranchers,” she said. “Whether that’s access to online applications, or being able to finally pay your loan payments online, or whether it’s a rule that goes into effect today to help lower the cost — the collateral that’s required to get into a loan — make payments more flexible and also provide for up to one deferred payment a year.”
The department also launched new summer grocery benefits for certain children and families, said Torres Small, and distributed payments to over 43,000 people who the department discriminated against in its farm lending programs before 2021.
The latter came after courts blocked a previous, race-targeted debt relief program created by a COVID-relief package. White farmers sued, claiming that it was racially discriminatory, per CNN. Lawmakers created the race-neutral program under the Inflation Reduction Act.
That’s not the only corporate or government program that’s been subject to pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Last year, the Supreme Court banned race-based affirmative action in higher education.
Torres Small told Nextgov/FCW “that’s a key reason why it’s important to show that the proof is in the pudding” when asked about these trends.
“When it comes to the work that we’ve been able to achieve,” she said, “it truly is benefiting everyone.”
Agriculture isn’t the only government agency pursuing this type of work. The Biden administration has touted its executive orders focused on equity and subsequent equity-focused plans across federal agencies.
“It would be naive to suggest that there are not those who would like to dismantle any effort for inclusion,” Ertharin Cousin — chair and CEO of Food Systems for the Future and commission co-chair — told Nextgov/FCW.
The work, she said, “is about ensuring that every stakeholder that can benefit from the support and services of this department receives equal access to that opportunity.”
Torres Small said the department is prioritizing changes with the greatest impact. Whether or not Congressional action is required is also a factor in how the department is implementing recommendations, she said.
Internally, removing barriers that prevent people from accessing programs requires work.
“So we know maybe this application is too long, for example, but then we’ve got to go through and identify every place where we think maybe this information isn’t really necessary that we’re asking for,” explained Torres Small. “Why are we asking it in the first place? Is it that the statute requires us to ask it? Okay, we’ve got to keep it in. Is it that there was an audit a few years back that said we needed to have this information for some reason? Or was it just something that someone thought was a good idea?”
Prioritizing technical assistance via partners on the ground who can help applicants get Agriculture’s programs is also a key priority moving forward, she said.
“This work is not over. This work cannot be over,” Dewayne Goldmon, senior advisor for racial equity at the department, said Wednesday. “This work has to continue.”
The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service said Friday the contract that NOAA awarded on Sept. 10, aims to investigate the disruptions of RF bands used by Earth observation satellites.
JPL is responsible for detecting, identifying and characterizing harmful emissions interfering with a passive band. It is expected to provide possible measures to mitigate or reduce the impact of these issues.
The center will assess the risks, processes and modifications necessary to implement enhanced passive remote sensing globally. It will also develop methods and evaluate resources needed for the mitigation strategies.
Increasing RF emissions from congested band sources, including private satellites and advanced wireless services, can corrupt data from Earth’s satellites that are vital for weather forecasting.
The contract, a Joint Venture Partnerships broad agency announcement, is intended for research purposes. There are no current plans for an RFI detection or mitigation satellite mission.
The Office of Systems Architecture and Engineering’s Joint Venture Partnerships program, operated by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, is managing the contract.
The National Academy of Public Administration on Monday announced that it selected James-Christian B. Blockwood as its next president and chief executive officer.
Blockwood most recently served as executive vice president of the Partnership for Public Service, where he oversaw the nonpartisan good government group’s strategy and management. He will succeed Terry Gerton, who has been the president and CEO of the nonpartisan nonprofit since 2017, its longest-serving leader.
Gerton, only the second woman to lead NAPA full-time, announced in March that she would step down from the role in 2025.
“In our search for our next president and CEO, the board of the Academy was looking for a combination of broad and deep experience in public administration, outstanding leadership skills and a demonstrated commitment to the Academy’s unique role and mission,” said Academy Board Chair Janet A. Weiss in a statement. “Terry Gerton has been an extraordinary leader for the Academy and in James-Christian Blockwood we have identified a leader we believe will build on Terry’s legacy, the reputation of the Academy and our capacities for the future.”
Blockwood also has worked in the Government Accountability Office and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. He is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Notably, Blockwood is a NAPA fellow. The Academy hosts 1,000 individuals from government, academia and the private sector who advise lawmakers and leaders on public administration.
“It was an honor to be elected a fellow of the Academy nearly ten years ago, and now a privilege to have the confidence of the board of directors to lead the Academy into its next era — especially with the Academy’s 60th and our nation’s 250th anniversaries as milestones ahead,” Blockwood said in a statement. “I am proud to have the opportunity to work with our extraordinary fellows and the entire Academy staff.”
Congress chartered NAPA in 1967 to provide nonpartisan expertise to the legislative branch, federal agencies as well as state, local and international entities.
The Network Coordination Hub will establish and operate regional nodes across the United States, where educational programs will be implemented, according to a notice released on Sam.gov Friday.
These nodes will offer instructional materials, experimental opportunities and teacher professional development programs to help train the semiconductor and microelectronics industry’s workforce.
The NSF will manage the Network Coordination Hub with the help of the DOC.
Interested vendors may submit their proposals by Oct.28, at 4 pm EDT. An information webinar will be held on Oct. 4 to discuss the hub and the application process.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has “very high confidence” that it can complete its digital GI Bill platform by mid-2026 without needing to expend further additional funds on the project, a VA official said on Thursday, despite a recent watchdog report finding that the modernization initiative has already been beset by significant cost overruns.
The Veterans Benefits Administration signed a $453 million contract with Accenture Federal Services in March 2021 to develop and implement a modernized IT platform to enhance the processing of veterans’ education-related claims. The agency expected the new platform to be operational by April 2024.
A report released by VA’s Office of Inspector General last month found that “insufficient planning” on the part of VBA “led to significant delays and contributed to about $479 million in additional costs.” The platform’s release has been pushed back to July 2026.
VA officials said during a House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing that they believed the digital GI Bill platform deployment was back on track.
“Our confidence level in reaching our goals, according to the current project milestones, is extremely high” VA Deputy Undersecretary for Policy and Oversight Ron Burke said.
When asked to estimate the likelihood that the department would be able to complete the project on time without the need for additional funding, he pegged that figure at 80%Other VA officials accompanying him at the hearing agreed with his estimate.
OIG’s report cited unclear and unrealistic expectations in the initial contract as a major factor in the project’s setbacks, and Burke said the department has taken the necessary steps to remedy these problems. The cost of the original contract increased to $532 million before VBA renegotiated the agreement in December 2023 to account for changes in the platform’s needs.
“VA acknowledges the true complexity of the modernization vision was not apparent at the start of the original contract,” he said, adding that the department “has made the course corrections necessary to meet the modernization objectives.”
Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif. — the subcommittee’s ranking member — told Burke “I am hopeful that your 80% confidence interval will increase rather than decrease,” although he also warned that “80% isn’t good enough for me.”
Lawmakers and witnesses also said issues with the GI Bill platform’s deployment were part of a pattern of troubled IT modernization projects across the department. VA’s rollout of a modernized electronic health record system, for instance, has been similarly bogged down by delays and cost overruns. The department has paused implementations of the new EHR system to prioritize technical fixes at the VA medical facilities using the software.
Nicholas Dahl, deputy assistant inspector general for management and administration with VA’s OIG, said “the identified contract planning and management deficiencies are similar to those identified in other VA IT modernization projects.”
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis. — the subcommittee’s chairman — warned that VA is “batting zero for IT projects” and pressed Dahl as to whether or not he believed VA could complete the digital GI Bill platform by its new July 2026 deadline.
“VA does have a track record of difficulty in implementing major IT systems,” Dahl said. “They almost, without fail, take longer.”
The Missile Defense Agency has selected Northrop Grumman as the single contractor to deliver services for the the Glide Phase Interceptor, or GPI, program, DefenseScoop reported Wednesday.
The GPI program is an initiative that aims to produce an advanced missile that can meet, counter and dispense with adversarial hypersonic weapons that can reach speeds of Mach 5 or greater. The system will look to intercept and defeat incoming hypersonics while traveling through the perimeters of the Earth’s atmosphere—the glide phase.
Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, MDA director and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said, “Today’s decision represents a turning point for hypersonic glide phase defense.”
The MDA is developing the program alongside Japan’s Ministry of Defense and expects Northrop Grumman’s selection to result in follow-on development and production.
“I’m very proud of the entire team including our industry partners, for all the hard work to get to this point. It is also an honor to have Japan as our partner as we move forward on this critical counter-hypersonic capability,” Collins added.
Northrop Grumman’s GPI design reportedly features an advanced seeker for threat tracking and hit-to-kill accuracy, a re-ignitable upper-stage engine for threat containment and a dual engagement mode to deal with threats across a wide range of altitudes, the company said in a release. Northrop Grumman beat out RTX for the continued development of the GPI.
Wendy Williams, Northrop Grumman’s vice president and manager of launch and missile defense systems, said the GPI provides “mission critical” capabilities in warfighting situations where distance creates strategic opportunities.
“Tailorable to a multitude of mission requirements, Northrop Grumman’s revolutionary solution is designed to perform in the evolving threat landscape,” Williams stated.
MDA requested $182 million for GPI in its fiscal 2025 budget and plans for the missiles to reach initial operational functionality by the end of 2029 and full operational capacity by the 2030s.
