SRI International Digest #16 - Fall 2005

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SRI International, an independent research institute, is continuing to meet important R&D challenges for our clients. In this new edition of the Digest, learn about new intelligent software to coordinate military operations, how vaccine researchers are combating biothreat agents, our research for improving programs for students with disabilities, and much more.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Homeland Security and National Defense News

• Intelligent Software Will Offer Real-Time Coordination of Military Operations

• New Training Concept Proves Successful at Army National Guard Exercise

• DHS Hosts Forum on Cyber Security at SRI

Health and Medicine News

• Vaccine Researchers Combat Biothreat Agents

• BioCyc Collection of Pathway Genome Database Expands

• From Nashville to Tokyo: SRI Biosciences Fall Events

Atmospheric Research and Physical Sciences News

• Novel Radar System Signals New Age in Atmospheric Research

• Prototype System for Low-Cost Generation of Hydrogen in Development

• Meet Jeff Simons in the Center for Fracture Physics

Education News

• Improving Programs for Young Children with Disabilities

• Meet Vera Michalchik in the Center for Technology in Learning

News around SRI

• Technology Luminary Doug Engelbart Receives Computer History Museum Fellow Award

• SRI Staff Responds to Hurricane Relief Efforts

• SRI in the Press

HOMELAND SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEFENSE NEWS

Intelligent Software Will Offer Real-Time Coordination of Military Operations

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has asked SRI to develop a software system called COORDINATORs (Coordination Decision Support Assistants) to support mission planning for fielded military units. Widely distributed units will use COORDINATORs to exchange and analyze information, evaluate response options, and coordinate activities. More information.

New Training Concept Successful at Army National Guard Exercise

SRI and its subcontractor Cubic Corporation joined the U.S. Army National Guard Bureau in pioneering the eXportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC), a new concept in pre-deployment battlefield training, during a major exercise conducted this summer at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Kentucky.

XCTC is a cost-efficient option for delivering effective combat readiness training to Guard and Reserve units at their home station locations when time and money are limited. Additional exercises are planned for 2006, using technologies that participating soldiers called "the best training we’ve ever received." More information.

DHS Hosts Forum on Cyber Security at SRI

The Department of Homeland Security Cyber Security R&D Center recently hosted Silicon Valley information security professionals in a forum at SRI. The Center is administered by SRI for the DHS Science & Technology Directorate. Through partnerships between government and private industry, the Center is actively supporting the development of security technology for protection of the U.S. cyber infrastructure. Dr. Douglas Maughan, the Center's Program Manager, led the event by describing the cyber security program at DHS and outlining opportunities for private sector engagement. More information.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE NEWS

Vaccine Researchers Combat Biothreat Agents

SRI is working with DOR BioPharma, Inc. and Cambrex Corporation to develop a recombinant vaccine for protection against exposure to the ricin toxin, a potential biothreat agent.  SRI will optimize the immune response to the vaccine and perform preclinical safety testing to meet requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for efficacy and safety studies. More information.

Under separate National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) grants, SRI is testing potential smallpox and HIV vaccines. SRI also works with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and numerous private biotechnology companies on development of vaccines and anti-infective therapeutics.

BioCyc Collection of Pathway Genome Database Expands

SRI has significantly expanded its BioCyc collection of pathway/genome databases to now include databases for 160 organisms. The databases contain information about biochemical pathways: the network of interactions between proteins and small molecules that forms the biochemical factory of a cell.

Understanding these pathways is critical in the development of pharmaceuticals, which operate mostly by blocking or enhancing interactions in particular pathways. Biomedical researchers are encouraged to adopt BioCyc databases for organisms within their expertise for refinement and further updating, and to redistribute those databases within the biomedical research community. More information.

From Nashville to Tokyo: SRI Biosciences Fall Events
SRI's Biosciences Division will showcase its drug discovery and development and medical product development services at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee from November 6-10, and the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. from November 12-16. Contact biosciences@sri.com if you'd like to schedule a meeting with an SRI representative at either event.

SRI's Tokyo office will host two half-day, invitation-only, biotechnology and pharmaceutical events on October 24 and 25. Activities and presentations will focus on creating strong business ties and new opportunities between SRI and Japanese biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. 

ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES NEWS

Novel Radar System Signals New Age in Atmospheric Research
Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), a new concept in upper atmospheric radars, is being designed and built by SRI with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Approximately the size of a football field when completed, each AMISR system will be a modular, mobile radar facility with a radar beam that scientists can steer to observe and study upper atmospheric activity at various locations around the globe.

SRI recently unveiled two AMISR prototype systems in Peru and Alaska, marking milestones in the development of new upper atmospheric remote sensing capabilities. More information.

Prototype System for Low-Cost Generation of Hydrogen in Development
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded an SRI-led team a four-year, $2.2 million contract to develop a prototype of a modular industrial system that uses steam electrolysis for low-cost generation of hydrogen.  The proposed system is expected to be much more energy-efficient than low-temperature electrolysis and conventional high-temperature electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water. More information.

Meet Jeff Simons in the Center for Fracture Physics

Jeff Simons, Ph.D., a senior computational engineer, performs simulations of material and structural failure in SRI's Physical Sciences Division. His interests vary from studying ways to improve space shuttle design to playing drums and mandolin in a garage band.

EDUCATION NEWS

Improving Programs for Young Children with Disabilities
SRI has completed several major milestones in the five-year Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. The ECO Center provides assistance to the federal government and state agencies for building systems that measure the outcomes of programs serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families.  More information.

Meet Vera Michalchik in the Center for Technology in Learning
Vera Michalchik, Ph.D., is an educational researcher who focuses on the social and cultural aspects of learning. Her recent research includes case studies of technology use and learning in informal settings, analyses of science discourse and communication, and studies of representational technology in learning science and math. Learn more about the Center for Technology in Learning.

NEWS AROUND SRI

Technology Luminary Doug Engelbart Receives Computer History Museum Fellow Award

SRI alumnus Douglas Engelbart, Ph.D., inventor of the computer mouse and other foundations of personal computing, was recognized as a Computer History Museum Fellow at the Museum's 2005 Fellow Awards Dinner and Ceremony on October 18. Engelbart is being honored for advancing the study of human-computer interaction, developing the mouse input device, and for the application of computers to improving organizational efficiency. More information.

SRI Staff Responds to Hurricane Relief Efforts

SRI and its staff members across the U.S. have donated generously to relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Staff members are giving of their time and talents as well:

• Senior Environmental Health & Safety Specialist Mariano Caunday participated in rescue efforts as a member of the Menlo Park-based California Task Force 3, National Urban Search and Rescue (CATF-3 US&R) team. Traveling through New Orleans by bus and boat for two weeks, the team searched hundreds of homes, rescued many people, and attended to their medical needs.
• Steve Rooks, an SRI receiving clerk, spent a month with the Red Cross serving meals and distributing donations at evacuation centers throughout Louisiana.

SRI in the Press
The press often reports on advances at SRI. Here's a sampling of recent coverage from our online newsroom:

• Finding New Breed of Teachers: An Arizona Republic report examined the growing trend of "non-traditional" teachers. SRI's Center for Education Policy is studying alternative routes to becoming a teacher in schools from California to New Jersey.
  
• Portable radar stations help predict space weather: CNET reported on SRI's development of AMISR (see story above).
  
• College and the Disabled Student: Nearly a third of young people with disabilities have taken at least some postsecondary classes within the first two years after they leave high school, according to a recent SRI report covered by Inside Higher Ed.
  
• Medical Renaissance: Forbes.com described the advent of robotic surgery and its origins at SRI.

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