•INSPIRED In talking with Eddie Ricard, a high school student from the Ohio Academy about his AAAS poster, “Eutrophication and Oxygen Depletion in Lake Superior,” the meaning of this year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting theme–”Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being”–was crystal clear. Eddie had devised experiments in collaboration with researchers at Bowling Green University to determine that the role of phosphorous was particularly significant in a body of water’s ability to maintain oxygen levels. He was passionate about his findings because he understood their significance with respect to ensuring that the waters of the Great Lakes have the ability to sustain marine life into the future. Young investigators like Eddie envision scientific discovery as part of an environmental damage solution. Policy makers should pay attention.

•SHOW ME MORE! NSDL’s Robert Payo was joined by Yolanda George, BEN, and Alice Agogino, The Engineering Pathway, for a workshop on Friday about using digital learning resources in classrooms. Robert did a great job of introducing about 20 people to the National Science Digital Library and then invited them to take the library for a test drive using BEN and Engineering Pathway resources. At the booth customers were eager to to learn more about NSDL and to use NSDL resources in classrooms.

•STEM INVESTMENT On Friday the European Commission met for breakfast at AAAS to discuss the EU’s funding program that will make more than 50 billion Euros worth of research funding available over the next seven years. This compares with the National Science Foundation’s FY 2007 proposed budget of $6.02 billion (4.7 Euros) to advance research and education in science and engineering. This major part of US science expenditures is about 30-35% less than what the EU will spend over seven years.

•NSF at AAAS NSF’s Director of the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, Jeff Nesbitt and Susan Mason also from NSF OLPA, were discussing ideas for packaging groups of NSDL resources with NSF research reports and other information to create greater “contextualization” for public use. I will be talking with them later today about the NDR and opportunities for this type of packaging using emerging NSDL services.

Stay tuned . . .