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Why America needs foreign students

Here's one more reason to give green cards to foreign graduate students.

They are the only ones in school.

U.S. citizens outnumber foreign nationals in undergraduate electrical engineering programs in U.S. universities by a wide margin, according to a report form the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies.

U.S. kids accounted for 89 percent of the undergrads in these programs in 2006.

But 51 percent of the students in masters programs in EE in U.S. universities were foreign nationals last year. Only 49 percent come from the states.

In PhD programs, … Read more

Let's find all the coal, say mining experts

American coal experts want more information. And they want the U.S. government to pay for it. Today the National Research Council issued a call for more federal money to find and assess America's coal deposits.

Currently over half of the U.S. electricity is generated by burning coal. But there is uncertainty about future use and availability of coal. And there is the issue of CO2 emissions and other pollution from coal-burning power plants. Plus the U.S. must now compete with China and other nations for use of the world's coal.

In short, says the Council'… Read more

Happy Fathers Day

There is nothing like fathers day weekend for a little golf. The US Open is on and we can all watch the best players struggle on a golf course that is so tough it makes even Tiger look a little average. All of us arm chair commentators can watch and reflect on how we could shoot 80 or 90 like the pros. Not so soon my friend if you want to feel a little US Open tech this weekend get your putter out and try putting or chipping on the ceramic tile in your kitchen because that is what a … Read more

Patent Office board to revisit Microsoft-Eolas spat

In a move that could shape an upcoming retrial, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed once again to revisit Web browser plug-in patents at the heart of a dispute between Microsoft and University of California spinoff Eolas Technologies.

Microsoft associate general counsel Andy Culbert told CNET News.com in a telephone interview on Friday that the Patent Office agreed last week to undertake what is known as an interference proceeding.

An interference proceeding occurs when the Patent Office has determined that two separate patent holders hold patents covering the same subject matter. A five-judge panel within the … Read more

Department of Defense says no more YouTube or MySpace

The U.S. Department of Defense issued a memo Friday that states it intends to begin blocking network access--including that of soldiers serving overseas--to several popular "Internet entertainment sites" on Monday, according to the Associated Press. The 12 total sites to be blocked include several large social networking and media sharing sites like MySpace, YouTube, MTV, Pandora, and Photobucket.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Army cracked down on soldiers' personal blogs, citing security concerns. Operational security, according to the memo from the DoD that was cited in Monday's AP article, is also a reason behind the … Read more