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Marking the 2016 year of progress, and kicking off the Computer Science Education Week 2016, the White House is announcing new actions in support of computer science education:

National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing $20 million in planned investment in FY 2017 in support of CS education. These new investments will take place under the Computer Science for All: Researcher Practitioner Partnerships (CSforAll: RPP) program, building on NSF’s $25 million investment in FY 2016. The program aims to better understand, through research and development, how to provide high-school teachers with the preparation, professional development, and ongoing support that they would need to teach rigorous computer-science courses; and K-8 teachers with the preparation they would need to integrate computer science and computational thinking into their classrooms.

National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) will develop a CSforAll strategic framework in the coming year. The NSTC Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (CoSTEM) Federal Coordination in STEM Education Task Force’s (FC-STEM) Computer Science for All Interagency Working Group will develop a strategic framework to guide Federal efforts to support the integration of computer science and computational thinking into K-12 education.

Since its launch, TechHire communities across the country have piloted fast-track training programs designed to give people skills that are in high demand by employers. So far over 4,000 people have been trained and connected to work opportunities with local employers, earning average salaries of well over median income. US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith announced how private organizations will seize on this progress with new steps to meet the scale of the opportunity:

• Expansion of TechHire to over 70 Cities, States, and Rural Areas.
• Growth of theTechHire Action Network.
• TechUP's Include.io 27-City Roadshow 2017.

President Barack Obama named 21 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. The awards will be presented at the White House on November 22nd. One recipient was Newt Minow.

Minnow is an attorney with a long and distinguished career in public life. After serving in the US Army during World War II, Minow served as a Supreme Court clerk and counsel to the Governor of Illinois. In 1961, President Kennedy selected Minow, then 34, to serve as Chairman of the Federal Communications Committee, where he helped shape the future of American television and was a vigorous advocate for broadcasting that promoted the public interest. In the five decades since leaving the FCC, Minow has maintained a prominent private law practice while devoting himself to numerous public and charitable causes.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Richard Stengel to be Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Stengel is Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a position he has held since 2014.

Stengel served as Managing Editor of TIME from 2006 to 2013 and President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia from 2004 to 2006. Mr. Stengel was the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University in 1999. From 1992 to 1994, he collaborated with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. Mr. Stengel has written for many publications and is the author of several books. He began his career at TIME in 1981 as a writer and correspondent. Mr. Stengel received a B.A. from Princeton University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church at the University of Oxford.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is announcing the “” initiative, building on a growing wave of private sector interest in miniaturized spacecraft for applications ranging from communications and remote sensing to satellite inspection and repair. Working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Department of Commerce, Defense, and other Federal agencies, OSTP has identified the following opportunities promoting the use of small satellites (“smallsats”) for a variety of uses:

NASA will purchase up to $30 million of Earth observation data obtained commercially from small satellites, and will create a new Small Spacecraft Virtual Institute based out of the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley one-stop shop” for best practices, lessons learned, and standards for all phases of smallsat development. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is partnering with the General Services Administration on the Commercial Initiative to Buy Operationally Responsive GEOINT (CIBORG) initiative to develop an efficient, single point of access for Federal agencies to purchase commercially-provided imagery data and associated analytical capabilities. NGA has also awarded a $20 million contract to startup Planet to purchasing large quantities of imagery Planet collects from its network of “Dove” smallsats. The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded contracts to GeoOptics, Inc., and Spire Global, Inc., two startups using smallsat constellations to collect radio-occultation data from global positioning system satellites, improving NOAA’s storm forecasting. The Department of Commerce is also elevating the role of the Director of its Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to reflect commercial space’s increasing importance for increasing economic growth, productivity, and job creation. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is releasing satellite datasets as part of two prize-driven challenges to achieve breakthroughs in the analysis of overhead imagery.

President Barack Obama is hosting a day-long White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh (PA) to encourage Americans to imagine our Nation and the world in 50 years and beyond, and to explore America’s potential to broaden participation and advance towards the frontiers that will make the world healthier, more prosperous, more equitable, and more secure. The Administration is opening the conference with more than $300 million in announcements that exemplify the critical roles that Federal investments, innovative policymaking, and multi-sector collaboration play in seeding prosperity:

• $165 million in public and private funds to support cities in using technology and data to tackle critical quality-of-life challenges, such as traffic congestion.
• Harnessing the power of data to improve the US criminal justice system, announcing that the Police Data Initiative and the Data-Driven Justice Initiative have each grown to over 100 communities nationwide.
• Releasing a White House report on preparing for the future of artificial intelligence (AI), outlining the issues that society will have to grapple with to unlock the possibilities of AI.
• $50 million in Federal funds to fuel a revolution in small-satellite technology that could provide capabilities such as ubiquitous high-speed Internet connectivity and continuously updated imagery of the Earth.

To ready the United States for a future in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a growing role, the White House released a report on future directions and considerations for AI called Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence.

This report surveys the current state of AI, its existing and potential applications, and the questions that progress in AI raise for society and public policy. The report also makes recommendations for specific further actions. A companion National Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan is also being released, laying out a strategic plan for Federally-funded research and development in AI. Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence details several policy opportunities raised by AI, including how the technology can be used to advance social good and improve government operations; how to adapt regulations that affect AI technologies, such as automated vehicles, in a way that encourages innovation while protecting the public; how to ensure that AI applications are fair, safe, and governable; and how to develop a skilled and diverse AI workforce.

The White House is announcing the expansion of the Opportunity Project and the launch of twenty-nine new digital tools built by companies and non-profit organizations to increase access to opportunity in communities across the country.

Although the poverty rate declined more rapidly in 2015 than in nearly fifty years, too many communities still do not have access to the resources and opportunities that residents need to thrive. The unprecedented combination of open data and technological talent that has emerged in recent years can play a critical role in closing that gap, as technologists partner with community leaders to expand access to opportunity in ways that were not previously possible. Key components of today’s announcements include:

• Twenty-nine new digital tools built by non-profits, companies, and students, use federal and local data to address a set of national priorities identified by six federal agencies, specifically the Departments of Labor, Transportation, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Agriculture, and the Office of the Surgeon General with support from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• The Department of Commerce announces its commitment to lead the Opportunity Project moving forward and create a lasting platform for technologists to collaborate with government and local communities using federal open data.
• New and easier ways to access high-value Federal data on civil rights and course access through the Department of Education’s new Civil Rights Data Collection Application Program Interfaces (APIs), and combined jobs, skills, training and wage data through the Department of Labor’s new OpenSkills API.
• New commitments from federal government, non-profits, tech companies, coding boot camps, and academic institutions to use the Opportunity Project data and create or use digital tools to build stronger ladders of opportunity nationwide.
• A call to action from the White House for members of the public to develop new tools, offer additional sources of data, and invent new ways of using open data to make our communities more prosperous, equitable, and just. We want to hear what new steps you are taking or programs you are implementing in your community.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Brent F. Nelsen to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Dr. Brent F. Nelsen is Chair of the South Carolina Educational Television Commission and a Professor of Political Science at Furman University, positions he has held since 2011 and 2002, respectively. From 2003 to 2009, Dr. Nelsen served as Chair of the Department of Political Science at Furman University and has held various teaching positions there since 1990. He is a member of the South Carolina American Political Science Association, where he previously served as President from 2009 to 2010. Dr. Nelsen was first appointed to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2013. Dr. Nelsen received a B.A. from Wheaton College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

To kick off Smart Cities Week, the Obama Administration is expanding the Smart Cities initiative, with over $80 million in new Federal investments and a doubling of the number of participating cities and communities, exceeding 70 in total. These new investments and collaborations will help cities of all sizes, including in the following key areas:

Climate: The Administration is announcing nearly $15 million in new funding and two new coalitions to help cities and communities tackle energy and climate challenges. For example, one Department of Energy (DOE) campaign has already signed up 1,800 buildings representing 49 million square feet with data analytics tools that could reduce their energy footprint by 8 percent or more, on average.
Transportation: The Administration is announcing more than $15 million in new grants and planned funding to evolve the future of urban transportation, including National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for researchers in Chattanooga (TN) to test, for the first time, how an entire urban network of connected and autonomous vehicles can automatically cooperate to improve travel efficiency and operate safely during severe weather events.
Public safety: The Administration is announcing more than $10 million in new grants and planned funding for public safety, resilience, and disaster response. For example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is funding the development of low-cost flood sensor-based tools in flood-prone areas of Texas, where predictive analytics will give first responders and local officials new capability to issue alerts and warnings, and the ability to respond more rapidly to save lives when a flood strikes.
Transforming city services: MetroLab Network is launching a new effort to help cities adopt promising innovations in social programs, like a collaboration between three counties surrounding Seattle and the University of Washington to use predictive analytics to identify precisely when city services succeed in helping homeless individuals transition into permanent housing, offering the promise of a future of personalized intervention.