Read more and more. The Administration has also allowed the spouses of certain high-skilled immigrantsto put their own education and talents to work and contribute to the American economy, during the time that these Americans in waiting are stuck in lengthy green card backlogs. Read more, more, more, more, and more. He called the camp a stain on the U.S. record of upholding the rule of law and said that its continued operation was counterproductive to our fight against terrorists, because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. Ongoing Republican opposition had frustrated attempts by Obama to have some of the detainees transferred to the United States, but throughout his presidency he had overseen the transfer of detainees to countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Georgia, Senegal, Bosnia, Slovakia, and Uruguay, with more than 180 detainees having left Guantnamo under Obamas watch while several dozen detainees remained. ENGAGING IN THE WORLD AND ENSURING NATIONAL SECURITY.

Used tech to combat trafficking. Enhanced U.S. Earth-observing capabilities. In February 2016, the Administration released a Cybersecurity National Action Plan to enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections, protect privacy, preserve public safety, ensure economic prosperity and national security, and empower Americans to take better control of their digital security. The President signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act in September 2011, giving the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) new resources to significantly reduce patent application wait times. Read more. In June 2011, the Administration established the National Robotics Initiative to spur research and development in the field of robotics across an array of disciplines and applications, including healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, space exploration, and national security. Read more. Long frustrated by congressional gridlock that prevented the passage of gun-related legislation, on January 5, 2016, he announced executive actions aimed at expanding background checks for gun purchasers and recodifying the definition of a regulated gun dealer. Minimized civilian use of highly enriched uranium. In March 2009, the Transparency and Open Government Presidential Memorandum was followed by a Presidential Memorandum on Scientific Integrity, stating in part that: The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public-policy decisions. Increased support for high-risk, high-reward research. However, after it became clear that the assailants had militant Islamist sympathies, the president made a rare national television address on December 6, in which he characterized the San Bernardino shootings as a terrorist attack and attempted to calm the fears of jittery Americans and reassure doubters that his administration took the threat of Islamist terrorism seriously and that it would be overcome.. The Administration created the first-ever Federal interagency working group focused on the use of video-game technology for learning and held the first White House Education Game Jam to jump-start the creation of new apps and games that support educator and student needs. Read more. Read more. Invested in technologies to revolutionize understanding of the human brain. Thanks to leadership by the NSF, engineering deans, and technology organizations, 25,000 more engineers are graduating from American universities each year compared to when President Obama took office. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arriving at the Jos Mart International Airport in Havana, Cuba, on August 14, 2015. Instead, he sought to emphasize the importance of a future without nuclear weapons in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening. Obamas solemn appearance in Hiroshima came at the end of a roughly weeklong trip to Asia that had begun with a visit to another former wartime adversary of the United States, Vietnam. Read more. Approximately 34,000 individuals are participating in the STEM Optional Practical Training program at present, and with these improvements the total may expand to nearly 50,000 in the first year and grow to approximately 92,000 by the tenth year of implementation. The White House will also host the first-ever White House Arctic Science Ministerial, to be held in September 2016, which aims to align governments around the world on joint scientific efforts on the Arctic.

The release of these datasets and collections have been coupled with active outreach and thematic events such as Health and Energy Datapaloozas, so that data and tools are in hands of innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and communities working together to develop new tools and solutions. ACTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE, ADVANCING CLEAN ENERGY, AND ENSURING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY. NSF and the Corporation for National and Community Service, the agency that administers AmeriCorps, pledged more than $135 million to support teacher training and research. The Administration has taken actions to enhance citizen safety and better reflect scientific understanding of the risks of natural hazards (including those being influenced by climate change) by: deploying sensors and systems to increase warning times for thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes; engaging technologists and companies to provide services, tools, and platforms to aid in disaster response and recovery; improving science-based tools to inform rebuilding after devastating storms such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2013 Moore, Oklahoma tornado; establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard; increasing capabilities to address growing risks from drought and wildfires; requiring Federal buildings and assets to adhere to up-to-date, scientifically sound building codes; and investing in research and development to support earthquake early-warning capabilities. In 2011, the Administration submitted legislation to Congress to improve information sharing with the private sector, which Congress passed in December 2015. President Obama addressed the conference as the beginning of a multi-stop visit to Alaska; the first-ever trip to the Arctic by a sitting American President. Less than a month later, on July 7, in downtown Dallas, as a peaceful protest against the shootings earlier in the week of African American men by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, was winding to a close, a sniper who was upset by those shootings shot and killed four police officers, along with a rapid transit officer, and wounded several others. Made the U.S. patent system more efficient and responsive to innovators. In parallel, the President has called for increasing the proficiency of Americas existing STEM teachers with a Master Teacher Corps initiative, which would identify the most effective K-12 STEM teachers and supports them in a program to propagate their best practices to their peers. In the last half of the year, Obama again focused on the gun violence that continued to occur throughout the country. Approved more breakthrough drugs. In December 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented a rule requiring the registration of small UAS, and in April 2016, and initiated steps to develop performance-based standards for the operation of UAS over people. Advanced a comprehensive approach to Arctic issues. The Administrations commitment to studies of Earth, the solar system, and the universe has been reflected in a high level of pioneering activity in the development and execution of robotic missions. The White House has continued to expand outreach efforts to students, including by creating an annual student-centered State of STEM event the day after the State of the Union, launching the We the Geeks online series on science and technology topics, and encouraging students to become science advisors by sharing their feedback on science and technology issues with the White House. Called for computer science education for all. Helped establish the Open Government Partnership. Strengthened the K-12 STEM teacher corps. The Administration has expanded opportunities, including those efforts listed on CitizenScience.gov, for research agencies to work with citizen scientists and use crowdsourcing approaches. The Administration released greenhouse gas and fuel-economy standards for light duty and heavy duty vehicles. Read more. Bolstered the scientific data underpinning forensic science. In his speech at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Obama pointedly did not apologize for the bombing or call into question U.S. Pres. In June Obama and Vice President Biden traveled to Orlando, Florida, to meet with survivors and families of victims of the mass shooting earlier that month at the Pulse nightclub, the deadliest such event in modern U.S. history. Prioritized STEM education. With a July 2015 Executive Order, the President launched the National Strategic Computing Initiative, a cohesive, multi-agency strategic vision and Federal investment strategy in high-performance computing to spur the creation and deployment of computing technology at the leading edge, helping to advance Administration priorities for economic competiveness and scientific discovery. The Administrationled by USAID, with participation from multiple Federal agencieslaunched the Climate Services for Resilient Development partnership in June 2015, with $34 million in financial and in-kind contributions from the U.S. Government and founding partner institutions, to provide actionable scientific information to developing countries that are working to strengthen their national resilience to the impacts of climate change. Encouraged private-sector investment in clean-energy innovation. Working with Finland, the World Health Organization, and other partners, the United States supports undergoing and sharing Joint External Evaluations to show progress in meeting all of the GHSA targets, as well as other capabilities required by the International Health Regulations. Read more and more. Invested in openly licensed education resources. Advanced the frontiers of physics. Read more and more. Read more.

Over the last 3 years, an additional 20 million U.S. schoolkids have become connected to high-speed Internet, and the number of schools that lack high-speed connectivity has been cut in half. Following recommendations of PCAST studies in November 2010 and March 2013, the Administration launched two of the most comprehensive Federal assessments of energy technology and energy policy ever undertaken by the Federal Government. Advances in materials have been key enablers of progress in domains ranging from biomedicine, to clean energy, to national defense. Also in April 2016, PCAST announced a new study on science and technology for drinking-water safety. Deployed top scientists to advance global diplomacy. Read more and more. Cut red tape for entrepreneurs. Pilot tests conducted by SBST have already shown: a doubling in the rate of new enrollments in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) by military service members; a 9 percent increase in college enrollment by low-income students; a four-fold increase in applications for income-driven repayment plans by student borrowers; a 13 percent increase in health insurance enrollments; and millions of dollars in government savings. In June 2013, President Obama released his Climate Action Plan (CAP), with three components: reducing U.S. emissions of heat-trapping pollutants; building the Nations preparedness for and resilience against the impacts of climate change; and working with other countries to encourage and help them do the same. I am asking you to hold fast to that faith written into our founding documents; that idea whispered by slaves and abolitionists; that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders and those who marched for justice; that creed reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battlefields to the surface of the moon; a creed at the core of every American whose story is not yet written: Yes, we can. In May 2013, President Obama issued an Executive Order and policy guidance on making open and machine readable data the new default for government information. Launched an initiative to bridge the 30 million word gap.

Strengthened international cooperation on science and technology. The President raised the bar for science, technology, and innovation talent serving in his Administration with five Nobel Laureates in science and 28 other members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in his initial tranche of appointments. Boosted science, technology, and innovation talent across the Administration. Launched the first update of biotech regulations in a quarter century. Deployed open innovation approaches to reduce nutrients in waterways. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken action to preempt state laws that restrict local communities from investing in their own broadband networks, opening the way for increased broadband competition and deployment.

And ARPA-E is supporting research with potentially high commercial impact that is deemed too risky for industrial investment. Extended the life of the International Space Station (ISS). Through the Police Data Initiative, launched in May 2015, a growing number of law-enforcement agencies from across the country, representing more than 40 million people, have publicly embraced the concept of open policing-activity data as a core component of being a modern, accountable, and engaged police department. The Administration has also worked to bolster the cybersecurity workforce by identifying, classifying, and mapping the Federal cyber workforce using the National Initiative for Cyber Educations National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework; promoting cybersecurity competitions to attract more talent; and developing a cybersecurity consortium at the Department of Energy. Speaking at a memorial for the slain officers, Obama said: Faced with this violence, we wonder if the divides of race in America can ever be bridged. Improved energy productivity. Through aggressive spectrum policy and private investment, more than 98 percent of Americans have access to fast 4G/LTE mobile broadband, and the vast majority of Americans are covered by four or more LTE providers. The redefinition of regulated gun dealing targeted online sales of guns and sales of weapons at gun shows that had not been subject to background checks. Read more, more, more, more, more, more, and more. In 2014, the President and millions of Americans encouraged the FCC to take up the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality and protect free expression and economic growth. In parallel, and with the support of the Administration, the FCC has created a national $2.25 billion broadband subsidy for low-income families by reforming its Lifeline program.

Promoted international connectivity. Read more. Created new models for supporting innovation in the energy sector. In his final State of the Union address in January 2016, the President tasked Vice President Biden with heading up a new national effort to end cancer as we know itby encouraging public and private efforts to double the rate of progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care in order to make a decades worth of advances in 5 years. The White House and DOE worked together on development and implementation of technologies to minimize and, where possible, eliminate the civilian use of highly enriched (thus directly weapon-usable) uranium, including in research reactors and isotope-production facilities worldwide. Read more. Last year, the ISS marked 15 years of humans continuously living in space, supporting research and technology demonstrations that will help astronauts reach Mars and push out into the solar system not just to visit, but to stay, as the President called for in his 2015 State of the Union address. These Federal actions have expanded to include collaborative efforts internationally, with States and counties, and with the private sector and individual citizens, including the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge and the recent agreement among six prairie States and the Federal Highway Administration to work together to advance the "Monarch Highway" designation for Interstate 35 to restore native habitat along the Monarch butterfly migration route. Contributed to the rapidly declining cost of renewable-energy technologies.

Additionally, in June 2015, the Administration launched a new Clean Energy Investment Center at DOE to make information about Federal energy and climate programs more understandable to the public, including to mission-driven investors. The August 14 flag raising presided over by Secretary Kerry at the reopened U.S. embassy in Havana provided a foreign policy milestone for the Obama administration, after the U.S. and Cuba had officially opened their embassies in each others capital on July 20. Read more. Read more, more, and more. Fostered a nation of makers. The Administration has also created and promoted new opportunities for clean-tech entrepreneurship, including support for student startups through business plan competitions, vouchers for services available to small businesses at National Laboratories, and embedded entrepreneurial training within the National Laboratories. The Administrations support of fundamental research and major capabilities for physics research via DOE and the National Science Foundation (NSF) has contributed to spectacular advances, including the July 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the long-awaited direct detection of gravitational wavesthe existence of which was predicted by Einstein a century agoby the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration in September 2015. The new rules also required that 28 percent of electrical generation be fueled by renewable energy by the same deadline. The Administration released the first-ever National Bioeconomy Blueprint in April 2012, to outline a series of steps to grow and manage a sector that is generating annual revenues greater than $300 billion and that is contributing the equivalent of at least 5 percent of annual GDP growth in the United States. Worked to reduce the organ transplant waiting list. In 2012, the Administration launched a multi-agency research initiative on Big Data that now includes an NIH effort to harness big data for biomedical research, NSF support for four Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs that cover all 50 states and more than 250 organizations, and a Federal big data research and development strategic plan. Read more, more, and more. The Department of Education (ED), in coordination with the Future Ready coalition of more than 50 national organizations, held 12 summits around the country to help teachers and leaders leverage digital tools and 17states have launched Future Ready statewide initiatives. As the 2014 Ebola outbreak was rapidly accelerating, the Administration called for innovators, scientists, and partners to generate new solutions and technologies that could be deployed to fight Ebola as part of the overall U.S. government response. Prioritized inclusive entrepreneurship. Read more, more, and more. Enhanced resilience to natural hazards. Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walking in Old Havana, Cuba, March 20, 2016.

Supported millions of students with ConnectED. STRENGTHENING STEM EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE TRAINING. Worked to break down gender stereotypes in toys and media. STEM education has also been incorporated into the Administrations broader education effortsfrom the Race to the Topcompetition to the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and the President has called on the more than 200,000 Federal scientists and engineers to get involved in fostering STEM learning through mentorship. The Administration has also focused on countering implicit bias, encouraging positive images of STEM in media and entertainment, and leading Federal science and technology agencies to identify steps to mitigate the effects of bias within the Government. Due to investments made by the National Weather Service (NWS) under this Administration, there has been a significant improvement in weather radar, average tornado warning times across the country have improved threefold, and tornado warning accuracy has roughly doubled. Read more and more. The Administration has supported the development of new technologies to replace the password as the primary means of online security. Researchers have estimated that the in-kind contributions of more than a million citizen-science volunteers to biodiversity research alone have had an economic value of up to $2.5 billion per year. Read more. Each manufacturing institute serves as a regional hub that leverages national capabilities and expertise. Championed net neutrality. Elevated and celebrated the achievements of students pursuing STEM fields. Read more. Enabled the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and accelerated their safe integration into the national airspace. Enhanced biosafety and biosecurity. Days later a gunman attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three and wounding nine. Read more. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015, the United States launched an initiative in which the 20 countries that account for most government-funded energy research and development globally pledged to double their clean-energy research and development investments over 5 years. This Administration also brought to fruition the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) in February 2015, which now resides one million miles away from Earth providing a unique, continuous view of our planet and serving as an early warning system for solar magnetic storms. The centerpiece of the effort is the development of regional marine plans for coordinated management of U.S. territorial waters and coastal zones by Regional Planning Bodies consisting of Federal, State, local, and tribal officials, as well as representatives of business, civil society, and stakeholder organizations. From 2009 to 2015, the Administration finalized 40 new or updated efficiency standards, which are estimated to save more than $540 billion in consumer energy costs through 2030. Accelerated efforts to meet the digital needs of low-income Americans. For example, one recent IDEA Lab project consolidated a medical education loan-repayment program processpreviously spanning multiple government agencies and technologiesinto a single streamlined system. Read more and more.

The Administrations five Energy Innovation Hubs are bringing together investigators from the government, academic, and business sectors, from multiple disciplines, to focus their collective talents on key national energy-innovation needs. For example, Federal agencies have used these approaches to improve predictive models for coastal change and vulnerability to extreme storms, and to tag millions of archival records for the National Archives. Due to the Administrations leadership, ISSs lifetime has been extended twice, and the Station is now due to continue operating until at least 2024. The Administration released a comprehensive plan identifying critical actions to be taken by key Federal departments and agencies to combat the global rise of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in December 2015. Global Change Research Program, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, the Materials Genome Initiative, the Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Program, and the Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Program. Expanded access to resources and services that families and communities need to thrive. The civilian time standard is about three times more accurate today than in 2008, thanks to NISTs development of the NIST-F2 cesium atomic clock, which debuted in April 2014 and would neither gain nor lose one second in about 300 million years. Read more. In addition, in February 2016, the White House launched the first-ever National Week at the Labs, in which more than 50 world-class Federal labs in 20 cities opened their doors to neighborhood students, many of them in communities that have embraced the President's My Brothers Keeper initiative. Barack Obama (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, May 27, 2016. Launched an ambitious Climate Action Plan. Read more, more, and more. In addition, he created three new high-level science, technology, and innovation positions in the White Housea U.S. Chief Technology Officer, a U.S. Chief Information Officer, and a Chief Data Scientist. Launched by President Obama in July 2010, the National Ocean Policy is being implemented by a multi-agency National Ocean Council co-chaired by OSTP and the Council on Environmental Quality. How do we make technology work for us, and not against us, as we solve our biggest challenges? Assisted developing countries with resilient development. The death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in early February provided Obama with the opportunity to replace one of the Supreme Courts staunchest judicial conservatives. The aggressive pursuit of advances in Earth observations and long-term monitoring during this Administration have led to a diverse array of space-based missions now providing new insights into Earths interconnected natural systems through studies of Earths atmospheric composition, carbon cycle, and climate. Improved the consideration of natural capital in government decisions. Read more. In July 2015, President Obama announced the ConnectHome initiativeled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)to provide home-based Internet access, digital literacy training, and devices to families with school-age children living in HUD-assisted housing in 28 pilot communities to initially reach over 275,000 low-income householdsand nearly 200,000 children. In addition, supported by Federal research investments, the costs of lithium-ion batteries have dropped by more than 70 percent since 2008, making electric vehicles more affordable.

And investments in small satellite technology will help dramatically reduce the cost of scientific and commercial missions in space. Read more and more. In space science, in addition to the continued support of missions already underwaysuch as the Curiosity rover now exploring Mars, the New Horizons spacecraft that took the most detailed photos of Pluto in history, and the James Webb Space Telescope slated for launch in October 2018NASA also has initiated work on the next generation of technologies to explore and understand the universe. The fuel-economy standards for passenger vehicles are the toughest in U.S. history and once fully implemented, will save drivers as much as $8,000 per vehicle in fuel costs over the life of their new vehicle while cumulatively avoiding 6 billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution and reducing American dependence on foreign oil by 2 million barrels per day in 2025. In March the president nominated the highly regarded moderate Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as Scalias replacement, but Senate Republicans had already vowed not to hold confirmation hearings for any new justice until after the 2016 presidential election. Read more and more.