IBM Retains Top Spot On Patent List.

IndustryWeek (3/1, Jusko) reports, "For the 16th consecutive year, high-tech giant IBM Corp. has nabbed the top spot for the number of patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Not only that, but with 4,186 patents granted in 2008, it also became the first organization to break the 4,000 patent barrier, according to IFI Patent Intelligence, which analyzed USPTO data." However, "the U.S. share of patents is slipping," with "U.S. companies garnering just 49% of U.S. patents granted in 2008, down from 50% in 2007." Further, "U.S. firms hold just four of the top 10 slots and 12 of the top 35." But, according to Darlene Slaughter, general manager of IFI Patent Intelligence, one shouldn't "confuse quantity with quality." Slaughter said, "What's clear is that many of the world's largest companies are placing a higher priority on protecting their intellectual property."

O'Donnell, Auth elected to National Academy of Engineering

Matthew O'Donnell, dean of the University of Washington's College of Engineering and professor in the department of bioengineering, and David Auth, a UW affiliate professor in bioengineering and consultant based in Kirkland, Wash., have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. http://uwnews.org/uweek/article.aspx?visitsource=uwkmail&id=47239

NASA Celebrates 50 Years

With Automa as your guide through an extensive Flash presentation, learn all about NASA and its' 50 year history. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/50th/

A Library for Engineering Education: Frank O. Marvin and the University of Kansas, 1875-1915

It was written by Jim Neeley, the fairly recently retired head of the Spahr Engineering Library at KU, and was published late last year in the journal Libraries and the Cultural Record. A very interesting piece. While the focus in on how an engineering library started at KU, many of the forces that led to its creation were more generally present elsewhere, and led to a blossoming of engineering libraries in the late 19th and early 20th century, (a few examples from and ties to other institutions are offered). Jim also makes mention in a number of places of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, which was founded in 1893 and later morphed into ASEE. Finally, in the appendix there are a handful of links to pages at other institutions related to the histories of their engineering libraries. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/lac/v043/43.4.neeley.html