http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiativ...

There is significant interest in these small units (10cm on a side, but combinable up to 6 units) on the part of universities. Here's a list of the upcoming launches:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-073

I think that within NASA CubeSats are regarded with limited interest. The conventional route for a new satellite measurement from the lab to space is via airborne, or in some cases balloon-borne, experiments. That's how, say, new radar, lidar, hyperspectral imaging, etc., technologies are proven. Lab bench, field experiments, airplane, space.