Grant Opportunities for Week Ending March 21, 2008

At the end of April, the Sanford Lab at the former Homestake Mine in Lead, SD will be hosting a week-long workshop to help scientists with the process of developing proposals for the initial suite of science experiments to be located at the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Facility (DUSEL). A schedule for the workshop along with registration is located at http://homestake.sdsmt.edu/April_20-26/meeting.htm. The first part of the week is dedicated to geosciences/microbiology, the middle part to Education and Outreach, and the last part to physics. A more specific list of working groups is available via the previous website or may be obtained directly at http://www.lbl.gov/nsd/homestake/aprilworkinggroups.html.


AAAS and NSF have partnered to create a website to help scientists and engineers communicate their work to the public and to the press. You can find the website here: http://communicatingscience.aaas.org/Pages/newmain.aspx


Applications Now Open for Two Prizes from Science
Science and its partners, Eppendorf and GE, are offering scientists two opportunities to win prizes worth US$25,000. The Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology is awarded to researchers in neurobiology who hold an advanced degree and are age 35 or younger. Entries must be postmarked by 15 June. Full details for the Eppendorf & Science Prize. The GE and Science Prize for Young Life Scientists rewards research in molecular biology by outstanding graduate students. Full details for the GE and Science Prize. Deadline not yet announced.


National Science Foundation

The American Competitiveness in Chemistry-Fellowship program is a program to support postdoctoral associates in chemistry. It seeks to (1) build ties between academic and industrial, and/or national laboratory, and/or Chemistry Division-funded center researchers (partners) and (2) involve beginning scientists in efforts to broaden participation in chemistry. Fellows will pursue research with industrial, and/or national laboratory, and/or Chemistry Division-funded center partners that will enrich their in-house research program. In addition, fellows will develop and implement their own plans for broadening participation in the chemical sciences. Successful applicants must propose a well-integrated, synergistic research plan with their chosen affiliate as well as an effective outreach plan that will broaden participation by underrepresented groups in chemistry. The research must be in a thematic area that is supported by the NSF Division of Chemistry. Full Proposal Deadline(s): May 01, 2008 and May 1, Annually Thereafter.

Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) - CEDAR is a broad-based, community-initiated, upper atmospheric research program. The goal is to understand the behavior of atmospheric regions from the middle atmosphere upward through the thermosphere and ionosphere into the exosphere in terms of coupling, energetics, chemistry, and dynamics on regional and global scales. These processes are related to the sources of perturbations that propagate upward from the lower atmosphere as well as to solar radiation and particle inputs from above. The activities within this program combine observations, theory and modeling. Proposal Deadline(s): May 10, annually.

Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) in Engineering - This solicitation aims at introducing nanoscale science, engineering, and technology through a variety of interdisciplinary approaches into undergraduate engineering education. The focus of this year's competition is on nanoscale engineering education with relevance to devices and systems and/or on the societal, ethical, economic and/or environmental issues relevant to nanotechnology. Related funding opportunities are posted on www.nsf.gov/nano. Research and education projects in nanoscale science and engineering will continue to be supported in the relevant NSF programs and divisions. Full Proposal Deadline Date: May 14, 2008.

The Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program seeks to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all undergraduate students. The program supports efforts to create, adapt, and disseminate new learning materials and teaching strategies, develop faculty expertise, implement educational innovations, assess learning and evaluate innovations, and conduct research on STEM teaching and learning. The program supports three types of projects representing three different phases of development, ranging from small, exploratory investigations to large, comprehensive projects. Proposers are encouraged to contact a DUE Program Director in their discipline. Full Proposal Deadline Date: May 21, 2008 For Phase 1 proposals from submitting organizations located in states or territories beginning with N through W.

The Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program aims to significantly increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving post secondary degrees in the computing disciplines, with an emphasis on students from communities with longstanding underrepresentation in computing: women, persons with disabilities, and minorities. Included minorities are African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The BPC program seeks to engage the computing community in developing and implementing innovative methods to improve recruitment and retention of these students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Because the lack of role models in the professoriate can be a barrier to participation, the BPC program also aims to develop effective strategies for encouraging individuals to pursue academic careers in computing and become these role models. There are three components to the BPC program: Alliances. Broad Alliances of institutions and organizations will design and carry out comprehensive programs that address underrepresentation in the computing disciplines; Alliance Extensions. Successful BPC Alliances can propose additional funding to significantly expand the impact of their work; and, Demonstration Projects. Demonstration Projects (DPs) are smaller in scope and narrower in focus than Alliance projects. Typically DPs will be pilots of innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an Alliance. Full Proposal Deadline Date: May 21, 2008.

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of earthquakes; the earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and studies of the properties and behavior of earth materials in support of geophysical observation and theory. Full Proposal Deadline Date: June 1, 2008. Full Proposal Deadline Date: December 1, 2008.

Hydrologic Sciences focuses on the flow of water and transport processes within streams, soils, and aquifers. Particular attention is given to spatial and temporal heterogeneity of fluxes and storages of water and chemicals over a wide range of scales, to geolimnology and to interfaces with the landscape, microbial communities, and coastal areas. Studies may also deal with processes in aqueous geochemistry and with the physical, chemical, and biological processes within water bodies. Study of these processes requires expertise from many basic sciences and mathematics, and proposals often require joint review with related programs. Full Proposal Deadline(s) Date: June 1, 2008 and December 1, 2008.

The Petrology and Geochemistry Program supports basic research on the formation and chemical composition of Earth materials in the crust, mantle, and core. Proposals in this program generally address the petrology and high-temperature geochemistry of igneous and metamorphic rocks (including mantle samples), mineral physics, and volcanology. Proposals that bridge disciplinary boundaries or that include development of analytical tools for potential use by the broad community are also encouraged. Full Proposal Deadline(s) Date: June 1, 2008 and December 1, 2008.

The Tectonics Program supports a broad range of field, laboratory, computational, and theoretical investigations aimed at understanding the evolution and deformation of continental lithosphere through time. Proposals to elucidate the processes that act on the lithosphere at various time-scales and length-scales, either at depth or the surface, are encouraged. Because understanding such large-scale phenomena commonly requires a variety of expertise and methods, the Tectonics Program supports integrated research involving the disciplines of structural geology, petrology, geochronology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, geomorphology, rock mechanics, paleomagnetics, geodesy, and other geophysical techniques. Full Proposal Deadline(s) Date: June 1, 2008 and December 1, 2008.


Department of Defense

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism S&T Department (ONR 30) is interested in receiving white papers and
proposals for both Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development. The seven Thrust Areas for which proposals are sought are as follows: Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4); Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR); Force Protection; Logistics; Human Performance/Training & Education; Maneuver; and, Fires. For more information on these thrust areas, see the BAA. White Papers Due: 03 April 2008. Full Proposals Due: 22 May 2008.


Department of Homeland Security

Bacterial Population Genetics in a Forensics Context (BPGFC) - The goal of this research program is to develop algorithms and/or analytical tools that will assist investigators of bioterrorism events by providing precision and statistical power to inferences concerning the degree of relatedness among organisms or samples used in a bioterrorist event. The focus of this effort will be on research in the areas microbial ecology, population dynamics, host-pathogen interaction. genetic stability, statistical inference, and match criteria for the following select agents: Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Clostridium botulinum, Francisella tularensis, Brucella sp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei. The objectives include: Improving our understanding of the population genetics of these pathogens to include research on genome stability, host preferences and interactions, genetic mobility of virulence factors, polymorphic sites, mutational hot spots, geographical distribution, microbial ecology, pathogen lifecycles, natural reservoirs, effects of host – pathogen interaction, etc.; Improving methods for determining rates of mutation and recombination of the pathogen genomes and the identification of adaptive mutations that can have forensic utility; Establishing match criteria for discriminating “difference” or “sameness” in sample comparisons. Define the parameters for inclusion or exclusion in the context of a known sample and questioned sample. This must be backed by statistical parameters for acceptance or rejection of the null hypothesis; Developing efficient, economical, and statistically rigorous sampling strategies to acquire spatially referenced genetic information on reservoirs of these pathogens; and, Developing bioinformatics-based analytical tools for supporting hypotheses testing regarding pathogen origin that go beyond current phylogeny-based inferential methods and can meet forensic (legal) admissibility requirements of relevance and reliability. White Papers Due: 18 April 2008. Full Proposals Due: 30 May 2008.



This posting is excerpted from the weekly "Grant Opportunities" e-mail distributed by the Division of Science and Research, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. Contact Dr. Jan Taylor to receive the weekly e-mail.