Group items tagged

The Tectonics Program supports a broad range of field, laboratory, computational, and theoretical investigations aimed at understanding the deformation of the terrestrial continental lithosphere (i.e. above the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary). The Program focuses on deformation processes and their tectonic drivers that operate at any depth within the continental lithosphere, on time-scales of decades/centuries (e.g. active tectonics) and longer, and at micro- to plate boundary/orogenic belt length-scales.

The Plant Biotic Interactions (PBI) program supports research on the processes that mediate beneficial and antagonistic interactions between plants and their viral, bacterial, oomycete, fungal, plant, and invertebrate symbionts, pathogens and pests. This joint NSF-NIFA program supports projects focused on current and emerging model and non-model systems, and agriculturally relevant plants. The program's scope extends from fundamental mechanisms to translational efforts, with the latter seeking to put into agricultural practice insights gained from basic research on the mechanisms that govern plant biotic interactions. Projects must be strongly justified in terms of fundamental biological processes and/or relevance to agriculture and may be purely fundamental or applied, or include aspects of both perspectives. All types of symbiosis are appropriate, including commensalism, mutualism, parasitism, and host-pathogen interactions. Research may focus on the biology of the plant host, its pathogens, pests or symbionts, interactions among these, or on the function of plant-associated microbiomes. The program welcomes proposals on the dynamics of initiation, transmission, maintenance and outcome of these complex associations, including studies of metabolic interactions, immune recognition and signaling, host-symbiont regulation, reciprocal responses among interacting species and mechanisms associated with self/non-self recognition such as those in pollen-pistil interactions.

NSF currently supports 28 LTER sites, and the solicitation is open to renewal proposals only. To address ecological questions that cannot be resolved with short-term observations or experiments, NSF established the Long Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) in 1980. Two components differentiate LTER research from projects supported by other NSF programs: 1) the research is located at specific sites chosen to represent major ecosystem types or natural biomes, and 2) it emphasizes the study of ecological phenomena over long periods of time based on data collected in five core areas. Long-term studies are critical to achieve an integrated understanding of how components of ecosystems interact as well as to test ecological theory. Ongoing research at LTER sites is expected to contribute to the development and testing of fundamental ecological theories and significantly advance understanding of the long-term dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems. It often integrates multiple disciplines and, through cross-site interactions may examine patterns or processes over broad spatial scales.

Duties are mainly assisting with field data collection and related data management for the Networksâ¿¿ vegetation and water quality monitoring programs. Other duties may include assisting with early detection of invasive plants, and with monitoring air quality, freshwater mussels and cave resources.

The goal of research funded under the interdisciplinary P2C2 solicitation is to utilize key geological, chemical, atmospheric (gas in ice cores), and biological records of climate system variability to provide insights into the mechanisms and rate of change that characterized Earth's past climate variability, the sensitivity of Earth's climate system to changes in forcing, and the response of key components of the Earth system to these changes.

The goal of the NSF Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) program solicitation is to accelerate the creation of the scientific and engineering foundations that will enable smart and connected communities to bring about new levels of economic opportunity and growth, safety and security, health and wellness, and overall quality of life. This goal will be achieved through integrative research projects that pair advances in technological and social dimensions with meaningful community engagement. For the purposes of this solicitation, communities are defined as having geographically-delineated boundaries-such as towns, cities, counties, neighborhoods, community districts, rural areas, and tribal regions-consisting of various populations, with the structure and ability to engage in meaningful ways with proposed research activities. A "smart and connected community" is, in turn, a community that synergistically integrates intelligent technologies with the natural and built environments, including infrastructure, to improve the social, economic, and environmental well-being of those who live, work, or travel within it. A proposal for an S&CC Integrative Research Grants must include the following: Integrative research that addresses the technological and social dimensions of smart and connected communities; Meaningful community engagement that integrates community stakeholders within the project; A management plan that summarizes how the project will be managed across disciplines, institutions, and community entities; and An evaluation plan for assessing short-, medium-, and long-term impacts of the proposed activities.

Post-Launch Radiometric Calibration and Product Validation of Landsat Sensors

This program seeks to enhance and expand the national resource of digital data documenting existing vouchered biological and paleontological collections and to advance scientific knowledge by improving access to digitized information (including images) residing in vouchered scientific collections across the United States. The information associated with various collections of organisms, such as geographic, paleogeographic and stratigraphic distribution, environmental habitat data, phenology, information about associated organisms, collector field notes, and tissues and molecular data extracted from the specimens, is a rich resource providing the baseline from which to further biodiversity research and provide critical information about existing gaps in our knowledge of life on earth.

The Petrology and Geochemistry Program supports basic research on the formation of planet Earth, including its accretion, early differentiation, and subsequent petrologic and geochemical modification via igneous and metamorphic processes. Proposals in this program generally address the petrology and high-temperature geochemistry of igneous and metamorphic rocks (including mantle samples), mineral physics, economic geology, and volcanology. Proposals that are focused on the development of analytical tools, theoretical and computational models, and experimental techniques for applications by the igneous and metamorphic petrology, and high temperature geochemistry and geochronology communities are also invited.

In consideration of the challenges facing many in our country, NSF is extending the upcoming proposal deadline for the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) until 5:00 p.m. submitter's local time on Tuesday, August 11, 2020.

The previous AccelNet solicitation (NSF 19-501) issued in 2019 called for international networks of networks addressing scientific grand challenges that require significant international research coordination, either aligned with one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas or community-identified grand challenges. This new solicitation clarifies definitions, budgetary information, and announces broader target areas, as well as changes to submission requirements.

The NSF ADVANCE program provides grants to enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and to mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in the academic profession and workplaces. Systemic (or organizational) inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in organizational culture and climate. For example, practices in academic departments that result in the inequitable allocation of service or teaching assignments may impede research productivity, delay advancement, and create a culture of differential treatment and rewards. Similarly, policies and procedures that do not mitigate implicit bias in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions could lead to women and racial and ethnic minorities being evaluated less favorably, perpetuating historical under-participation in STEM academic careers and contributing to an academic climate that is not inclusive. All NSF ADVANCE proposals are expected to use intersectional approaches in the design of systemic change strategies in recognition that gender, race and ethnicity do not exist in isolation from each other and from other categories of social identity. The solicitation includes four funding tracks: Institutional Transformation (IT), Adaptation, Partnership, and Catalyst, in support of the NSF ADVANCE program goal to broaden the implementation of systemic strategies that promote equity for STEM faculty in academic workplaces and the academic profession.

The geosciences continue to lag behind other STEM fields in creating a diverse community of researchers, scholars, and practitioners. Strategies employed to improve the number of women in the geosciences have not been successful in "moving the needle" for the recruitment and retention of geoscientists from historically excluded and underrepresented groups like people of color and those with disabilities. In 2016, NSF launched the GOLD Program (Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity) with the mission to achieve greater and more systemic diversity by creating a network of diversity and inclusion "champions" who can generate greater implementation of evidence-based best practices and resources. While geoscience community members generally agree upon the importance and ideals of broadening participation, most do not have the skills and competencies that allow them to be effective leaders in diversity. To expand the reach of current GOLD efforts, bring to scale related diversity activities in the geosciences, or develop unique approaches for greater inclusion in the geoscience education and research community, NSF welcomes submission of supplemental funding requests, conference proposals, EAGER proposals, and RCNs.

NOTE: Webpage provides information about general webinar and BIO Directorate breakout. If you are interested in breakouts for other directorates, contact Heather Johnston (johnsthb@MiamiOH.edu) in Research & Innovation for information. On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 and Thursday, November 5, 2020, NSF will host outreach webinars with information about the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI)-1 funding opportunity (NSF 21-505). The Mid-scale RI Big Idea is intended to provides an agile, Foundation-wide process to fund experimental research capabilities in the mid-scale range ($6 million to $100 million), between the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and Major Facilities thresholds.  Recently, the solicitation (NSF 21-505) for the Mid-scale RI-1 program (for infrastructure with total project cost of $6 million up until, but not including, $20 million) was published with a deadline of January 7, 2021 for preliminary proposals. Each session will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST and have two parts: a general Mid-scale RI-1 information session (1:00 p.m. -1:40 p.m. EST) with Q&A followed by Directorate-specific breakouts (1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST) where more technical questions will be addressed. The information presented on Day 1 will be the same as the information presented on Day 2.