OARS funding Geology & Earth Science

The OFRN Round 5 Sustaining Ohio's Aeronautical Readiness and Innovation in the Next Generation (SOARING) Opportunity Announcement is focused on expanding Ohio's research and development capabilities across the state's academic institutions and business in support of Ohio-based federal partner needs, which ultimately promotes Ohio's economic growth.  OFRN Round 5 Areas of Interest (AOIs) include topics in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Artificial Intelligence, Human Factors, Data Analytics, Space Commercialization, Quantum Communications and Advanced Power Systems.  This announcement seeks to leverage Ohio's unique research capabilities and its federal partner's expertise to accelerate technology development and innovation by increasing collaboration across government, academic, and industry organizations. 

For FY2021, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) have been added to the national priority areas in which the NRT Program encourages proposals. We seek proposals on any interdisciplinary research theme of national priority, with special emphasis on AI and QISE and the six research areas within NSF's 10 Big Ideas. The NSF research Big Ideas are Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR), The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF), Navigating the New Arctic (NNA), Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (WoU), The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution (QL), and Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype (URoL). Proposals that align with one of these designated priority areas should contain a title to reflect that alignment, as described in the program solicitation (e.g., NRT-AI: title, NRT-HDR: title, NRT-QL: title). Proposals may be submitted under two tracks (i.e., Track 1 and Track 2). Track 1 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $3 million for projects with a focus on STEM graduate students in research-based PhD and/or master's degree programs. Track 2 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $2 million; NSF requires that Track 2 proposals focus on programs from institutions not classified as Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity (R1). Requirements for Track 1 and Track 2 are identical.

Our goal is to bend the Keeling Curve. To that end, our team is looking for projects with a proven track record of taking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. We've developed five categories, each one addressing a specific sector of climate innovation. We award $25,000 to two projects in each category annually. Capture & Utilization -- Projects in this category are advancing technological and nature-based strategies for capturing and/or utilizing heat-trapping gases from the air or oceans. Energy -- Projects in this category decarbonize energy, support zero-carbon energy innovations, and lead the way in improving the supply, distribution, and access of low or zero-emissions energy systems worldwide. Finance -- Projects in this category are making financial mechanisms and economics work for greenhouse gas reduction and/or reversal ventures. Social & Cultural Pathways -- Projects in this category are changing the way people consider, understand, and act concerning human impacts on planet Earth. They are trying to answer the question: what does it take, socially and culturally, to develop beyond fossil fuels? Transport & Mobility -- Projects that apply in this category are reimagining and reinventing all types of vehicles, fuels, and mobility options for both people and products. These projects will confront the carbon footprint of the vehicles themselves and the routes traveled.

"JobsOhio is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss initiatives and strategic assets within the Dayton/Western and Cincinnati/Southwest Ohio region. Join us Thursday, December 17 at 1:30 - 3 p.m. to learn more about our strategy and objectives as well as introduce the advisors and leadership for this sector. JobsOhio's President and CEO, J.P. Nauseef and Managing Director of Military and Federal, Elaine Bryant and will be joined by notable guest speakers who will offer their expertise and alignment on the statewide initiative."

The L'Oréal USA For Women in Science fellowship program awards five women postdoctoral scientists annually with grants of $60,000 each for their contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and commitment to serving as role models for younger generations.

The RISA program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decision-makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. Through regionally-focused and interdisciplinary research and engagement teams, RISA builds and expands the Nation's capacity to adapt and become resilient to extreme weather events and climate change. RISA teams accomplish this through co-developed applied research and partnerships with public and private communities. A central tenet of the RISA program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public. As such, the RISA program supports a network of people, prioritizing wide participation in learning by doing, learning through adapting, and managing risk with uncertain information. Early decades of the program focused on understanding the use of climate information at regional scales (e.g., through experimental seasonal outlooks), improving predictions and scenarios, building capacity for drought early warning, and advancing the science of climate impact assessments. More recently, emphasis has shifted to address the growing urgency to advance approaches that tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning, implementation, and building community resilience. To do so, RISA continues to prioritize collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities.

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) embodies an important forward-looking response by the Foundation to these profound challenges. NNA seeks innovations in fundamental convergence research across the social, natural, environmental, computing and information sciences, and engineering that address the interactions or connections among natural and built environments and social systems, and how these connections inform our understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects. This solicitation requests proposals that fall within one of three tracks: NNA Planning Grants, dedicated to developing convergence research questions and teams to tackle projects of larger scope in the future; NNA Research Grants, aimed to support creative projects on fundamental research that address convergent scientific and engineering challenges related to the rapidly changing Arctic; and NNA Collaboratory Grants, designed to support collaborative teams undertaking research and training initiatives on critical themes of a broad scope related to the New Arctic.

This is one of two virtual OFRN Round 5 funding information sessions before the formal release of the OFRN SOARING Round 5 RFP. Each session will have the same structure. During the session, OFRN will give a brief overview of the pre-release document, and then OFRN federal partner participants will be available to address specific questions relating to the Areas of Interest.

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for Atmospheric System Research (ASR) within BER's Earth and Environmental Systems Sciences Division (EESSD). ASR supports research on key cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative transfer processes that affect the Earth's radiative balance and hydrological cycle, especially processes that limit the predictive ability of regional and global models. This FOA solicits research grant applications for observational, data analysis, and/or modeling studies that use observations[1] supported by BER, including the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, to improve understanding and model representation of: 1) aerosol-cloud interactions, 2) aerosol processes, 3) warm boundary layer processes, 4) Arctic atmospheric processes from ARM's Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE) and Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) campaigns, and/or 5) convective cloud processes from ARM's Cloud, Aerosol, and Complex Terrain Interactions (CACTI) field campaign. All research supported from awards under this FOA is intended to benefit the public through increasing our understanding of the Earth system.

The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in collaboration with AAAS will offer an Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) webinar focusing on opportunities for funding in the IUSE: EHR program, specifically associated with the Institutional and Community Transformation (ICT) track of the IUSE program. An audio archive and slides will be posted after the webinar at https://aaas-iuse.org. The IUSE: EHR program "seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for all undergraduates." The program supports proposals interested in improving undergraduate education, developing faculty expertise, preparing K-12 teachers, and providing all undergraduate students with STEM competencies and a basic understanding of STEM concepts and principles. All projects must contribute to the body of knowledge about what works in undergraduate STEM education and the conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. The ICT track seeks to fund innovative work on systemic change that may be measured at the departmental, institutional, or multi-institutional level, or across communities of STEM educators and/or educational researchers. ICT projects are expected to include one or more theories of change to guide the proposed work and this webinar will provide information about expectations for Identifying and incorporating these theories of change.

The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in collaboration with AAAS will offer an Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) webinar focusing on opportunities for funding in the IUSE: EHR program, specifically associated with expectations of the new IUSE solicitation, NSF 19-601. An audio archive and slides will be posted after the webinar at https://aaas-iuse.org. The IUSE: EHR program "seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for all undergraduates." The program supports proposals interested in improving undergraduate education, developing faculty expertise, preparing K-12 teachers, and providing all undergraduate students with STEM competencies and a basic understanding of STEM concepts and principles. All projects must contribute to the body of knowledge about what works in undergraduate STEM education and the conditions that lead to improved STEM teaching and learning. 

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.

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.

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 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.

Growing Convergence Research (GCR) at the National Science Foundation was identified as one of 10 Big Ideas. Convergence research is a means for solving vexing research problems, in particular, complex problems focusing on societal needs. It entails integrating knowledge, methods, and expertise from different disciplines and forming novel frameworks to catalyze scientific discovery and innovation. GCR identifies Convergence Research as having two primary characteristics: Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Convergence Research is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs. Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or even disciplines can form sustained interactions across multiple communities. A distinct characteristic of convergence research, in contrast to other forms of multidisciplinary research, is that from the inception, the convergence paradigm intentionally brings together intellectually diverse researchers and stakeholders to frame the research questions, develop effective ways of communicating across disciplines and sectors, adopt common frameworks for their solution, and, when appropriate, develop a new scientific vocabulary. Research teams practicing convergence aim at developing sustainable relationships that may not only create solutions to the problem that engendered the collaboration, but also develop novel ways of framing related research questions and open new research vistas.

EarthCube is a community-driven activity sponsored through a partnership between the NSF Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) within the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) to transform research in the academic geosciences community. EarthCube aims to create a well-connected and facile environment to share data and knowledge in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner, thus accelerating our ability to understand and predict the Earth system. Achieving EarthCube will require a long-term dialog between NSF and the interested scientific communities to develop cyberinfrastructure that is thoughtfully and systematically built to meet the current and future requirements of geoscientists. New avenues will be supported to gather community requirements and priorities for the elements of EarthCube, and to capture the best technologies to meet these current and future needs. The EarthCube portfolio will consist of interconnected projects and activities that engage the geosciences, cyberinfrastructure, computer science, and associated communities. The portfolio of activities and funding opportunities will evolve over time depending on the status of the EarthCube effort and the scientific and cultural needs of the geosciences community.

The MCA offers an opportunity for scientists and engineers at the Associate Professor rank (or equivalent) to substantively enhance and advance their research program through synergistic and mutually beneficial partnerships, typically at an institution other than their home institution. Projects that envision new insights on existing problems or identify new but related problems previously inaccessible without new methodology or expertise from other fields are encouraged. Partners from outside the PI's own sub-discipline or discipline are encouraged, but not required, to enhance interdisciplinary networking and convergence across science and engineering fields. By (re)-investing in mid-career investigators, NSF aims to enable and grow a more diverse scientific workforce (more women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities) at high academic ranks, who remain engaged and active in cutting-edge research.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), ONR Global, and Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) are interested in receiving proposals for Long-Range S&T Projects which offer potential for advancement and improvement of Navy and Marine Corps operations. Readers should note that this is an announcement to declare ONR, ONRG and MCWLs broad role in competitive funding of meritorious research across a spectrum of science and engineering disciplines.

Research!America is requesting proposals from graduate student and postdoc-led science policy groups to participate in the third year of our civic engagement initiative begun in 2018. This year, Research!America provides funding to student groups for virtual activities that focus on civic engagement and sparking dialogue with public officials, local community leaders, and the public around science and health research.