OARS funding Geology & Earth Science

Together with University Advancement, the Office for the Advancement of Research & Scholarship (OARS) is rolling out an new crowdfunding platform called HawksNest. Through HawksNest, alumni, family, and friends of the university can directly support the research, scholarship, and service projects of Miami University students, faculty, and staff. This is how HawksNest works: * Any Miami University student, faculty, or staff member may complete an online application to have a project considered for funding. * An internal review team assesses applications and posts approved projects on HawksNest for a maximum of 45 days. * Potential donors visit the site to learn about and pledge funds to approved projects. * Once a funding goal has been met, the project can begin! * Project managers use the site to keep donors up-to-date with information on the project's progress.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is seeking proposals to provide independent, objective analysis of scientific and technical topics of relevance to the Air Force and national defense. The activity would include refining areas of interest provided by the Air Force into organized, rigorous studies concerning, for many scientific and technical fields, determining the state of the art, projecting trends, utilizing science and technologies for national defense purposes, and identifying promising or necessary areas of additional study. This announcement solicits proposals for up to five (5) years of performance and up to $25M of funding, dependent on the needs of the Air Force and the availability of funding. All proposals must be unclassified, but work under any award may be classified.

This ROSES NRA (NNH15ZDA001N) solicits basic and applied research in support of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). This NRA covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, scientific balloon, sounding rocket, International Space Station, CubeSat and suborbital reusable launch vehicle investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system models; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data. Awards range from under $100K per year for focused, limited efforts (e.g., data analysis) to more than $1M per year for extensive activities (e.g., development of science experiment hardware). The funds available for awards in each program element offered in this ROSES NRA range from less than one to several million dollars, which allow selection from a few to as many as several dozen proposals depending on the program objectives and the submission of proposals of merit. Awards will be made as grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and inter- or intra-agency transfers depending on the nature of the proposing organization and/or program requirements. The typical per

3DEP was developed to respond to needs for high-quality topographic data and for a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation's natural and constructed features.This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is issued to facilitate the collection of lidar and derived elevation data for the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). The BAA continues the USGS's long-standing approach to elevation data acquisition through a combination of contracting through the USGS Geospatial Products and Services Contracts (GPSC) and partner acquisitions. The BAA is meant to provide increased visibility to these existing processes for data acquisition partnerships to the broadest stakeholder community possible.

The Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS) competition promotes the conduct of interdisciplinary research by teams of investigators in the social and behavioral sciences. Emphasis is placed on support for research that involves researchers from multiple SBE disciplinary fields and that integrates scientific theoretical approaches and methodologies from multiple SBE disciplinary fields. Emphasis also is placed on the significance of expected intellectual contributions that are likely to yield generalizable insights and information that will enhance theoretical perspectives and advance basic knowledge and capabilities across multiple SBE disciplinary fields. Although the IBSS competition will consider any proposal that addresses a topic for which the proposal makes a compelling case that the research will enhance broader theoretical understanding across multiple social and behavioral science fields, social and behavioral science researchers are especially encouraged to submit proposals for research on one of the following three broadly defined topics: Population Change; Sources and Consequences of Disparities; and Technology, New Media, and Social Networks.

GeoPRISMS (Geodynamic Processes at Rifting and Subducting Margins) Program investigates the coupled geodynamics, earth surface processes, and climate interactions that build and modify continental margins over a wide range of timescales. These interactions cross the shoreline and have applications to margin evolution and dynamics, construction of stratigraphic architecture, accumulation of economic resources, and associated geologic hazards and environmental management. The GeoPRISMS Program includes two broadly integrated science initiatives (Subduction Cycles and Deformation and Rift Initiation and Evolution), linked by five overarching scientific topics and themes, where transformative advances are likely to occur in the decade 2011-2020, and where a focused scientific program could be most effective. These overarching science topics include 1) Origin and evolution of continental crust; 2) Fluids, magmas and their interactions; 3) Climate-surface-tectonics feedbacks; 3) Geochemical cycles; and 5) Plate boundary deformation and geodynamics. Each of the initiatives has identified primary sites for focused investigations, as well as thematic studies that will complement primary site studies.

The BLM manages several million acres of land statewide as well as several thousand cultural and paleontological locations. Presently, the BLM Alaska Cultural and Paleontological staff has a limited ability to conduct specialized and detailed paleo-environmental analyses of these localities to obtain this kind of information as part of its management decision making. Therefore, the BLM needs to rely on an experienced partner institution in the CESU program to conduct detailed paleo-environmental analyses of cultural and non-cultural locations. These analyses would gather information about the timing of geological and ecological events that could have had a significant effect on prehistoric cultural or paleontological resources managed by the BLM in Alaska. The principal purpose/objective of this project is to collect, analyses, and curate paleo-environmental data obtained from environmental sampling through a variety of means. These means may include sediment coring, shovel testing, excavation or any other scientifically valid method for collecting paleo-environmental data. Analyses may include pollen analysis, soil chemistry, radiocarbon dating or any other scientifically valid laboratory analysis.

This ROSES NRA (NNH15ZDA001N) solicits basic and applied research in support of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). This NRA covers all aspects of basic and applied supporting research and technology in space and Earth sciences, including, but not limited to: theory, modeling, and analysis of SMD science data; aircraft, scientific balloon, sounding rocket, International Space Station, CubeSat and suborbital reusable launch vehicle investigations; development of experiment techniques suitable for future SMD space missions; development of concepts for future SMD space missions; development of advanced technologies relevant to SMD missions; development of techniques for and the laboratory analysis of both extraterrestrial samples returned by spacecraft, as well as terrestrial samples that support or otherwise help verify observations from SMD Earth system science missions; determination of atomic and composition parameters needed to analyze space data, as well as returned samples from the Earth or space; Earth surface observations and field campaigns that support SMD science missions; development of integrated Earth system models; development of systems for applying Earth science research data to societal needs; and development of applied information systems applicable to SMD objectives and data. Awards range from under $100K per year for focused, limited efforts (e.g., data analysis) to more than $1M per year for extensive activities (e.g., development of science experiment hardware). The funds available for awards in each program element offered in this ROSES NRA range from less than one to several million dollars, which allow selection from a few to as many as several dozen proposals depending on the program objectives and the submission of proposals of merit. Awards will be made as grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and inter- or intra-agency transfers depending on the nature of the proposing organization and/or program requirements. The typical per

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is supporting construction of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). NEON will offer the measurements, flexible operation, and research capability needed to assess long-term biosphere change and vastly expand our knowledge of regional and continental scale biology. When complete, the NEON observatory will collect and provide high-quality, standardized data from 106 sites (60 terrestrial, 36 aquatic and 10 aquatic experimental) across the U.S. using instrument measurements and field sampling. The sites have been selected strategically to represent different regions of vegetation, landforms, climate, ecosystem performance, and gradients of change. NEON's site-based, remotely sensed and continental-scale data are provided as a range of scaled data products that can be used to describe changes in the nation's ecosystem through space and time. Several NEON sites are nearing completion and have begun operations; many more sites will be completed during the coming year. Provisional NEON data from sites and airborne observations, along with protocols and documentation, are now available on the NEON Data Portal. In addition, NEON-collected specimens and samples are available and can be requested for research purposes.

EarthCube is a community-driven activity to transform the conduct of geosciences research and education, sponsored through a partnership between the NSF Directorate of Geosciences and Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. EarthCube aims to create a well-connected and facile environment to share data and knowledge in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner, thus accelerating the ability of the geosciences community 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 needs of geoscientists.

The Geosciences and Education and Human Resources Directorates are partnering to advance and develop understanding of learning environments that build upon the rich interdisciplinary resources emerging from polar investments. To that end, the Division of Polar Programs (PLR), the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) and the Division of Research on Learning (DRL) encourage proposals that will leverage the extensive National Science Foundation (NSF) investment in polar sciences and infrastructure, and STEM education research and development, to promote an informed citizenry and the next generation of polar scientists. In order to advance polar science educational opportunities, PLR, DUE and DRL will accept and review proposals for research and development projects that facilitate the use of data from polar regions in (1) undergraduate education or (2) informal science education. Proposals in response to this Dear Colleague Letter must be submitted to either the Improving Undergraduate Science Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR) deadline of November 3, 2015, or the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) deadline of November 4, 2015.

MGI recognizes the importance of materials science to the well-being and advancement of society and aims to "deploy advanced materials at least twice as fast as possible today, at a fraction of the cost." DMREF integrates materials discovery, development, property optimization, and systems design and optimization, with each employing a toolset to be developed within a materials innovation infrastructure. The toolset will synergistically integrate advanced computational methods and visual analytics with data-enabled scientific discovery and innovative experimental techniques to revolutionize our approach to materials science and engineering.

Despite centuries of discovery, most of our planet's biodiversity remains unknown. The scale of the unknown diversity on Earth is especially troubling given the rapid and permanent loss of biodiversity across the globe. The goal of the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is to transform, by 2020, how we describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth. This campaign promotes novel integrative approaches to fill the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. 

The goal of the ASR program is to improve the scientific understanding and treatment of clouds, aerosols, and radiative transfer processes in atmospheric models, that in turn are combined with ocean, terrestrial, and ice sheet models to make projections of climate change. 

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) supports fundamental research on populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. Scientific emphases range across many evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes at all spatial and temporal scales. Areas of research include biodiversity, phylogenetic systematics, molecular evolution, life history evolution, natural selection, ecology, biogeography, ecosystem structure, function and services, conservation biology, global change, and biogeochemical cycles. Research on organismal origins, functions, relationships, interactions, and evolutionary history may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative experiments; synthesis activities; as well as theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling.

The Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) program develops long-term partnerships among industry, academe, and government. The Centers are catalyzed by an investment from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and are primarily supported by industry Center members, with NSF taking a supporting role in the development and evolution of the Center. Each Center is established to conduct research that is of interest to both the industry members and the Center faculty. An I/UCRC contributes to the nation's research infrastructure base and enhances the intellectual capacity of the engineering and science workforce through the integration of research and education. As appropriate, an I/UCRC uses international collaborations to advance these goals within the global context.

The P3 competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Award program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and protection of the planet -- people, prosperity, and the planet - the three pillars of sustainability. 

The Geomorphology and Land-use Dynamics Program supports innovative research into processes that shape and modify landscapes over a variety of length and time scales. The program encourages research that quantitatively investigates the coupling and feedback among such processes, their rates, and their relative roles, especially in the contexts of variation in climatic, biologic, and tectonic influences and in light of changes due to human impacts. Such research may involve fieldwork, modeling, experimentation, theoretical development, or combinations thereof.

Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology supports studies of: (1) the changing aspects of life, ecology, environments, and biogeography in geologic time based on fossil plants, animals, and microbes; (2) all aspects of the Earth's sedimentary lithosphere - its insights into the geological processes and rich organic and inorganic resources locked in rock sequences; (3) the science of dating and measuring the sequence of events and rates of geological processes as manifested in Earth's past sedimentary and biological (fossil) record; (4) the geologic record of the production, transportation, and deposition of modern and ancient physical and chemical sediments; and (5) understanding Earth's deep-time (pre-Holocene) climate systems.

The BLM has worked with the Geological Society of America GeoCorps America Program for over 15 years to provide geoscientists, college students, professionals, and retirees, hands on experience in overall land management. The need for geoscience expertise is great. In many cases, geoscience is not adequately addressed in education, resource management, geological hazards mitigation, and other geological work on public lands. The GeoCorps program, dating from 1997, strives to increase the number of geoscientists able to provide educational outreach to a multitude of diverse land managers in order to address a more global approach for overall land management decisions and to raise the publicÿfds knowledge and awareness of the value of geoscience resources on public lands. The objective of this program is to continue to provide geoscientists, college students, professionals, and retirees, hands on experience in resource management, geological hazards mitigation, and other geological work related to overall land management in order to develop skills and abilities in geosciences.