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CUAHSI's Let's Talk About Water (LTAW) Program uses a simple film screening and panel discussion format to catalyze conversation between water science experts and the public. LTAW events have been a well-received and effective educational forum in which complex water issues are addressed through the use of film, followed by a moderated panel discussion related to the content of the film. By keeping the language simple and straightforward, the audience leaves with a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the complex water issues facing society.

The Cognitive Neuroscience program seeks highly innovative proposals aimed at advancing a rigorous understanding of human cognition, including how the human brain mediates action, affect, creativity, decision making, intentionality, perception, social processes, and thought.  Topics may bear on core functions such as attention, emotion, empathy, executive processes, language, learning, memory, music, sensory processing, sleep, representation of self and other, reasoning and rhythm. Topics may also include how human cognition develops and changes in the brain across the lifespan. The program is particularly interested in supporting the development of new techniques and technologies for recording, analyzing, and modeling complex brain activity and human brain mapping. Such projects should include a plan for sharing new software and other technologies with the research community at large.  Additionally, the program is interested in supporting projects addressing the growing amount of data collected across disparate lab environments, which may require new standardization, curation, and sharing solutions.  Studies of disease states (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Autism, brain damaged patients, Parkinson's disease and Schizophrenia) may be components of projects supported by this program. However, the emphasis in such projects must be to advance basic scientific understanding of healthy neural mechanisms, and not on disease etiology, diagnosis, or treatment.

NSF and selected foreign counterpart science and technology agencies sponsor international research institutes for U.S. graduate students in seven East Asia and Pacific locations at times set by the counterpart agencies between June and August each year. The Summer Institutes (EAPSI) operate similarly and the research visits to a particular location take place at the same time. Although applicants apply individually to participate in a Summer Institute, awardees become part of the cohort for each location. Applicants must propose a location, host scientist, and research project that is appropriate for the host site and duration of the international visit. An EAPSI award provides U.S. graduate students in science, engineering, and education: 1) first-hand research experiences in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, or Taiwan; 2) an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and 3) an orientation to the society, culture, and language. It is expected that EAPSI awards will help students initiate professional relationships to enable future collaboration with foreign counterparts. The NSF award includes participation in the Pre-Departure Orientation, summer stipend of $5,000, and roundtrip airplane ticket to the host location. EAPSI partner agencies pay in-country living expenses during the Summer Institutes.

Per language in the Oregon Natural Heritage Act, the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC), currently located at Portland State University, is the State agency responsible for rare and endangered invertebrates in Oregon. As such, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has granted the program limited authority to administer and manage a program for federally threatened and endangered invertebrate species, as provided under Section 6 of US Federal Endangered Species Act. As ORBIC is the clearing house that provides the monitors and coordinates and maintains Oregon's most comprehensive database of rare, threatened and endangered species, the BLM has been partnering with ORBIC for the past 20 years to conduct monitoring of the Oregon Coast western snowy plover population. This monitoring is a recovery task identified in the Western Snowy Plover Recovery Plan (USFWS 2007) and the Oregon Conservation Program for the Western Snowy Plover (ODFW 1994). The objective of this program is to continue annual monitoring of the Oregon Coast population of snowy plover reproductive success to assess whether recovery goals under the Endangered Species Act are being met.

The principal purpose of the project is to support the Government’s objective to provide opportunities for youth to learn about the environment as well as relevant job skills by spending time working on projects in National Parks. The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community often struggles to break into the job market, so crew participants in this project will particularly benefit from the professional development and job skills gained during this experience. The NPS receives the indirect benefit of completing conservation projects. The project engages crew participants, partners, and the Deaf/Hard of Hearing communities in shared resource stewardship. This project will align with DOI priorities such as Restoring Trust With Local Communities (in this case, the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community and rural New Mexican communities) and Modernizing Our Infrastructure (projects will address deferred maintenance whenever possible).

This project will build upon a wildlife conservation partnership established between 6 ⿿sister parks⿝ and other reserves in Arizona and Sonora and Baja California, Mexico that share similar ecological communities and resources. Montane springs occur in all the parks but their hydrology and biological value are poorly understood. We will seek to better understand the dynamics, groundwater connections, and threats to springs, while engaging with our international partners to address critical conservation issues through workshops, field work, and water chemistry analysis.