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The AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, established in 2010, recognizes early-career scientists and engineers who demonstrate excellence in their contribution to public engagement with science activities. A monetary prize of $5,000, a commemorative plaque, complimentary registration to the AAAS Annual Meeting, and reimbursement for reasonable hotel and travel expenses to attend the AAAS Annual Meeting to receive the prize are given to the recipient. Nominee must be an early-career scientist or engineer in academia, government or industry actively conducting research in any scientific discipline (including social sciences and medicine).  "Early career" is defined as an individual who has been in his/her current field for less than seven years and pre-tenure or job equivalent. Post-doctoral students are eligible for this award. Nominee will have demonstrated excellence in his/her contribution to public engagement with science activities, with a focus on interactive dialogue between the individual and a non-scientific, public audience(s). Types of public engagement activities might include: informal science education, public outreach, public policy, and/or science communication activities, such as mass media, public dialogue, radio, TV and film, science café, science exhibit, science fair, and social and online media.

The Knight Foundation believes that great public spaces can transform cities by fostering civic life, drawing people out of their homes and into the community, and encouraging neighbors to be together and interact.  To be eligible, candidates must have created or influenced the creation of a great public space or spaces that resulted in community transformation and possess the following attributes: a trackable performance record of exceptional public space work; a demonstrated commitment to the value of public spaces in advancing civic engagement and building stronger communities; and the potential to make significant new contributions to the use of public space in the community.

This single-source funding opportunity announcement (FOA) Enhancing Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capacities in the Americas in Collaboration with the National Center for Prevention Programs and Disease Control (CENAPRECE) in Mexico invites an application for a five-year cooperative agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC) to support CENAPRECE (an agency within Mexico Secretariat of Health [SALUD]). The envisioned ASPR-FUMEC-CENAPRECE collaboration sustains and advances the long-standing relationship between the United States and Mexico aimed at safeguarding each country from public health threats and fulfilling the goals of multiple international frameworks and agreements, including the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) (http://www.who.int/ihr/publications/9789241580496/en/). Projects and activities proposed by CENAPRECE for this agreement will combine strategic coordination of public health preparedness and emergency response programs as well as technical collaborations to strengthen the capacities of both countries and the region to prevent, detect, report, and respond to public health emergencies of all types, focusing on pandemic influenza, other emerging infectious diseases, and chemical, biological, and radiological (terrorism) hazards.

This opportunity aims to facilitate the translation of NSF's technology investments in Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects into the market place. Furthermore, in instances where an ERC is funded with a mission to support the public good through the implementation of critical public engineering systems (the infrastructure), this includes facilitating implementations that realize the intended public benefit. The specific goals of this opportunity are to: Speed the translation of ERC-generated research and technology advances to the marketplace or its implementation into critical public engineered systems and engage undergraduate and graduate students more directly in the innovation process through collaboration between an ERC and a small business concern, (OPTION 1) and Strengthen the research capacity of active NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II awardees to speed the entry of their innovations into the marketplace and broaden its portfolio of marketable products through collaboration with an ERC (OPTION 2).

This opportunity aims to facilitate the translation of NSF's technology investments in Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects into the market place. Furthermore, in instances where an ERC is funded with a mission to support the public good through the implementation of critical public engineering systems (the infrastructure), this includes facilitating implementations that realize the intended public benefit.The specific goals of this opportunity are to:Speed the translation of ERC-generated research and technology advances to the marketplace or its implementation into critical public engineered systems and engage undergraduate and graduate students more directly in the innovation process through collaboration between an ERC and a small business concern, (OPTION 1) andStrengthen the research capacity of active NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II awardees to speed the entry of their innovations into the marketplace and broaden its portfolio of marketable products through collaboration with an ERC (OPTION 2).

USAID/Cambodia seeks to make a five-year award focused on the goal of improving the quality of public and private health services in Cambodia in a sustainable manner through technical assistance to national and sub-national health systems. The activity will achieve this goal through four objectives: 1) improved policies, guidelines and standards for streamlined quality assurance; 2) increased efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery; 3) strengthened regulatory framework, implementation, and enforcement; and 4) strengthened pre-service public health training. Under these objectives, the award will support the Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Departments, Operational District Offices and Referral Hospital Management to improve the quality of health services through targeted technical assistance and limited introduction of new techniques, approaches, and technologies that improve quality of health services in both the public and private sector. The award will build upon existing, effective quality assurance systems and ensure that they incorporate a focus on USAID/Cambodia's technical priorities (maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria). In addition, a major focus of the award will be ensuring quality of health services provided in the private sector. This will include, but is not limited to, strengthening licensing and regulation of service providers and monitoring of service quality in the private sector toward the development of an accreditation system for both public and private providers.

The purpose of the Jobs Plus Pilot program is to develop locally-based, job-driven approaches to increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement, technology skills, and financial literacy for residents of public housing. The place-based Jobs Plus Pilot program addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through earned income disregards for working families, and a set of services designed to support work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational advancement, and financial counseling. Ideally, these incentives will saturate the target developments, building a culture of work and making working families the norm. The Jobs Plus Pilot program consists of the following three core components: Employment-Related Services Financial Incentives – Jobs Plus Earned Income Disregard (JPEID) Community Supports for Work Applicants are encouraged to develop key partnerships to connect participants with any other needed services to remove barriers to work. An Individualized Training and Services Plan (ITSP) should be developed for each participant to establish goals and service strategies, and to track progress. Background HUD, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the MDRC, through a public-private partnership, designed and supported the Jobs Plus program model between 1998 and 2003. HUD has issued two separate evaluation reports on the demonstration, in an effort to identify and document the most promising approaches to increasing employment among families in public housing. Each evaluation showed ongoing positive effects for residents when the program was well-implemented and included the three core elements.

This opportunity aims to facilitate the translation of NSF's technology investments in Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects into the market place. Furthermore, in instances where an ERC is funded with a mission to support the public good through the implementation of critical public engineering systems (the infrastructure), this includes facilitating implementations that realize the intended public benefit. The specific goals of this opportunity are to: Speed the translation of ERC-generated research and technology advances to the marketplace or its implementation into critical public engineered systems and engage undergraduate and graduate students more directly in the innovation process through collaboration between an ERC and a small business concern, (OPTION 1) and Strengthen the research capacity of active NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II awardees to speed the entry of their innovations into the marketplace and broaden its portfolio of marketable products through collaboration with an ERC (OPTION 2).

Over the past few years, Project Open Data (https://project-open-data.cio.gov/) has sought to identify and share best practices, examples, and software code to assist federal agencies with opening up access to data. Moreover, there have been efforts to scale up "open data" across various application sectors, including health, energy, climate, education and learning, finance, public safety, and global development, unlocking valuable data and improving decision making by making data resources more open and accessible to innovators and the public. NSF has established a national network of Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs and Spokes (BD Hubs and Spokes), comprising members from academia, industry, and government, with the goal of igniting new public-private partnerships across the Nation in big data research and development as well as training and education. Facilitating access to data is one of the objectives of the BD Hubs and Spokes. Collectively, these initiatives constitute an important first step in supporting the growing and interdisciplinary data science research community, which requires access to real-world datasets, e.g., as training data that can further data science, including machine learning capabilities, and enhance knowledge and decision making in various application sectors.

The AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, established in 2010, recognizes early-career scientists and engineers who demonstrate excellence in their contribution to public engagement with science activities. A monetary prize of $5,000, a commemorative plaque, complimentary registration to the AAAS Annual Meeting, and reimbursement for reasonable hotel and travel expenses to attend the AAAS Annual Meeting to receive the prize are given to the recipient.

The NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program is seeking applications from organizations with significant geospatial expertise and experience working with public safety to conduct activities that will allow first responders to rapidly and successfully incorporate new and emerging indoor mapping, tracking, navigation, and location-based services capabilities into their day-to-day operations.

The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the Government. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

The Operations Engineering (OE) program supports fundamental research on advanced analytical methods for improving operations in complex decision-driven environments. Analytical methods include, but are not limited to, deterministic and stochastic modeling, optimization, decision and risk analysis, data science, and simulation. Methodological research is highly encouraged but must be motivated by problems that have potential for high impact in engineering applications. Application domains of particular interest to the program arise in commercial enterprises (e.g., production/manufacturing systems and distribution of goods, delivery of services), the public sector/government (e.g., public safety and security), and public/private partnerships (e.g., health care, environment and energy). The program also welcomes operations research in new and emerging domains and addressing systemic societal or technological problems. The OE program particularly values cross-disciplinary proposals that leverage application-specific expertise with strong quantitative analysis in a decision-making context. Proposals for methodological research that are not strongly motivated by high-potential engineering applications are not appropriate for this program.

The Resident Opportunity & Self Sufficiency (ROSS) Service Coordinator (SC) program funds eligible applicants to hire Service Coordinators to coordinate use of assistance under the Public Housing program with public and private resources, for supportive services and resident empowerment activities. Service Coordinators assess the needs of public and Indian housing residents and link them to supportive services that enable participants to increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for welfare assistance, and make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency. In the case of elderly/disabled residents, the Service Coordinator links participants to supportive services which enable them to age/remain in-place thereby avoiding costlier forms of care. Funds awarded to applicants may be used for (1)service coordinator functions, (2) training and travel related to professional and/or program development, (3) and administration cost.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is seeking applications from qualified organizations for Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) grants. These centers will conduct high quality research and help translate scientific discoveries into practice for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence that support NCIPC’s priorities and mission. ICRCs are expected to blend Outreach, Training and Education, and Research activities into a program to reduce the number, risk, and public health impact of injury and violence in the U.S. The over-arching goals for the NCIPC ICRC program are to: Build the scientific base for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence. Integrate, in the context of a national program, professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, biostatistics, public health, health economics, law, criminal justice, and engineering to perform research and provided technical expertise in order to prevent and control injuries and/or violence more effectively. Encourage investigators to propose research that involves intervention development or translation of effective programs among individuals, organizations, or communities. Provide technical assistance to injury and/or violence prevention and control programs in their geographic region, including other researchers; universities; medical institutions; community groups; state and local government agencies, public health agencies; and policy makers. Act as sources of injury and/or violence prevention and control information for their constituents and stakeholders at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels.

The Operations Engineering (OE) program supports fundamental research on advanced analytical methods for improving operations in complex decision-driven environments. Analytical methods include, but are not limited to, deterministic and stochastic modeling, optimization, decision and risk analysis, data science, and simulation. Methodological research is highly encouraged but must be motivated by problems that have potential for high impact in engineering applications. Application domains of particular interest to the program arise in commercial enterprises (e.g., production/manufacturing systems and distribution of goods, delivery of services), the public sector/government (e.g., public safety and security), and public/private partnerships (e.g., health care, environment and energy). The program also welcomes operations research in new and emerging domains and addressing systemic societal or technological problems. The OE program particularly values cross-disciplinary proposals that leverage application-specific expertise with strong quantitative analysis in a decision-making context. Proposals for methodological research that are not strongly motivated by high-potential engineering applications are not appropriate for this program.

To demonstrate and build on these emerging technologies, a wide range of institutions, both public and private, have initiated and invested in major pilot programs. These efforts are also supported by U.S. DOT through several federal initiatives such as the following: · CV Pilot Deployment Program, · The Smart City Challenge, · Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment Program of FHWA As these efforts continue to expand, the amount and quality of data surrounding the application of emerging technologies is also expanding. In response, an improved collaborative approach to data analytics has the potential to improve our ability to address transportation planning and policy questions critical to informed and effective decision-making at state and local public agencies. State and local transportation agencies are eager to learn from the experiences of early adopters of changing and emerging transportation technologies. Formulating a framework that establishes specific procedures for identifying, collecting, aggregating, analyzing, and disseminating data should significantly contribute to effective transportation decision-making. The objectives of this research are the following: 1. To develop a framework for identifying, collecting, aggregating, analyzing, and disseminating data from emerging public and private transportation technologies. This framework will address, at a minimum, data from CV/AV deployments as well as other data linked to smart city and related transportation initiatives. 2. To outline a process for using this framework to help decision-makers incorporate data from emerging technologies into transportation planning and policy.

The Acquisition Research Program (ARP) (www.acquisitionresearch.net) conducts and supports research in academic disciplines that bear on public procurement policy and management. These include economics, finance, financial management, information systems, organization theory, operations management, human resources management, risk management, and marketing, as well as the traditional public procurement areas such as contracting, program/project management, logistics, test and evaluation and systems engineering management. The ARP is interested in innovative proposals that will provide unclassified and non-proprietary findings suitable for publication in open scholarly literature. Studies of government processes, systems, or policies should also expand the body of knowledge and theory of processes, systems, or policies outside the government. The following research areas are of special interest: Leading-edge techniques in data collection, management, visual analytics and decision-making; Robust risk modeling techniques; Performance metrics and methodologies; Collaboration and cross-functional teams; and, Model-Based Acquisition. Offerors bear prime responsibility for the design, management, direction and conduct of research. Researchers should exercise judgment and original thought toward attaining the goals within broad parameters of the research areas proposed and the resources provided. Offerors are encouraged to be creative in the selection of the technical and management processes and approaches and consider the greatest and broadest impact possible.

The Keck Futures Initiative - a program of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine, with the support of the W.M. Keck Foundation - will award four $20,000 prizes in 2013 to individuals or teams (up to four individuals associated with the creation of the work being nominated) who have developed creative, original works that address issues and advances in science, engineering and/or medicine for the general public. Nominations were accepted in four categories: Book; Film/Radio/TV; Magazine/Newspaper; and Online. The winners will be honored in the Fall 2013 at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C and are expected to attend in person. Eligibility To be considered for a 2013 Communication Award, the work should: -be accessible and appeal to a broad, public audience; -demonstrate clarity, creativity, originality, and accuracy; -address issues and/or advances in science, engineering, and/or medicine; -cover topics that have an impact on society; and -have been published, broadcast, or released in 2012, in the United States and in English. Material primarily intended for children, reference books, and textbooks are not eligible for consideration. Candidates may be individuals or teams of not more than four people. National Academies' employees are not eligible and posthumous awards are not permitted.  This award is not for lifetime achievement; the work for which a candidate or team is nominated must have been published or broadcast in 2012.

The Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Program is funded under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (Title II, Part A of Public Law 107-110). The purpose of the program is to increase the academic achievement of all students by helping schools and school districts improve teacher, instructional paraprofessional and principal quality. Ohio public and private colleges and universities are invited annually to submit proposals to support partnerships of institutions of higher education and high-need school districts to provide high quality professional development for elementary, middle and high school teachers of mathematics and science.