Group items tagged

The theme of this year's Geothermal Student Competition, sponsored by DOE is GeoEnergy is Beautiful 2014. Student teams from leading colleges and universities, as well as high school seniors are invited to create concepts for high-quality, high-impact infographics and outreach materials that convey the important role of geothermal energy in the nation's clean energy mix. Energy production can be a complex topic to explain to a broad public audience, and describing energy that comes from a subsurface environment-difficult to visualize for many-amplifies the challenge of explaining geothermal energy, how it works, and how it can benefit the U.S.  The GSC therefore invites student to develop cutting-edge geothermal communications tools that marry accurate, technical information with a graphical visualization. These visualizations, often referred to as infographics, are put to use in various media outlets by the federal government, private companies, institutions and individuals to convey ideas and messages. Infographics provide the opportunity to distill large quantities of data and information to facilitate insight, comprehend relationships and patterns, and understand complex messages with a minimum of words.  

NSWC Crane is interested in funding research to inform future science and technology investments via data mapping and information visualization techniques. Specifically, advancements beyond traditional scientometrics are desired for visualizing, understanding, and predicting naval research and development investments that yield transitioned technologies via methods that make sense of the dynamic collaborative network of academia, industry, and government partners.

This agreement provides for the transfer of funds from the National Park Service to Colorado Natural Heritage Program of Colorado State University for support in developing and applying sound science to identify, inform, implement, and evaluate the application of climate change adaptation strategies across the U.S. national park service system. Supporting and tracking adaptation requires knowledge and expertise in scientific information gathering and synthesis, database and data management, and climate data acquisition, management, analysis, visualization, and presentation. The scope of work required to achieve the objectives includes database management and data analysis, visualization, and presentation, and additional and supporting work will include literature searches, reviews, and syntheses, as well as help preparing presentations and other science-based products.

NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (Plan) in consultation with the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (Team) to reduce the serious injury and mortality of several large whale species in U.S. commercial fisheries along the Atlantic coast. The Plan primarily addresses entanglement of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), although other large whale species expected to also benefit. The Plan has several monitoring components, including research priorities on: 1) identification of specific metrics for quantifying right whale abundance, trends in abundance, and trajectory of the population; 2) based on these metrics, determine most appropriate right whale survey and sampling methods/regimes to monitor the population and to detect and measure changes in population abundance; 3) Assess relative effectiveness of right whale threat-reduction measures; 4) identify most appropriate sampling and survey methods to assess possible changes in right whale distribution; and 5) Strategic evaluation of right whale assessment methods - appropriate balance of visual (vessel/aerial) surveys, passive acoustic moorings, gliders, and other assessment techniques. We are soliciting competitive proposals for grants and cooperative agreements that work to address any of the five monitoring priorities identified above. Total funding available under this notice is expected not to exceed $150,000. Actual funding availability for this program is contingent upon FY 2017 Federal appropriations. Award amounts will be determined by the proposals and available funds; one or more grants may be awarded.

NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (Plan) in consultation with the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (Team) to reduce the serious injury and mortality of several large whale species in U.S. commercial fisheries along the Atlantic coast. The Plan primarily addresses entanglement of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), although other large whale species expected to also benefit. The Plan has several monitoring components, including research priorities on: 1) identification of specific metrics for quantifying right whale abundance, trends in abundance, and trajectory of the population; 2) based on these metrics, determine most appropriate right whale survey and sampling methods/regimes to monitor the population and to detect and measure changes in population abundance; 3) Assess relative effectiveness of right whale threat-reduction measures; 4) identify most appropriate sampling and survey methods to assess possible changes in right whale distribution; and 5) Strategic evaluation of right whale assessment methods - appropriate balance of visual (vessel/aerial) surveys, passive acoustic moorings, gliders, and other assessment techniques. We are soliciting competitive proposals for grants and cooperative agreements that work to address any of the five monitoring priorities identified above. Total funding available under this notice is expected not to exceed $150,000. Actual funding availability for this program is contingent upon FY 2017 Federal appropriations. Award amounts will be determined by the proposals and available funds; one or more grants may be awarded.

The goal of this NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants (ELG) Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) is to build the capacity of informal educators (including interpreters and docents) and/or formal educators (pre- or in-service) to use NOAA data and data access tools to help K-12 students and/or the public understand and respond to global change. Successful projects will enhance educators' ability to use the wealth of scientific data, data visualizations, data access technologies, information products, and other assets available through NOAA (plus additional sources, if desired) to engage K-12 students and/or other members of the public in a minimum of two U.S. states or territories. Partnerships with NOAA entities and/or involvement of NOAA scientists to facilitate the use of such assets by educators are strongly encouraged. As an ultimate outcome, successful projects should aim to increase educators' effectiveness in promoting stewardship and increasing informed decision making by a diverse pool of K-12 students and/or other members of the public. The impact of the proposed project on the target educators must be measurable during the award period.

The National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a funding opportunity for research investigating the challenges involved with international data discovery and sharing specific to invasive species and of existing automated visualizations which operate in a spatial context. This research should generally contribute to the improvement of ecological modeling tools and their user interfaces.

Humanity depends upon the Earth's physical resources and natural systems for food, energy, and water (FEW). However, both the physical resources and the FEW systems are under increasing stress. It is becoming imperative that we determine how society can best integrate social, ecological, physical and built environments to provide for growing demand for food, energy and water in the short term while also maintaining appropriate ecosystem services for the future. Known stressors in FEW systems include governance challenges, population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability, and uneven resource distribution. The interconnections and interdependencies associated with the FEW Nexus pose research grand challenges. To meet these grand challenges, there is a critical need for research that enables new means of adapting societal use of FEW systems. The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities.

The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is offering a cooperative agreement to complete a demonstration project on Integrating DNA Profiles, Genomics and Photo-Identification data. The objective of this study is to improve the current computation capabilities for integrating DNA profiles with photo-identification records for assessment and long-term monitoring of marine mammal populations, to provide a standardized database architecture, with associated tools for primary analyses and visualization of individual genetic and genomic profiles as well as spatial-temporal records. An important component of this objective is to develop "community standards" that can be applied across multiple species, as well as multiple investigators, and that promotes data sharing and archiving. Continuation of the development of previously funded work on GeneGIS towards the development of a Web-based, collaborative collection could form a model for similar developments with other species of interest to BOEM. Section 1346 of the OCS Lands Act (OCSLA) mandates the conduct of environmental and socioeconomic studies needed for the assessment and management of environmental impacts on the human, marine, and coastal environments which may be affected by oil and gas or other mineral development. OCSLA Section 1345 authorizes the use of cooperative agreements with affected States to meet the requirements of OCSLA, including sharing of information, joint utilization of available expertise, and formation of joint monitoring arrangements to carry out applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and stipulations relevant to outer continental shelf operations both onshore and offshore. This is not an open solicitation for proposals. The Program Announcement describes the specific project that may be awarded to a qualified organization within the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

A number of travel bursaries are available for postgraduates and early career researchers to participate in this project on Friday 7th June 2013 at Birkbeck, University of London, which uses Rachel Carson's Silent Spring to explore the relationship between arts and science research.

NineSigma, representing a Global Manufacturer, invites proposals for materials, coatings, chemicals or additives that will clearly identify where a surface has been in contact with or otherwise disrupted by external sources.

The program is also responsible for implementing the following Secretarial Orders and will support: 1). S.O. 3347: Conservation Stewardship and Outdoor Recreation 2). S.O. 3356, Hunting, Fishing, Recreational Shooting, and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities and Coordination with States, Tribes, and Territories 3). S.O. 3366, Increasing Recreational Opportunities on Lands and Waters Managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior BLM Montana/Dakotas has an opportunity to work with partner organizations to assist BLM with the following: 1. Increase and enhance access to public lands and waters. 2. Increase and enhance hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities. 3. Increase and enhance recreational shooting opportunities. 4. Improve inventory, assessment and planning on public lands and waters. 5. Improve management, administration, and monitoring of public lands and waters. 6. Provide enriched visitor services, information, interpretation and education. 7. Enhance community-supported partnerships in tourism and marketing. 8. Protect visitor health and safety. 9. Improve accessibility for persons with disabilities. 10. Improve motorized and non-motorized trails including trail construction and maintenance; comprehensive travel and transportation inventory and assessment, planning management and monitoring