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The Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Theory and Mechanisms (URoL:MTM) program is an integrative collaborationacross Directorates and Offices within the National Science Foundation. The objective of URoL:MTM is to understand and establish the theory and mechanisms that govern the structure and function of microbiomes, a collection of microbes in a specific habitat/environment. This may include but is not limited to host-associated microbiomes, such as those with humans and other organisms, where i) the microbiome impacts host physiology, behavior, development, and fitness; ii) the host influences the metabolic activity, dynamics and evolution of the microbiome, and iii) the environment (biological, chemical, physical, and social) influences and is influenced by both the host and the microbiome. Recent progress has transformed our ability to identify and catalogue the microbes present in a given environment and measure multiple aspects ofbiological, chemical, physical, and social environments that affect the interactions among the members of the microbiome, the host, and/or habitat. Much descriptive and correlative work has been performed on many microbiome systems, particularly those in the human, soil, aquatic, and built environments. This research has resulted in new hypotheses about the microbiome's contributions to potential system function or dysfunction. The current challenge is to integrate the wide range of accumulated data and information and build on them to develop new causal/mechanistic models or theories of interactions and interdependencies across scales and systems.

The PADI Foundation encourages and supports research and education related to aquatic environments. In pursuit of that mission, the foundation has awarded nearly $4.7 million to almost nine hundred projects since 1992. In 2019, the foundation will award grants of up to $20,000 to projects that enrich mankind's understanding of aquatic environments and encourage sensitivity to and protection of ecosystems; increase understanding of sport diving physics and physiology that will benefit the general diving public and add to the scientific understanding of man's relationship and ability to survive in the underwater environment; and/or improve understanding of, and response to, hazards to humans and ecosystems related to climate change in coastal and ocean environments. Generally, the foundation will not fund overhead or other indirect expenses. To be eligible, applicant organizations must be recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. For complete program guidelines, information about previously awarded grants, and application instructions, see the PADI foundation website.

The Hydrologic Sciences Program focuses on the fluxes of water in the environment that constitute the water cycle as well as the mass and energy transport function of the water cycle in the environment.  The Program supports studying processes from rainfall to runoff to infiltration and streamflow; evaporation and transpiration; as well as the flow of water in soils and aquifers and the transport of suspended, dissolved and colloidal components.  Water is seen as the mode of coupling among various components of the environment and emphasis is placed on how the coupling is enabled by the water cycle and how it functions as a process.  The Hydrologic Sciences Program retains a strong focus on linking the fluxes of water and the components carried by water across the boundaries between various interacting components of the terrestrial system and the mechanisms by which these fluxes co-organize over a variety of timescales and/or alter the fundamentals of the interacting components.  The Program is also interested in how water interacts with the solid phase, the landscape and the ecosystem as well as how such interactions and couplings are altered by land use and climate change.  Studies may address aqueous geochemistry and solid phase interactions as well as physical, chemical, and biological processes as coupled to water transport. These studies commonly involve expertise from basic sciences and mathematics, and proposals may require joint review with related programs.  The Hydrologic Sciences Program will also consider some synthesis activities.

The program supports four main research thrusts that are envisioned to advance the goal of ubiquitous co-robots: scalability, customizability, lowering barriers to entry, and societal impact. Topics addressing scalability include how robots can collaborate effectively with multiple humans or other robots; how robots can perceive, plan, act, and learn in uncertain, real-world environments, especially in a distributed fashion; and how to facilitate large-scale, safe, robust and reliable operation of robots in complex environments. Customizability includes how to enable co-robots to adapt to specific tasks, environments, or people, with minimal modification to hardware and software; how robots can personalize their interactions with people; and how robots can communicate naturally with humans, both verbally and non-verbally. Topics in lowering barriers to entry include development of open-source co-robot hardware and software, as well as widely-accessible testbeds. Topics in societal impact include fundamental research to establish and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce through education pathways, and explore the social, economic, ethical, and legal implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative robots.

The program supports four main research thrusts that are envisioned to advance the goal of ubiquitous co-robots: scalability, customizability, lowering barriers to entry, and societal impact. Topics addressing scalability include how robots can collaborate effectively with multiple humans or other robots; how robots can perceive, plan, act, and learn in uncertain, real-world environments, especially in a distributed fashion; and how to facilitate large-scale, safe, robust and reliable operation of robots in complex environments. Customizability includes how to enable co-robots to adapt to specific tasks, environments, or people, with minimal modification to hardware and software; how robots can personalize their interactions with people; and how robots can communicate naturally with humans, both verbally and non-verbally. Topics in lowering barriers to entry include development of open-source co-robot hardware and software, as well as widely-accessible testbeds. Topics in societal impact include fundamental research to establish and infuse robotics into educational curricula, advance the robotics workforce through education pathways, and explore the social, economic, ethical, and legal implications of our future with ubiquitous collaborative robots.

* The frontiers of science-exploring nature's mysteries from the study of fundamental subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules that are the building blocks of the materials of our universe and everything in it to the DNA, proteins, and cells that are the building blocks of life. Each of the programs in SC supports research probing the most fundamental disciplinary questions. * The 21st Century tools of science-providing the nation's researchers with 27 state-of-the-art national scientific user facilities - the most advanced tools of modern science - propelling the U.S. to the forefront of science, technology development and deployment through innovation. * Science for energy and the environment―paving the knowledge foundation to spur discoveries and innovations for advancing the Department's mission in energy and environment. SC supports a wide range of funding modalities from single principal investigators to large team-based activities to engage in fundamental research on energy production, conversion, storage, transmission, and use, and on our understanding of the earth systems.

The purpose of this FOA is to promote the development of in vitro microphysiological systems in modeling human diseases and conditions that mimic the pathology in major organs and tissues in the human body, when exposed to the extreme environments of space, and the use of these models at the International Space Station-U.S. National Laboratory (ISS-NL) to facilitate the assessment of biomarkers, bioavailability, efficacy, and toxicity of therapeutic agents prior to entry into clinical trials. Funds from the NIH will be made available through the UG3/UH3 cooperative agreement mechanism. During the initial two-year UG3 phase, support will be provided to develop robust models that recapitulate the progression and pathology of human diseases and conditions exposed to prolonged microgravity environment. Following administrative review, the two-year UH3 phase will build upon successful UG3 models to demonstrate the functional utility of the models for more defined experiments at the ISS-NL. It is anticipated that these studies will lead to identification of novel treatment mechanisms through better understanding of disease biology, drug screening, assessment of candidate therapies for efficacy and safety assessments, and establishing the pre-clinical foundation that will inform clinical trial design on Earth.

As "The Army's Sensor Developer," NVESD researches and develops cutting edge technology, with the goal of exceeding U.S. Soldier requirements, and allowing an asymmetrical advantage in changing battlefield environments. This BAA solicits proposals against a broad range of night vision technologies which support the Warfighter and challenges of Asymmetric Warfare. The technologies have been divided into three (3) sections: Science and Technology; Ground Combat Systems; and Modeling and Simulation.

The new National Ocean Policy calls for actions to improve understanding of and capacity to respond to ocean acidification, recognizing the potential adverse impacts of an acidifying sea upon marine ecosystems. The effects of ocean acidification could significantly affect strategies for developing practices towards the sustainability of ocean resources. Basic research concerning the nature, extent and impact of ocean acidification on oceanic environments in the past, present and future is required. Research challenges include: Understanding the geochemistry and biogeochemistry of ocean acidification; Understanding how ocean acidification interacts with biological, chemical and physical processes at the organismal level, and how such interactions impact the structure and function of ecosystems, e.g. through life histories, adaptive evolution, food webs, biogeochemical cycling, and interactions with other changes in the ocean (e.g., temperature, stratification, circulation patterns); and Understanding how the earth system history informs our understanding of the effects of ocean acidification on the present day and future ocean. The Ocean Acidification program is in its fifth and anticipated last year of competition. We expect this to be the last solicitation specifically targeting Ocean Acidification.

The DOE SC program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research in Environmental Systems Science (ESS), including Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) and Subsurface Biogeochemical Research (SBR). The goal of the Environmental System Science (ESS) activity in BER is to advance a robust, predictive understanding of the set of interdependent physical, biogeochemical, ecological, hydrological, and geomorphological processes for use in Earth system, ecosystem and reactive transport models. Using an iterative approach to model-driven experimentation and observation, and interdisciplinary teams, ESS-supported scientists work to unravel the coupled physical, chemical and biological processes that control the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems and integrated watersheds across critical spatial and temporal scales. This FOA will consider applications that focus on improving the understanding and representation of terrestrial and subsurface environments in ways that advance the sophistication and capabilities of local, regional, and larger scale models.

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students.

The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas.  The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students.  Activities supported through the program are in all sub-fields of physics within the purview of the Division of Physics: atomic, molecular, optical, plasma, elementary particle, nuclear, astro-, gravitational, and biological physics.  Interdisciplinary projects at the interface between these physics areas and other disciplines and physics sub-fields are also included, although the bulk of the effort should fall within one of those areas within the purview of the Physics Division.  The successful PFC activity will demonstrate: (1) the potential for a profound advance in physics; (2) creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, diversity, and public outreach; (3) potential for broader impacts, e.g., impacts on other field(s) and benefits to society; (4) a synergy or value-added rationale that justifies a center- or institute-like approach.

GEM is a broad-based, community-initiated research program on the physics of the Earth's magnetosphere and the coupling of the magnetosphere to the atmosphere and to the solar wind. The purpose of the GEM program is to support basic research into the dynamical and structural properties of geospace, leading to the construction of a global Geospace General Circulation Model (GGCM) with predictive capability. The exact structure of a GGCM may be modular or may consist of a "spine" such as a global MDH model with links to special modules. The strategy for achieving GEM goals is to create a series of Focus Groups, each of which addresses a specific problem in understanding and modeling the magnetosphere

GEM is a broad-based, community-initiated research program on the physics of the Earth's magnetosphere and the coupling of the magnetosphere to the atmosphere and to the solar wind. The purpose of the GEM program is to support basic research into the dynamical and structural properties of geospace, leading to the construction of a global Geospace General Circulation Model (GGCM) with predictive capability. The exact structure of a GGCM may be modular or may consist of a "spine" such as a global MDH model with links to special modules. The strategy for achieving GEM goals is to create a series of Focus Groups, each of which addresses a specific problem in understanding and modeling the magnetosphere

One of the most critical needs of research projects funded through the Physics Division is that of having cutting-edge instrumentation that enables investigators to remain competitive in a rapidly-changing scientific environment. Because this instrumentation can often cost significantly beyond what an individual investigator award can provide, the Physics Division has established a special Mid-Scale Instrumentation Fund that enables Program Officers to include an instrumentation allotment in awards beyond the level that might be feasible otherwise.

The Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award is given to a woman who holds very high promise or has achieved prominence while developing the early stages of a career in biophysical research within the purview and interest of the Biophysical Society. Achievement means that the candidate has already published substantial contributions to science; promise means that the candidate shows indications of leadership in ideas, organization, or other ways manifest for her colleagues within the scientific community. A candidate who has already received university tenure by the due date on nomination is not eligible. A candidate having a PhD or equivalent degree shall be eligible until she has completed 10 years of full-time work following the degree. A candidate with a Baccalaureate degree but without a PhD shall have 12 years of eligibility. Time taken off for child-rearing will not be counted in this total. Part-time work and other special circumstances will be evaluated at the discretion of the Committee. Candidates who work in non-academic environments are eligible if their work is published, meets academic standards, and they do not have tenure equivalency.

The Emily M. Gray Award is given for significant contributions to education in biophysics, contributions that may include a distinguished record of excellence in classroom instruction, in mentoring research scientists at any level, in developing novel educational methods or materials, in promoting scientific outreach efforts to the public or to youth, in generating a track record of attracting new students to thefield of biophysics, or in otherwise fostering an environment exceptionally conducive to education in biophysics. The Emily M. Gray Lecture will be the keynote presentation at the Student Symposium at the Annual Meeting. The winner receives an honorarium of $750.

Recognizing disciplinary differences and priorities, NSF's investment in research and development in undergraduate STEM education encompasses a range of approaches. These approaches include: experiential learning, assessment/metrics of learning and practice, scholarships, foundational education research, professional development/institutional change, formal and informal learning environments, and undergraduate disciplinary research. Both individually and integrated in a range of combinations, these approaches can lead to outcomes including: developing the STEM and STEM-related workforce, advancing science, broadening participation in STEM, educating a STEM-literate populace, improving K-12 STEM education, encouraging life-long learning, and building capacity in higher education.

One of the most critical needs of research projects funded through the Physics Division (PHY) is that of having cutting-edge instrumentation that enables Principal Investigators (PIs) to remain competitive in a rapidly-changing scientific environment. Because this instrumentation can often cost significantly beyond what an individual investigator award can provide, the Physics Division has established a special Midscale Instrumentation Fund that enables Program Officers to include an instrumentation allotment in awards beyond the level that might be feasible otherwise.

One of the most critical needs of research projects funded through the Physics Division (PHY) is that of having cutting-edge instrumentation that enables Principal Investigators (PIs) to remain competitive in a rapidly-changing scientific environment. Because this instrumentation can often cost significantly beyond what an individual investigator award can provide, the Physics Division has established a special Midscale Instrumentation Fund that enables Program Officers to include an instrumentation allotment in awards beyond the level that might be feasible otherwise.

The NIH encourages institutions that seek to engage undergraduate students in innovative mentored research training programs to submit applications for cooperative agreement awards through the NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) initiative, one of three new Common Fund initiatives that together aim to enhance diversity in the biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences research workforce. Addressing a major leakage point in the research workforce pipeline, BUILD awards are intended to support the design and implementation of innovative programs, strategies and approaches to transform undergraduate research training and mentorship. BUILD awards will also support institutional and faculty development to further strengthen undergraduate research training environments.