- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The application window is now open for the 2018 CREDITS Team Science Retreat.
Academics, researchers, and post-doctoral scholars from UC are invited to apply to attend The Center for Research, Excellence and Diversity in Team Science (CREDITS) retreat, to be held September 28-30, 2018 at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead, CA.
Collaborative, interdisciplinary team science-based research has become increasingly central in scientific discovery. Team science garners more funding, and more impactful research and publications. Having a strong network of collaborators and mentors is critical to a productive and successful academic career. CREDITS is an integrated research and training program to increase and enhance Team Science (TS) and collective intelligence capacity, effectiveness, and excellence in California. Diversity on teams is known to have positive effects on creativity, innovation, and productivity. Apart from its contribution to scientific breakthroughs and grand challenge problems, TS has beneficial impacts on individual research careers. Diverse TS projects garner more funding, and yield greater publication productivity, and higher impact publications.
In a small group environment, the CREDITS Team Science Retreat will promote team science competencies and leadership capacity across the campuses of the University of California and Cal State University systems. The three interrelated core activities are: 1) Annual TS Leadership and Team Formation Retreats; 2) TS and Institutional Change Training/Seminar for UC and CSU Administrative Leaders – Provosts, Deans, Chairs, etc.; and 3) Research and Evaluation that will increase our knowledge about TS and diversity and inform CREDITS programming.
Who Should Apply?
- Your research or programmatic interests should be in a Science, Engineering, or Math (STEM) field, including Social Science.
- CREDITS is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service.
DEADLINE to apply is Friday, May 25, 2018 at midnight. If you have questions about your eligibility or application procedures, please contact John Crockett, Senior Director, Research Project Development at San Diego State University, jcrockett@foundation.sdsu.edu, (619) 594-3176.
More information and the link to the application is here: https://oru.research.ucsb.edu/teamscience/
This program is funded by the NSF, the Elsevier Foundation, and the UC Office of the President.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The Ray C. Anderson Foundation seeks proposals for currently existing or new programs that would measurably reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, measured by metric tons (or “tonnes”) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), either by preventing the emission of those gases or by sequestering gases presently in the atmosphere. The NextGen program will award a single grant of $90,000 to fund work in the 2019 calendar year.
The program will primarily judge proposals on the amount of estimated offset carbon, the quality of the calculations, and the likelihood of success at achieving the estimated carbon reductions. The program will secondarily consider the collateral environmental and social benefits of the project. According to an Ecosystem Marketplace report, the average price per metric ton of CO2e offsets in voluntary markets in 2016 was $3 (though with wide variability ranging from less than $1 to more than $50 per metric ton).
At $3 per metric ton, $90,000 would purchase 30,000 metric tons of CO2e offsets. Proposals should be competitive with or exceed this amount of projected offset carbon. Strong proposals must also demonstrate high-quality estimations of CO2e reductions.
Additional information regarding this opportunity can be found at the program's website, http://www.raycandersonfoundation.org/nextgen-2018-grant-call-for-proposals
Applications are due by June 11, 2018.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
The National Science Foundation, Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) program is accepting applications with a proposal deadline of 9/26/2018.
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 overarching goal of the INFEWS program is to catalyze well-integrated, convergent research to transform understanding of the FEW Nexus as integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS activity is designed specifically to attain the following goals:
1. Significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system of systems through quantitative, predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant cyberinfrastructure;
2. Develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior of FEW systems and increase decision support capability;
3. Enable research that will lead to innovative and integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems solutions to critical FEW systems problems;
4. Grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and managing the FEW system of systems, through education and other professional development opportunities.
INFEWS NETWORKING/ INFORMATION SESSION:If you are interested in learning more about this program, you are already planning to apply, or are looking for proposal partners and collaborators, we are inviting you to join us for an Information Session on Friday, May 11th. The session will be hosted by the UC Davis, Office of Research in Room 129 Office of Research, located at 1850 Research Park Drive.
We will be joined via remote conferencing by program officers from NSF and USDA/NIFA:
- Rachel Melnick, National Program Leader, USDA/NIFA
- Brandi Schottel, Associate Program Director, NSF
Lunch will be provided. Please register for the information session here: https://ucdinfewsinfo.eventbrite.com
Additional information regarding this funding opportunity can be found at the program's website, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18545/nsf18545.pdf
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
NIFA's Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP) has announced $462,000 in available funding to decrease the impact of disasters through cooperative extension programming.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “In 2017, there were 16 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States. These events included 1 drought event, 2 flooding events, 1 freeze event, 8 severe storm events, 3 tropical cyclone events, and 1 wildfire event.” The aftermath is impact on food, agriculture, natural resources, and humans. The purpose of the SLSNCGP is to support innovative, education-based approaches to addressing emergency preparedness and specific responses related to natural and human-made disasters. The SLSNCGP supports quality of life in communities across the United States by addressing disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery in the context of food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. The SLSNCGP provides information and tools to USDA, stakeholders, and collaborators to improve decision-making in handling disasters.
NIFA intends to fund SLSNCGP projects to implement applied programs that serve public needs in preparation for, during, and after disaster. Funds will support innovative extension education initiatives that address risks, hazards, and disasters. The SLSNCGP sponsors targeted projects that enable Cooperative Extension System (CES) to assist in preparing for, providing an educational response to, and recovering from disasters. Some types of hazards and disaster-related events funded in previous years include uncertainties caused by losses of economic infrastructure, severe weather or other natural disasters, security breaches, human disease, or high consequence animal diseases and plant pests. The SLSNCGP increases awareness and capacity building of urban/rural communities' response to disasters by increasing individuals, families, farms and small businesses disaster preparedness through education and collaborations with other agencies/volunteer organizations.
To be considered for funding, projects must support extension activities through at least one of the following strategies:
1. Enhance national, regional, multi-state or state networks that support official information by ensuring the content is:
• In a format appropriate to the situation and intended audience;
• Delivered in a timely fashion; and
• Science-based.
2. Provide national, regional, multi-state, or state education and communications leadership to develop or add value to current educational materials regarding disaster issues, utilizing distribution mix of the EDEN website, eXtension, related social media, and/or other outlets. This strategy could include materials targeted to underserved audiences (such as people who speak English as a second language, and individuals with low literacy).
3. Improve national, regional, multi-state, or state stakeholder partnerships (which might include the public, governments at all levels, non-profit and/or volunteer organizations, academia, and/or industry) to prepare for and respond to disasters through extension education.
4. Deliver extension education to affected citizens and communities, in one or more states, to address effects of a major declared disaster that occurred no more than 12 months prior to June 19, 2018.
Though national, regional, and/or multi-state efforts are a priority for strategies 1-3 given above, highly replicable single-state projects may be considered if they have a strong plan for transferring successful methods to other states. The SLSNCGP will also fund the development of educational programs and demonstration activities focusing on disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. The most competitive proposals will provide educational and communication leadership across an optimized mix of these and other resources. Only applications that address one or more of the following five key target areas will be considered for funding: Education and technical assistance; Collaboration; Long range family, farm, community and planning projects; Communication delivery; and/or Dissemination of credible, science-based information.
Project funding ranges from $15,000 to $180,000. Typical project periods range from one to three years.
For additional information, please review the full solicitation available on the program's website: https://nifa.usda.gov/sites/default/files/rfa/FY-18-SLSNCGP-RFA_0.pdf
The deadline for applications is June 19, 2018.
Please contact the Office of Contracts and Grants should you have questions regarding this funding opportunity.
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)
- Author: Kathleen P Nolan
Dear Colleagues,
USDA NIFA has recently announced an opportunity for Sustainable Agricultural Systems awarding $10M per project. The amount available for new grants in this FY 2018 SAS RFA is $80 million.
The purpose of the SAS Program Area is to promote the sustainable supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food and other agricultural products, while enhancing economic opportunities and improving the long-term health and well-being of all Americans. This RFA solicits applications for projects focused on increasing agricultural productivity; optimizing water and nitrogen use efficiency; protecting yield losses from stresses, diseases, and pests; reducing food-borne diseases; and advancing development of biobased fuels, chemicals, and coproducts. This RFA is soliciting creative and visionary project applications that use transdisciplinary teams and integrated research, education, and extension activities to promote convergence of science and technology to solve present and future food and agricultural production system challenges.
For FY 2018, applications to the SAS RFA must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system within the next 25 years. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach, and that will significantly improve the supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food, while providing sustainable opportunities for expansion of the bioeconomy through novel animal, crop, and forest products and supporting technologies. These approaches must demonstrate current and future social, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed must result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption.
This RFA solicits Coordinated Agricultural Project Grants, and Strengthening Coordinated Agricultural Project Grants (Food and Agricultural Science Enhancement (FASE)).
Applications must address one or more of the following 25-year goals:
- Increase growth of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) from the current 1.5 percent to 2 percent per year and agricultural production by 2 percent annually. TFP is a measure of productivity performance that takes into account a broad set of inputs used in agricultural production that can be influenced by changes across systems. TFP compares all land, labor, capital, and material resources used in the sector's total output. Interventions are sought that will sustain growth in the rate of production that result in continued increases in TFP.
- Improve water and nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient use efficiency by 50 percent. Crop and livestock (including hydroponic, aquaculture, and integrated aquaponic systems), and managed forest production can be improved by use of non-traditional water sources; greater resource scavenging by roots; improving the absorption and utilization of nutrients; new or improved breeds or varieties; manipulating microbiomes; irrigation management; or recycling and reuse and conservation of water and nutrients. Development or improvement of models, decision support tools, data systems, technology innovations, and system reconfigurations at and across relevant scales can lead to new efficiencies.
- Reduce losses due to environmental stresses, insects and other invertebrate pests, weeds, or diseases by 20 percent in crops and animals used for food, fiber, or bioproducts production. Protecting yields and other supply chain components from biotic and abiotic stress losses can increase food and economic security. Comprehensive strategies are needed for dealing with the effects of climate and extreme weather events, pathogens, pests, and parasites on agricultural production, food quality, nutritional security, and food safety. These strategies can extend to positive impacts on the health of farmers, agricultural workers, consumers, and others who could be affected by changes to food and agricultural systems.
- Produce 50 billion gallons of biofuels and 50 billion pounds of biobased chemicals and bioproducts in the next 25 years. The development of sustainable biomass feedstock supply chains that complement existing agriculture production systems can improve overall system profitability and productivity. Strategies must address social, behavioral, and economic barriers to adoption; enhance existing food, feed, and fiber production systems; and create beneficial ecosystem services, such as improved water availability and quality, nutrient use reduction, or wildlife and pollinator habitat enhancements. Proposals must also describe how these systems can be used to expand the bioeconomy, rural prosperity, and creation of jobs.
- Reduce food-borne illnesses to 8.5 cases per 100,000 people in the U.S. population per year. To achieve this goal, targeted approaches are needed to prevent foodborne illness incidence, while increasing the availability and accessibility of safe and nutritious food for people of all ages and all income levels. Changes to food and agricultural systems can impact the incidence of foodborne illness, nutrient composition of foods, diet quality, and nutritional security that can greatly impact overall quality of life and human health and well-being. Targeted approaches for improving food safety should include investigations of the survival, growth, and spread of foodborne pests, microbes and their genes, as well as the development of antimicrobial resistant pathogens in food environments across the food chain.
The funds will be awarded through a grant for performance periods of up to five years.
For additional information, please review the full solicitation available on the program's website: https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/afri-sustainable-agricultural-systems-competitive-grants-program
The deadline for required letters of intent is June 27, 2018.
Please contact the Office of Contracts and Grants should you have questions regarding this funding opportunity.T
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)