Dear Colleagues,

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC National Laboratories (UCNL) are jointly hosting a Data Science Workshop on August 7-8, 2018.  The event will be held at the Shrine Event Center, 170 Lindbergh Ave., Livermore, California.

The workshop will feature a wide range of talks, discussions, and networking opportunities with experts, researchers and up-and-coming scientists in the field of data science.  Applications from University of California researchers to present a talk or poster at the workshop are welcomed.  Research topics of interest include climate and energy security, predictive biology, space situational awareness, complex computer simulations with theoretical underpinnings, non-proliferation, advanced manufacturing and materials science and more.  

If you are interested in presenting, please submit a 500 word abstract including a title and list of all authors and institutional affiliations.  Abstracts are due by Friday, June 1.

Workshop attendance is limited, so please register early.  Those not presenting a talk or poster must also register to attend.   Register here: https://www.cvent.com/events/data-science-workshop/registration-36002cc3462e4350b86ea0c6d8fd91fe.aspx

Please direct questions regarding this event to:

June Yu, PhD

Executive Director, National Laboratories Programs

UC National Laboratories

University of California Office of the President

(510) 987-9846

http://www.ucop.edu/laboratory-management/

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)

Dear Colleagues,

The University of California is pleased to announce a research funding opportunity for UC multicampus collaborations. Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPIs) are multicampus or systemwide research collaborations that go beyond individual Principal Investigator (PI)-driven projects to benefit the UC research enterprise; strengthen UC's position as a leading public research university; launch pioneering research in thematic, multidisciplinary, or interdisciplinary areas; enhance education and training; and benefit California and its people. The competition is open to all fields of research and scholarship. Applicants will have an opportunity to indicate which disciplines or interdisciplinary or thematic areas best describe the proposed collaboration. The MRPI opportunity is intended to fund unique collaborations not otherwise supported at the systemwide level. The total funding portfolio of active MRPI grants is approximately $35 million, providing a significant investment in UC systemwide research.

MRPI awards should be directed to research that fulfills the following three principles:

1) Research that enhances UC's systemwide research capacity, influence, and advantage by providing access to the facilities, resources and opportunities available across the UC system.

2) Research that enhances multicampus collaborations, and fosters multicampus engagement, in order to achieve outcomes not available through (or duplicative of) a single campus and discipline.

3) Research that mutually benefits UC and California, its people, environment, and economy.

To fulfill these principles, MRPI funding is intended to support:

∙ Areas in which seed-funding could lead to future extramural funding, especially in areas where UC campuses are underfunded relative to other comparable research institutions;

∙ Areas that are underfunded by the government in relation to their perceived importance to the state or the nation; and

∙ Emerging fields of study, innovative or multidisciplinary research that could increase UC's research competitiveness.

The MRPI program is accepting application for two award types:

1)      “Planning/Pilot Awards” open only to new multicampus or systemwide collaborations for planning, capacity-building and/or establishing the research infrastructure and pilot data to launch novel, cutting-edge inter-disciplinary, or multidisciplinary research.  These awards are intended to create or strengthen collaborative research capacity in novel or cutting edge fields, for new inter-disciplinary or multidisciplinary collaborations, or multicampus collaborations that have not previously received MRPI, Organized Research Unit (ORU) or Multicampus Research Unit (MRU) support.  This award type provides funding to launch new collaborations across the UC enterprise to address gaps in critical research areas that would strengthen UC and benefit California. Awards will enhance the ability of new multicampus collaborations to launch initiatives and successfully compete for extramural awards. Applicants may request one or two years of funding; $150,000/year maximum.

2)      “Program Awards” open to both new and established multicampus collaborations (without concurrent systemwide support). These awards are intended to stimulate novel and compelling multicampus or systemwide research. Program awards may support new collaborations, or established multicampus endeavors that demonstrate both compelling benefit to UC and compelling justification for ongoing systemwide support. Awards will advance UC's research mission and impact through support of novel faculty research, genuine multicampus engagement and collaboration, public engagement, comprehensive opportunities for graduate student support and training, and benefit to UC and California. Awards will enhance the ability of new multicampus collaborations to launch initiatives and successfully compete for extramural awards. Applicants may request two years of funding; there is no specified total budget request limit.

Both award types require the collaboration of at least three UC campuses.  UC ANR may participate as an eligible collaborating site where academics may serve as collaborating Co-Principal Investigators.  UC ANR is not eligible to lead a MRPI proposal.

For additional information, please review the full solicitation available on the program's website:https://www.ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/mrpi/index.html

Required Letters of Intent are due on Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 12:00 noon Pacific Time.  Project teams will be notified with a LOI outcome decision by Tuesday, June 12, 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)

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)

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)