UW-River Falls

2008 Funding Opportunities July-December

December 23, 2008

US Dept of Education: FIPSE EU-US Atlantis Program

Description: The purpose of the program is to support the formation of educational consortia of American and European institutions to coordinate curricula, exchange students, and open educational opportunities between the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU). This priority relates to the purpose of the European Union-United States Atlantis (Atlantis) Program to develop and implement undergraduate joint or dual degree programs, or short- term exchange programs. These awards support only the participation of U.S. institutions and students in the educational consortia established under this priority. EU institutions participating in any consortium proposal responding to the invitational priority may apply to the Directorate- General for Education and Culture (DG EAC), European Commission, for funding under a separate but parallel EU competition.

Deadline: March 23, 2009

URL: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-30404.htm

December 16, 2008

NSF: CISE Cross-cutting Programs

Description: NSF seeks proposals in cross-cutting areas that are scientifically timely, and that benefit from the intellectual contributions of researchers with expertise in a number of computing fields and/or sub-fields. The cross-cutting programs for FY 2009 and 2010 are:

Data-intensive Computing;
Network Science and Engineering; and
Trustworthy Computing.

Proposers are invited to submit proposals in three project classes, which are defined as follows:

Small Projects - up to $500,000 total budget with durations up to three years;
Medium Projects - $500,001 to $1,200,000 total budget with durations up to four years; and
Large Projects - $1,200,001 to $3,000,000 total budget with durations up to five years.

Deadlines: vary, August-December

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08578/nsf08578.pdf

December 1, 2008

NSF: Earth Sciences: Instrumentation and Facilities (EAR/IF)

Description: The Instrumentation and Facilities Program in the Division of Earth Sciences (EAR/IF) supports meritorious requests for infrastructure that promotes research and education in areas supported by the Division (see http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=EAR). EAR/IF will consider proposals for:

Acquisition or Upgrade of Research Equipment that will advance laboratory and field investigations, and student research training opportunities in the Earth sciences. The maximum request is $750,000. The maximum request for upgrade of research group computing facilities is $75,000;
Development of New Instrumentation, Analytical Techniques or Software that will extend current research and research training capabilities in the Earth sciences. The maximum request is $750,000;
Support of National or Regional Multi-User Facilities that will make complex and expensive instruments or systems of instruments broadly available to the Earth sciences research and student communities;
Development of Cyberinfrastructure for the Earth Sciences (Geoinformatics) that will enable transformative advances in Earth science research and education through novel application, development or adaptation of information technologies.
Support for Early Career Investigators to facilitate expedient operation of new research infrastructure proposed by the next generation of leaders in the Earth Sciences. This opportunity allows for submission of a proposal for Acquisition or Upgrade of Research Equipment that includes budget line items associated with support of a new full-time technician who will be dedicated to manage the instrument(s) being requested. Any request for technical support under this opportunity is limited to three years duration and a declining schedule of maximum annual funding as follows: Year 1 = $80,000, Year 2 = $60,000 and Year 3 = $40,000.

Planned research uses of requested instruments, software, facilities, and cyberinfrastructure must include basic research on solid-Earth and surface-Earth processes.

Support is available through grants or cooperative agreements awarded in response to investigator-initiated proposals.

Human resource development and education are expected to be an integral part of all proposals submitted to EAR/IF. Efforts to support participation of underrepresented groups in laboratory and/or field instrument use is encouraged.

All proposers to EAR/IF under the categories of Acquisition or Upgrade of Research Equipment, Development of New Instrumentation, Analytical Techniques or Software, and Support for Early Career Investigators may include up to $10,000 in Support for Outreach Activities (please refer to Section V.B Budgetary Information).

Proposals requesting equipment, infrastructure or personnel that will also serve disciplines outside the Earth sciences may be jointly reviewed with other programs within the Foundation. EAR/IF will consider co-funding of projects with other NSF programs.

Deadline: February 23, 2009.

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09517/nsf09517.htm

November 21, 2008

NSF: Math Science Partnership (MSP)

Description: The MSP program is a major research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and science. MSP projects are expected to raise the achievement levels of all students and significantly reduce achievement gaps in the mathematics and science performance of diverse student populations. In order to improve the mathematics and science achievement of the Nation's students, MSP projects contribute to the knowledge base for mathematics and science education and serve as models that have a sufficiently strong evidence base to be replicated in educational practice.

In this solicitation, NSF seeks to support six types of awards:

Targeted Partnerships focus on studying and addressing issues within a specific grade range or at a critical juncture in education, and/or within a specific disciplinary focus in mathematics or the sciences;
Institute Partnerships – Teacher Institutes for the 21st Century are designed to meet national needs for teacher leaders/master teachers who have deep knowledge of disciplinary content and are school- or district-based intellectual leaders in mathematics and science;
MSP-Start Partnerships are for awardees new to the MSP program, especially from minority-serving institutions, community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutions, to support the necessary data analysis, project design, evaluation and team building activities needed to develop a full MSP Targeted or Institute Partnership;
Phase II Partnerships for prior MSP Partnership awardees focus on specific innovative areas of their work where evidence of significant positive impact is clearly documented and where an investment of additional resources and time would produce more robust findings and results;
Research, Evaluation and Technical Assistance (RETA) projects directly support the work of the Partnerships, especially by developing tools to assess teachers’ growth in the knowledge of mathematics or the sciences needed for teaching, conducting longitudinal studies of teachers and their students who participate in the MSP projects, or engaging the national disciplinary and professional societies in MSP work; and
Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) projects enable institutions to think and act strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded awards, with particular emphasis on awards managed through programs in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), but not limited to those awards. For Fiscal Year 2008, proposals are being solicited in six EHR programs that advance I3 goals: CREST, ITEST, MSP, Noyce, RDE, and TCUP.

Deadline: February 17, 2008 and thereafter; see program announcement.

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09507/nsf09507.htm

November 19, 2008

USDA CSREES: International Science and Education (ISE) grants

Description: The International Science and Education Competitive Grants Program (ISE) supports research, extension, and teaching activities that will enhance the capabilities of American colleges and universities to conduct international collaborative research, extension and teaching. ISE projects are expected to enhance the international content of curricula; ensure that faculty work beyond the U.S. and bring lessons learned back home; promote international research partnerships; enhance the use and application of foreign technologies in the U.S.; and strengthen the role that colleges and universities play in maintaining U.S. competitiveness.

Deadline: January 16, 2009.

URL: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/intl_science.html

November 17, 2008

NIH: Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA)

Description: The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. These AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH programs, to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale health-related research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions.

The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the quality, duration, and costs of the applications received. This funding opportunity will use the R15 mechanism. Eligible organizations include all public or private institutions and components of institutions such as health professional schools/colleges and other academic components of domestic institutions offering baccalaureate or advanced degrees in the sciences related to health, except those that have received research grants and/or cooperative agreements from the NIH totaling more than $3 million per year (in both direct and indirect costs) in each of four (4) or more of the last seven (7) years.

Deadline: May 7, 2009

URL: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-042.html

November 12, 2008

NSF: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE)

Description: The goal of the ADVANCE program is to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.

Creative strategies to realize this goal are sought from women and men. Members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply. Proposals that address the participation and advancement of women with disabilities and women from underrepresented minority groups are particularly encouraged.

Proposals from primarily undergraduate institutions, teaching intensive colleges, community colleges, minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are encouraged.

In 2009-2010, this program will support the following types of ADVANCE Projects:

Institutional Transformation (IT)

Institutional Transformation awards are expected to include innovative systemic organizational approaches to transform institutions of higher education in ways that will increase the participation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers. These awards support comprehensive programs for institution-wide change. IT projects must include a research component designed to study the effectiveness of the proposed innovations in order to contribute to the knowledge base informing academic institutional transformation (see additional ADVANCE merit review criteria).

Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst)

IT-Catalyst awards are designed to support institutional self-assessment activities, such as basic data collection and analysis and policy review, in order to identify specific issues in the recruitment, retention and promotion of women faculty in STEM academics within their institution of higher education. This type of work is fundamental for institutions that plan to undertake institutional transformation. The institution's need for external resources to undertake institutional self assessment and policy review will specifically be evaluated using an additional ADVANCE merit review criterion.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID)

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination awards may focus on one institution or organization, or they may be a partnership between several institutions and/or organizations. PAID projects can focus on all STEM disciplines, several disciplines, or only one discipline, including the social and behavioral sciences. Projects may have an international, national, state or local scope. Previous or current funding from ADVANCE is not a prerequisite for submitting a PAID proposal (see additional ADVANCE merit review criteria). PAID awards support activities such as:

Adaptation and implementation of materials, tools, research, and practices that have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing the participation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers.
Dissemination and diffusion of materials, tools, research, and practices, to the appropriate audiences, that have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing the participation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers. Please note that simply making materials, tools, research, and practices available to others is not effective diffusion and dissemination. Rather, an effort to teach and/or train individuals and groups how to adopt or adapt the information is expected as well.
Scientific research designed to advance understanding of gender in the STEM academic workforce (PAID-Research).

Deadlines: Letters of intent (required), January 20, 2009 (PAID); August 04, 2009 (IT and IT-Catalyst); full proposals, February 24, 2009 (PAID); November 12, 2009 (IT and IT-Catalyst)

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09504/nsf09504.htm?govDel=USNSF_25

November 3, 2008

UW-System: ARG, ARG- WiTAG

Description: The purpose of the Applied Research Grant (ARG) is to encourage faculty and academic
staff to apply their expertise and scholarship to the economic development of Wisconsin. The state legislature and governor make approximately $350,000 available annually for the support
of applied research activities that are likely to improve the connections between knowledge and practice, while promoting positive change in the state’s economy. Potential benefits of these activities include fostering business expansion and improving profitability, creating jobs and enhancing workforce quality, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and improving the quality of Wisconsin's products and services.

Proposals are invited from faculty and staff in all academic disciplines, including humanities, social sciences and liberal arts. Funding of up to $50,000 is available for one year to researchers (faculty and academic staff, at least half-time) at all UW institutions. The UW system and WiSys will maintain the full confidentiality of all submitted grant applications and documents.

The purpose of ARG-WiTAG grants is to stimulate the development of high-value intellectual property with market potential in science and technology fields. WiSys provides up to three years of funding @ $50,000 per year; years two and three are contingent upon progress.

Deadline: Pre-proposals (invited, not mandatory) November 14, 2008; full proposals January 15, 2009.

URL: http://www.uwsa.edu/acss/grants/

October 31, 2008

USDA: Higher Education Challenge Grants

Description: CSREES requests applications for the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program (HEC) for fiscal year (FY) 2009 to stimulate and enable colleges and universities to provide the quality of education necessary to produce baccalaureate or higher degree level graduates capable of strengthening the Nation’s food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce.

HEC Program Priority Areas for 2009:

Globalizing agricultural business, markets and trade (CSREES Strategic Objective 1.2);
Developing sustainable biobased technologies and economies, including knowledge of related economic and social implications (e.g., marketing, distribution of products, goods and services, entrepreneurship, rural community opportunities and risks, etc.) (CSREES Strategic Objective 2.1);
Protecting agroecosystem animal or plant health, including improved agrosecurity or genomics (CSREES Strategic Objectives 2.2 & 4.2);
Promoting human sciences that address rural youth, individual, and family well-being in a community context (CSREES Strategic Objectives 3.1 & 3.2);
Increasing food safety and food defense; protecting America’s food supply (CSREES Strategic Objective 4.1);
Supporting healthy food choices and lifestyles, and obesity and chronic disease prevention (CSREES Strategic Objectives 5.1 & 5.2); and
Sustaining forest and rangeland health and protection including improved ecosystem services such as soil, air, and water quality (CSREES Strategic Objectives 6.3 & 6.4).

Deadline: January 30, 2009

URL: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/pdfs/09_hec.pdf

October 27, 2008

NSF: Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Instrument Development and Acquisition

Description: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education, museums and science centers, and non-profit organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. Development and acquisition of research instrumentation for shared inter- and/or intra-organization use is encouraged, as are development efforts that leverage the strengths of private sector partners as appropriate for the goals of the MRI Program.

To accomplish these goals, the MRI program assists with the acquisition or development of shared research instrumentation that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. For the purposes of the MRI Program, proposals must be for either acquisition or development. Instruments are expected to be operational for regular research use by the end of the award period. A key recommendation of a 2006 National Academies report on “Advanced Research Instrumentation and Facilities” (ARIF) was that the NSF should expand the MRI program so that it includes “mid-scale” instrumentation whose capital costs are greater than $2 million, but with costs that are not appropriate for NSF’s Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account. The MRI program now accepts proposals requesting over $2 million in NSF support (to the maximum request of $4 million) for the acquisition of a single instrument. For proposals requesting $2 million or less, investigators may seek support for instrument development or for acquisition of a single instrument, a large system of instruments, or multiple instruments that share a common or specific research focus.

Deadline: January 22, 2008

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09502/nsf09502.htm?govDel=USNSF_25

October 23, 2008

Wisconsin Environmental Education Board (WEEB): Environmental education programs

During the 2009-2010 grant cycle the WEEB anticipates allocating funds in five categories:

General Environmental Education grants
Forestry Education grants
School Forest Education Plan grants
School Forest grants
Energy Education grants

Funded projects have included state-wide initiatives as well as small localized efforts. Audiences served include K-12 public and private school children, members of various youth organizations, classroom teachers and other educators, landowners, park patrons, tourists, government officials, business owners and employees and of course the public.

Deadline: February 14, 2009 (postmark)

URL: http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/weeb/grant-program/index.htm

October 9, 2008

Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council(GCC): Wisconsin Groundwater Research and Monitoring Program

Description: This solicitation is a coordinated effort of the University of Wisconsin System (UWS); the Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources (DNR); Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP); and Commerce. This cooperative solicitation allows interested individuals to prepare project proposals that can be submitted to several different funding sources simultaneously and eliminates the need to submit similar proposals several times for different solicitation efforts.

Funding is available for new and continuing monitoring or research to meet specific agency needs or objectives. Up to $440,000 may be available for new monitoring or research for FY 10.

The UWS and the state agencies have prepared guidance on the specific priorities for monitoring and/or research and other pertinent information relative to their request for proposals.

Deadline: Monday, November 17, 2008

URL: www.wri.wisc.edu.

NEH: We the People Challenge grants

Description: The People Challenge Grants in United States History, Institutions, and Culture program is designed to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for humanities activities that examine American history through the lens of the nation’s founding principles. Proposals must demonstrate how the challenge grant would strengthen the institution’s ability to explore significant themes and events in American history, so as to advance knowledge of how the founding principles of the United States have shaped, and been shaped by, American history and culture for more than two hundred years. NEH welcomes proposals for programs that not only articulate the theories of governance and assertions of human rights that have embodied the founding principles, but also lead to deeper exploration of how these principles have been tested and interpreted since the Founding Era.

NEH challenge grants are intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds (that is, funds that are invested, with both the income and the principal being expended over a defined period of years) that generate expendable earnings to support ongoing program activities. Funds may also be used to support one-time capital expenditures (such as construction and renovation, purchase of equipment, and acquisitions) that bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly.

Because of the matching requirement, these NEH grants also strengthen the humanities by encouraging nonfederal sources of support. Applications are welcome from colleges and universities, museums, public libraries, research institutions, historical societies and historic sites, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other nonprofit entities. Programs that involve collaboration among multiple institutions are eligible as well, but one institution must serve as the lead agent and formal applicant of record. NEH particularly welcomes proposals for programming at America’s historic places (historic sites, neighborhoods, communities, or larger geographical regions).

Deadline: February 3, 2009.

URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/wtpchallenge.html

NEH invites applications for We the People Challenge Grants in United States History, Institutions, and Culture. This grant opportunity, part of NEH’s We the People program, is designed to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for humanities activities that examine American history through the lens of the nation’s founding principles. Proposals must demonstrate how the challenge grant would strengthen the institution’s ability to explore significant themes and events in American history, so as to advance knowledge of how the founding principles of the United States have shaped, and been shaped by, American history and culture for more than two hundred years. NEH welcomes proposals for programs that not only articulate the theories of governance and assertions of human rights that have embodied the founding principles, but also lead to deeper exploration of how these principles have been tested and interpreted since the Founding Era. NEH challenge grants are intended to help institutions and organizations secure long-term improvements in and support for their humanities programs and resources. Grants may be used to establish or enhance endowments or spend-down funds (that is, funds that are invested, with both the income and the principal being expended over a defined period of years) that generate expendable earnings to support ongoing program activities. Funds may also be used to support one-time capital expenditures (such as construction and renovation, purchase of equipment, and acquisitions) that bring long-term benefits to the institution and to the humanities more broadly. Because of the matching requirement, these NEH grants also strengthen the humanities by encouraging nonfederal sources of support. Applications are welcome from colleges and universities, museums, public libraries, research institutions, historical societies and historic sites, scholarly associations, state humanities councils, and other nonprofit entities. Programs that involve collaboration among multiple institutions are eligible as well, but one institution must serve as the lead agent and formal applicant of record. NEH particularly welcomes proposals for programming at America’s historic places (historic sites, neighborhoods, communities, or larger geographical regions).

September 29, 2008

EPA: P3 Awards (Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet)

Description: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the P3 Award Program, is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, and design solutions to real world challenges involving the overall sustainability of human society. The P3 student design competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative projects focused on sustainability. The P3 Awards program was developed to foster progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the planet, and improved quality of life for its people-- people, prosperity, and the planet – the three pillars of sustainability. The EPA offers the P3 competition in order to respond to the technical needs of the world while moving towards the goal of sustainability. Please see the P3 website (http://www.epa.gov/P3) for more details about this program.

Deadline: December 23, 2008

URL: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2009/2009_p3.html

USDA: Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge (SPECA) Grants Program

Description: The purpose of the Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge (SPECA) Grants Program is to: enhance curricula in agricultural education; increase faculty teaching competencies; interest young people in pursuing higher education in order to prepare for scientific and professional careers in the food and agricultural sciences; promote the incorporation of agriscience and agribusiness subject matter into other instructional programs, particularly classes in science, business, and consumer education; facilitate joint initiatives by the grant recipient with other secondary schools, institutions of higher education that award an associate's degree, institutions of higher education that award a bachelor's degree, and nonprofit organizations supporting agriscience and agribusiness education, to maximize the development and use of resources, such as faculty, facilities, and equipment, to improve agriscience and agribusiness education; support other initiatives designed to meet local, State, regional, or national needs related to promoting excellence in agriscience and agribusiness education; and support current Agriculture in the Classroom programs for grades K-12.

Deadline: December 15, 2008.

URL: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/pdfs/09_sec_challenge.pdf

September 23, 2008

UWS OPID Conference Development Grants

Description: The Office of Professional and Instructional Development is pleased to announce that support will again be available for the development and sponsorship of local, regional, and systemwide workshops and conferences focused on the improvement of teaching. Conference Development Grants Program emphasizes collaboration among faculty, staff, departments, and institutions. The program typically funds workshops, seminars, and conferences that bring UW System faculty and staff together to work collaboratively on issues in undergraduate education.

Deadline: November 17, 2008.

URL: http://www.uwsa.edu/opid/grants/

September 19, 2008

UWS Institute on Race & Ethnicity: Campus Reading Seminar grants

Description: The Institute's Campus Reading Seminar grants support reading groups and scholarly exchanges on racial/ethnic subjects by making funds available for the purchase of books that focus on racial/ethnic themes. Participants in the seminars may include faculty members, academic and classified staff, students and people from the community. There should be a minimum of six (6) and a maximum of fifteen (15) participants in each seminar. The maximum request is $400.00, which only may be used for the cost of the books.

Deadline: November 7, 2008.

URL: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/IRE/grant_programs/reading_seminars.html

September 11, 2008

NEH: Enduring Questions Pilot Courses grants

Description: The Enduring Questions grant program will support new humanities courses at the undergraduate level: their design and preparation, teaching, and assessment, as well as ancillary activities that enhance faculty-student intellectual community. Courses may be taught by faculty from any department or discipline in the humanities or by faculty outside the humanities (e.g., astronomy, biology, economics, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology), provided humanities sources are central to the course.

Maximum grant: $25,000, with $15,000 a stipend to the faculty developing the course. NEH Enduring Questions courses:

must give evidence of “pre-disciplinary” character, encouraging reflection on human experience and avoiding extensive specialization;
must focus on an explicitly stated question or questions, pursued in a disciplined and deliberate manner;
must draw on significant readings from prior to the twentieth century and may draw on later works, with a preference for reading books in their entirety or near entirety;
may draw on artworks (e.g., music, plays, sculpture);
must reflect intellectual pluralism, anticipating more than one plausible or interesting answer to the question(s) at hand;
must be open to all students regardless of major or concentration;
may not be offered for graduate credit; and
require a letter of institutional support from the president, provost, dean, program chair, or department chair, attesting to the course being new and committing to offering the course at least twice.

Deadline: November 13, 2008

URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html

September 4, 2008

US Dept of Energy: Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI)

Description: The SULI program places students in any science, math, engineering, or technology field into paid internships in Science and Engineering at any of several Department of Energy facilities. Many of the participants in the program have decided on a career in science and engineering because of the nature of the experience. Students work with scientists or engineers on projects related to the laboratories' research programs. The different laboratories each offer different research opportunities. The summer programs at the various laboratories will run from late May to mid-August, fall programs run from August through December and spring programs from January through May. The exact start date will depend on the laboratory and will be given to participants who have been accepted at that specific laboratory. Students are required to participate for the full term of the program.

Deadlines: for spring 09, November 30, 2008; for summer 09, April 1, 2009.

URL: http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/scied/erulf/about.html

September 3, 2008

UW-System Solid Waste Research

Description: The Solid Waste Research Program (SWRP) was established by the Wisconsin legislature in 1990. The program offers a maximum award of $30,000 and accepts applications from faculty and staff with principal investigator status at UW system campuses. Limited funding is also available for student projects.

Proposals are sought for research into alternative methods of solid waste disposal, including the reduction of the amount of solid waste generated, the reuse and recycling of materials, composting, source separation and the disposal of household hazardous waste. Research proposals may consider the environmental effects of the technologies being researched and measures which could be taken to mitigate such effects. Applied research, designed to provide benefits to persons who generate solid waste and to public and private entities responsible for collection, storage, transportation, treatment or disposal of solid waste, is encouraged. Proposals are also sought for projects that will develop products or increase markets for products made from recycled materials.

Joint proposals in which industrial, business, or governmental organizations collaborate with UW System faculty or staff in addressing these issues are especially encouraged and are given special consideration. In such joint proposals, the organization is strongly encouraged to provide resources in the form of direct monetary or in-kind contributions in support of the proposed research projects.

Deadlines: Student grants October 3, 2008; faculty grants February 9,. 2009.

URL: http://wwwnew.uwsa.edu/oslp/em/swrp/

August 22, 2008

NSF: Solar Energy Initiative

Description: The purpose of the CHE-DMR-DMS Solar Energy Initiative is to support interdisciplinary efforts by groups of researchers to address the scientific challenges of highly efficient harvesting, conversion, and storage of solar energy. Groups must include three or more co-Principal Investigators; one must have demonstrated high expertise in chemistry, a second in materials research, and a third in mathematical sciences. The goal here is to create a new modality of linking the mathematical with the chemical and materials sciences to develop transformative paradigms in an area of much activity but largely incremental advances. Successful proposals will offer potentially transformative projects and new concepts based on the integrated expertise and synergy from the three disciplinary communities.

Deadline: Preliminary proposal (required) December 16, 2008; full proposal March 9, 2009.

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08598

August 18, 2008

NSF: Proactive Recruitment Introductory Science and Mathematics (PRISM)

Description: The goal of the program in Proactive Recruitment in Introductory Science and Mathematics is to strengthen the nation's scientific competitiveness by increasing the numbers of well-prepared, successful U.S. undergraduate majors and minors in science and mathematics. The program will fund innovative, potentially transformational partnerships between the mathematical sciences and other science or engineering disciplines that widen the cross section of the mathematical sciences to which freshman and sophomore students are exposed and that provide these students increased opportunities for research experiences involving the mathematical sciences.

Deadline: February 16, 2009.

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08596/nsf08596.htm?govDel=USNSF_25

US Dept of Ed: Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad

Description: The Fulbright- Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program supports overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies for groups of teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor. Projects are short-term and include seminars, curriculum development, or group research or study. A group project funded under this priority must focus on one or more of the following geographic regions of the world: Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Western Hemisphere (Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean), East Central Europe and Eurasia, and the Near East.

Priorities:

Projects that focus on any of the seventy-eight (78) languages deemed critical on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs).
Short-term seminars that develop and improve foreign language and area studies at elementary and secondary schools.

Deadline: September 26, 2008

URL: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-18965.pdf

July 29, 2008

USDA: Specialty Crop Research Initiative

Description: The Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) was established to solve critical industry issues through research and extension activities. Specialty crops are defined as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops including floriculture. SCRI will give priority to projects that are multistate, multi-institutional, or trans-disciplinary; and include explicit mechanisms to communicate results to producers and the public. Projects must address at least one of five focus areas: research in plant breeding, genetics, and genomics to improve crop characteristics; efforts to identify and address threats from pests and diseases, including threats to pollinators; efforts to improve production efficiency, productivity, and profitability over the long term; new innovations and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening; and methods to prevent, detect, monitor control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production and processing of specialty crops.

Deadline: August 14, 2008

URL: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/rfas/specialty_crop.html

July 1, 2008

NSF: informatics and Intelligent Systems (IIS)

Description: The Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) studies the inter-related roles of people, computers, and information. IIS supports research and education activities that 1) develop new knowledge about the role of people in the design and use of information technology; 2) increase our capability to create, manage, and understand data and information in circumstances ranging from personal computers to globally-distributed systems; and 3) advance our understanding of how computational systems can exhibit the hallmarks of intelligence.

CISE’s Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) supports research and education projects that develop new knowledge in three core programs:

The Human-Centered Computing program;
The Information Integration and Informatics program; and
The Robust Intelligence program.

Proposers are invited to submit proposals in three project classes, which are defined as follows:

Small Projects - up to $500,000 total budget with durations up to three years;
Medium Projects - $500,001 to $1,200,000 total budget with durations up to four years; and
Large Projects - $1,200,001 to $3,000,000 total budget with durations up to five years.

Deadlines: October 1 (medium projects), November 1 (large projects), December 1 (small projects), 2008

URL: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08575/nsf08575.htm