Opportunities for Disciplinary, Cross-Disciplinary and International Research at NSF

Robin ReichlinProgram Director, Geophysicsrreichli@nsf.gov

Disciplinary Science Opportunities (missed opportunities for GP science) Core programs in EAR, OCE, AGS (Geosciences Directorate) Early career: CAREER/Post Doctoral Fellowships/Graduate Research Fellowships/REU supplements Special Opportunities: RAPID/EaGER

Cross-Disciplinary Science Opportunities Special solicitations for Interdisciplinary Research Attributes of successful interdisciplinary research proposals How are these types of proposals are evaluated?

Research involving international participants or partnerships Participation of international partners in core and cross-cutting initiatives Opportunities in OISE Special Solicitations

Magnetism in the Geosciences- An NSF perspective

EAR: Earth Sciences Division (surface and deep earth sections) Geophysics Petrology and Geochemistry Tectonics Continental Dynamics (transitioning to Integrated Earth Systems) Geobiology and low T Geochemistry Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology Geomorphology and Land Use Dynamics OCE: Ocean Sciences Division Marine Geology/Geophysics Program Ocean Drilling Program

AGS: Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences Divison Paleoclimate Program Magnetospheric Science Program

Throughout GEO / NSF: Infrastructure, Equipment, Facilities (IRM) , Research platforms, Cyberinfrastructure (MAGIC), Education, Outreach programs

Geoscience DirectorateSearched NSF awards for Titles with “Magneti*”--found

awards throughout GEO programs

Articulating GP Science Holistically is a Great Idea!

CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program): 11-690

- NSF’s most Prestigious Award for early career PIs - NSF-wide (submit to relevant core program)

- 5-year award, $400k minimum- for tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty- integration of education and research is ESSENTIAL - Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)

from among the most meritorious recent CAREER awardees

Geophysics Program stats:• 41 Funded since 1997• 6-8/year 2009-10-11• Only ONE in GP section• Encourage applications• Talk to Program Director• July deadline, annually

EAR Post Doctoral Fellowships- EAR PRF (NSF 10-500)

- EAR-wide, centralized program (~10-15 awards/year)- Reviewed by mail, then relevant core program panels- 2-year fellowship, $170K/2 years- Eligibility within 3 years of PhD - Fellowships are awards to individuals, not institutions.- 2 months parental leave may can be requested- Deadline July 1 annually- Contact Lina Patino (lpatino @nsf.gov)

Other GEO Post doc programs: AGS: 11-521 Sue Weiler, deadline in FebruaryOCE: 11-586 Larry Weber, deadline in January

Similar to EAR PRF, but some details may differ

REU Supplements: Research Experiences for Undergraduates

- NSF-wide- Supplemental funding on a current award- Support undergraduate(s) to do research (lab/field/modeling, etc)- Related to original science goals- Tractable undergrad project, mentoring, possible presentation of results

- Summer and/or academic year support - Funds for salary, travel, incidentals- No deadlines- Contact your Program Director before submitting- Geophysics funds all well-founded requests

Graduate Research Fellowships (GRFP) NSF 11-582

- 3 years of support- $30,000 annual stipend- $10,500 cost-of-education allowance to the institution (expected to

increase to $12,000 for 2012)

Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID)

- for projects having urgency with regard to availability of, or access to data, facilities or specialized equipment (like quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters)

- up to $200K and for 1 year

- the project description is expected to be brief; no more than 5 pages

- (usually) only internally reviewed

- Talk to Program Director before submitting!

Mt. St. Helens, WA state DNR Seward highway, Alaska, 1964 / USGS Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill / East Carolina University & collabs

EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)

Apply to Relevant Core Program—Must talk to Program Director before submission

to support exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches

considered especially "high risk-high payoff” up to $300K and for 2 years (usually) only internally reviewed Geophysics has funded 2 in GP

go to www.nsf.gov Award Search and type “EAGER” for a list!

• radically different approaches

• new expertise

• novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary

Disciplinary Science Opportunities (missed opportunities for GP science)Core programs in EAR, OCE, AGSEarly career: CAREER/Post Doctoral Fellowships/Graduate Research

Fellowships/REU supplementsSpecial Opportunities: RAPID/EaGER/CREATIV

Cross-Disciplinary Science OpportunitiesSpecial solicitations for Interdisciplinary ResearchAttributes of successful interdisciplinary research proposalsHow are these types of proposals are evaluated?

Research involving international participants or partnershipsParticipation of international partners in core and cross-cutting initiativesOpportunities in OISE Special Solicitations

Magnetism in the Geosciences- An NSF perspective

Frontiers in Earth System Dynamics (FESD) NSF 12-547GEO Directorate-wide program-EAR, OCE, AGS

“ to foster an interdisciplinary and multi-scale understanding of the interplay among and within the various sub-systems of the Earth”

Funding: Spent $33M in FY11 on 7 projects (images below-FY 11 awards)Expect rounds in 2013 and 2015 (expect $28M/yr)

Estimated Number of Awards: 6 to 10 Type I (Frontier Research projects) and Type II (Geoscience Collaboratories or Synthesis Centers) proposals total

Project sizes: approximately $3M to $5M for 3-5 years duration

Pre-proposal deadline: July 2, 2012Full proposals, by invitation, due in March, 2013

Cooperative Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior (NSF 11-548)

Goal is to foster interdisciplinary research on Earth’s Deep Interior

- Synergy among disciplinary components- Potential for rapid progress on global scale problems

- Geochemistry, seismology, mineral physics, petrology, geomagnetism, geodynamics (and possibly math, computational science, materials science)

- $2M annually (4-5 awards, recent awards ~$250K - $850K) - great for early career PIs

Csedi.org: Community document

Theme 1: The Deep Earth Water and Carbon Cycles Theme 2: The Path to the Present: Evolution of the Earth Theme 3: The Deep Earth Engine

2004 Community meeting to review past accomplishments and future directions. General Themes identified, but topical scope is open to all deep Earth research.

“interdisciplinary P2C2 solicitation is to utilize key geological, chemical, and biological records of climate system variability to provide insights into the mechanisms and rate of change that characterized Earth's past climate variability, the sensitivity of Earth's climate system to changes in forcing, and the response of key components of the Earth system to these changes.”

Annual deadlines for 2010-2012: October 18th

GEO Contacts:David Verardo dverardo@nsf.govPaul Filmer pfilmer@nsf.govCandace Major cmajor@nsf.gov

OPP Contact:William Wiseman wwiseman@nsf.gov

P2C2: Paleo Perspectives in Climate Change 10-574

SEES – Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (numerous (11 and growing) solicitations)

Goals:- Support interdisciplinary research and education that can

facilitate the move towards global sustainability- Build linkages among existing projects and partners- Develop a workforce trained in the interdisciplinary

scholarship needed to understand and address the complex issues of sustainability

Priorities:-Climate and water research-Advance a clean energy future-Support societal resilience-Nurture emerging SEES workforce-Expand research, education and knowledge dissemination-Engage with global partners Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) solicitation (NSF 11-564)

~$99M/113 awards

SEES – Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability

Open Solicitations on the NSF websiteNew: Arctic SEES (NSF 12-553) deadline September 14, 2012

“improves our ability to evaluate the sustainability of the Arctic human-environmental system as well as integrated efforts which will provide community-relevant sustainability pathways and engineering solutions.” 

Coming soon: New SEES solicitations ~ October, 2012SEEs Hazards

“... to better predict, prepare for, recover from, and mitigate the effects of high-impact natural and technological events.”

Coastal SEES“... will support interdisciplinary research on the dynamic interactions

among human behavior, physical forces, and ecological processes in these vulnerable regions.”

Descriptions of all solicitations (currently 11!) are on the web

www.nsf.gov/sees

GEO Contacts: Jessica RobinBen van der Pluijm

Attributes of Successful Interdisciplinary Proposals

A great science question/important problem Motivate the project to a broad audience Clear technical/scientific excellence Strong justification that interdisciplinary approach required The right team and disciplinary balance Synergy and feedback among disciplines Sum greater than parts Evidence that your team members work collaboratively

(e.g. cross disciplinary publications?) Strong management and integration plan (including students) Education- educating the next generation to work on

interdisciplinary science requires new modes of training Explain how this project relates to other ongoing funded

research by your team

Some Tips for Pitching an Interdisciplinary Proposal at NSF

Know your AudienceFind out how proposals will be evaluated by the specific program (mail

review, panel(s) or both?) ask a program directorModes: Co-review between disciplinary panels or special competitionsPitch your proposal accordingly (broad interdisciplinary panel with few

experts in your field? Or detailed mail reviews from experts, or hybrid?) The broader the competition (NSF wide vs GEO wide vs Division vs

Program) the less likely there will be experts in your field doing panel evaluation

Motivate the science broadly, reduce jargon, don’t assume everyone knows what you are doing and why it is important/exciting.

CSEDI: Mail (experts), panel-coverage of all relevant EAR disciplinesFESD: Pre-proposals-panel of ~20 EAR, OCE, AGS scientists

Full proposals-mail (experts), panel of 20 across geosciences

Disciplinary Science Opportunities (missed opportunities for GP science)Core programs in EAR, OCE, AGSEarly career: CAREER/Post Doctoral Fellowships/Graduate Research

Fellowships/REU supplementsSpecial Opportunities: RAPID/EaGER/CREATIV

Cross-Disciplinary Science OpportunitiesSpecial solicitations for Interdisciplinary ResearchAttributes of successful interdisciplinary research proposals How are these types of proposals are evaluated?

Research involving international participants or partnershipsParticipation of international partners in core and cross-cutting initiativesOpportunities in OISE Special Solicitations

Magnetism in the Geosciences- An NSF perspective

OISE: Office of International Science and Engineering

Provides co-funding for the international component of disciplinary or interdisciplinary Research Projects when:

True intellectual collaboration with foreign research partner New international collaborations, as opposed to well-established ones Clear benefit to U.S. science/engineering community from expertise, facilities,

or resources of the foreign collaborator AND Active research engagement of U.S. students and junior researchers at the foreign site.

Any Proposal can include International Collaboration NSF can support travel, lab expenses and incidentals related to the collaboration NSF will not make grants to foreign institutions Collaborators expected to provide their own salary and student support NSF can fund students to work abroad

Research involving international participants or partnerships

Special Initiatives: OISE International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) NSF 12-551

GEO and OISE announced a ‘new Multilateral Research Funding Initiative between the Belmont Forum and the G8 Heads of Research Councils (G8HORCs). This call will focus on addressing issues of "Freshwater Security" and "Coastal Vulnerability" that are best addressed through a coupled interdisciplinary and multinational approach.” DCL 12-072

PASI: Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute: 10-517

-- Jointly supported by DOE (Department of Energy) and NSF-- Provides support for short courses (10-20 days)-- Aims to disseminate scientific & engineering knowledge, foster cooperation

Check the OISE website

PEER – USAID/NSF collaborationPartnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research

Administered by the National Academies- Unites NSF PI’s with counterpart scientists in the developing world to support and build technical capacity

- $30,000 to $50,000 per year for 1-3 years. (A few larger and more complex projects may receive up to $100,000 per year for up to 3 years.

- 6 pilot projects funded so far, relating to: ecosystemshydrology

climate changebiodiversity seismologyLearn more: http://www.nationalacademies.org/peer

transformed a seismic data processing center at Dhaka University into a state-of-the-art seismology and geodesy laboratory.

...related to www.BanglaPIRE.org

Questions?

Research Strategy

• onshore-offshore• interdisciplinary• community-driven• collaborative

Join the Listserv: http://www.geoprisms.org/contact-us.htmlAsk for Info: info@geoprisms.org or jwade@nsf.govCheck the Website: www.geoprisms.org

“... amphibious study of the origin and evolution of continental margins through interdisciplinary, community-based investigations.”

Community plans science objectives at workshopsSteering committee advises NSF, and guides proposal writingProposals are subject to regular review process

New solicitation for July 2, 2012 deadline (this includes post-docs!): 12-537

Overarching themesOrigin and Evolution of Continental Crust

Fluids, Magmas and Their InteractionsClimate-Surface-Tectonic Feedbacks

Geochemical CyclesPlate Boundary Deformation and Geodynamics

Joint OCE-EAR program, and the successor to MARGINS

CREATIV: 12-012Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures

Pilot grant mechanism under the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) initiative

- Create new interdisciplinary opportunities that are not perceived to exist presently

- Attract unusually creative high-risk / high-reward interdisciplinary proposals- up to $1M for up to 5 years

- internally reviewed

FAQs and Dear Colleague Letter on the website

- - PI’s must contact Program Officers from the different disciplines and get them interested before submitting proposals

Email updates

Staff and programs

GPG (grant proposal guide)

Award searchUpcoming deadlines

New solicitations

Funding rates

www.nsf.gov

Data policies

new programsproliferate