NASULGC Undertakes National Energy Initiative

Peter McPherson, President of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC), recently provided an update on the Association’s energy initiative. The following is excerpted from his newsletter message. (Note: NASULGC recently changed its name to APLU, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.)

[…] President Obama has made energy a priority and there are several proposals being debated in and out of Congress. Many such proposals include a role for universities but often involve ideas that go beyond the primary work we do, e.g., building a smart grid, and cap and trade. [Universities can] advance some key principles for evaluating the proposals and the potential university role in them. […] Our capacity to sit at the table comes from the fact that we represent powerful institutions in every state that are ready to help solve the energy problem. [Below is a draft of the principles NASULGC will seek to advance.]

  • The federal energy effort should have an effective organizational structure that facilitates government/university/industry cooperation in the country. […]
  • Federal energy programs should be designed to take full advantage of university potential contributions.
  • The programs must be designed to provide adequate resources for fundamental research, to allow for transformational improvements in existing technologies, and to ensure good ideas move rapidly from research to product development to commercial applications.
  • The energy problem is a global energy problem and programs must be designed to include developing nations and others as part of the solution, to bring the best ideas from around the world to the United States, and to help U.S. companies export their solutions. We hope solutions will draw on our universities’ growing international competence as well.
  • The federal government’s resource commitment must match the severity and complexities of our energy and related environmental problems.
  • We need the right structure and plans to solve the issue but we also need to devote substantially more resources to energy. […] We now spend less than 20 percent of what is spent on health-related research while energy and health consume similar amounts of our gross national product.

[…] Our task is urgent because substantial changes in energy and environmental policy are already underway as the Administration and the Congress restructure our energy policy framework. The agencies receiving energy funding in the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and FY 2009 omnibus appropriations bill are already developing their implementation plans and both Congress and the Administration are developing further far-reaching energy and environmental legislation. NASULGC is working to demonstrate the broad and deep energy expertise of our members and to help carve out an appropriate university role in these programs. […]

We are developing an overall vision of what universities can offer to our nation's energy needs. What are the specific contributions universities can make to the issues being addressed by the Department of Energy and other governmental entities? Late last year, NASULGC collected information about energy work from many of our members, but this needs to be further developed. We need to be clear on what our institutions can offer and to present these strengths in a way that federal and state decision-makers can easily grasp the ways in which universities can contribute to specific aspects of the challenges they face.

[…] Universities have unique contributions to make to one of the most important problems facing us in the 21st century: figuring out how to improve quality-of-life throughout the world while learning to live within the constraints of limited natural resources and environmental realities. Collectively, I hope we can point the way for making these contributions a reality.

UM Research Funding News

Proposal and Award Activity

UM faculty and staff submitted 41 external funding proposals and received 34 external funding awards during March 2009. For a complete listing, see the Monthly Report.

Faculty Travel Support

In March $2,450 was awarded by the ORSP to help support research-related travel. The ORSP's Faculty Travel Support program provides funds for UM faculty members to take part in development activities that will lead to new or extended research, scholarly or creative work. The program typically does not support travel to a conference for presentation of completed work unless the request includes specific development activities beyond the conference itself.

Examples of research purposes for which faculty have recently received support include:

  • Expand ongoing research project by conducting in-person interviews in new location
  • Discuss book contracts with collaborator and editor while at conference
  • Collect research data for planned monograph through observations and interviews
  • Meet with collaborator about planned grant proposal while at conference
  • Discuss new research projects with collaborators while at conference

Faculty Travel Support guidelines, application, and FAQ are available from the ORSP Internal Support page.

Additional Information

Speaking of COS

Want to learn skills to maximize your use of COS Funding Opportunities searching, right at your own computer? COS is offering training sessions designed for faculty/staff users to teach you the best ways to use the Funding Opps database to find the funding you need. Later in the year, COS will offer a broader schedule of online training. Meanwhile, two more online Funding Opportunities training sessions have been scheduled in April. You can always find the current schedule, and enroll in the workshop of your choice, on the COS User Training page.

Don’t know about COS?

Check out our COS page, the January 2005, September 2006, and March 2007 newsletter articles, and/or the COS home page. COS is for all UM faculty in all academic disciplines and research areas.

Bits & Pieces

Three Receive RAMP Certificates

Congratulations to the following for successfully completing the ORSP’s Research Administration and Management Program (RAMP) and receiving their Certificates of Completion:

  • Michelle Aten, National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law — March 5, 2009
  • Cynthia Evans, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs — April 2, 2009
  • Karen Simms, Geology and Geological Engineering — April 2, 2009

RAMP is a series of six workshops offered over the course of a semester that are designed to facilitate responsible oversight of externally sponsored research projects.  RAMP will be offered again next fall semester.

NSF Issues Notice on ARRA Funding Plans

The NSF Director has released Important Notice 131 announcing information on how NSF will spend the $3 billion provided to it under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The notice is available on the NSF website and on the UM ORSP ARRA page of announcements.

Highlights include:

NSF currently has many highly rated proposals that it has not been able to fund. For this reason, NSF is planning to use the majority of the $2 billion available in Research and Related Activities for proposals that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009.

  • All grants issued with Recovery Act funds will be standard grants with durations of up to five years.
  • Funding of new Principal Investigators and high-risk, high-return research will be top priorities.

With the exception of the MRI, ARI and Science Masters programs, the majority of proposals eligible for Recovery Act funding include those that are already in house at NSF and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009. NSF also will consider proposals declined on or after October 1, 2008.

The reversal of the decision to decline must be based on both the high quality of the reviews received on the initial submission and the lack of available funding at the time the original decision was made. The cognizant program officer will contact the institution when a reversal is being considered by NSF.

NSF will post a solicitation this spring for the Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI). The Foundation currently anticipates that no other solicitations will be posted that are solely in response to the Recovery Act.

Awardees will be informed that they are expected to expend funds in a timely manner on allowable award costs and that NSF will be monitoring awards for expenditures. If, after 12 months, no allowable expenditures have taken place, NSF may consider reducing or terminating the award and reallocating the funds.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs encourages those faculty with NSF proposals currently under review or recently declined to contact their program officers. You should inquire as to whether there are revisions that can be made to make your proposal more responsive to NSF's ARRA priorities. Please contact your Program Development Specialist in the ORSP if you have any questions, issues or concerns related to this or any other funding opportunity.

A Few Program Announcements and Deadlines

Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences Opportunities

Deadlines in June and October

The Institute of Education Sciences announces the Institute's FY 2010 competitions for grants to support education research and special education research. The announcement outlines the process of applying for 11 separate research competitions through two national centers. The National Center for Education Research will hold seven competitions: two competitions for education research; one competition for education research training; one competition for education research and development centers; one competition for research on statistical and research methodology in education; and two competitions for evaluation of State and local education programs and policies. The National Center for Special Education Research will hold four competitions: two competitions for special education research, one competition for special education research training, and one competition for special education research and development centers. Separate topics are identified for each competition. Eligibility for all competitions is unrestricted domestically.

DHHS Administration for Children and Families Head Start Graduate Student Research

Deadline June 1

The Administration for Children and Families invites proposals for the Head Start Graduate Student Research grants. The goal is to encourage collaboration between Head Start programs and their local research community through high-quality mentored research projects that directly address the needs of low-income children and families and their early childhood educators. Research topics should also have national significance for the Head Start Program. Up to 10 awards are expected from total funding of $250,000. Eligibility is limited to U.S. institutions of higher education.

NIH Obesity Research

Deadlines June 16, October 16, February 16

This Funding Opportunities Announcement (FOA) encourages research grant applications from institutions and organizations that propose to conduct exploratory/developmental clinical studies that will accelerate the development of effective interventions for prevention or treatment of overweight or obesity in adults or children. Exploratory epidemiological research with a goal of informing translational/clinical research will also be supported within this program.

NSF Linguistics Research

Deadlines July 15, January 15

This program supports scientific research that focuses on human language as an object of investigation. The program supports research on the syntactic, semantic, phonetic, and phonological properties of individual languages and of language in general; the psychological processes involved in the use of language; the development of linguistic capacities in children; social and cultural factors in language use, variation, and change; the acoustics of speech and the physiological and psychological processes involved in the production and perception of speech; and the biological bases of language in the brain.

2009 Fulbright U.S. Scholars Programs

Deadlines August 1

Traditional Fulbright Scholar Program

The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.

Fulbright Distinguished Chairs

Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Candidates should be senior scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record. The Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.

NSF Decision, Risk, and Management Science Research

Deadline August 18, January 18

The program supports scientific research directed at increasing the understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, doctoral dissertation research, and workshops are funded in the areas of judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception, and communication; societal and public policy decision making; management science; and organizational design. The program also supports small grants for exploratory research of a time-critical nature, such as decision making in response to extreme events. Funded research must be relevant to an operational or applied context, grounded in theory, and generalizable.

NSF Focused Research Groups in the Mathematical Sciences

Letter of Intent August 21, Full Proposal September 28

The purpose of the FRG activity is to allow groups of researchers to respond to recognized scientific needs of pressing importance, to take advantage of current scientific opportunities, or to prepare the ground for anticipated significant scientific developments in the mathematical sciences. Groups may include, in addition to mathematical scientists, researchers from other science and engineering disciplines appropriate to the proposed research. The activity supports projects for which the collective effort by a group of researchers is necessary to reach the scientific goals. Projects should be scientifically focused and well-delineated. It is not the intent of this activity to provide general support for infrastructure. Projects should also be timely, limited in duration to up to three years, and substantial in their scope and impact.

NSF Undergraduate Research and Mentoring in the Biological Sciences

Deadline September 16

The goal of the URM program is to increase the number and diversity of individuals pursuing graduate studies in all areas of biological research supported by the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences. Support will be provided to academic institutions to establish innovative programs to engage undergraduates in a year-round research and mentoring activity. Particular emphasis will be placed on broadening participation of members of groups historically underrepresented in science and engineering: African Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Pacific Islanders, and persons with disabilities.

Additional Resources

Some Upcoming Events

Gulf of Mexico Data Integration and Management Workshop in Texas, May 15-16

A workshop focusing on Data Integration and Management on the Gulf of Mexico will be at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX on May 15-16, 2009. This workshop serves as a forum for researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government to discuss and exchange ideas of research and development in the areas of data integration and data management on the Gulf of Mexico. The workshop focuses on the emerging challenges for data integration and sharing in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences, and is especially interested in the techniques to integrate, archive, and share public accessible Web data from a variety of sources and different domains.

BMEI - CISP 2009 Joint Conference in China, October 17-19

The Second International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics (BMEI 2009) and the Second International Congress on Image and Signal Processing (CISP 2009) will be jointly held in Tianjin, China, from 17 to 19 October 2009. Selected best papers will appear in SCI-indexed journal(s). The papers published in the proceedings will be included in the IEEE Xplore and submitted to Ei Compendex for indexing. BMEI'09-CISP'09 is technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. The previous BMEI-CISP attracted over 2600 submissions from more than 30 countries. BMEI'09-CISP'09 aims to provide a high-level international forum for scientists and researchers to present the state of the art of biomedical engineering, biomedical informatics, multimedia, and signal processing.

Fundamental Neutron Physics Summer School in Maryland, June 22-26

TheSecond Summer School on Fundamental Neutron Physics will beheld at the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD June 22-26, 2009.The summer school is intended for graduate students and other young scientists interested in fundamental neutron physics and related fields. The list of topics includes:

  • Sources of Cold and Ultracold Neutrons
  • Neutron Optics and Polarization
  • Neutron Beta Decay Theory and Experiments
  • Neutron Lifetime
  • Hadronic Weak Interactions Theory and Experiments
  • Neutron Electric Dipole Moment Searches
  • Neutron Interferometry
  • Neutrons and Gravity

The school will be held in parallel with the NCNR/NSF Summer School on Methods and Applications of Neutron Spectroscopy.To register, please go tothe website linked below. The registration deadline is May 1, 2009. Note the that site contains information for both schools, but when applying, be sure to select the school on Fundamental Neutron Physics.Through support from its sponsors, the school will offer substantial travel, housing, and subsistence support to attendees (with priority to current graduate students). Students will be asked to pay a $75 registration fee.Additional information may be obtained from any of the organizers.

Congratulations from the VCRSP

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs oversees funding for research, service, and education projects. These activities complement the fundamental aspects of The University of Mississippi’s mission and are among its most tangible contributions to the future. Funding for these activities is one of the best measures of a university’s success in engaging with national and international communities.

All of us who have sought funding to test our ideas know that it is difficult and that the communities to which we belong are highly competitive. That spirit of competition is critical and it contributes more than a little to the relief and excitement a researcher feels on receiving a funding award.

Listed below are our colleagues who have been notified of external funding awards in the last calendar month. Please join me in congratulating them. The news of their discoveries and the importance of their contributions are part of all of our futures and the future of Ole Miss.

Alice M. Clark Signature

Alice M. Clark, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs

Summary of Awards Received in March 2009

PI Name PI Department/Unit Co-PI Name/s
Aranchuk, VyacheslavJamie Whitten National Center for Physical AcousticsSabatier, James
Cheng, Alexander H D (2 awards) Civil Engineering
Clark, AliceOffice of Research and Sponsored Programs
Cremaldi, Lucien MPhysics and Astronomy
Dougherty, B.Institute for Innovation in Mathematics Education
Dougherty, B.Center for Educational Research and EvaluationBarlow, Angela
Easson, Gregory LUniversity of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterRobinson, Harold
ElSohly, MahmoudNational Center for Natural Products ResearchKhan, Ikhlas
Gilbert, KennethJamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics
Gurley, W.Small Business Development CenterForster, Robert
Haley, Bryan (2 awards) Sociology and AnthropologyJohnson, Jay K
Hartman, KimberlyCurriculum and InstructionPepper, Susan Kaye
Holmes, ErinPharmacy AdministrationBanahan, Benjamin Franklin III
Howard, JoshuaHistory
Jacob, M.National Center for Natural Products ResearchAshfaq, Khalid
Kartiganer, Donald MEnglish
Lackey, EllenMechanical EngineeringHutchcraft, Elliott
Vaughan, James G
Lackey, EllenMechanical EngineeringVaughan, James G
Oakley, CharlotteNational Food Service Management Institute
Ownby, Ted MCenter for the Study of Southern Culture
Raspet, RichardPhysics and AstronomyGilbert, Kenneth
Talmadge, C.
Reed, David HowardBiology
Sabatier, James (2 awards) Jamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics
Seiner, J.Jamie Whitten National Center for Physical Acoustics
Swann, C.Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute
Vaughan, James GMechanical EngineeringLackey, Ellen
Walker, LarryNational Center for Natural Products ResearchNanayakkara, N P Dhammika
Tekwani, Babu
Wells, B.School of Pharmacy
Wicker, Nancy LArt
Willett, Kristine LPharmacology
Young, JohnPsychology
  • March 2009 Report: A list of awards received and proposals submitted by The University of Mississippi in the previous month.
  • March Proposals Submitted: 41 from 35 Principal Investigators
  • March Awards Received: 34 totaling $13,553,215
  • FY09 Year-to-Date Number of Active Sponsored Projects: 491
  • FY09 Year-to-Date Number of Active Investigators: 238