School of Information Research and Innovation Office
From SIResearchInnovationOffice
Research and Innovation Office
The Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) is led by Doug van Houweling, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation. Our goal is to create an environment where faculty research: flourishes; is engaged in cutting edge technology; and contributes to the mission of the School of Information (SI) by creating new knowledge and serving the local and global communities. This involves working with faculty in a broad spectrum of activities, from directing their ideas to appropriate funding sources to ensuring their work is published and results disseminated. ORI activities can be described as follows:
- Seek research funding
- Facilitate implementation of research projects
- Create appropriate infrastructure at SI for research
- Interact with the University of Michigan research world
- Track emerging opportunities, in industry, government and foundations
- Promote the sponsored activities of SI and manage relationships with partners in research and innovation of the School
ORI is led by Doug van Houweling who is the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation.
We have four staff associated with the Office and they are:
- Becky O'Brien - Associate Director for Research Administration
- Erik Hofer - Project Director -VISIT and Research Investigator
- Jocelyn Webber - Research Administrative Assistant
- Karen Woollams - Student Affairs Program Manager-[STIET ], Open Data, and ICD REU Site
- Lai Tutt - Program Coordinator - [STIET ], Open Data, and ICD REU Site
Research Administration: Frequently Asked Questions
Current Funding Opportunities
This section has a list of current funding opportunities that we are aware of. If you would like us to post other opportunities that you've come across please contact us at siresearchwiki@umich.edu
Current Active Awards at the School of Information
For a list of all current active awards at the School of Information please go to the Research section at SIs Website. If you follow the link to the Current Active Awards at SI section of this wiki it will bring you to additional awards associated with the School of Information.
Funding Agency Opportunity Alert Sign Up
Important News, Notices and Events
News
News Archive
NSF Significant Changes to the Grant Proposal Guide Effective January 18, 2011
- Effective for proposals submitted on or after January 18, 2011.
Cover Sheet, has been revised for consistency with the requirements of the Federal Funding & Accountability Act, to replace the Performing/Research Organization information with Project/Performance Site Primary Location information. This change already has been made on a government-wide basis in the SF 424 family of forms. If the project will be performed at a location other than the awardee, additional geographic information must be provided
Special Information and Supplementary Documentation, contains a clarification of NSF’s long standing data policy. All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing of the products of research, or assert the absence of the need for such plans. Fastlane will not permit submission of a proposal that is missing a Data Management Plan. Cross-references are included in the Project Description section (II.C.2.d), the Results from Prior NSF Support (II.C.2.d(iii)), Proposals for Conferences, Symposia and Workshops (II.D.8), and the Proposal Preparation Checklist (Exhibit II-1). The Data Management Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts of the proposal or both.
Cost Sharing, has been revised to implement the National Science Board’s recommendations regarding cost sharing. Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited, Awardees are informed, however, that they remain subject to the OMB A-21 Clarification memo regarding committing and tracking faculty effort (see footnote 22). In order to assess the scope of the project, all organizational resources necessary for the project must be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section (II.C.2.i). The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. ---Mandatory cost sharing will only be required when explicitly authorized by the NSF Director.
Project Summary, has been updated to encourage use of separate headings for the merit review criteria in the one page Project Summary.“proposers are encouraged to include separate headings within the one page document for both “Intellectual Merit” and “Broader Impacts”.
Special Information and Supplementary Documentation, has been clarified via a footnote to show that a mentoring plan is not required for postdoctoral researchers who are listed as Senior Personnel on the NSF Budget.
Collaborative Proposals, has been supplemented to reinforce that all components of a collaborative proposal must meet any established deadline or risk being returned without review. Proposal File Updates, has been revised to explain that the Proposal File Update Module can no longer be used to submit revised budgets. They must now be submitted via the FastLane Revised Proposal Budget Module.
National Science Board Call for Nominations - Deadline for Nominations: November 3, 2010 (Posted 9/30/10)
2011 VANNEVAR BUSH AWARD - Honoring Exceptional Service to the Nation in Science and Technology
The Vannevar Bush Award is awarded annually to truly exceptional lifelong leaders in science and technology who have made substantial contributions to the welfare of the Nation through public service activities in science, technology, and public policy. Recent recipients include: Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief, Science Magazine; Mildred Dresselhaus, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Norman Augustine, former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Lockheed Martin Corporation.
To nominate, visit www.nsf.gov/nsb/awards/bush.jsp.
2011 NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD- Honoring Service in Public Understanding of Science and Engineering
The National Science Board (NSB) Public Service Award honors individuals who and groups that have made substantial contributions to increasing public understanding of science and engineering in the United States. These contributions may be in a wide variety of areas that have the potential of contributing to public understanding of and appreciation for science and engineering - including mass media, education and/or training programs, entertainment, etc. Recipients of the NSB Public Service Award include NUMB3RS, the CBS television drama series; Ira Flatow, Host and Executive Producer of NPR's "Science Friday"; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Bill Nye The Science Guy; and NOVA, the PBS television series.
To nominate, visit http://www.nsf.gov/nsb/awards/public.jsp.
Please contact Jennifer Richards at jlrichar@nsf.gov with any questions.
About the National Science Board:
The National Science Board is the 25-member policymaking body for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and advisory body to the President and Congress on science and engineering issues.
DRDA Data Sharing Resource Center (Posted 7/12/10)
Dear Colleagues
Over the last few years NIH and other research sponsors have developed guidelines encouraging investigators to share data resulting from their research with other researchers. NSF has announced plans to join these sponsors beginning this fall.
Data, though not uniformly defined, generally refers to the tangible results of research, including specimens and models. DRDA will assist investigators with sharing data through the establishment the Division of Research Development & Administration’s (DRDA) Data Sharing Resource Center. The Center will support University investigators and research administrators with questions about data sharing generally and provide guidance in drafting data sharing plans for proposals, data use agreements, and data management plans particularly for data consortia in which UM is a member or coordinating center. Services will include:
- Assisting faculty, units and UM administrators with review and development of data sharing plans in proposals, projects
- Assisting faculty, units and UM administrators with review and development of data sharing agreements, predominantly for outgoing data.
- Monitoring current trends in technology usage, e.g., uses of cloud computing for research data.
- Monitoring federal and state regulatory and policy changes affecting research data sharing.
- Reviewing and advising about data sharing considerations in IRB applications.
- Assisting with cross-unit data sharing policies, procedures and agreements.
- Educating about and promoting best practices for data sharing.
As the Center develops, a web site (http://www.drda.umich.edu/datasharing/) will contain a repository of model documents, template agreements, and best practices and monitor and provide updates on regulatory and policy updates that impact data stewardship and dissemination. DRDA will coordinate its efforts with the UMHS Compliance office, Information and Technology Services, and the Office of Technology (who will continue to assist investigators with the transfer of non-human specimens, data and animals, and data that is being licensed in exchange for royalties.)
Regards, Elaine
Elaine L. Brock, M.H.S.A., J.D. Senior Associate Director Research Administration ebrock@umich.edu
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program 2010-2011
Would you like help getting a new project started or expediting a project currently in progress? Do you have a project you put on hold because you needed a research assistant to do some background research? Would you like to introduce and recruit new students to your field?
We would like to invite you to join the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) as a research partner for bright and enthusiastic undergraduate students. We are now recruiting research partners for the 2009-2010 academic years. Research sponsors can be faculty, research scientists and postdoctoral scholars. To date, we have received over 1400 applications from students interested in working on a research project. If you are interested in involving a student in your research project, scholarship, or creative activities, we encourage you to read more about the program and complete our on-line one page application which can be found at:
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/urop/sponsors/newsponsor/listing
Our application asks you to provide a brief description of the overall project, (goals and objectives and methodology), what tasks you want the student to do, minimum qualifications, number of hours per week, and contact information for setting up interviews in the fall.
Dear Colleague Letter for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Related to the Gulf Oil Spill & Other Disasters - Posted 6/28/10
The consequences of the Gulf oil spill seem likely to be broad and long-lasting. There are local, state, regional, national, and international aspects to the situation, and an unusual confluence of biological, geological, and human elements. This Gulf oil spill is the latest in a series of disasters that provide opportunities to examine the ways in which people and organizations anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and emerge from disasters. Such explorations can contribute to the development of theory and tools underlying future policies aimed at maintaining or improving well being and long-term sustainability in the face of disasters. Events like these offer special opportunities to examine broad issues like resilience, adaptation, and vulnerability while conducting scientifically sound research that provides fundamental new knowledge.
The Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) encourages scholars to consider how the Gulf oil spill and other disasters may provide an opportunity to pursue research that will produce fundamental, theory-enhancing contributions to the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. SBE is particularly interested in projects that would build on existing data sets (including data sets not traditionally used by social and behavioral scientists) or that would identify high priority enhanced or new data sets to improve capacity to study issues in adaptation, resilience and vulnerability. Interdisciplinary work may be particularly appropriate. While SBE has not specifically set aside funds for such research, the topic has strong connections with the wider NSF investment in Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability as described in the FY 2011 Budget Request.
Scholars with research proposals for learning from the disasters should submit proposals to the most relevant standing programs of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate for the fall 2010 or spring 2011 competitions. The SBE division web sites provide information about these programs: http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=SES and http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=BCS. For the fall competition, most of these programs have submission due dates in July or August. Successful research proposals will have scientifically sound research plans that are rooted in relevant theory and literature. SBE programs will evaluate these proposals in competition with other proposals submitted for these competitions.
If a research problem involves ephemeral data so that data collection absolutely cannot wait to begin until December, then the PI should consider submitting a RAPID proposal. SBE expects the research conducted under RAPID awards to be of the same high quality as for other awards, with scientifically sound research plans that are rooted in relevant theory and literature. The principal investigator must contact a program officer in the program to which the scientific contribution is strongest before submitting. Some programs will provide RAPID funding only for activities directly associated with the collection of ephemeral data. It is best to initiate contact with a brief (1-2 page) e-mail to the appropriate program officer, describing the proposed research question, the theory on which you are building, methods to be employed, and justification for a RAPID rather than a regular research proposal. Complete guidance on submitting a RAPID proposal is contained in Part I of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf10_1/gpg_2.jsp#IID1.
Sincerely, Myron Gutmann Assistant Director Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
New NSF Proposal Requirement: Data Sharing Plan (Posted 5/14/10)
During the May 5th meeting of the National Science Board, National Science Foundation (NSF) officials announced a change in the implementation of the existing policy on sharing research data. In particular, on or around October, 2010, NSF is planning to require that all proposals include a data management plan in the form of a two-page supplementary document. The research community will be informed of the specifics of the anticipated changes and the agency's expectations for the data management plans.
For more information please see NSF Press Release 10-077
Workshop on a Wireless National Test Bed (WiNTeB) May 5-6, 2010 (Posted 3/25/10
Kennesaw State University will host an NSF-supported Workshop on a Wireless National Test Bed (WiNTeB) on May 5-6, 2010 at the Hilton Hotel, 50 North Stafford Street, Arlington, Virginia (funding pending). The purpose of the workshop is to develop a common understanding among the stakeholders of what the benefits and challenges are in building a Wireless National scale Test Bed (WiNTeB) to support research in academia, government agencies, and industry. The workshop will result in a report that will frame and guide efforts to create WiNTeB including recommendations to research agencies.
Stakeholders include:
- Academic researchers interested in using WiNTeB for applications research, such as public health studies involving large numbers of people using cell phones equipped with bio sensors
- Academic researchers interested in using WiNTeb to explore how to improve wireless networks
- Wireless service providers who might provide facilities for WiNTeB under Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)contracts
- Wireless equipment, software, semiconductor, and component companies who might want to perform experiments on WiNTeB
- Representatives of other government and industry organizations sponsoring research that might benefit from the availability of WiNTeB
The call for proposals and a draft agenda are available here
Share your thoughts on the Future of Museums and Libraries on the IMLS Wiki (Posted 3/12/10)
Share your thoughts on the Future of Museums and Libraries Wiki The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) invites you to help invent the future of museums and libraries through your participation in UpNext: The Future of Museums and Libraries Wiki.
http://www.imls.gov/news/2010/022410.shtm
NSF Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2) (Posted 3/4/10)
March 3, 2010
Dear Colleague:
Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2)
The Office of CyberInfrastucture (OCI) is partnering with Directorates and Offices across the Foundation to establish Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation (SI2), a long-term program focused on realizing a sustained software infrastructure that is an integral part of NSF’s Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CF21). 1 vision. This program will catalyze and nurture the multidisciplinary processes required to support the entire software lifecycle, and result in the development of sustainable community software elements at all levels of the software stack and addressing all aspects of CI, from embedded sensor systems and instruments, to desktops and high-end data and computing systems. The goal is to create a software ecosystem that scales from individual or small groups of software innovators to large hubs of software excellence.
The overarching goal of the CF21 is to catalyze new thinking, paradigms and practices in science and engineering. CF21 fosters a pervasive, linked architecture for cyberinfrastructure that enables research at unprecedented scales, complexity, resolution, and accuracy by integrating computation, data and experiments in novel ways, nationally and internationally. CF21 has the potential for revolutionizing virtually every discipline by providing unique insights into complex problems, and thus represents unprecedented opportunities for understanding and managing natural and engineered systems.
Software is a primary modality through which CF21 innovation and discovery will be realized. It permeates all aspects and layers of cyberinfrastructure (from application codes and frameworks, programming systems, libraries and system software, to middleware, operating systems, networking and the low-level drivers).
The CF21 software infrastructure must address complexity, accommodating disruptive hardware trends, ever-increasing data volumes, complex application structures and behaviors, and emerging first-order concerns such as fault-tolerance and energy efficiency. The software must be continually refined, at one end to support these new trends and requirements, and at the other end to support new advances in the disciplines and their computational methodologies. There is also a new sense of urgency and opportunity for such an investment driven in part by the confluence of various stresses, including disruptive hardware trends, new technologies, new application formulations and community readiness.
The SI 2 program will collectively support a vibrant ecosystem of partnerships between academia, government laboratories and industry for the development and stewardship of a software infrastructure that can sustain and accelerate innovation and productivity, nationally and internationally. The focus and scope of the program has been informed by the findings of a number of workshops and panels organized by multiple communities, most notably the various ongoing taskforces that are subcommittees of the NSF-wide Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure (ACCI). It is anticipated that this program will begin with a program solicitation as early as FY 2010 and will ramp up in subsequent years.
Questions or feedback related to this SI 2 initiative and upcoming program solicitation may be directed to Manish Parashar, OCI Program Director, by sending email to si2@nsf.gov.
NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Grant Procedure Guide 2010 (Posted 12/21/09)
The National Science Foundation's "Proposal and Award Policies"(AAG) and " Grant Procedures Guide"(GPG) can be viewed at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf10_1/index.jsp
NSF Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CF21) (Posted 12/21/09)
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10015/nsf10015.jsp?WT.mc_id=USNSF_26
NSB RECOMMENDS REINSTATING MANDATORY COST-SHARING FOR SOME NSF PROGRAMS
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Policy Alert, September 10, 2009
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Board (NSB) issued a report strongly recommending that NSF reinstate a mandatory cost-sharing requirement for a few of its programs; specifically for Engineering Research Centers, Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). NSF changed from a mandatory to a voluntary system in 2004. The NSB report, Investing in the Future: Cost Sharing Policies for a Robust Federal Research Enterprise was the result of a congressional charge to analyze the consequence of the 2004 cost-sharing policy change.
NSF ANNOUNCES NEW ETHICS TRAINING RULES
AAAS Policy Alert, September 10, 2009
On August 20 the National Science Foundation announced new rules mandating that NSF-funded research trainees receive training in research ethics. Institutions will need to have their training and oversight plans for students and postdocs in place by the beginning of next year. The move was required by provisions of the America COMPETES Act.
Important Notices
NSF Recovery Act FAQ's - Posted 3/30/09
CISE Directorate: Coordinated Solicitation and Cross-Directorate Solicitation
In an effort to give us the big picture of all research funding opportunities within each division and across the entire CISE Directorate, CISE is embarking on a new way to present themselves. They will release this summer a Coordinated Solicitation and a Cross-Directorate Solicitation. The Coordinated Solicitation will be the simultaneous release of three solicitations that covers each research program within each division. The Cross-Directorate Solicitation will describe cross-cutting research programs, those with interests that cut across the entire CISE Directorate and are managed entirely within CISE.
Please see the Dear Colleague Letter for further details.
NSF Broader Impacts Notice
- On July 31, 2008, the Materials Research Division Director issued yet another statement on Broader Impacts:
Dear Colleague,
Proposals received by the National Science Foundation are evaluated based on two merit review criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts. Through its merit review process, NSF ensures that proposals submitted are reviewed in a fair, competitive transparent, and in-depth manner.
Proposals submitted by Principal Investigators (PIs) are reviewed based on the first criterion, intellectual merit, with the mexpectation that the research be high quality, innovative and advance the frontiers of science. NSF asks reviewers to consider the following in evaluating intellectual merit.
- Potential of the Research to Advance Knowledge and Understanding
- Originality, Creativity and the Potentially Transformative Nature of the Proposal
- Qualifications of Researchers
- Organization and Conceptual Foundation of the Proposed Activities
- Access to Resources Needed
The broader impacts criterion identifies the important outcomes and consequences of NSF-supported research. Research supported by the Division of Materials Research (DMR) is particularly well suited to demonstrate these impacts in ways visible to scientists and engineers as well as the general public. This message is meant to clarify what is meant by broader impacts and how it is applied by Program Directors in making their final decisions.
The NSF Grant Proposal Guide (Chapter III, Section A)poses five questions that identify the general areas in which broader impacts (Merit Review Broader Impacts Criterion: Representative Activities) typically occur. Some examples that illustrate contributions in each of the five areas are given below.Proposals need not address all of these areas, and PIs are advised to focus on those areas in which they are well prepared to make meaningful contributions.
To Continue Reading, please visit the NSF Website
OR see http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08062/nsf08062.pdf?govDel=USNSF_25
- On April 7, 2008 the NSF issued a Dear Colleague Letter giving further clarification on Broader Impacts Proposal Requirements. Broader Impacts is one of two merit review criteria by which applications for funding are reviewed. Please familiarize yourself with these guidelines.
- On April 16, 2008 a News Blog in the Chronicle for Higher Education noted NSF's push to include broader impacts into proposals.
NIH Publication Policy
On October 8, 2008, The National Institutes of Health announced that it would allow researchers only two chances instead of three when they submit proposals for research grants. In the past, if a proposal failed during its first trip through the peer-review process, the scientist could amend and resubmit it a total of two times. Limiting the process to one resubmission, the agency said, “will help ensure earlier funding of high-quality applications and improve efficiencies in the peer-review system.”
The New NIH Policy on Resubmission
On April 7, 2008, a new NIH policy went into effect requiring the deposit of all articles resulting from NIH funding to be posted to Pub Med Central. The link here outlines the key components of the policy along with websites to go for help. [1]This new mandate presents a number of new obligations for NIH-funded investigators and failing to comply with them could have a severe impact on your access to future NIH funding.
Upcoming Events
Just for PhD Students
Tidbits
Links of Interest
- Computing Community Consortium www.cra.org/ccc
One of the main activities is to sponsor workshops on cutting edge topics in computing and information that can help develop research questions and inform CISE about areas in need of funding. The summit on Cyber-Physical Systems is one example, but they're open to a broad range of ideas.
