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Local News

Do you have a reseach interest in Environmental Sustainability?

(Posted 1/9/09)

If you find yourself with research interests that relate to sustainability, you should be aware of the Graham Institute:

Dear Colleagues:

I am very pleased to announce that Professor Donald Scavia has been appointed Director of the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute, effective January 1, 2009. Pending approval by the Board of Regents, he will be named the Graham Family Professor. The Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute (GESI) is a jointly funded effort by the University of Michigan and the Graham Foundation to encourage multidisciplinary research and education in environmental sustainability. The Graham Foundation is a philanthropic organization established by Donald Graham and his wife, Ingrid.

By seeking out new opportunities in sustainability research, assessment, and education, the Graham Institute plays an important role in awarding incentive research funding and encouraging graduate students to continue their studies in the environmental sustainability field. The Graham Institute also works with companies, NGOs, and communities to leverage UM assets in a strong assessment and outreach program dedicated to extending the knowledge of and solving problems related to sustainability.

Teresa A. Sullivan, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Results from Wiki Survey

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008

RECRUITING RESEARCHERS for UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program is now recruiting partners for the 2008-2009 academic year. If you are interested in involving a student in an existing or new research project, we encourage you to complete our on-line application.

Program Features
  1. You will interview and select the students you wish to work with.
  2. UROP offers participant research skill building workshops
  3. Research sponsors can receive $500 per student to cover small research costs.
  4. UROP students can help you get projects started that are sitting on the back burner.
  5. Each student in the program is assigned a peer advisor, a junior/senior program alumnus. The peer advisor provides a valuable communication link between you and your students.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

GOOGLE EARTH CONFERENCE at UM OCTOBER 22-23, 2008

The purpose of this meeting is to explore scientific investigations that are enabled by global-scale reach and interactivity provided by Google Earth. These discussions will occur during a two-day meeting organized in collaboration between Google and the University of Michigan. Faculty, students, and members of the research community from all over the country will be attending. The meeting will be organized in working-groups that combine scientists and members of the Google community in an effort to explore new applications and areas for development.

For more information please visit the Conference Website

  • Registration Deadline: October 15

SEPTEMBER 19, 2008

CALL for PROPOSALS for GROCS 2009

In 250 words or less, tell us how you would collaborate with other students to transform learning. GROCS supports student-initiated team projects that explore new ways to create knowledge and rich social benefits through the use of emerging technologies. Teams must be interdisciplinary, the activity must include an academic component, and collaboration must be a significant and integral part of the project, either in its progress or its outcome.

Submit Project Abstracts by October 1, 2008 on the GROCS Website.

Selected Projects Will Receive:

  • $2,500 cash grant per student team member (up to 4 per each team). $2,000 will be provided in January; the balance upon completion of the Wrap and Community Participation Requirement (see below).
  • $1,000 per advisor (1), to be distributed in Winter Semester.
  • Equipped workspace in a collaborative environment at the Duderstadt Center.
  • Limited funding for additional project-specific equipment to be retained by the University.

Please read the Selection Criteria, Project Requirements and other important details in the full text of the CFP.

For more information: GROCS.info@umich.edu.

MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008

REPORT on "Survey of Investigator's Experinces in Human Research"

This unique survey of UM investigators was developed and implemented by the UM Institute for Social Research (ISR) in partnership with OHRCR. The overall goal of the survey is to obtain information from UM investigators to improve the UM Human Research Protection Program (HRPP).

Download a copy of the Survey

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2008 AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT

  • The SI Faculty went 3 for 3 in their applications to the IMLS program submitted to the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians Program!
PI: Elizabeth Yakel
Project Title: "Engaging Communities to Foster Internships for Preservation and Digital Curation"
PI: Paul Conway serving as the UM lead with University of Maryland
Project Title: "Digital Humanities Model Internship Program"
PI: Beth Yakel serving as the UM lead with UCLA
Project Title: "Building the Future of Archival Education and Research"

For more information and project descriptions please visit the IMLS News & Events website

NSF News

NSF Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) Research in the Federal Context

  • A Report from the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Social, Behavioral and Economic Science

Link to Report

National Science Foundation Requests $7.045 Billion for Fiscal Year 2010 - May 14, 2009

  • Note the 47% increase for CDI – and the 11.6% increase for CAREER

National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Arden L. Bement, Jr. today presented the agency's proposed $7.045 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2010, an 8.5 percent increase over its planned expenditures for FY 2009. The additional $555 million would increase funding for major investments in the scientific infrastructure, research endeavors and human capital.

"With this budget, the President makes it absolutely clear that science and engineering research and education are vital to the nation's future," Bement said in a presentation to the National Science Board. "NSF has a long history of success in supporting research with far-reaching impacts on the U.S. economy and the well-being of Americans."

The requested budget will also put the agency on a path to doubling its budget from FY 2006 to FY 2016, as envisioned in the President's Plan for Science and Innovation, which is designed to sustain the momentum for investing in science and innovation that was generated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

Several prominent initiatives and other key investments outlined by President Obama will receive increased support under the requested budget:

Continue Reading

NSF Press Release: National Science and Technology Council Releases Strategy for Digital Scientific Data - March 23, 2009

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released a report describing a strategy to promote preservation and access to digital scientific data. The report, Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society, was produced by the NSTC's Committee on Science under the auspices of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President.

The open and timely publication of digital scientific data called for in the report will advance President Obama's plan to democratize data by publishing government information online in forms that the public can readily find and use. OSTP, which is implementing the President's agenda on transparency and open government, in collaboration with the CIO Council, is working to create a central, online repository--data.gov--where the public can download such information in open, structured formats. The report provides a strategy to ensure that digital scientific data produced by and for the Federal government and made available via data.gov and agency websites can be reliably preserved for maximum access in catalyzing progress in science and society.

Digital imaging, sensors, analytical instrumentation and other technologies are becoming increasingly central to all areas of science. Increases in computing power drive advances in modeling and simulation that extend the reach of science. Improvements in networking increase access to information, instrumentation, and colleagues around the globe. Digital data are the common thread linking these powerful trends in science.

"Science and engineering research and education are increasingly digital," said Arden L. Bement, Jr., director of the National Science Foundation and co-chair of the Committee on Science. "New observation systems are prime examples, expanding the scales for conducting observations from the sub-atomic to the cosmic; from a billionth of a degree to millions of degrees; and from sub- picoseconds to light years. A broad framework for promoting continuing access and interoperability for scientific data is key to progress in this digital age."

The report lays out a strategic vision for "a digital scientific data universe in which data creation, collection, documentation, analysis, preservation, and dissemination can be appropriately, reliably, and readily managed, thereby enhancing the return on our nation's research and development investment by ensuring that digital data realize their full potential as catalysts for progress in our global information society."

The report includes three key recommendations to pursue this vision. The first is to create an interagency subcommittee under NSTC that will focus on goals that are best addressed through continuing broad cooperation and coordination across agencies. The second key element of the strategic framework is for departments and agencies to lay the foundations for agency digital scientific data policy and make the policy publicly available. In laying these foundations, agencies should consider all components of a comprehensive policy to address the full data management life cycle. The third key element is for all agencies to promote a data management planning process for projects that generate scientific data for preservation.

The report represents the combined effort of representatives from 22 federal agencies working together under the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data. View [The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released a report describing a strategy to promote preservation and access to digital scientific data. The report, Harnessing the Power of Digital Data for Science and Society, was produced by the NSTC's Committee on Science under the auspices of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President.

The open and timely publication of digital scientific data called for in the report will advance President Obama's plan to democratize data by publishing government information online in forms that the public can readily find and use. OSTP, which is implementing the President's agenda on transparency and open government, in collaboration with the CIO Council, is working to create a central, online repository--data.gov--where the public can download such information in open, structured formats. The report provides a strategy to ensure that digital scientific data produced by and for the Federal government and made available via data.gov and agency websites can be reliably preserved for maximum access in catalyzing progress in science and society.

Digital imaging, sensors, analytical instrumentation and other technologies are becoming increasingly central to all areas of science. Increases in computing power drive advances in modeling and simulation that extend the reach of science. Improvements in networking increase access to information, instrumentation, and colleagues around the globe. Digital data are the common thread linking these powerful trends in science.

"Science and engineering research and education are increasingly digital," said Arden L. Bement, Jr., director of the National Science Foundation and co-chair of the Committee on Science. "New observation systems are prime examples, expanding the scales for conducting observations from the sub-atomic to the cosmic; from a billionth of a degree to millions of degrees; and from sub- picoseconds to light years. A broad framework for promoting continuing access and interoperability for scientific data is key to progress in this digital age."

The report lays out a strategic vision for "a digital scientific data universe in which data creation, collection, documentation, analysis, preservation, and dissemination can be appropriately, reliably, and readily managed, thereby enhancing the return on our nation's research and development investment by ensuring that digital data realize their full potential as catalysts for progress in our global information society."

The report includes three key recommendations to pursue this vision. The first is to create an interagency subcommittee under NSTC that will focus on goals that are best addressed through continuing broad cooperation and coordination across agencies. The second key element of the strategic framework is for departments and agencies to lay the foundations for agency digital scientific data policy and make the policy publicly available. In laying these foundations, agencies should consider all components of a comprehensive policy to address the full data management life cycle. The third key element is for all agencies to promote a data management planning process for projects that generate scientific data for preservation.

The report represents the combined effort of representatives from 22 federal agencies working together under the Interagency Working Group on Digital Data. View the report.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: for Creating New Cyber-enabled Data on Innovation in Organizations (Posted March 19, 2009)

Dear Colleagues:

Innovation is recognized as a driving force contributing to United States competitiveness by generating new knowledge and creating new jobs, more income and wealth. Although currently our comprehension of innovation is insufficient to guide policymakers, new opportunities exist to advance our understanding of the innovation ecosystem by building on the research of social, computer and information scientists. New ways of capturing, analyzing and protecting data make possible a greater understanding of the relationship between the dynamics of human interaction, organizations, and the innovation process. For example, computing advances, such as wireless and sensor technologies and image understanding offer expanded potential for scientists, policymakers, and organizations themselves to collect and integrate heterogeneous data about individuals and organizations. Other computing advances, in the fields of visual analytics and data mining can be used to make sense of vast amounts of heterogeneous data. Economists and behavioral and social scientists have made major advances in understanding the creative process, innovation at the micro, meso, and macro organizational levels, as well as the formation and evolution of social networks and structural influences. At the same time, new cyber-enabled advances in confidentiality protection promise the capability for the analysis of sensitive data by maintaining data utility without revealing individual identities—so that researchers can generalize and replicate scientific results.

The purpose of this Dear Colleague Letter is to advise you about funding opportunities at the National Science Foundation, the Kauffman Foundation and the Sloan Foundation to inform the future development of a data infrastructure for the study of innovation within and across organizations. Research of interest to these programs can range from the innovative application of existing technologies through the creation of new approaches, and possible combinations that could create a transformative, interdisciplinary research agenda.

To continue reading please visit the NSF Website

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) to Study the Impact of the Economic Stimulus Package and to Advance the Scientific Understanding of Science Policy-March 13, 2009

Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences

Dear Colleague:

People will ask important questions over the next one to two years about the success and the impact of the economic stimulus. The Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) Program, within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, can be a vehicle for mobilizing research capacity to respond to these questions and to assess the effects on both the ecology of innovation and on the science and engineering enterprise.

The SciSIP program will take advantage of NSF’s Rapid Response Research (RAPID) funding mechanism to accept short (two to five pages) RAPID proposals that attempt to answer many of the outcome questions that will be asked about the impact of the stimulus package as well as to advance the scientific understanding of science policy. These would include, but not be limited to, such questions as:

  • What was the contribution of the science investment to the creation and retention of jobs?
  • What was the contribution of the science investment to science and technology industries?
  • What scientific or technological advances were achieved?
  • What was the impact on the scientific workforce?

In keeping with the Presidential focus on openness and transparency in government, proposals might also examine and evaluate different approaches to building appropriate platforms for tracking and assessing science investments across the federal government as well as ways to visually convey the information to policy makers and the American public.

Proposals must conform to the Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) Guidelines specified in the Grant Proposal Guide and may be submitted electronically at any time to the Science of Science and Innovation Policy announcement (PD 09-7626) via FastLane or Grants.gov. The SciSIP program director, Julia Lane (jlane@nsf.gov), should be contacted for assistance and advice prior to proposal submission.

Sincerely, David Lightfoot Assistant Director Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences

NSF Directorate of Engineering, Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) Division Plan

June 2008: The Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) was established in 2006 and is one of five (5) Divisions in the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Division’s vision is to be the pre-eminent federal resource driving the expansion of our nation’s innovation capacity by stimulating partnerships among industry, academe, investors, government and other stakeholders. The Division’s mission is to enhance our nation’s economic competitiveness bycatalyzing the transformation of discovery into societal benefits through stimulating partnerships and promoting learning environments for innovators. IIP manages the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program, the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC)Program, the Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) Program and the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program for the Foundation. The IIP Division Plan is part of the overall NSF Strategy. In particular, the plan fits the ENG strategic direction to “strengthen technological innovation,” aligns with the 2006- 2011 NSF Strategy to strengthen the nation’s collaborative advantage by developing unique networks and innovative partnerships, and responds to the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) and the America COMPETES Act (ACA).

To continue reading please view the document in its entirety

News from Washington

Join the Recovery Dialogue on IT Solutions! - Week of April 27th

The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and the Office of Management and Budget in partnership with the National Academy of Public Administration, is currently hosting a week-long national online dialogue to engage leading information technology (IT) vendors, thinkers, and consumers in answering a key question:

What ideas, tools, and approaches can make Recovery.gov a place where all citizens can transparently monitor the expenditure and use of recovery funds?

Visit www.recovery.gov to join the discussion

Election 2008

Ongoing Election 2008 Analysis and Blogs

News from Washington
White House Names First Chief Information Officer (Posted 3/6/09)

The Caucus: The Politics and Government Blog of the Times - March 5, 2009

Perhaps not surprisingly, President Obama has formed a close friendship with the District of Columbia’s young, Blackberry-addicted, problem-solving mayor, Adrian Fenty. Now, the president has raided Mr. Fenty’s staff to name a youthful, Indian-born techno-whiz as his first federal chief information officer.

The White House said Thursday that it had selected Vivek Kundra, 34, the chief technology officer for the District, to the federal position, where he will be expected to oversee a push to expand uses of cutting-edge technology. He will have wide powers over federal technology spending, over information sharing between agencies, over greater public access to government information and over questions of security and privacy.

But he will also – as Mr. Obama mentioned twice in the space of a six-line comment distributed by the White House – look for ways to “lower the cost of government operations” through technology.

Mr. Kundra’s background seems to suit him well for both aspects of the job. Born in India, he lived in Tanzania until the age of 11, when he moved to the Maryland suburb of Gaithersburg. One of his first memories there, according to a profile last month in The Washington Post, was of seeing a dog-food commercial on television. “I was shocked,” he said. “I was used to seeing people starve in Africa. It was mind-boggling to me that people could afford to feed their dogs!”

He appears to bring a similar tight-fisted mentality to his oversight of technology in 86 District agencies.

In just 19 months with the District, Mr. Kundra has moved to post city contracts on YouTube and to make Twitter use common in his office and others. He hopes to allow drivers to pay parking tickets or renew their driver’s licenses on Facebook.

His office’s Web site offers a “Digital Public Square” with links to information on everything from crime to parking to tourism. It provides a map of free wi-fi hot spots, a public library finder, leaf-collection schedules; even a widget to view live snow-plow progress.

A contest he launched in October – “Apps for Democracy” – brought 47 entries from residents offering applications to give District residents Web and cellphone access to crime reports, pothole-repair schedules and other city data, The Post reported.

Mr. Kundra, who likes to refer to citizens as “co-creators,” estimates he spent $50,000 for contest costs and prize money; he hopes to save $2.6 million over what it would have cost to hire contract developers.

Mr. Kundra, who holds a Master’s of Science in information technology from the University of Maryland, previously served as assistant secretary of commerce and technology in Virginia. InfoWorld magazine has called him one of the 25 top chief technology officers in the country.


Economic Stimulus Plan or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Posted 2/23/09)

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law last week. Within this plan there is approximately $21.5 billion for research and research facilities. (Further information on ARRA can be found at the goverment site here)


The Key Federal Deadlines

  • March 3: Federal agencies begin reporting use of funds.
  • May 3: Federal agencies make performance plans publicly available. Federal agencies begin reporting on their allocation for entitlement programs.
  • May 15: Detailed agency financial reports to be available.
  • May 20: Federal agencies begin reporting their competitive grants and contracts.
  • July 15: Recipients of federal funding begin reporting on their use of funds.


RESEARCH

NIH

  • $8.2 billion for biomedical research.
    • $7.4 billion for the Institutes and Centers and the Common Fund. These funds will be allocated in proportion to the FY09 appropriations made to the Institutes, Centers, and Common Fund.
    • $800 million for the Office of the Director for short-term grants (these grants will focus on specific challenges, new research that expands the scope of ongoing projects and research on public and international health priorities).
  • Allocation of Research Funding:
    • Some of the money will go to standard investigator grants judged to be “highly scientifically meritorious” in peer review last year but did not receive funding.
    • Some will provide supplements to existing grants. Such additions will not be made by formula but will be based on scientific opportunity and public health needs.
    • Some money will be allocated to two-year Challenge Grants aimed at supporting cross-cutting research.
  • All grants to be made assuming a 2 year obligation and expense.
  • The selections will be made on the basis of peer review, with emphasis on the short term stimulative nature of the proposal.
  • There will be no automatic funding of existing proposals or grants.
  • Reporting requirements will be more extensive (e.g. number of jobs retained or created will be required).
  • There will be no formulaic restoration of money to centers or grants that during negotiations received less than requested.
  • Unlike the earlier House and Senate bills, the final bill does not highlight specific areas of research as priorities.

NSF

  • $2.5 billion for research and related activities.
    • The ARRA directs the NSF to support all research divisions as well as advancements in supercomputing technology.
    • NSF must receive approval of its economic stimulus funding plans from the White House and the Congressional Appropriations Committees before proceeding forward.
  • Reportedly, the NSF is planning to first fund existing applications submitted since October 1, 2008, and to fund those proposals rated most highly by reviewers.
    • Very few new proposals will be funded using ARRA dollars.
  • NSF priorities are likely to be:
    • young investigators;
    • high-risk, high return research; and
    • multi-disciplinary research.
  • There will be no automatic funding of existing proposals or grants.
  • Reporting requirements will be more extensive (e.g. number of jobs retained or created will be required).
    • NSF will track expenditures closely to make sure that grantees spend the AARA funds.

DOE

  • $1.6 billion for the DOE Office of Science to fund basic research in areas such as climate science, biofuels, high-energy physics, nuclear physics and fusion energy sciences.
  • $400 million to start up the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy. This agency will connect pioneering experts at universities with large and small companies to help rapidly move innovative energy research through to commercialization.
  • $2.5 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for RD&D to foster energy independence, reduce carbon emissions and cut utility bills.
    • $800 million will be allocated to biomass, $400 million to geothermal and $50 million for research to increase the efficiency of information/communication technology and to improve standards.
  • Reportedly, DOE will encourage grant submissions that include collaboration with industry.

NASA

  • $400 million to focus on Earth science climate research missions and to increase the agency's supercomputing capabilities.
  • $150 million for aeronautics systems-level RD&D activities related to aviation safety and NextGen.

NIST

  • $220 million to coordinate research efforts at laboratories and national research facilities to set standards for manufacturing.

NOAA

  • $280 million for research, operations and facilities to address a backlog of research, restoration, navigation, conservation and management activities.

Department of Education

  • $250 million for the Institute of Education Sciences.
    • $5 million will be used for State data coordination as well as awards to public and private organizations or agencies to improve data coordination.

National Endowment for the Arts

  • Grants: $50 million total.
    • Funds will be distributed in direct grants to arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the non-profit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.
    • 40% of the funds will be distributed to State arts agencies and regional arts organizations in a manner similar to the agency's current practice and 60% will be for competitively.


Note: ARRA research grants will have additional reporting requirements to document how the money is being spent & if jobs are being created/saved


INFRASTRUCTURE

NIH

  • $1.3 billion for construction and renovation as well as shared instrumentation.
    • $1 billion for competitive awards for construction and renovation of extramural research facilities.
      • Priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate energy savings or beneficial environmental effects.
    • $300 million for shared instrumentation.

NSF

  • $200 million for academic research facilities modernization.
    • Modernization funds reportedly will go to science-related updates to buildings but not construction of whole new buildings.
  • $400 million for major research equipment and facilities construction.
  • $300 million for the NSF Major Research Instrumentation program.

NIST

  • $180 million for a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings.

NOAA

  • $600 million will go to climate storage, satellite development and data storage
Electronic Health Records (Posted 1/28/09)
  • Here is the web site for the part of theDept. of HHS that will be administering the health IT initiatives called for in the economic stimulus bill.

It appears that the Obama administration’s first take on electronic health records, or health information technology (IT) more broadly, is oriented from the perspective of infrastructure (standards) and incentives to encourage doctors and hospitals to use health IT – but there are some research tidbits.

Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act now going through Congress (aka economic stimulus package) call for payments of up to $41,000 over five years (starting in 2011) to encourage meaningful use of certified electronic health records. Similarly, hospitals would qualify for incentives proportional to their numbers of discharges. The motivation for the 2011 start date is that the White House will ask Health and Human Services to adopt an initial set of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria – before the end of this year (!). Some amount of the planned spending will support this accelerated standard setting. The goal is to create certainty so that the private sector can begin rolling out products/systems that physicians/hospitals can begin to use (in order to qualify for the incentives). In the House version, $20 B is proposed for these activities. The Senate is apparently adding to this amount. For more details see:Government Health IT

For contrasting viewpoints

More contrasting viewpoints

Should you wish to judge things for yourself, here is the January 23d version of the bill as approved by the House:

Focus on Title IV in Division B “Health Information Technology” or the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act” (HITECH Act – cute, eh?) – this starts on p. 395. A critical distinction is the meaning of “certified EHR technology” – which the House bill describes as “…an ambulatory electronic health record for office-based physicians or an inpatient hospital electronic health record for hospitals.” Note that this does not appear to be the kind of patient portable record that some have discussed, like Andy Grove. This appears to specifically mean an office or hospital-based record. NIST appears to be the agency given responsibility for standards and testing with respect to these records (see p. 434-35).

Probably most important to us (p. 435)

Sec. 4202 Research and development programs – calls for

  • creation of Health Care Information Enterprise Integration Research Centers – this will be done by the Director of NIST in consultation with the Director of NSF to establish a program of assistance to institutions of higher education to establish these centers – these grants will be awarded on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis – research areas may include…interfaces between human information and communications technology systems, voice-recognition systems, software that improves interoperability and connectivity among health information systems, software dependability in systems critical to health care delivery, measurement of the impact of information technologies on the quality and productivity of health care, health information enterprise management, health information technology security and integrity, and relevant health information technology to reduce medical errors.
  • Creation of a National Information Technology Research and Development Program – establishment of a National High-Performance Computing Program to coordinate Federal research and development related to the development and deployment of health information technology – including computer infrastructure, data security, development of large-scale, distributed, reliable computing systems, wired, wireless and hybrid high-speed networking, development of software and software-intensive systems, human-computer interaction and information management technologies, and the social and economic implications of information technology.

Stay tuned for more information...

"WASHINGTON (January 16, 2009) -- Today, a new international competition called the Digging into Data Challenge was announced by four leading research agencies: the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) from the United Kingdom, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) from the United States, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) from Canada. The Digging into Data Challenge encourages humanities and social science research using large-scale data analysis, challenging scholars to develop international partnerships and explore vast digital resources, including electronic repositories of books, newspapers, and photographs to identify new opportunities for scholarship...."

http://www.diggingintodata.org/

http://www.sshrc.ca/web/whatsnew/press_releases/2009/digging_into_data_e.asp


  • NSF RELEASES REPORT ON FOSTERING LEARNING IN THE NETWORKED WORLD

August 12, 2008

For a copy of this report go to http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08204/nsf08204.pdf?govDel=USNSF_124

  • STATES LOOK TO TRANSFORM THEIR ECONOMIES AND IMPROVE COLLEGE COMPLETION

By Peter Schmidt, The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 27, 2008

Economic uncertainty has long been a certainty in much of the Midwest. After all, the financial fortunes of its farm states can change, literally, with the weather. And the several states in the region that rely heavily on manufacturing have been losing factories and jobs for decades…Paradoxically, being in such a difficult economic environment seems to have worked to the benefit of many of the region's public colleges as the nation's economy took a downturn this year. That's because state officials throughout the Midwest have come to see public colleges as key players in the long-term transformation of their economies, and look to them to provide needed work-force training and spawn new industries.

  • NSF ANNOUNCES EXPEDITIONS IN COMPUTING AWARDS

NSF Press Release, August 18, 2008

The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) has established four new Expeditions in Computing. Each of these $10 million grants will allow teams of researchers and educators to pursue far-reaching research agendas that promise significant advances in the computing frontier and great benefit to society…CISE anticipates hosting an Expeditions competition annually, with three new awards anticipated each year. "Because of their exceptional promise, four projects were funded in this, the first year of the program," said Timothy Pinkston, CISE Expeditions program director at NSF. The deadline for preproposal submission to the second annual Expeditions competition is September 10, 2008.

Complete press release at: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=112075&org=NSF&from=news

  • ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ 2-YEAR DECLINE FOR U.S. SCIENCE FUNDS

By Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, August 25, 2008

The numbers will not surprise anyone who has closely tracked federal budget discussions about science and technology in recent years. But that won’t make the data released Friday by the National Science Foundation any more palatable for those concerned about the American research enterprise…But the extent of the downturn is stark, the NSF reports: For the second year in a row, federal funds for academic research in science and engineering failed to outpace inflation.

Complete article at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/25/r_d

Complete NSF report at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08320/?govDel=USNSF_178

  • NSF Announces Partnership with Industry, Academia to Further Explore Data-Intensive Computing

NSF News Release: July 30, 2008

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate announces a grant award to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to help establish an experimental computing cluster at the UIUC campus. The NSF Cluster Exploratory (CluE) initiative was first announced in April 2008 to provide NSF-funded researchers access to software and services running on a Google-IBM cluster. The UIUC award together with funding and equipment supplied by HP, Intel, Yahoo! and UIUC expands the CluE program to provide researchers access to an additional cluster for data-intensive computing research.

See the full article at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111984&govDel=USNSF_51

  • FEDERAL FUNDING FOSTERS INNOVATION

Science Progress, July 10, 2008

Cooperation is good—and when tech companies collaborate with government agencies, federal labs, and research universities, the results are the innovations that fuel U.S. economy. A report released yesterday by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation analyzes the evolution of the innovation ecosystem in the United States over the last four decades and argues that in order to encourage innovation most effectively, policymakers must better understand where new ideas come from, especially if they want to address questions of international competitiveness.

Complete article at: http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/07/federal-funding-fosters-innovation/

Copy of the report: http://www.itif.org/index.php?id=158

  • A NEW FRONTIER FOR TITLE IX: SCIENCE

By John Tierney, The New York Times, July 15, 2008

Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science. The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland.

Complete article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15tier.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

  • HOUSE SUPPLEMENTAL BILL WELCOMED FOR R&D FUNDING BOOST

By Andrew Noyes, CongressDailyPM, June 23, 2008

Congressional science champions are giving cautious praise to the House-passed war supplemental bill for its inclusion of extra funding for key federal science and research programs. The compromise includes $400 million for federal research programs. This funding is provided on an emergency basis -- therefore it is considered a one-time appropriation that does not increase the spending baseline for future years. The measure would provide $150 million for the National Institutes of Health; $62.5 million for the Energy Department's Science Office; $62.5 million for the National Science Foundation ($22.5 million for NSF Research and Related Activities and $40 million for NSF Education and Human Resources); and $62.5 million for NASA. A Senate vote on the House version is possible this week, and Bush has indicated that he will probably sign it.

Complete article at: http://www.nationaljournal.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/congressdaily/cdp_20080623_4239.php

UPDATE: June 27, 2008 - Following House passage of the war supplemental, last night the Senate voted 92 to 6 in support of the legislation. The bill, which includes a total of $400 million for the NIH, the NSF, NASA and DOE’s Office of Science and environmental management for this fiscal year, moves on to the White House to be signed into law.

  • APPROPRIATIONS FOR FY09

Appropriators have begun writing their FY09 bills. While the news is good for research, it is just the start of a long process -- much can change between now and when final FY09 funding levels are agreed to. Below are the recommendations from the House and Senate Subcommittees.

  • House Labor, Health and Human Services (a draft Senate bill is expected on June 24) - $30.4 billion for the NIH ($1.2 billion over FY08)
  • House Energy and Water (a date for consideration of a Senate bill is TBA) - Approximately $4.86 billion for the DOE Office of Science ($844 million over FY08)
  • House Commerce, Justice and Science - $6.85 billion for the NSF ($789.1 million over FY08) & $17.8 billion for NASA (approximately $700 million over FY08)
  • Senate Commerce, Justice, Science - $6.9 billion for the NSF & $17.8 billion for NASA
  • HUMANITIES GROUPS SUPPORT FY09 NEH FUNDS, RAISE CONCERNS ABOUT PRESERVATION CUTS

The Association of American Universities, June 20, 2008

Several organizations with an interest in the humanities, including AAU and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, wrote to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior on June 19 to urge the panel to approve at least the level of funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recommended by the panel’s House counterpart. The House subcommittee has proposed increasing FY09 funding for the NEH to $160 million. This represents a $15.3 million increase over FY08 funding (and $15 million more than the President’s request). At the same time, the groups asked the Senate panel to reverse cuts approved by the House subcommittee in the preservation and access programs at NEH.

Copy of the letter: http://www.aau.edu/budget/Ltr_JointAssns_NEH09_6-19-08.pdf

  • U.S. EXPERTS BEMOAN NATION'S LOSS OF STATURE IN THE WORLD OF SCIENCE

By Keith B. Richburg, The Washington Post, May 29, 2008

Some of the nation's leading scientists, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s top science adviser, today sharply criticized the diminished role of science in the United States and the shortage of federal funding for research, even as science becomes increasingly important to combating problems such as climate change and the global food shortage. Speaking at a science summit that opens this week's first World Science Festival, the expert panel of scientists, and audience members, agreed that the United States is losing stature because of a perceived high-level disdain for science. Complete article at: [1]

Click here for more information about the first World Science Festival

  • ADVICE FROM THE TOP: UNIVERSITY RESEARCH HELPS USA COMPETE

By Del Jones, USA Today, May 19, 2008

The Bayh-Dole Act was enacted 27 years ago, but the ramifications persist to this day. The act lets universities patent and commercialize inventions that come from federally funded research. It has gradually turned universities into incubators for breakthroughs in technology and medicine. Stanford owns the patent on Google's Internet search technology, and last year, the university earned $48 million from 428 technologies licensed to companies. Texas Instruments was early to recognize the power of university research. The company has partnerships with Rice, Georgia Tech and the University of Illinois, among others, and with universities in India and China. CEO Rich Templeton, 49, spoke with USA TODAY management reporter Del Jones about the R&D coming from colleges. Complete article at: [2]

  • ADVICE FROM THE TOP: UNIVERSITY RESEARCH HELPS USA COMPETE

By Del Jones, USA Today, May 19, 2008

The Bayh-Dole Act was enacted 27 years ago, but the ramifications persist to this day. The act lets universities patent and commercialize inventions that come from federally funded research. It has gradually turned universities into incubators for breakthroughs in technology and medicine. Stanford owns the patent on Google's Internet search technology, and last year, the university earned $48 million from 428 technologies licensed to companies. Texas Instruments was early to recognize the power of university research. The company has partnerships with Rice, Georgia Tech and the University of Illinois, among others, and with universities in India and China. CEO Rich Templeton, 49, spoke with USA TODAY management reporter Del Jones about the R&D coming from colleges. Complete article at: [3]

Adamic and Ackerman Research in ACM TechNews Research by SI Faculty Lada Adamic and Mark Ackerman on Yahoo! Answers is highlighted in the April 28, 2008 addition of ACM TechNews. For a link to the copy of the entire article go to the TechNews section of the ACM website.

Call for Papers: Social Science Computer Review on e-Social Science Since the beginning of the new millennium, a world-wide effort has been underway to develop and deploy a new generation of advanced infrastructure which, it is argued, is essential to enable new advances in scientific research. This infrastructure, known as ‘the Grid’ or increasingly commonly as ‘e-Infrastructure’ (cyberinfrastructure in the US), comprises networked, interoperable, scalable computational tools and services that make it possible to locate, access, share, aggregate and manipulate digitised data seamlessly on a hitherto unrealisable scale.

The motivation for this special issue of the Social Science Computer Review is to document the state-of-the-art in e-Social Science. This embraces two distinct strands of work: one examines the impact of e-infrastructure on the social science research community’s capacity to meet its research challenges and the other traces the contribution that e-Social Science is making to solving the very real and significant obstacles to the wide adoption of e-infrastructure across all the sciences.

Our aim in this special issue is to improve mutual awareness, harmonize understanding, and instigate coordinated activities to accelerate research, development, and deployment of e-infrastructure to support the social science research community.

To this end, we invite contributions from members of the social science and e-infrastructure research communities with experience of – or interests in – exploring, developing, and applying new methods, practices, and tools that are facilitated by e-infrastructure in order to further social science research, and in studying the wider development of e-infrastructure-enabled research and its component technologies.

Topics of interest include, but are not restricted to, the following:

  • Case studies of e-Social Science research methods and applications
  • Accessing new sources and forms of social data through e-Social Science
  • Infrastructure and tools for e-Social Science
  • Middleware for data collection, sharing and integration
  • Standards for metadata, ontologies, annotation, curation, etc.
  • Usability issues in the design of research tools and middleware
  • Case studies of (e-)Research and (e-)Social Science research practices
  • The benefits and challenges of large scale collaborative research
  • Issues about the wider adoption and sustainability of e-Infrastructure
  • Evolution of the e-Infrastructure roadmap, from Grids to web 2.0
  • Interdisciplinary research in e-Social Science
  • International collaborations in e-Social Science
  • Socio-technical issues in the development of e-Research and e-infrastructure
  • Ethical issues and challenges in the collection, integration, sharing and analysis of social and personal data

Submission requirements and instructions

Submissions should be between 6000-8000 words in length.

All submissions will be subject to independent review by the members of the special issue editorial panel and a final decision will be made by the special issue editors.

Deadlines and submission instructions

Drafts of full papers are due on July 1st, 2008. They should be emailed to Rob Procter (rob.procter@manchester.ac.uk) to whom any queries should also be sent.

Increase in Graduate Research Fellowship Program in FY09: According to a report in the 3/14 issue of Science [4], NSF has requested a significant increase in funding for the Graduate Research Fellowship program in the FY 09 budget. This would be a rise from $88 M to $110 M, or approximately 700 new awards (which should raise the current 10% success rate for applicants). This increase is attributed to Richard Freeman’s data showing that the GRFs play a disproportionate role in encouraging undergraduates to pursue scientific careers. Specifically, in one survey of 1800 Harvard undergrads, 40% said they would opt for graduate school if given a “national fellowship,” in contrast to the 18% who would otherwise pursue graduate education. Freeman has also studied the signaling role of GRFs, where the awards per number of undergrad science and engineering degrees has dropped from a high of 5.4 awards per 1000 degrees at the program’s inception in the early 50s – to 2.2 awards per 1000 degrees recently. That is, as the availability of awards has gone down, students have made other choices (Freeman also points out that the value of the awards declined to around $15 K in the 1990s, but has recently been boosted to a more competitive level of $30 K). Here’s a link to Freeman’s most comprehensive analysis: [5] Of course, Congress has to improve this increase. However, it is the single biggest increase in NSF’s education budget – and the leadership on the House oversight committee for NSF hasn’t rejected the increase.

For information regarding this years winners go to [Awardee List]

For program information please go to [the NSF Graduate Fellows website]

Other News

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (Posted 1/28/09)

Online applications are being accepted at the CASBS website from March 16 – June 1, 2009 for the 2010-2011 residential fellowship program year.

Application Deadline: Monday, June 1, 2009, 4:00pm PDT Notification: Fellowship awards will be announced in November 2009

Applicants with a Ph.D., professional degree (e.g., J.D., M.D.) or equivalent foreign degree are eligible to apply. Applicants who have achieved an equivalent level of professional reputation will also be considered. Faculty at all academic levels or independent scholars may apply, provided they exhibit a high level of achievement (adjusted for rank) including a strong record of research publications. We encourage applications from junior scholars at least 3 to 4 years past the doctorate, typically for a fellowship year soon after achieving tenure. (This is NOT a 'post-doc' program for newly-minted Ph.Ds.) We encourage applications from ethnic minorities, women, international scholars, and scholars from less research-oriented colleges and universities.

Although excellence in research and accomplishments (for career stage and circumstance) are necessary qualifications, they are not sufficient. We are seeking Fellows who will be both influential with and open to influence by their colleagues in the diverse multidisciplinary cohort we compose for a given year. While the primary focus of the fellowship year is on reflection and writing, the fellowship experience is not suited to monastic retreat into one's own work. The expectation for the CASBS Fellowship experience is that the work will be transformed as a result of interactions with other Fellows. Further, scholars with extensive external commitments and collaborations for the fellowship year should carefully consider waiting for a better opportunity to benefit from the opportunities of time and interaction with other scholars at CASBS. Furthermore, Fellows are expected to be engaged in significant lines of research; although senior scholars are always an important part of the class mix, contributing breadth and mentoring, the CASBS fellowship is not generally appropriate as an epilogue to a stellar career.

For more information please visit the CASBS website

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