UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter: February 6, 2016
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research
and Economic Development
Back Issues of Newsletter: http://research.ucr.edu/vcr/newsletters.aspx
Grant Opportunity Search: http://pivot.cos.com
·
NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants
·
USDA NIFA
Specialty Crop Research Initiative Workshop – 2/18/16, 2:00pm
·
Proof of Concept Funding for
Technology Commercialization Program
·
Riverside Citizen Science Partnership
·
Faculty Networking
Lunches: Diabetes, Sustainability and
Social Justice,
BRAIN, Bio-based Materials, Health Disparities, Water Research
NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants
ORIP's Shared
Instrumentation Grant (SIG) program
supports the purchase of research equipment in the $50,000 to $600,000 price
range. Examples of instrumentation supported by SIG funding include nuclear
magnetic resonance systems, electron and confocal microscopes, mass
spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, X-ray diffractometers
and cell sorters.
Shared
Instrumentation Grant Program (S10): http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-16-054.html (Deadline:
May 16, 2016)
In FY
2015, the SIG program provided 91 awards to biomedical research
institutions in 31 states totaling $40,293,834.
Prior Awards: http://dpcpsi.nih.gov/orip/diic/fy_sig_awards
My office will provide 10% of the purchase price as a form of institutional support for proposals submitted to this program and cover any charges for installation that can’t be supported by the grant. In general, equipment that will be used by at least 5 NIH funded investigators stand the best chance of funding through this mechanism.
USDA NIFA SCRI Workshop, 2/18/16 at 2:00pm
Tom Bewick, National Program Lead, Specialty Crop Research
Initiative, NIFA, will present an informal workshop about NIFA's SCRI program,
including more information on the program and best practices for writing
proposals. He also will share any upcoming priorities for the next fiscal
year. This program funds HLB and ACP research as well as
research into crops of significance to California including citrus, avocado,
almonds, etc.
When:
Thursday, February 18 at 2:00pm
Where:
Genomics Auditorium
Proof of Concept Funding for Technology
Commercialization Program
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development (RED) announces the FY2016-2017 Proof of Concept Funding for Technology Commercialization (POC) Award Program. The POC award provides UCR investigators up to $35,000 to further develop a commercializable invention based upon UCR intellectual property not yet licensed. The effort should address a critical issue, such as creating a prototype, scaling up a process, or obtaining additional data to support a commercialization effort by making the invention more attractive to licensees or investors. The award shall be used only for technical salaries and benefits, supplies, vivarium or other facilities fees and contracted services directly related to the project.
FUNDING CRITERIA
1. An invention
disclosure(s) must be submitted to the UCR Office of Technology
Commercialization (OTC) on the key invention(s) by March 4, 2016 and UCR must
have clear rights to commercialize the intellectual property.
2. The intellectual
property and prospective product must address a need in the marketplace and
have a competitive advantage over existing products.
3. The proposed work
will start on July 1, 2016 and be accomplished by June 30, 2017.
4. The proposed work
should undertake commercial-type prototype development or testing to generate
evidence that the disclosed invention meets a market need, not the creation of
new inventions or basic research.
5. Preference will be
given to projects that can be completed within six months.
6. Although the maximum
award is $35,000, smaller focused projects are encouraged and the anticipated
median award size is $20,000.
APPLICATION DIRECTIONS AND FORMAT
1.
Applications
should be submitted by April 15, 2016.
· A cover sheet should include the project title, the name of the principal investigator, project participants, and names of inventors on the disclosure.
· Describe the current status of the invention and the funding history of the research (up to 1 page).
· Describe the proposed product that would be commercialized and the problem it solves (up to1 page).
· Discuss potential customers, existing solutions available in the marketplace, and competitive advantages of proposed product. Describe a strategy for entering the market, e.g., licensing to an existing company or starting a new company (up to1 page).
· Describe research at other universities and how your research is different and superior (up to 1 page).
· Provide a detailed project description including a timeline, expected outcomes, and processes to achieve those goals. Include additional steps to commercialization that will remain following completion of the POC award project (up to 2 pages).
· Include a Budget and brief narrative of how resources would be used.
REVIEW PROCESS
Proposals will be reviewed by RED/OTC staff and UCR faculty and outside entrepreneurs who have signed a nondisclosure agreement. Anonymous reviews will be returned for all proposals.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications should be submitted via email by April 15, 2016 to Judy Swineford at judy.swineford@ucr.edu.
Questions about the application process should be directed to Brian Suh at brian.suh@ucr.edu or 951-827-5578.
For more information, and for the application, click here: http://research.ucr.edu/ord/funding/opportunities/proof-of-concept-fund.aspx.
Riverside Citizen Science Partnership
The
mission of the Riverside Citizen Science partnership is to engage our community
in conducting science research and in observing and documenting Riverside’s
natural environment. This program fosters appreciation and stewardship by
staging and supporting nature centered activities, and by providing
opportunities for members of our community to collect data for local
researchers conducting studies in our local environment. Science, through
community participation and collaboration, becomes a permanent part of our
city’s culture and identity. RCS is a partnership among UCR, the Riverside
Metropolitan Museum, The Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District,
Riverside Parks, Recreation and Community Services, and the US Forestry Service
Pacific Southwest Research Station, with collaborations with the Smithsonian
Institute and the Encyclopedia of Life.
RCS successfully raised funds for the establishment of the Ameal Moore Nature Center at the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Area, and facilitates the engagement of local citizens in research projects underway at local institutions. Some current RCS projects include: Riverside Nature Spotter, Operation Tree Canopy, Seeking All Southern California Stinkbugs, and Bluebird Nest Box monitoring.
The Riverside Nature Spotter smartphone application was developed by Riverside’s Innovation and Technology Department. It is available for free download for both iPhone and Android operating systems. The animals and plants that citizen scientists photograph are mapped and stored at www.inaturalist.org/projects/riverside-citizen-science. Data can be used to evaluate distribution of populations and species, life history stages, and more. Seeking All Southern California Stinkbugs was developed in partnership with Dr. Mark Hoddle of UCR Entomology to characterize the diversity and distribution of stinkbug species, including the invasive and destructive brown marmorated stinkbug, in southern California (www.inaturalist.org/projects/seeking-all-southern-california-stinkbugs).
Operation Tree Canopy involves citizen scientists who collect research data to help Dr. Darrel Jenerette, Botany and Plant Sciences, study the benefits of urban trees. During the summer of 2015, volunteers measured trees, sampled leaves, and collected data to help verify photos that were collected during high altitude fly-overs by NASA. The project was brought to the Inland Empire by Earthwatch Institute. Thanks to the work of citizen scientists, research data was collected from over 1,300 trees in 45 urban spaces throughout the greater Los Angeles region, including Riverside. Focal Trees is the newest phase to help with Earthwatch Institute’s Urban Forest Resiliency project. After using NASA data and leaf samples collected by citizen scientists, the Jenerette lab is now ready to focus on collecting data from 10 specific tree species.
If you are interested in becoming involved in Riverside Citizen Science, or in engaging citizen scientists in your research, please contact Amy Litt (amy.litt@ucr.edu). We can put you in touch with interested citizens and contribute our resources to help you make connections and plan your citizen science project.
CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS CAN ADDRESS THE NSF BROADER IMPACTS CRITERIA
I am pleased to announce and invite you to a full-day symposium in “Advanced Electron Microscopy in Nanostructure Research” and the inauguration of the new Titan Themis 300 S/TEM and the Quanta 200 duo beam instrument at the Central Facility for Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis (CFAMM).
The inauguration will take place on March 10th, 2016 starting at 9 a.m. in HUB 355. Plenary seminar talks will be presented by leading researchers demonstrating the application of S/TEM and duo-beam techniques in nanostructure research. The plenary session will be followed by demo sessions on the instruments in the afternoon.
Full program announcement will follow soon.
Registration is free, lunch and refreshments will be provided. To register go to: http://aemnr-cfamm.eventbrite.com.
Upcoming Faculty Networking Lunches
There are still seats
available for the following networking lunches:
·
Diabetes
Research on 2/8/16 (register here: https://diabetes-research.eventbrite.com)
·
Sustainability
and Social Justice on 2/22/16 (register here: https://sustainability-social-justice.eventbrite.com) New
·
Water
Research on 3/7/16 (register here: https://water-research.eventbrite.com).
·
BRAIN
Initiative-Related Research 3/28/16 (register here: https://brain-initiative.eventbrite.com).
·
Bio-based
Materials 5/9/16 (register here: http://biobased-materials.eventbrite.com) New
·
Health
Disparities 5/23/16
(register here: https://health-disparities.eventbrite.com) DATE CHANGE
The goal is get faculty with
common interests to meet each other in an informal setting and discuss possible
collaborations. The food is catered by a local Thai restaurant and
includes vegetarian and gluten-free options.
All lunches are held in UOB
210 from 12:00pm – 1:15pm. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA FOR A
TOPIC that you think 8-12 other faculty will be interested in.
Each February, the Cornell
Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society hold the great backyard
bird count, perhaps the world’s largest citizen science project. The goal is to
gain an understanding of the distribution of bird species to better understand
migration and the impacts of habitat and climate change. The next count is
February 12-15, 2016. Info on how you can participate is available at http://gbbc.birdcount.org/news/2016-news-release/
Below
are two of my favorite backyard birds. The first is a tufted titmouse
from my backyard in New Jersey. After establishing a regular pattern, a
few were trained to come to my deck every morning when I put some peanuts out.
(Click to
enlarge)
The second is a spotted towhee from my backyard in Riverside. Normally a reclusive bird that stays in the shrubs, this one has trained me to bring it sunflower seed when it calls.
(Click to
enlarge)
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Professor, Computer Science & Engineering
University of California, Riverside
200 University Office Building
Assistant: Linda Bejenaru
Email: VCREDadmin@ucr.edu