UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter: April 1, 2017
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
·
Trump and budget for Political Science and
medical research
·
Research Funding and the Value of
Collaboration
·
DOD MURI
·
Research Integrity Talk: Rachel Wu: April 20
·
SBIR Workshop: April 8
·
Creat’R Lab grad opening:
April 18
·
UC Lab Fees Grant Programs (Social
Science/Security, Cybersecurity, Climate Science)
·
NIH Funding Recap
·
NSF CAREER Workshops: April 13 & 14,
·
Faculty Lunch: Computational Design 5/1
·
Hooded Oriole
Trump and
budget for Political Science and medical research
April 1, 2017. In a surprise turn around, White House
spokesperson April Fulesjook, announced today that
President Trump has argued for doubling the budget for Political Science at the
National Science Foundation. “Governing is difficult and we need to know more
about political processes.” Similarly, a proposal for increasing
the NIH budget by 20% is under development, “It’s projected that caring for
Alzheimer’s and other dementia patients will cost $200B a year. Progress
on this one disease alone can justify the entire NIH budget.” NIH
will no longer require preliminary data or any form of evidence in
proposals. A proposal can now include an Alternative Facts section
instead of background research.
Research
Funding and the Value of Collaboration
In FY 2015, 62% of the funds awarded to UCR by the federal
government went to awards with single PIs. In FY16, this declined to
58%. In FY 2017 to date, this is 50%. The pie chart below shows the
proportional of funds awarded to UCR as a number of the number of UCR
collaborators on a grant.
This data is actually an underestimate of the value of
collaboration since our databases do not include collaborators not affiliated
with UCR.
Funding Opportunity: DOD Releases FY 2018 MURI BAA
On March 16, the Department of Defense (DOD) released the broad
agency announcement (BAA) for the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Multidisciplinary
University Research Initiative (MURI), as part of the larger University
Research Initiative (URI) aimed at institutions of higher education. MURI
remains one of the signature DOD research programs for the university community
and stands as the benchmark for building a defense-oriented research capability
on campus. The anticipated funding amount of $170 million is $25 million
more than last year’s award, which might provide for larger awards, as compared
to past years, pending FY 2018 appropriations
This year’s 24 topics are provided from
the Army, Air Force, and Navy basic research offices. Topics include:
Army Research Office (ARO)
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Office of Naval Research
The FY 2018 topics continue to reflect the research priorities
of Dr. Robin Staffin, the Director for Basic Research
in the Office of Assistant Secretary Defense for Research and Engineering, and
the Service basic research offices. Quantum, novel materials, and biology
are again presented as topics, while the listing of social and network sciences
indicates emerging priorities for DOD.
DOD encourages faculty to engage with the Research Topic Chiefs
assigned to each topic area (see section VIII) through the white paper process
to assess the feasibility of proposed topics. Topics listed above describe
the focus areas important to each Service and are not meant
to restrict the possible directions awarded research could take.
Letters of Intent: Not required. Prospective awardees
should submit white papers to minimize the labor and cost associated with the
production of detailed full proposals.
Time Line for Submission:
Total Funding and Award Size: DOD expects $170 million to be made available, pending congressional appropriations.
Individual awards are expected to be $1.25 to $1.5
million per year for a base period of three years, with the option to extend
the grant for an additional two years.
Eligibility and Limitations: The competition is open to U.S.
institutions of higher education, including DOD institutions of higher
education, with degree-granting programs in science, mathematics, or
engineering. While industry, DOD laboratories, and foreign universities
may not receive funding, DOD encourages universities to collaborate with
entities focused on applied and transitional research for potential commercial
applications of MURI-funded research.
Sources and Additional Background:
Research
Integrity Talk: Rachel Wu: April 20
UCR’s Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is proud to partner with the Department of Psychology to present the
final talk of the 2016-17 Seminar Series. The ORI Seminar Series focuses on ethical dilemmas and hot
topics in human subjects research. This
month’s presentation, entitled “A New View on Aging”, will be
led by Dr. Rachel Wu, Director of UCR’s CALLA Lab and Assistant
Professor in the Psychology Department. The talk will take place
on April 20 at 2:00 pm in HUB
379.
Dr. Wu has degrees from the University of London, University
College in London, Carnegie Mellon University and Middlesex University. She is
an accomplished artist and musician who studies the learning process in human
participants ranging from infancy to older adulthood.
Key points for the talk:
1. What aspects of aging may be self-imposed?
2. What aspects of child development can we adapt for aging?
3. What are ethical concerns when conducting research with infants and older
adults?
A New View on Aging
Dr. Rachel Wu
Thursday, April 20, 2:00pm
HUB 379
This seminar is free and open to the public. No
registration is required but seating is limited. Light refreshments will be provided.
SBIR
workshop: April 8
For Entrepreneurs and Faculty looking for funding to
commercialize their research
·
•Learn how to develop a winning proposal
·
•Hear from NSF, NIH and DOD program managers
·
•Gain valuable information about NSF, NIH and DoD SBIR/STTR
programs unique characteristics
·
•Discover how to partner with the university and federal labs
·
•Network with fellow entrepreneurs, faculty and researchers
·
•Understand SBIR eligibility requirements
·
•Hear agency reviewer decision criteria
·
•Find the resources to support your commercialization efforts
·
•Get key insight for 2017 from SBIR insiders
·
•Engage in an interactive panel with recent business and
university award winners
·
Highlander Union Building (HUB) Room
355.
·
Registration: https://santaanadistrictsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/5566
|
Creat’R Lab grand opening: April 18
On behalf of University Librarian Steven Mandeville-Gamble and Vice
Chancellor Michael Pazzani, please join us for the Creat'R
Lab Launch on Tuesday,
April 18, 2017. Doors open at 4:30 PM. Program begins at 5:15 PM.
Creat'R Lab is an innovation space at UCR, where
students can learn, experiment, design and create. This is where new
technologies, scientific curiosity, and entrepreneurship come together to
change the world.
Creat'R Lab is located at the Orbach Science Library and welcomes all UCR students,
staff, and faculty.
RSVP:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creatr-lab-launch-tickets-32940593201
UC Lab Fees Grant Programs
UC Research Initiatives is pleased to release the Program Announcement for the 2018 UC Laboratory Fees Research
Program. This year’s competition offers two distinct funding
opportunities:
1) The UC Multicampus-National
Laboratory Collaborative Research and Training Award (UC-NL CRT); and
2) The UC-National Laboratory
In-Residence Graduate Fellowship (UC NLGF)
The UC Vice Chancellors for Research are organizing a systemwide workshop in each of these 3
thematic areas in May, 2017.
The workshops are intended to provide a forum to discuss
compelling research directions and for potential collaborators to make
connections to build research teams. While attendance is
meant to facilitate the formation of teams, the workshops are not
proposal writing venues. Attendance at the workshops is not a requirement (or
prerequisite) for submitting a proposal, and the workshop organizers reserve
the right to limit attendance to the workshop based on space or budget
constraints.
Information on the three workshops is provided below and
posted at: http://www.ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/lab-fees/workshops.html. If you’d
like to attend, (funding will be provided) fill out the form at (http://bit.ly/labfee-wkshp).
Topic:
National Security through Social Sciences
Dates:
May 8-9, 2017
Location:
UC Irvine Student Center
VCR leads:
Ann Karagozian (UCLA), Cameron Carter (UCD), Pramod Khargonekar (UCI)
Contact:
Stephanie Beckham (Stephanie.Beckham@uci.edu)
Topic:
Cybersecurity
Date:
May 11, 2017
Location:
UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Campus – 3175 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara
VCR leads:
Scott Brandt (UCSC), Michael Pazzani (UCR)
Contact:
Tedd Siegel (tssiegel@ucsc.edu)
Topic:
Climate Science
Dates:
May 30-31, 2017
Location:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
VCR leads:
Samuel Traina (UCM), Sandra Brown (UCSD)
Contact:
Stephanie Butticci (sbutticci@ucmerced.edu)
In addition to the Program guidelines and eligibility, each
RFP includes the following attachments:
· UC Laboratory
Fees Research Program and National Laboratory contact information;
·
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs); and
·
Instructions for submitting the required Letter of Intent.
Please review these materials carefully, visit our website for
additional information, applicant teleconference registration, or other program
announcements:
http://ucop.edu/research-initiatives/programs/lab-fees/index.html
You may UCRI@ucop.edu for additional guidance.
NSF CAREER
Workshops
UCR will hold two
identical workshops on Thursday, April 13th and
Friday, April 14th, both from 11:30- 1:30pm in Room 240, Orbach
Science Library. Each will have a presentation on the NSF CAREER
program and a panel of faculty who received or reviewed for CAREER awards.
Lunch will be provided. Please register so we
know how much lunch to order.
April 13 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nsf-career-workshop-41317-tickets-32704998531
April 14 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nsf-career-workshop-41417-tickets-32705255299
NIH funding recap
If you missed last month’s
workshops on NIH funding, you can find the slides available at
·
Howard
Moss: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wkk5a1yrvkn829/MossNIH.pdf?dl=0
·
Kathryn
Uhrich, Monica Carson, Xiaoping Hu, Aaron Seitz,
Stefano Lonardi, Katie Dehesh,
Bruce Link and Seema Tiwari-Woodruff: https://www.dropbox.com/s/isd4zksbtnmoywb/All%20NIH%20Panel%20slides2.ppt?dl=0
Other useful tips:
· Kathryn Uhrich: Look at the Critique templates used by reviewers: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/critiques/rpg.htm
· Aaron Seitz: Including unpublished data in NIH applications: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-17-050.html
2017 Faculty Networking Lunches
·
Computational Design: May 1, 2017 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunch-session-computational-design-tickets-32263957365 This topic includes computational design of novel materials,
molecules, drugs, and other engineering and scientific artifacts. (Sorry, Wrong
date was in last newsletter)
The goal is get faculty with
common interests to meet each other in an informal setting and discuss possible
collaborations. All lunches are held at
11:55-1:00 in University Office Building Room 210.
I’m still looking for a topic for some weeks in
April. Suggestions from CHASS are particularly welcome since they have been underrepresented in recent lunches.
Hooded Oriole
The Hooded Orioles have
returned to Riverside. They are one of the most colorful summer
residents. They have been known to show up
at hummingbird feeders but their favorite feeder food is grape jelly.
They also like to long baths.
(
P.S., if you like owls, Starr
Ranch has a webcam on a Barn Owl nest. The owlets are very active right
now. http://starrranch.org/blog/