or select your discipline:
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The Department of Energy’s, Genomics-Enabled Plant Biology for Determination of Gene Function solicitation seeks applications that employ systems biology and high throughput approaches to elucidate and validate the functional roles of genes, gene families, and associated pathways related to physiological and metabolic processes such as CO2 sequestration and belowground storage; nutrient and water use efficiency; tolerance and/or resistance to abiotic stresses; and metabolism of oils and fatty acids for biofuels and bioproducts.
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University compliance staffing changes |
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Following the retirement of Comparative Medicine Group, or CMG, director and attending veterinarian, Denver Marlow, the following acting positions have been implemented:
- Sally Olson, CMG assistant director and clinical veterinarian, is serving as the acting attending veterinarian and point of contact for animal project planning at CMG.
- Heath Ritter, University Research Compliance Office director, is serving as the acting Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Chair.
- Abby Lear, executive director of operations and technology, is serving as the acting CMG director.
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Webinar: Understanding the Rules of Life: Emerging Networks Solicitation |
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1:30-2:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 7
Join the U.S. National Science Foundation on Friday, January 7 for a webinar on the revised solicitation, Understanding the Rules of Life: Emerging Networks, or URoL:EN, NSF 22-532. Program officers will provide an introduction of the revised cross-directorate solicitation and representatives from the program will be available for questions.
As part of the Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype, one of ten “Big Ideas” NSF-wide, this revised solicitation builds on previous URoL programs to help increase knowledge and the ability to predict an organism’s observable characteristics—its phenotype—from its genotype. Understanding the mechanisms at play in the interconnections between living organisms and their environments, across every biological scale, will provide vital insight into grand biological challenges, help advance biotechnology to spur the U.S. bioeconomy, and aid in solving some of society’s issues, including the growing impacts of infectious disease and climate change. Investigators from across the biological sciences are encouraged to submit proposals in concert with researchers in other disciplines, including the mathematical and physical sciences, geosciences, computer and information sciences, engineering, and behavioral and social sciences.
This solicitation invites submission of convergent, cross-disciplinary research – including the biological sciences – to examine such rules, the outcomes of these interactions, and to aid in the prediction of emergent properties. The program also seeks to train STEM practitioners to contribute to this area of convergent research.
Proposals under the solicitation should be submitted by March 1, 2022.
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DEB Virtual Office Hour: Mid-Career Advancement Solicitation |
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Noon-1 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 10
Join the National Science Foundation on Monday, January 10 for the Division of Environmental Biology’s next Virtual Office Hour. Program Officers will discuss the Mid-Career Advancement Solicitation.
If you can’t make it to this or any future office hours, don’t worry! Go to DEBrief, as they will be posting a recap and the presentation slides. The slides will also be available on this webpage. You can also visit the Office Hours homepage for slideshows and recaps of past topics.
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Cultural Anthropology Program Office Hour |
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Join the Cultural Anthropology Program to discuss questions about the program.
Office hours take place over Zoom generally from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesdays. Please see dates listed below.
- January 11
- January 18
- January 25
- February 1
- February 8
- February 15
- All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
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If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact the program officers in advance.
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VPR Rosowsky to speak at Research Administrators Council quarterly meeting Jan. 18 |
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The Research Administrators Council, or RAC, will have its quarterly meeting from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Jan. 18, via Zoom.
The January 18 quarterly meeting will include an opportunity to meet David Rosowsky, vice president for research, and we look forward to spending some time getting to know him and his plans and goals for research at Kansas State University.
The RAC organizing committee will be providing a few brief questions for Dr. Rosowsky to answer as part of the meeting so if you have suggestions in this regard, please provide them to Anita Fahrny at afahrny@k-state.edu by no later than January 11. Other topics will include information about the Federal Demonstration Partnership letter of intent option for subawards, effort reporting updates and Federal Acquisition Regulation contracts and equipment purchases.
Updates from the offices of PreAward Services and Sponsored Programs Accounting will also be provided.
Mark your calendars for the remaining 2022 RAC quarterly meeting dates: April 12, July 12 and October 11. All meetings will be 10:30-noon and include a Zoom option.
A Zoom link and password will be sent out on the Research Administrators Council listserv. All in the university community are welcome. Please contact Roger McBride at roger57@k-state.edu for the Zoom link if you are not on the listserv and plan to attend.
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Too Many Papers? Slowed Canonical Progress in Large Fields of Science |
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11 a.m.-noon
Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022
The size of scientific fields may impede the rise of new ideas. Examining 1.8 billion citations among 90 million papers across 241 subjects, a study by Northwestern University researchers finds that a deluge of papers does not lead to turnover of central ideas in a field but rather to ossification of canon. Scholars in fields where many papers are published annually face difficulty getting published, read, and cited unless their work references are already widely cited articles. New papers containing potentially important contributions cannot garner field-wide attention through gradual processes of diffusion. These findings suggest fundamental progress may be stymied if quantitative growth of scientific endeavors—in the number of scientists, institutes, and papers—is not balanced by structures fostering disruptive scholarship and focusing attention on novel ideas.
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EnergyTech University Prize: Submit a Business Plan by January 31 |
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Want a shot at $250,000 of cash prizes? You’re in luck! The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions just launched the EnergyTech University Prize, a business plan competition for post-secondary students.
Here’s how to get involved:
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You and at least one other teammate develop a business plan for an energy technology either developed by a national lab or that is otherwise promising. Not sure where to start? Check out possible technologies.
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Sign up on the HeroX competition platform to receive updates and check out the official competition rules.
- From now through January, work on your entry. Make sure to submit by January 31!
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K-State research in the news |
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Agency news and trending topics |
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From innovations that improve our lives to unlocking the mysteries of the universe, 2021 was an incredible year for discoveries made possible by support from the U.S. National Science Foundation. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and researchers came together in 2021 to assist the Nation during a challenging and unprecedented time. The race to understand and combat COVID-19 produced enormous and rapid breakthroughs in many areas – from additive manufacturing to genetic testing to computer modeling and digital learning and more. nih.gov
A growing body of scientific evidence, considered together with ecological reality, strongly suggest that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect bats and other animal reservoirs and potentially emerge to pose a pandemic threat to humans. To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three goals: characterize the range of coronavirus genetic diversity in multiple animal species; better understand coronavirus disease pathogenesis in laboratory animal models and people; and apply this knowledge to the development of long-lasting, broadly protective coronavirus vaccines. nih.gov
NSF program aims to expand data science education pathways while solving community issues. nsf.gov
Some public-health researchers are embracing data and technology to target small groups with precise health interventions. Others fear that these tactics could fail millions. nature.com
Deere and Co. helped mechanize agriculture in 1837 with the first commercially successful steel plow. On Tuesday, the company unveiled a machine that could prove just as transformative: a fully autonomous tractor. wired.com
As 2021 draws to a close, along with nearly two years in the grips of the global COVID pandemic (and its many variants), we look ahead to a new year facing a new variant – Omicron – with its promise of being more infectious, faster spreading, and having as-yet unknown response to existing vaccine/booster regimens. forbes.com
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k-state.edu/research
researchweekly@k-state.edu
785.532.5110
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