The National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track 4: EPSCoR Research Fellows provides awards to build research capacity at institutions and transform the career trajectories of investigators — both at the assistant and associate levels) by further developing their individual research potential through collaborations (often 3 summer months in two successive years — with investigators from the nation's premier private, governmental, or academic research centers.  Through these visits, fellowship awardees will be able to learn new techniques, develop new collaborations or advance existing partnerships, benefit from access to unique equipment and facilities, and/or shift their research toward potentially transformative new directions.

This is a limited submission program and K-State is allowed only four submissions. Thus, if you are interested in submitting to this program you must notify the Office of Research Development, or ORD, by 5 p.m., Jan. 16 via ordlimitedsubs@k-state.edu. Your notification should include a 2- to 3-sentence description of your project plus the names of your anticipated host and host institution. If ORD receives more than four notifications, an internal competition will be needed with preproposals due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 7. While specific instructions will be given to the notifiers for the preproposal, they will closely follow the instructions from last year which can be found at EPSCoR Track 4 Guidelines. The Track 4 proposal itself is due to NSF by 5 p.m. on April 9.

BioMADE is pleased to issue Project Call 4.0, Accelerating Biomanufacturing Innovation: Advancing Solutions for Greener Chemistry, Low-Resource Environments, and Process Intensification. White Paper submissions for projects that contribute to building a sustainable, domestic, end-to-end bioindustrial manufacturing ecosystem are now being accepted. 

Project Call 4.0 will follow a unique format, focusing on a set of cross-disciplinary solutions that advances biomanufacturing innovation. The focus areas are topic-specific and should advance bioindustrial manufacturing to support diverse applications, including alternative proteins, cultivated meat, feedstocks, additives, specialty chemicals, ingredients, and other product categories. The focus areas are: 

• Accelerate the transition to greener chemistry 
• Develop biomanufacturing solutions for low-resource environments 
• Process integration and process intensification  

Successful proposals will describe in detail how the project aligns with the focus area(s). Projects must also align to a minimum of one BioMADE program area: Technology and Innovation, Education and Workforce Development, and/or Safety, Security, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility. However, incorporating more than one program area into a project is highly encouraged and will be scored more favorably during the review process.  

Technology and Innovation

Projects that have a Technology and Innovation component should address at least one of the project call focus areas within Biomanufacturing Readiness Levels 4-7, as well as align with BioMADE’s Technical Roadmap. The Technical Roadmap is a strategic plan organized around a set of technical landmarks that, when reached, will strengthen the foundation of bioindustrial manufacturing in the United States. The Roadmap includes an in-depth explanation of BioMADE’s Technical Modules, a set of Representative Production Scenarios for biomanufacturing, and a prioritized list of technical needs by Innovation Area and Production Scenario.  

The Technical Roadmap is available to BioMADE members as a member benefit.

Education and Workforce Development

Successful Education & Workforce Development submissions will include innovative strategies to meet and exceed the challenge of preparing the future bioindustrial manufacturing workforce. All proposed work must demonstrate substantive industry investment in the proposed activities and clear pathways resulting in career employment. Proposals must align with BioMADE’s Education and Workforce Development Blueprint, Building National Capacity for Bioindustrial Manufacturing. The Blueprint serves as a strategic driver for sustainable, national, systems-level change for workforce development. 

The Education & Workforce Development Blueprint is available to BioMADE members as a member benefit.

Safety, Security, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility

Safety, Security, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility, or 4S, projects should address how the effort upholds related ethical principles and demonstrates how they advance one or more of these 4S components (see Appendix B in the full Project Call). This may include work or research which promotes the protection of workers, consumers, the public or environments from harm, manages potential threats of misuse, contributes to the long-term viability of our economy or environment, or improves societal welfare by creating positive outcomes for stakeholders, communities, or the public. 

More Information and Questions

Find answers to frequently asked questions about project funding here. For questions about the submission process or to set up an optional meeting with a Program Manager to discuss your idea, reach out to proposals@biomade.org. 

Read all Project Call details.

The National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Frontiers Informatics is seeking presenters at their next professional development opportunity from 4-6 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 14. This opportunity provides professional development, networking, and the chance to display the success of your projects to others in the research community. If you would like to give a presentation, please sign up here or if you would like to join this exciting opportunity to connect with each other and our Frontiers Informatics colleagues, please register for the zoom webinar.

All are invited to attend a professional development opportunity and it is not limited to informatics research. All are invited to join this listening session where we will give exciting presentations and discuss how Informatics has contributed to the success of research projects.

Save the Date! Join the National Science Foundation for the Fall 2023 NSF Virtual Grants Conference, to be held during the week of December 4-7, 2023.

Registration will be free of charge and opens on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. Be on the lookout for the Registration is Open email, which will provide the registration links and details for this event.

In the meantime, please feel free to check nsfpolicyoutreach.com for the most up-to-date information and view recordings of sessions from previous conferences. You may also view the Spring 2023 Virtual Grants Conference recordings on our YouTube page. For those who cannot attend the live conference, all recorded conference sessions will be available on-demand shortly after the event and posted on our website and our YouTube page.

If you have any logistical questions about this virtual conference, please contact us at: grants_conference@nsf.gov

The IRES Program Team is hosting a series of Virtual Office Hours aimed at giving potential PIs an opportunity to ask questions.  Office Hours will be held on most Monday afternoons at noon starting November 27 and ending on January 29, during which any questions about the program can be asked and discussed.  

Please feel free to attend the session which best fits your schedule.

Learn more and attend a session.

Join this Partnerships for Innovation, or PFI, Q&A webinar to learn about the PFI program. During the webinar, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the PFI program and what to expect for the submission deadline.

Register to attend.

ExpandAI Office hours are provided for your convenience. NSF Program Directors representing different categories of MSIs will be available on the days and times listed to answer your questions about the program. Feel free to join/leave at any point during the meeting.

Learn more and join a meeting.

Saturday January 13, 2024

Sunday January 14, 2024

Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan, Kansas

The K-INBRE annual symposium is back once again, and we are excited to bring together students, faculty and staff from our 10 universities in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Register to attend by December 1.

Submit abstracts by December 1.

Symposium Schedule

Please contact Heiata Chapman or Clare Frantz with any questions.

Mechanics of breast cancer metastasis discovered, offering target for treatment

The most lethal feature of any cancer is metastasis, the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. New research, led by Penn State, reveals for the first time the mechanics behind how breast cancer cells may invade healthy tissues. The U.S. National Science Foundation-supported discovery, showing that a motor protein called dynein powers the movement of cancer cells in soft tissue models, offers new clinical targets against metastasis and has the potential to fundamentally change how cancer is treated. NSF

Electrical control of quantum phenomenon could improve future electronic devices

A new electrical method to change the direction of electron flow in some quantum materials could have implications for the development of next-generation electronic devices and quantum computers. Researchers from Penn State developed and demonstrated the method in materials that exhibit the quantum anomalous Hall effect — a phenomenon in which the flow of electrons along the edge of a material does not lose energy. NSF

DOE Releases First in Series of Reports Highlighting Pathways Toward Clean Hydrogen EarthShot

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the findings of a report highlighting ways to achieve the Department’s goal of making hydrogen an affordable, abundant source of clean energy and examining different pathways to get there through thermal conversion. The report is the first of three assessments of clean-hydrogen production pathways for the Department’s Hydrogen Shot™, unveiled in June 2021 as the first goal of the Energy Earthshots Initiative™, a set of eight separate moonshots to accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. energy.gov

AI education and AI in education

Recent news headlines of students using generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to write term papers may be what comes to mind for some when thinking about how AI is being introduced in classrooms. But it isn’t the only story to tell about AI in education – or education on AI. NSF

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