or select your discipline:
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The National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education. An MRI award supports the acquisition or development of a multi-user research instrument that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs.
The National Science Foundation’s Innovations in Graduate Education programs seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.
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The university is back in full-swing despite our public health challenges, and I know that many faculty, staff, and students have been active in research since we ramped back up after our spring pandemic hibernation. Thank you to everyone who helped get us running again.
I recognize that it has been difficult to manage your research. No one anticipated operating our research under these conditions. Most of you found yourselves inventing new processes to keep your research teams safe and healthy. You made amazing progress in the face of significant challenges. Yet there remain a number of unanswered questions.
Earlier this summer, I chaired the Committee of Visitors for the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation. This is part of a regular Congressionally-mandated review of Executive branch funding agencies and the processes they use to review and select grant proposals for funding. The questions on most people’s minds were how we were going to keep research going through the pandemic and not lose momentum or our students who rely on financial support. Many of those questions remain unanswered, and we continue to monitor activities in our nation’s capitol.
We are restarting our Brown Bag lunch series next Monday, and the topic will focus on lessons learned, wisdom gained, and concerns that remain about our research at K-State following the March hibernation and stay-at-home order brought on by the pandemic. I hope that you will join us to share your experiences and provide recommendations about how we can do better if we ever face this situation again.
Welcome back – back to something that we hope will not be how we need to be doing our good work well into the future. For now, be safe and well.
-Peter
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ORD Opportunities: K-State no longer eligible for the NIH Academic Research Enhancement Award R15 Program
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The National Institutes of Health Academic Research Enhancement Awards, known as AREA, R15 program is a mechanism has been used by a number of K-State PIs. I am writing to tell you that we are no longer eligible as an institution to apply. The 2018 changes to the AREA program were made to focus AREA support on undergraduate-focused institutions that do not receive substantial NIH funding. One criterion for eligibility for AREA is that the total NIH funding of all non-health professional components of the institution be less than $6M per year in total costs from NIH in four of the last seven years.
K-State researchers have been increasingly successful in obtaining NIH funding in recent years, especially since our second Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence award this summer. Therefore, we have exceeded the threshold in the last four federal fiscal years, as shown in the figure. While this may be disappointing to those investigators who would like to compete in the program, it is great news for K-State, as it means we have passed a significant threshold and bodes well for future proposals such as those for training and program project grants.
-Beth Montelone
Senior associate vice president for research
Director
Office of Research Development
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Kansas NSF EPSCoR (KNE) is announcing a funding opportunity for Major Initiatives to Improve Research Infrastructure in the focus area of Adaptive and Resilient Systems. In summer 2021, Kansas NSF EPSCoR will submit a Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-1 proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). To develop the proposal, KNE is seeking proposals that will make up a key component of this multi-million dollar/multi-year request to NSF. The selected initiative is expected to foster an interdisciplinary research community of engineers, computer and computational scientists, social and behavioral scientists, and natural scientists that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for the design and operation of infrastructure, processes, or services. One major initiative will be selected to be included, along with other infrastructure-building components, in the $20 million RII Track 1 EPSCoR proposal, which will be submitted in August 2021. White papers are due on September 1, 2020.
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Call for Nominations — NAS Awards in the Biological Sciences
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The National Academy of Sciences is accepting nominations for the 2021 awards presented in the biological sciences listed below. NAS membership is not required to nominate candidates or to be considered for an award. All awards being presented in 2021 can be found here.
Nominations for these awards will be accepted online through Monday, October 5, 2020.
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Training opportunities and forums
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VPR Brown Bag Series: Research in a Pandemic: Hibernation, Reviviscence, and Sapience
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Noon-1 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 24
When confronted by a state-wide stay-at-home order in March, K-State responded by hibernating most of its research activities, particularly in our labs and studios out of an abundance of caution. We were not alone, and research administrators across the U.S. met several times each week from March through May to share best practices and policies for the “reawakening” of the enterprise while maintaining safe operations for our students, staff, and faculty. There were any number of lessons learned from those processes, and this Brown Bag discussion will focus on those lessons and how we might do better for research if confronted with a similar situation in the future. Some professions use the term “postmortem” or “after-action report” to review how things went; thorns-and-roses is another way to describe it. Join us in a discussion to share what wisdom we have gained and how we can improve.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctor degree. This session will take an in-depth look at the requirements for an NSF GFRP submission. A panel of faculty members who have served on review panels for this program will discuss tips and provide advice that you will not find in this program’s Request for Proposals. Students will also have an opportunity to talk about their research ideas with the panel. If you are serious about submitting to this program, this is a session you should not miss.
3:30-5 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 8
After you register, a Zoom link will be sent out a few days before the event.
This event is sponsored by the Office of Research Development, the Graduate School and the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships.
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3:30-4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 9
The Office of Research Development will host an information session for tenured or tenure-track faculty who are interesting in receiving assistance in their scholarly activities and professional development. The Faculty Development Award program provides support for travel to international meetings. The University Small Research Grants program is a “seed” grant program to support early research, scholarly activity and other creative efforts. Please attend one of these information sessions to learn about this semester’s application and review process.
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K-State RSCAD in the news
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New project to examine genome editing technology bakingbusiness.com
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Agency news and trending topics
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The worldwide effort to create a vaccine for the novel coronavirus kicked off in January, soon after scientists in China posted online the genome of a virus causing a mysterious pneumonia. Vaccine development usually takes years and unfolds step by step. Experimental vaccine candidates are created in the laboratory and tested in animals before moving into progressively larger human clinical trials. washingtonpost.com
Two Phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trials testing whether experimental monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are now enrolling healthy adults at clinical trial sites in the United States. nih.gov
A new interactive mapping tool from the National Institutes of Health showcases just some of the many small businesses that have developed successful healthcare products with the help of NIH small business funding, which totals over $1 billion annually. nih.gov
New research supported by the National Institutes of Health delineates how two relatively common variations in a gene called KIF3A are responsible for an impaired skin barrier that allows increased water loss from the skin, promoting the development of atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema. nih.gov
Researchers have found that a common plant owes the dazzling blue color of its fruit to fat in its cellular structure, the first time this type of color production has been observed in nature. nsf.gov
In current technology, polymers reinforced with ultra-fine strands of carbon fibers represent a class of composite materials that are "as light as a feather and as strong as steel," leading to versatile applications in several industries. To increase strength and give carbon-fiber composites other desirable properties such as high electrical and thermal conductivities, carbon nanotubes are often added. nsf.gov
Humans are the only species known to cry in response to emotional turmoil, but a new study finds reptile and avian tears aren’t so different
smithsonianmag.com
The company plans to launch 3,236 satellites, but astronomers are worried about possible ramifications.smithsonianmag.com
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k-state.edu/research
researchweekly@k-state.edu
785.532.5110
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