(Fwd) US Readers: NSF Supplements in Biodiversity Informatics
Anthony R. Brach (brach@oeb.harvard.edu)
Tue, 20 Jan 1998 06:48:39 -0500
>------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
>Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 11:44:16 -0500
>Reply-to: Jim Beach <jbeach@NBII.GOV>
>From: Jim Beach <jbeach@NBII.GOV>
>Subject: US Readers: NSF Supplements in Biodiversity Informatics
(Act Now)
>To: Multiple recipients of list TAXACOM
<TAXACOM@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU>
>
>To: U.S. Taxacom subscribers with active NSF awards:
>
>This is a reminder of an excellent funding opportunity to bring computer
>science and software engineering undergraduates into collections and
>systematics research labs to work collaboratively with biology students on
>projects in the area of biodiversity informatics. Supplements can be
>requested by any PI with an active award from the NSF Programs mentioned
>below. Deadline for the supplement request is February 1, for a maximum of
>$50,000 (see the fine print). For additional guidance, contact your NSF
>Program Officer directly.
>
>Please copy this to any colleagues who might be interested in this area for
>undergraduate training.
>
>The US Geological Survey/Biological Resources Division is a funding partner
>in this NSF-USGS joint activity.
>
>================================
>
>MEMORANDUM
>National Science Foundation
>DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE / BIO
>DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY / BIO
>DIVISION OF INFORMATION, ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS / CISE
>
>Date: November 1, 1997
>Subject: Special Emphasis REU Supplements in Biodiversity Informatics
>To: Current Awardees
>From: Programs in Biological Databases, Research Collections, Field
> Stations and Marine Laboratories, Biotic Surveys and
Inventories
>,
> Systematic Biology, and Database and Expert Systems
>
>
>The brochure Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF 96-102, available
>on the Web at http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/start.htm) describes how NSF
>awardees can provide research experiences for undergraduates by
>incorporating these students into their ongoing research projects.
>
>This memo announces a new class of REU activities that differs from the
>standard REU supplement program in several ways. This trial REU activity
>focuses on interdisciplinary research opportunities that bring together
>undergraduate students in biology with students in computer science or
>software engineering collaboratively to address projects in the area of
>biodiversity informatics. This special REU supplement opportunity also
>differs from the standard supplements in size; they are larger, and targeted
>for workgroups of four students. These supplements may also include up to
>$5,000 in additional funds, per student, for software and hardware
>technology for project support. Up to ten REU supplements in biodiversity
>informatics will be awarded in FY 98. Programs in the Directorates for
>Biological Sciences and for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
>and the US Geological Survey Biological Resources Division will jointly
>support this activity.
>
>
>The prime objective of this trial activity is to engage undergraduates in
>active research designed to provide a high-quality educational experience
>and make them aware of biodiversity informatics research and infrastructure
>development as a possible career area. The supplements should: (1) expose
>technology students to challenging informatics problems within organismal
>biology, (2) impart a level of awareness and understanding among the biology
>students for modern approaches in computer science and software engineering,
>and (3) ultimately enhance the quality of knowledge management within
>biodiversity disciplines. We are particularly interested in reaching
>Principal Investigators who have not previously engaged students from
>computational and information engineering backgrounds in their research.
>
>
>A key feature of these special REU supplements in biodiversity informatics
>is the objective of funding minimally four (and maximally five) students on
>each supplement for collaborative work. In that way a critical mass of
>students from both biology and computer science disciplines would exist to
>promote synergy from group interactions, such as regular team discussion or
>brainstorming meetings, and biology-computer science crosstalk on project
>conceptualization, design, and implementation.
>
>
>The ideal supplement structure would be a team consisting of two computer
>science/software engineering majors and two biology majors. Students may
>work on the same or different problems within the same award, but we
>strongly emphasize the need for regular group interaction. Concurrent or
>near-concurrent hiring of all of the students (to create a workgroup
>environment during the duration of the activity) is a requirement.
>
>We are particularly interested in requests that would address project areas
>such as: efficient new techniques for museum specimen data entry;
>interactive, real-time network mapping of species distributions based on
>linked specimen database records; enhanced use of Geographic Information
>System and Remote Sensing technologies in biodiversity studies; development
>of techniques and prototypes for full electronic publication of monographic
>and other taxonomic research results; methodologies for collaborative
>maintenance of community authority files such as standard vocabularies,
>nomenclators, or taxonomic dictionaries; and systems that utilize the
>Internet for workgroup architectures such as remote annotation and update of
>specimen or taxon records. PIs are encouraged, however, to consider other
>informatics themes as well.
>
>Review Criteria for Special Emphasis REU Supplements in Biodiversity
>Informatics
>
>1. Requests with undergraduate teams representing biology and computer
>science disciplines equally will be favored.
>
>2. Requests that include biographical sketches of potential student
>participants will be rated higher, as evidence of project organization and
>forethought.
>
>3. Research topics should be technologically innovative within the context
>of the organism(s) or biological themes being studied in the parent award.
>The project(s) should integrate intellectual contributions to the biological
>research with technology development, for example tool development
>addressing a particular component of the biological research domain. Routine
>technical tasks such as Web page construction or data entry would not
>constitute such integration, although they would not be excluded activities
>if a minor part of the work. Proposals that engage students in pure biology
>activities (e.g., mainstream systematic biology or collections research) or
>in pure technology development activities will not be ranked highly.
>
>4. Individual students may work on aspects of the same problem or on
>different problems within each supplement, but proposals that describe
>procedures to promote a highly interactive workgroup, in ways such as
>concurrent hiring and participation of students, regular team meetings,
>regular PI-student and student-student interactions, and report presentation
>sessions, will be ranked more highly.
>
>5. Requests that propose activities addressing biodiversity informatics
>standards and community organizations attempting to implement them, such as
>the Association for Systematics Collections Reference Model and Standards
>for Biological Collections data (URL,
>http://www.bishop.hawaii.org/asc-cnc/), the Integrated Taxonomic Information
>System (http://www.itis.usda.gov/itis), or the National Biological
>Information Infrastructure (http://www.nbii.gov), will be favored over
>projects that propose independent, idiosyncratic technical solutions to
>community informatics issues.
>
>6. Requests that include a brief discussion of prior, active undergraduate
>student training or mentoring in the context of research projects, whether
>supported by REU supplements or otherwise, will be ranked more highly.
>
>In order to facilitate the timely review of your request, please comply
>with the following:
>
>1. All REU supplement requests in biodiversity informatics must be
>received by the relevant Program by February 1, 1998. Submit one copy only.
>Keep the project(s) description to a maximum of four pages; additional pages
>would include the budget (form NSF 1030, and counter signed by your
>sponsored research office and following REU supplement rules) and budget
>justification, and brief biographical sketches of the students if
>identified. In order to expedite NSF processing, please be certain to
>include the original NSF award number in your letter.
>
>2. Only one REU supplement request per parent award will be considered
>each year by the sponsoring Program, either a standard REU supplement
>request or this special emphasis request.
>
>3. Make clear in your request letter that this is a REU supplement
>request, not a standard grant submission. The intent of the activity is to
>help students participate fully in a research enterprise. Hence, the request
>should emphasize expected student accomplishments, benefits to the parent
>project, and student qualifications. Results from any previous REU
>supplement should be described (the most recent one, and as part of the four
>pages maximum).
>
>4. Note in the guidelines for standard REU supplements (pages 4 and 5 of
>NSF 96-102) that "normally funds will be available for up to two students,
>but exceptions will be considered for training additional students who are
>members of underrepresented groups" and "total costs are expected to be
>typically up to $5,000 per student"; for summer projects for example, "at
>least $1,000 per month, with academic year stipends comparable on a pro rata
>basis." For these special emphasis supplements we are expanding the budget
>guidelines to allow for four (maximally five) students with total costs of
>$5,000 each, with an additional allowance of up to $5,000 per student for
>special purpose hardware and software needed for the project.
>
>Indirect costs are not allowed on REU supplements, but an administrative
>allowance limited to 25% of student stipends is permitted. Stipend amounts
>must be entered on line F of the standard budget page, form NSF 1030 (see
>Grant Proposal Guide, NSF 98-2).
>
>Address your request to:
>
> Relevant Program (for example, Systematic Biology)
> Division of __________, Room ___
> National Science Foundation
> 4201 Wilson Boulevard
> Arlington, VA 22230
>
>_
>
>
>_________________________________________
>
>James H. Beach, Project Director
>Electronic Natural History Museum
>National Performance Review Reinvention Laboratory
>Tel: (703) 319-1173, Fax (703) 648-4224
>E-mail: jbeach@nbii.gov
>___________________________________________________