NSF: Building Team Science

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NSF Building Team Science
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Arden Bement
Tony Chan
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(No Transcript)
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External Drivers

• American Competitiveness Initiative
• Invest in critical research, ensure the US
  continues to lead in opportunity and innovation,
  provide children with a strong foundation in math
  and science
• Double investment in key federal agencies that
  support basic research in the physical sciences
  over 10 years
• ACI Partners NSF, DOE NIST

From National Academy of Sciences
Action B-4 Allocate at least 8 of the budgets
of federal research agencies to discretionary
funding that would be managed by technical
program managers in the agencies and be focused
on catalyzing high-risk, high-payoff research.
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America COMPETES Act
America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully
Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and
Science Act (COMPETES). H.R. 2272
Increase Research Investment by Doubling
funding for the (NSF) from approximately 5.6
billion in Fiscal Year 2006 to 11.2 billion in
Fiscal Year 2011. DOE double funding over
ten years, increasing from 3.6 billion in Fiscal
Year 2006 to over 5.2 billion in Fiscal Year
2011. 8 of federal funding for high risk
research. NIST From approximately 703
million in Fiscal Year 2008 to approximately 937
million in Fiscal Year 2011. NASA increase
funding for basic research. Coordinating
ocean and atmospheric research and education at
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and other agencies. Strengthen
Educational Opportunities in Science, Technology,
Engineering, Mathematics, and Critical Foreign
Languages Develop an Innovation Infrastructure
by Establishing a Presidents Council on
Innovation and Competitiveness to develop a
comprehensive agenda to promote innovation and
competitiveness. Requiring the National
Academy of Sciences to conduct a study to
identify forms of risk that create barriers to
innovation.
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NSF Strategic Planapproved by Office of
Management and Budget

• Discovery
• Workforce
• Infrastructure
• Organizational Excellence
• Contains a lot of ACI language, e.g. innovation

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Review Criteria

• Criterion 1 intellectual merit?
• Advancement of knowledge and understanding?
• How well qualified is the proposer?
• Impact of prior work?
• Exploration of creative and original concepts?
• How well conceived and organized?
• Resources?
• Criterion 2 broader impacts?
• Promotion of teaching, training, and learning?
• Broadening participation?
• Enhancement of infrastructure?
• Dissemination?
• Benefits to society?

Dear colleague letters on broader impacts NSF
02-161 and 04-045
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Transformative Research
September 25, 2007 IMPORTANT NOTICE TO
PRESIDENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES AND HEADS
OF OTHER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION AWARDEE
ORGANIZATIONS Subject Transformative Research
The full text of the newly revised Intellectual
Merit criterion is as follows What is the
intellectual merit of the proposed activity? How
important is the proposed activity to advancing
knowledge and understanding within its own field
or across different fields? How well qualified is
the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the
project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will
comment on the quality of prior work.) To what
extent does the proposed activity suggest and
explore creative, original, or potentially
transformative concepts? How well conceived and
organized is the proposed activity? Is there
sufficient access to resources? Effective
October 1, 2007, the Grant Proposal Guide, as
well as new funding opportunities issued after
that date, will incorporate the revised new
criterion. Necessary changes also will be made to
NSF reviewer systems to incorporate the revised
language. All proposals received after January 5,
2008, will be reviewed against the newly revised
criterion. The term "transformative research" is
being used to describe a range of endeavors which
promise extraordinary outcomes, such as
revolutionizing entire disciplines creating
entirely new fields or disrupting accepted
theories and perspectives in other words, those
endeavors which have the potential to change the
way we address challenges in science,
engineering, and innovation. http//www.nsf.gov
/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_keygpg
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Advancing the Frontier
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Integrated Impact
Impact/ a Slope
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Integrated Investment
if its safe science, NSF should not fund
it. A. Bement
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FY 2008 Focus Areas - MPS

• Physical sciences at the nanoscale
• Science beyond Moores Law
• Physics of the universe
• Complex systems
• Fundamental mathematical and statistical science
• Sustainability
• Cyber-enabled Discovery and Innovation

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MPS by Division
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Macroeconomic Implications
Impact of Federal Investment in Basic Chemical
Sciences
http//www.ccrhq.org/Measure_for_Measure_Presentat
ion_04-26-062.ppt
We need to turn the crank faster and be higher
profile
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Staff and Structure
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Mission (Division Retreat-Oct. 2006)
To support innovative research in chemical
sciences, integrated with education, through
strategic investment in a globally engaged
workforce reflecting the diversity of America
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Chemistry Core Programs (Individual Investigator
Awards- IIA)

• Making Things
• Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (OMC)
• - Organic Dynamics
• - Organic Synthesis
• Inorganic, Bioinorganic, Organometallic
  Chemistry (IBO)

• Measuring and Modeling
• Analytical Surface Chemistry (ASC)
• Physical Chemistry (PC)
• -Theoretical Computational Chemistry
• -Experimental Physical Chemistry

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Integrated Chemistry Activities (ICA)

• Chemical Bonding Centers (CBC) soon Centers for
  Chemical Innovation (CCI)
• Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC) teams
  of 3-7 (typically 4)
• Chemical Research and Instrumentation and
  Facilities (CRIF)
• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
• Undergraduate Research Collaboratives (URC)
• Discovery Corps Fellowships (DCF)

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Transformative Research the Chemical Bonding
Centers, Phase I
FY2004 Darwinian chemical systems Jack Szostak,
Mass. Gen. Hospital, PI Rational design of
multifunctional materials Nicola Spaldin, UCSB,
PI Activation of strong chemical bonds Karen
Goldberg, U. Washington, PI

• Big problems in the chemical sciences
• Broad scientific interest
• Public interest
• High-risk/high-impact projects
• Agile and cyber-enabled
• Up to ten-year horizon at full implementation

FY2005 Powering the planet Harry Gray, Caltech,
PI Molecular cybernetics Milan Stojanovic,
Columbia, PI Chemistry at the space-time
limit Shaul Mukamel, UCI, PI
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Other CHE Centers

• Science and Technology Center Environmentally
  Benign Solvents, University of North Carolina
  Chapel Hill, Joseph DeSimone 4M/year (10 years)
  Strong Diversity Component. 16 industrial
  partners. Dupont Co. has built a plant utilizing
  a green process developed by this Center.
• Nanoscience and Engineering Center Columbia
  Center for Electronic Transport in Molecular
  Nanostructures Columbia University, James
  Yardley 2.1M/year from CHE (10 years)
  Single-molecule structures - to develop a
  molecular transistor. Industrial collaborations
  with Lucent and IBM will be carried out to
  fabricate and characterize nanoscale structures
  and devices.

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Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC)

• Designed to promote interdisciplinary
  collaborative research in a coherent, defined
  project at the forefront of the chemical sciences
• CRC proposals involve three or more investigators
  with complementary expertise average 4

• Co-investigators may include researchers with
  backgrounds in diverse areas of chemistry and
  other science and engineering disciplines
  appropriate to the proposed research

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Chemical Research Instrumentation
Facilities (CRIF)

• 3 Distinct Programs within CRIF
• Instrument Development (CRIFID)
• Departmental Multi-User Instrumentation (CRIFMU)
• Cyberinfrastructure and Research
  Facilities (CRIFCRF)

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Undergraduate Research Collaboratives in
ChemistryResearch in college years 1 and 2

• Purdue University (PI, Gabriella Weaver) with a
  consortium of 2- and 4-year institutions in
  Indiana and Illinois, including MSIs. Includes
  remote instrumentation network
• Ohio State University (PI, Prabir Dutta) with a
  consortium of all (14) of the public
  universities in Ohio plus Columbus Community
  College. Will impact 15,000 students
• South Dakota University (PI, Mary Berry)-
  regional cluster includes community and tribal
  colleges
• University of Texas Austin (PI, Mary Rankin)
  integrates 1st and 2nd year laboratory program
  (will involve 25 of UT intro chemistry
  students/50 minority students) with ongoing
  chemistry and biochemistry research programs at a
  large RI institution
• City Colleges of Chicago (PI, Tom Higgins)-
  primarily African American population will
  determine factors that encourage 2YC students to
  continue in science via traditional
  student/mentor research and partnering with four
  year institutions for summer research

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Discovery Corps Fellowships
Service-oriented projects that leverage research
expertise 3 competitions have resulted in a total
of 22 awards to date Postdoctoral
Fellowships Within two years of the PhD
Two-year awards Senior Fellowships At
least ten years after PhD/postdoctoral
One-year award
Roald Hoffmann Cornell University Chemistry
workshops in the Middle East
See Nature, v. 440, 274 (2006)
Development of Marine and Seawater Pollution
Database Across ContinentsOmowunmi Sadik,
SUNY-Binghamton
Geoff Bothun, PD, CERSP and NC AT
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Joint Programs with Other Fed Agencies(2004-2006)

• Environmental Molecular Science Institutes (EMSI)
  DOE
• Approaches to Combat Terrorism 2004 Intelligence
  Community
• Tools for Collaborations 2004 NIH
• Cooperative Activities in Chemistry between US
  and German Investigators, 2005-present, Deutsche
  Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
• NSF- NIST Interaction in Chemistry, Materials
  2000-present NIST
• NSF-DOE/PNNL Interaction in Environmental
  Molecular Sciences 2004-present DOE
• Research Experience for Undergraduates
  2000-present AFOSR
• NSF/NIH Scholar-in-Residence at NIH, 2000
• Joint Workshops
• Terahertz Science Workshop 2005 NIH, DOE
• Gender Equity Workshop 2006 NIH, DOE

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Promoting Transformative ResearchOne mechanism
Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGERs)
Transformative Research

• What do we mean by transformative or high-risk
  research?
• How do we identify it?
• How do we plan for it?

• For NSF -
• Internal review
• Up to 5 of budget allowed
• About 0.5 budget used
• No Foundation-wide evaluation

• For Proposers -
• High-risk, high-payoff projects
• Timeliness
• Up to 200k for 1-2 years
• Call us before submitting

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Creativity Extensions (CREX)

• A Creativity Extension may be given to
  outstanding Principal Investigators in the
  Program. The objective of such extensions beyond
  the initial three-year period is to offer the
  most creative scientists increased opportunity to
  do research in high-risk areas.

• Creativity Award recommendations are initiated at
  the Program level, normally following completion
  of the second year of a three-year grant. They
  are made in the form of a memo to the Division
  Director, which details the scientific
  accomplishments which are the rationale for the
  extension, the proposed budget (including limited
  equipment provisions), and any other
  considerations, e.g. other agency support.

• A creativity extension can be granted on the
  approved recommendation of the Program Director,
  without additional external merit review.

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International Cooperative Activities in Chemistry
between U.S. and German Investigators  (DFG-NSF)-
FY 06 and 07
FY 06

• 60 inquiries
• 30 proposals submitted to NSF via Fastlane
• 5 proposals were funded

NSF Investment - 2,1 M DFG Investment - 0.9 M
FY 07

• 105 inquiries
• 65 proposals submitted to NSF via Fastlane
• 17 proposals were funded

NSF Investment - 6.0 M DFG Investment - 4.3 M
FY 08 Includes UK (EPSRC) and China (NSFC)
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ACS-NSF-DAAD International Research Experience
for Undergraduates (IREU)
ACS
REU
RISE

• The American Chemical Society collaborating with
  the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst
  (DAAD)
• Bilateral exchange of undergraduate chemistry
  students
• German undergraduates are placed for 10 weeks in
  a laboratories at existing REU sites funded by
  NSF. 
• U.S. undergraduates are placed for 10 weeks in a
  laboratories at existing Research Internships in
  Science and Engineering (RISE) sites funded by
  the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
• Funded by NSF/CHE beginning Summer 2007

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Competitive Research Awards and Proposals
(Individual Investigator Programs Only)
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CHE Funding Rates
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Distribution of Average Ratings (Individual
Investigator -- FY 2006)
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