Welcome to BIO Buzz, the blog for the Office of the Assistant Director (OAD) within the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). This blog will be a platform for disseminating information about policies, procedures, activities and initiatives that extend across BIO Divisions and affect the biological sciences community as a whole.
Our vision for the Directorate requires that the shared core values of the BIO Divisions—transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness—are reflected in the activities of the BIO Front Office. One step toward realizing this vision is to advance our existing communications strategy and enhance engagement within the Directorate and between BIO, the scientific community, and the general public. Effective communication is essential to fulfilling the missions of NSF and BIO. We hope you find the information here informative. Welcome to BIO Buzz!
BIO is pleased to welcome Dr. Bernice L. Smith as the new Deputy Division Director for the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB). Dr. Smith was most recently a Senior Science and Policy Advisor, Planning and Performance Lead, and Justice40 Lead in the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she previously held other positions. She also served as a program manager for global climate change research at EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research.
Dr. Smith is not new to NSF, she previously served on a detail as Acting Deputy Division Director in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences within the Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). During that detail, she co-led the Strategic Review Team that helped modernize NSF’s Merit Review Report.
She holds a PhD in Environmental Design and Planning from Virginia Tech and a Master of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Smith earned her Bachelor of Science from Hampton University.
BIO wants to thank Dr. Matt Kane and Dr. Katharina Dittmar for their time as Acting Deputy Division Director over the past year.
NSF has announced a new Global Centers (GC) program, an ambitious effort to fund international, interdisciplinary collaborative research centers that will apply best practices of broadening participation and community engagement to develop use-inspired research on climate change and clean energy. Centers are also expected to create and promote opportunities for students and early career researchers to gain education and training in world class research while enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
International Partnerships
Given the global scale of the challenge of responding to climate change, NSF has partnered with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in Canada, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in the United Kingdom. These international partners will fund non-U.S.-based parts of teams under one of two tracks in the program.
Program Tracks
Track 1: Global Center Implementation will support the first Global Centers involving research partnerships with Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Awards will be up to $5 million total per award of 4-to-5-year duration. Foreign teams will be funded by their respective country agencies.Full proposals for Track 1 are due by May 10, 2023.
Awards will be up to $250,000 total per award of 2-year duration.The proposal window for Track 2 is between April 2, 2023 and May 10, 2023.
Opportunities to Learn More
Program Webinar
The GC program team is hosting a webinar on Tuesday February 28, 2023, 11am – 12pm EST, to introduce the new solicitation to the community and give potential PIs an opportunity to ask questions via the chat. The webinar will be recorded and eventually available on the program website for future viewing.
“Save the Date” information can be found on the program page.
Virtual Office Hours
The GC program team is also hosting a series of Virtual Office Hours aimed at giving potential PIs an opportunity to ask questions. The series starts on March 7 and ends on May 2. Any questions about the program can be asked at any session, although two of the sessions will have a special focus: Monday March 13 (Non-R1 Institutions) and Monday March 20 (Minority Serving Institutions).
Session dates and times can be found on the event page.
There are no restrictions on attending multiple sessions, so please feel free to attend the session which best fits your schedule. The Zoom link will be the same for all sessions.
As was noted previously in this blog, several solicitations from the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO) and Geological Sciences (GEO) will soon require the submission of a Safe and Inclusive Work Environments Plan (list of those solicitations below) that will be considered as part of the Broader Impacts criteria during the review process.
A second Virtual Office Hour will occur on March 20, 2023 from 3 – 4 PM ET. Program Officers from BIO and GEO will provide an overview of the new requirement and take your questions and comments.
As a reminder, this 2-page supplementary document must address the following four sections:
a brief description of the field setting and unique challenges for the team;
the steps the proposing organization will take to nurture an inclusive off-campus or off-site working environment, including processes to establish shared team definitions of roles, responsibilities, and culture, e.g., codes of conduct, trainings, mentor/mentee mechanisms and field support that might include regular check-ins, and/or developmental events;
communication processes within the off-site team and to the organization(s) that minimize singular points within the communication pathway (e.g., there should not be a single person overseeing access to a single satellite phone); and
the organizational mechanisms that will be used for reporting, responding to, and resolving issues of harassment if they arise.
If you are planning a submission that will involve off-campus or off-site research, defined as data/information/samples being collected off-campus or off-site including via fieldwork and research activities on vessels and aircraft, we encourage you to join this webinar.
Can researchers at USDA, a National Lab, the Smithsonian, or those in other federal positions be funded? If so, how?
Are you a federal employee whose work might fit an NSF program? Perhaps you are a scientist at a college or university looking to work with a federal employee on an NSF proposal. Can you? How?
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) – Boulder, CO. an NSF-supported FFRDC.
What to Know Before Preparing a Proposal
First, always read the specifications on who can apply listed in the solicitation. These can and often are more restrictive than anything below so be sure to first check them out.
As noted in Chapter I.E.2(d) of the new NSF Proposal and Awards Polices & Procedures Guide (PAPPG, NSF 23-1), NSF does not normally support research or education activities by scientists, engineers or educators employed by Federal agencies or Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) but there are exceptions.
For example, researchers, engineers, and educators with dual appointments—one with an institution of higher education (IHE) and one at a federal agency or FFRDC (e.g., at a university and a Veterans Administration Hospital)—may submit proposals directly through the IHE. In this case, though, you must first contact the cognizant program officer(s) (POs) overseeing the program to which the proposal is submitted before preparing a submission.
In addition, research by scientists from federal agencies or FFRDC may be supported if:
the agency or FFRDC can make unique contributions to the needs of researchers elsewhere or to other specific NSF objectives.
the agency or FFRDC is providing logistical support needed to meet the goals of special national and international research programs for which NSF bears responsibility (e.g., the U.S. Antarctic Program).
the staff researchers of other federal agencies are helping to ensure appropriate representation or availability of a particular expertise at an international conference (in this case the funding would be through an NSF international travel award).
Again, you must contact the cognizant PO if you think your project meets one or more of these exceptions before preparing a submission.
What to Know When Preparing a Proposal
If an exception is determined, it is important to discuss the various options of proposal submission and eligible costs that can be requested with a PO prior to submitting.
Still have questions? We always encourage you to reach out to an NSF PO. They are ready to help and answer your questions so that you have all the necessary information before preparing a submission.
Several solicitations from the Directorates for Biosciences (BIO) and Geological Sciences (GEO) will soon require the submission of a Safe and Inclusive Work Environments Plan (list of those solicitations below) that will be considered as part of the Broader Impacts criteria during the review process. An upcoming Virtual Office Hour listening session will occur on February 7, 2023. Program Officers from BIO and GEO will provide an overview of the new requirement and take your questions and comments.
This 2-page supplementary document must address the following four sections:
a brief description of the field setting and unique challenges for the team;
the steps the proposing organization will take to nurture an inclusive off-campus or off-site working environment, including processes to establish shared team definitions of roles, responsibilities, and culture, e.g., codes of conduct, trainings, mentor/mentee mechanisms and field support that might include regular check-ins, and/or developmental events;
communication processes within the off-site team and to the organization(s) that minimize singular points within the communication pathway (e.g., there should not be a single person overseeing access to a single satellite phone); and
the organizational mechanisms that will be used for reporting, responding to, and resolving issues of harassment if they arise.
If you are planning a submission that will involve off-campus or off-site research, defined as data/information/samples being collected off-campus or off-site including via fieldwork and research activities on vessels and aircraft, we encourage you to join this webinar.
Research funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) and other directorates at NSF have a long history of helping to address societal challenges. From the basic science that identified the enzymes critical to PCR to increased understanding of fire regimes that has helped mitigate the impacts of wildland fire on home, life, and the economy.
NSF has now launched new webpages to help the research community connect our funding opportunities with the societal challenge the research they support can help address — something like a translational lens through which to view solicitations and Dear Colleague Letters.
You can learn more about the topics and view funding opportunities from across NSF that support research on the pages, organized by directorate.
As always, if you have a specific question about where your research might fit we encourage you to reach out to a program officer. If your research doesn’t fit under a program they manage, they can help you find the right program.
BIO is pleased to welcome Dr. Allen J. Moore as the new Division Director for the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB). Dr. Moore comes to NSF from the University of Georgia where he serves as a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Entomology and was Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
His research interests focus on the evolution and genetics of traits expressed in and influencing social interactions and the genetics, development and evolution of differences between the sexes within a species. This work integrates statistical, genetic, and behavioral approaches to studying various species of burying beetle (Nicrophorus spp.). Dr. Moore’s lab also collaborates on work involving the milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) and the white fly (Bemisia tabaci).
In his new role, Dr. Moore will lead DEB to advance our knowledge of evolution, ecology, systematics, and ecosystem science and in supporting the array of researchers working in those fields.
BIO wants to thank Dr. Leslie Rissler for stepping up as Acting Division Director for the past several months. Her work in ensuring a smooth transition is truly appreciated.
I am pleased to welcome Dr. Denise Dearing to BIO as the new Division Director in our Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS). Dr. Dearing joins us from the University of Utah where she is a Distinguished Professor and was previously the Inaugural Director of the School of Biological Sciences, and Chair of the Department of Biology before that.
Dr. Dearing’s research focuses on the ecology and evolution of dietary specialization in mammalian herbivores. In that work, she has trained dozens of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates. She and her lab seek to understand the physiological, microbial and behavioral mechanisms used by herbivores to metabolize or circumvent dietary toxins. Her past NSF funding includes a postdoctoral fellowship; awards from IOS, including a CAREER award and other grants for work in nutritional ecology and disease ecology from multiple BIO divisions.
In her new role, Dr. Dearing will lead IOS in supporting the research community in advancing our understanding of organisms as integrated units, including in how they behave, develop, and interact with a changing environment.
I want to personally thank Dr. Michelle Elekonich for her service as Acting Division Director for IOS over the past year and more, and both Dr. Charles Cunningham and Dr. Edda “Floh” Thiels for serving as Acting Deputy Division Director while Dr. Elekonich took on her interim role. All of their work in guiding IOS during this transition is greatly valued and appreciated.
As you may have heard, after 23 years at NSF, I will be retiring at the end of September 2022. It has been a pleasure to serve this community and the nation through multiple steads in the Directorate for Biological Sciences, and especially for the last four years as BIO’s Assistant Director.
I know that, given the staff and leadership in BIO, the community will be in very good hands and NSF will continue to support the cutting edge of biology and its connections to other areas of science and engineering.
That said, NSF has begun a search for the next Assistant Director for Biological Sciences. Director Panchanathan released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) requesting recommendations for the search committee to consider. Specifically, they are looking for outstanding leaders who have a deep record of scholarship and understand the issues facing the biological sciences, particularly in terms of support for fundamental research, innovation, broadening participation, and workforce development.
Recommendations should be sent via email to biosrch@nsf.gov by Friday, August 12, 2022. Further information on the review criteria, BIO, and the search committee can be found in the DCL.
Thank you for all you do to advance the biological sciences and to support the development of the next generation of biologists. The advances this community has made and the ones we will make are critical to addressing the most important challenges and making the best use of the grandest opportunities now and into the future.
The NSF Convergence Accelerator program addresses national-scale societal challenges through use-inspired convergence research. Using a convergence approach and innovation processes like human-centered design, user discovery, and team science and integration of multidisciplinary research, the program seeks to transition basic research and discovery into practice—to solve high-impact societal challenges aligned with specific research themes (tracks). The program recently released the tracks for the FY 2022 cohort, which hold significant potential for the biological sciences:
Track H: Enhancing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities: Serves as a platform to bring together researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders from a wide range of disciplines and sectors to work on use-inspired solutions to enhance quality of life and employment access and opportunities for PWDs.
Track I: Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges: Aims to converge advances in fundamental materials science with materials design and manufacturing methods in an effort to couple their end-use and full life-cycle considerations for environmentally- and economically-sustainable materials and products.
Track J: Food & Nutrition Security: Accelerates convergence across food and nutrition sectors to address intertwined challenges in supporting population health, combating climate change, and addressing the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable by empowering youth, women, and disadvantaged communities.
For more information on the Convergence Accelerator and its phased model, and to read the full solicitation and broad agency announcement, please visit the Convergence Accelerator program page.
BIO BUZZ 