One year ago, The University of Mississippi became a member of Community of Science (COS), the largest and most comprehensive source of funding and expertise information on the Web. The COS “community” includes scholars, scientists, and researchers at more than 1,600 universities, professional societies, corporations, and government agencies worldwide. What’s in it for you?

Don’t be misled by the term “science” —think of science in this case as synonymous with KNOWLEDGE. COS provides services for scholarship and research in ALL academic disciplines and research areas, enabling researchers and scholars to communicate, exchange information, and find the people, tools, and funding programs that are important to their work.

Among the benefits to you as an individual scholar or researcher are these:

• access to a comprehensive and up-to-date resource of funding information
• access to a resource of peers and potential collaborators
• promotion of your research and expertise to peers and the academic community
• less time spent locating funding and other resources, more time left for scholarship and research

Among the benefits to our university are these:

• improved access to funding information
• enhanced visibility for university research activity and expertise
• accurate and up-to-date information about research activity of the faculty
• increased competitive knowledge

UM’s membership in COS includes the initial setup (name, department, email address) of all full-time faculty and some professional staff in the COS Expertise database. Point your Web browser to www.cos.com (or use the links provided on our COS page) and log in with the username and password emailed to you by COS, or click on “Forgot your password?” to have them sent to you again. Once you are logged in, you can update and/or expand your profile information, search for funding opportunities, sign up for email alerts, and more, all through your personal COS Workbench. If you do not have an initial setup, you can add your profile from any on-campus computer or contact the UM COS Liaison in the ORSP for instructions.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs encourages all UM faculty and staff to enter or update their profiles in the COS Expertise database. Doing so enables us to promote and better serve you by giving us basic information about your research activities and interests. With this information, we can help you identify potential projects and collaborations, we can nominate you as a potential peer reviewer, and we can target funding opportunities for you based on your interests. We can also share this information about your expertise with local, state, and federal organizations and with other key constituencies. In addition, the COS Expertise database allows individuals at other institutions, companies, government agencies, and private foundations to identify collaborators and reviewers, license new technologies, and stay informed about the current research and scholarly expertise at The University of Mississippi.

For more information, contact the UM COS Liaison in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

Forecasting Environmental Changes: Making Connections, Building Capacity
The Fifth National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Forecasting Environmental Changes will develop recommendations for creating an integrated environmental forecasting capacity, with sessions and symposia designed to build connections among institutions, scientific fields, and users. Organized by the National Council for Science and the Environment, the conference will take place on February 3-4, 2005, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. Visit the conference website to register online and view the agenda and other conference details: www.ncseonline.org/ncseconference/2005conference/.

Mississippi Academy of Sciences to Meet in Oxford
The Mississippi Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting will be in Oxford at the new Oxford Conference Center on Thursday and Friday, February 17-18, 2005. Each year, the Academy holds an annual meeting to present addresses, symposia, workshops, scientific papers, and exhibits of interest to its members. To join MAS, submit an abstract, or pre-register for the meeting, visit www.msacad.org/.

ASM Biodefense Research Meeting
The American Society for Microbiology is currently accepting abstract submissions for its third annual Biodefense Research Meeting scheduled for March 20-23, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland. This third biodefense meeting will emphasize select agents and countermeasure development, including diagnostics and forensics. The program and workshops will highlight practical issues related to biosafety and product development, including a keynote address on application of the recently enacted Bioshield legislation. Abstracts may be submitted at www.asmbiodefense.org by Monday, January 24, 2005; program information will be posted at the same website as it becomes available.

Mid-South College Computing Conference to be Held at UM
The Mid-South College Computing Conference (MSCCC) is in the process of joining the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) as CCSC's Mid-South Conference. This process should be complete by the end of February 2005. MSCCC 2005 (CCSC Mid-South 2005) will be held April 1-2, 2005 on the campus of the University of Mississippi. David Gries of Cornell University has agreed to be a keynote speaker. The deadline for submission of papers, tutorial/workshop/panel proposals, and poster abstracts is Friday, 3 December, 2004. Accepted papers will be published in the Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. There will also be a student programming contest. See the website www.msccc.net for submission or other conference details. Send any inquiries to msccc@cs.olemiss.edu.

MS-FAST SBIR Phase 0 Solicitation
MS-FAST announces its first 2005 Phase 0 solicitation is now open as of January 3, 2005. This solicitation closes 5:00 p.m. January 31, 2005. The Phase 0 proposal is basically a three-page white paper explaining the proposed innovation and identifying to which agency(ies) a Phase I proposal will be submitted. To receive a copy of this solicitation as well as supporting material on preparing the Phase 0 proposal, email Joe Graben, MS-FAST Director, with the subject line “Request for 2005 Phase 0 Information.” See more about SBIR-STTR below in Bits & Pieces.

MS-AL Sea Grant Consortium 2006-2007 Omnibus Funding RFP
The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) is accepting one- or two-year preproposals to participate in innovative research addressing coastal issues identified in the MASGC 2005-2010 Strategic Plan. A federal funding request of $70,000 per project year is suggested, and a non-federal match of one dollar for every two federal dollars is required. The MASGC requests preproposals in support of scientific research in the marine sciences in the following strategic areas: Health and Restoration of Coastal Habitats; Coastal Community Resource Management and Development; Seafood Safety and Processing Technology; Fisheries Ecology and Aquaculture. Multi-institutional/agency and interdisciplinary projects are strongly encouraged. Preproposals are due by 5:00 p.m. CST on February 25, 2005; full proposal deadline is May 25, 2005. For the full announcement and more information, visit www.masgc.org/funding/index.html.

Mathematical, Social, and Behavioral Sciences
The National Science Foundation invites the submission of research proposals for projects that advance the mathematical or statistical foundations of research in the social, behavioral, or economic sciences. The resulting research is expected both to further understanding of social or behavioral science phenomena and to address a topic of interest to the mathematical sciences. Proposals for workshops or symposia that foster the interaction of social, behavioral, or economic scientists with mathematicians or statisticians also are welcome. Application deadline is April 5, 2005. For more information: www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf05542.

Joint Initiative to Support Research in the Area of Mathematical Biology
The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health plan to support research in mathematics and statistics related to mathematical biology research. Both agencies recognize the need for additional research at the boundary between the mathematical sciences and the life sciences. This competition is designed to encourage new collaborations at this interface, as well as to support existing ones. Application deadline is expected to be June 15, 2005. For more information: www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?nsf04572.

American Council of Learned Societies ~ Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowships
These fellowships support advanced assistant professors and untenured associate professors in the humanities and related social sciences whose scholarly contributions have advanced their fields and who have well-designed and carefully developed plans for new research. Funds support an academic year of research with additional funds for research and travel and the possibility of an additional summer of support if well-justified; fellows have three years to use the funds awarded. Up to 12 Ryskamp fellowships will be awarded by ACLS this year. Application deadline is September 30, 2005. For more information: www.acls.org/rysguide.htm.

Find MORE on the ORSP Funding Opportunities Recent Announcements page

SEARCH for Funding Opportunities using Community of Science

Robinson Presents Ives in Honolulu
Bradley Robinson, associate professor of music at UM, has been chosen to participate in the Third Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities this month in Honolulu. The conference features presentations and musical recitals by scholars from some of the world’s top institutions of higher learning, providing an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various arts and humanities and related fields to come together and learn from each other. Robinson says his featured lecture/recital, “Charles Ives: A Life Portrait in Song, A Melding of Life Experience and Musical Expression,” uses a mixture of musical examples from Ives’ piano and vocal songs to “explore the close ties the composer’s music had to his own philosophies and to events in his life that affected him deeply.” Robinson’s trip is partially supported by a Faculty Travel Support grant from UM’s Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

New NIH Salary Cap Announced
On January 7, 2005, the National Institutes of Health issued Notice Number NOT-OD-05-024 with updated information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grant and cooperative agreement awards and extramural research and development contract awards. For FY 2005, federal appropriation legislation restricts the amount of direct salary of an individual under an NIH grant or cooperative agreement or applicable contract to Executive Level I of the Federal Executive Pay scale. Effective January 1, 2005, the Executive Level I salary level increased to $180,100. NIH grant/contract awards for applications/proposals that request direct salaries of individuals in excess of the applicable RATE per year will be adjusted in accordance with the legislative salary limitation and will include a notification clause.

SBA SBIR-STTR
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs now represent over $2 billion available annually for small businesses to carry out R&D projects in support of 11 various federal agencies’ mission needs while also encouraging the commercialization in the private sector of the technologies, products, or services developed under the projects and in turn stimulating the U.S. economy. For SBA’s master schedule of release dates for FY 2005, go to www.sba.gov/sbir/mastersch.pdf. For information on the federal SBIR and STTR programs, visit www.sbirworld.com. For a complete list of currently open and future SBIR/STTR solications and more information, go to www.zyn.com/sbir/scomp.htm.

New Biosafety Training Facility at Emory
The Southeast Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (SERCEB) consortium’s High Containment Microbial Science and Biosafety Program has built a mock BSL3/4 facility at Emory University and is offering its first pilot training curriculum on biosafety at the end of this month. This training uses a combination of in-lab exercises and didactic learning led by recognized experts in the field. Students will experience working in an environment with safety equipment and systems designed to minimize the risk associated while working with BSL4 agents. Classroom learning will focus on BSL overview, basic virology, risk assessment, and emergency response. The University of Mississippi is a member of the SERCEB consortium.

New NASA Research Proposal Submission System
NASA is transitioning from its existing system to a new web-based system for the submission and review of research proposals. The NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) is being introduced for proposal submission to solicitations released in January 2005. The main change NSPIRES introduces is that the submission of online proposal data will become the responsibility of the submitting organization’s sponsored research office [at UM, the ORSP] rather than the responsibility of the principal investigator. This significant change will allow NASA to be consistent with operations on Grants.gov, the federal government's common site.

Vice Chancellor's Office

• Vice-Chancellor Alice Clark had a busy December, beginning with the success of the Intellectual Property Forum in Jackson, which brought together Mississippi researchers with Mississippi business people. Lots of ideas and business cards were exchanged.
• The good work of Momentum Mississippi goes on, with critical meetings continuing into the New Year. Momentum Mississippi is a government-sponsored business initiative with contributions from the business and higher education communities.
• In addition, Dr. Clark was privileged to speak at a National Science Foundation workshop entitled “Realizing the Vision: Leading Edge Technologies in Biological Systems.” Her talk addressed the directions that drug discovery research should take in the future, suggesting that research should move away from the “one molecule, one target” approach and try to take the complexity and interdependency of nature as a model.
• As 2005 shifts into high gear, Dr. Clark looks forward to more of 2004’s success with the faculty and staff of The University of Mississippi.

Division of Research

• The Division of Research is beginning to schedule spring semester visits with departments and other units on campus to demonstrate Community of Science services to faculty and staff (see feature article above). We can arrange for 15- to 45-minute tutorials to cover the basic elements of how and why you should be taking advantage of this resource. Visits can be arranged during a regular department faculty meeting, over lunch, or whenever it is convenient. If your department, center, institute, or school is interested in such a visit, feel free to contact any Division staff member.
• Recognizing that interaction and collaboration among disciplines is increasingly important in many research endeavors, a new internal grant program is being planned that will provide limited support for “Interdisciplinary Working Groups” to spawn active research connections across departments and units. Guidelines and procedures will be announced on the ORSP website soon, so stay tuned.

Division of Research Integrity and Compliance
All faculty, students, and staff who have contact with human subjects or human subject data must receive online education. The deadline for completing online education is February 15, 2005. Beginning on that date, IRB applications will be accepted only when all project staff have completed the education requirement. All procedures and a description of the program are at www.olemiss.edu../../../compliance/human_CITI_readfirst.html.

For complete information about the ORSP — mission, structure, services, responsibilities, and more — visit the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs page

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs oversees funding for research, service,
education projects. These activities constitute some of the most fundamental aspects of The University of Mississippi’s mission and, with education, some of its most tangible contributions to the future. Funding for these activities is one of the best measures of a university’s success in engaging with national and international communities.

All of us who have sought funding to test our ideas know that it is difficult and that the communities we are a part of are highly competitive. That spirit of competition is critical and it contributes more than a little to the relief and excitement a researcher feels on receiving an award.

Listed below are our colleagues who have been notified of awards in the last calendar month. Please join me in congratulating them. The news of their discoveries and the importance of their contributions are part of all of our futures and the future of Ole Miss.

Alice M. Clark, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs

PI Name	PI Department/Unit	Co-PI Name/s
Al-Ostaz, A.	Civil Engineering
Burnham, S.	Leadership and Counselor Education
Davis, S.	Chemistry and Biochemistry	Tschumper, G.
Eftink, M.	Graduate School
George, K.	Civil Engineering
Gutting, E.	Classics
Lackey, E.	Mechanical Engineering	Vaughan, J.
Raspet, R.	Physics and Astronomy	Bass, H.
Ritchie, J.	Chemistry and Biochemistry
Seiner, J.	National Center for Physical Acoustics
Shackelford, K.	Social Work
Summers, D.	Physics and Astronomy
Wilkins, D.	Computer and Information Science