Program:  Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) has announced the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award competition for 2015. These awards are intended to enrich the research and professional growth of junior faculty and result in new funding opportunities. Each award is $5,000 for one year (June 1 to May 31) and requires an institutional match of $5,000 (to provided by ORSP). UM internal due date for applications is December 11, 2014.

This MRI program seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. ORSP will conduct a review process to select up to three pre-proposals for advancement into full proposals to NSF.

Solicitation of UM Idea Papers and UM Round 1 Pre-Proposals
for NSF’s EPSCoR Track-2 Funding Opportunity for Research in
The Water/Food/Energy Nexus
or
Understanding the Human Brain

The PIRE program supports fundamental research in all areas of science and engineering that are supported by NSF (including education research in any area that NSF supports) and that involve an international collaborator from any country in the world. Unlike in previous solicitations, there will be NO thematic emphasis for this year’s competition.

Key Dates (2014-15):

UM and UMMC nominees solicited for the 2015 Searle Scholars Program

The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to support the independent research of outstanding young scientists who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track appointment. Grants are $300,000 for a three-year term with $100,000 payable each year of the grant, for research projects in the biomedical sciences and chemistry.

Solicitation of UM Idea Papers and Pre-Proposals for U.S. Dept. of Education’s
First in the World Program-Development Grants
Federal Register Volume 79, Number 95, CFDA Number: 84.116F

Vice Chancellor for Research Alice Clark, Graduate Dean John Kiss, Assistant to the Chancellor for Multicultural Affairs Don Cole, and other University leaders are evaluating the feasibility of developing a race-relations-themed proposal to the NSF Research Trainee Program (due date: June 24, 2014).

The goal of this initiative is to improve upon and strengthen technologies and methods used in natural products research.  The CANPIT is expected to overcome existing research limitations by developing and/or adapting cutting edge, innovative approaches and technologies that will have significant impact on the chemical and biological investigation of natural products.

Research centers to develop and apply cutting-edge, trans disciplinary approaches to the study of botanicals with relevance to human health, that are found as ingredients in dietary supplements. Should integrate a range of relevant disciplines, expertise, and models to elucidate the interactions between complex botanical products and human biology. The long-term goal is to support development of the preclinical data required for optimal design of clinical research on botanical products.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program is designed to encourage the development of bold, new, potentially transformative, and scalable models for STEM graduate training that ensure that graduate students develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. NRT projects should develop evidence-based, sustainable approaches and practices that substantially improve STEM graduate education for NRT trainees and for STEM graduate students broadly at an institution.