Three Limited Submission opportunities, including NEH Summer Stipends

Colleagues, if you are interested in any of these funding opportunities, please contact me for additional information about the limited submission process. Full details of these opportunities follow the jump.

• NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities: Transdisciplinary Collaborative Centers for Health Disparities Research Focused on Precision Medicine
• NIH/National Institute on Aging: Older Americans Independence Centers
• National Endowment for the Humanities: Summer Stipends

Office of Digital Humanities, National Endowment for the Humanities: Update

Many interesting opportunities here for colleagues in Digital Humanities and related fields.  This is a long note, so click to read the whole item. 

Leveraging Computational Social Science to Address Grand Societal Challenges

Leveraging Computational Social Science

to Address Grand Societal Challenges

Thursday June 18, 2015, 3-4:30 p.m.

 Lecture Hall Room 4016 Hunt Library 

Professor Noshir Contractor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University

Abstract- The increased access to big data about social phenomena in general, and network data in particular, has been a windfall for social scientists. But these exciting opportunities must be accompanied with careful reflection on how big data can motivate new theories and methods. Using examples of his research in the area of networks, Contractor will argue that Computational Social Science serves as the foundation to unleash the intellectual insights locked in big data. More importantly, he will illustrate how these insights offer social scientists in general, and social network scholars in particular, an unprecedented opportunity to engage more actively in monitoring, anticipating and designing interventions to address grand societal challenges.

Sponsored by the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Department of Communication.

Early Head Start University Partnerships: Building the Evidence Base for Infant/Toddler Center-based Programs

Early Head Start University Partnerships: Building the Evidence Base for Infant/Toddler Center-based Programs

The full announcement for “Early Head Start University Partnerships: Building the Evidence Base for Infant/Toddler Center-based Programs” is available online at:http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/index.cfm?switch=foa&fon=HHS-2015-ACF-OPRE-YR-1010.  OPRE intends to award up to four cooperative agreements to fund projects that will contribute understanding and knowledge of how Early Head Start and other early care and education programs can promote and improve early child development by supporting both parenting and caregiving.

Projects must be led by researchers working in partnership with one or more EHS center-based programs and/or EHS-CC Partnership programs. Together, they will identify or develop, implement and examine promising integrated parent and teacher intervention models, curricula, or programs. Evaluation activities will include an implementation study and a rigorous test of the effectiveness of the intervention in one or more settings. Results of these studies are expected to provide valuable information that can help guide center-based programs in their decisions regarding interventions to promote and improve early child development.

Applicants may apply for project periods up to 60 months with five 12-month budget periods. Up to $500,000 may be awarded for each budget period. Letters of intent are dueJune 5, 2015 and applications are due July 6, 2015.

Register Now for Data Matters Short Course Series at RENCI (UNC Chapel Hill)

This appears to be an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in learning about data analytics and "big data." Your colleagues and graduate students might find this useful. 

Important Update: May 16, 2015: In response to faculty interest in this training, my office will make available up to $3000 total to support faculty who wish to attend these workshops. To request the funding, please send an email message to tabirkla@ncsu.edu and include in your note the following: (1) the course you plan to register for (I will fund no more than one two-day course per person), (2) the reason why you believe taking the course will be valuable to you, (3) how the course will enable you to expand your research skills and capabilities and (4) how you plan to bring back what you learned to the college to teach and mentor graduate students and colleagues. I will accept applications until the funds are spent. I will favor support for departments that offer to share the costs of registration, but will not require cost sharing. 

Register Now for Data Matters Short Course Series

Early registration discounts last through May 15 for the second annual Data Matters Short Course Series, courses aimed at business managers, data analytics specialists, academic researchers, data center administrators, and anyone else who grapples with big data issues. The courses will be held June 22 – 26 at the Friday Center for Continuing Education, 100 Friday Center Drive, Chapel Hill.

Last year’s workshop series attracted participants from across the country, including academics, business professionals, and government officials. Data Matters will feature two-day courses on Monday and Tuesday (June 22 and 23) and Thursday and Friday (June 25 and 26), and one-day courses on Wednesday (June 24).  Participants will be able to choose from topics such as Information Visualization, Data Sharing and Reuse, the Internet of Things, Data Creation and Use, Big Data in Health and Medicine, and more.

Data Matters is sponsored by the National Consortium for Data Science (NCDS), the Odum Institute for Social Science Research at UNC Chapel Hill, and the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI).  Registration includes lunch each day and an evening reception with food and refreshments at the DuBose House on Thursday, June 25.  For course descriptions, registration, and more information, visit www.datamatters.org.
_______________________________
Karen Green
Director, Communications and Outreach
Renaissance Computing Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Europa Drive, Suite 540
Chapel Hill, NC 27517-7583
ph: 919-445-9648
mobile: 919-619-8213
www.renci.org
http://twitter.com/renci
http://www.facebook.com/renci.org

Water Resources Research Institute Request for Faculty Pre-Proposals and Student Proposals for the FY 2016-2107 Competitive Grants Program

Annual Request for Proposals

The FY 2016-2017 request for proposals is now open.  For reference and preparation for this year's call, please see the document linked here.  Note that WRRI is accepting both faculty and student submissions for this call.

For questions, please contact:

John Fear, Deputy Director, 919-515-9104

Useful Listing of Federal Administrative Data Sets

Colleagues, I received an excellent list of data sources from a representative of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS), at the Midwest Political Science Association meeting last month. This list contains links to federal data sets on a very wide range of topics. You and your students may find this very useful.

The list is in a PDF document here. COPAFS's website is www.copafs.org. Let me know if you find this helpful.

Resources to help with human subjects reviews (IRB)

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) has developed a set of resources that you can use to navigate the human-subjects review process, including the use of the new eIRB submission system. Those resources are at  http://research.ncsu.edu/sparcs/compliance/irb/submission-guidance/

Science and the Humanities in Dialogue: Important Event at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Colleagues, Missy Seate (a UNC CH alumna) tipped me off to this event. I think it's very relevant to our work and experiences here, and I think many of us would profit from attending.


Science and the Humanities in Dialogue
Thursday, April 23 | 6-8 p.m.
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Complimentary and open to the public, pre-registration preferred.

RSVP online today!

Recently science and the humanities have been portrayed as adversaries in the search for knowledge despite the fact that both are considered “liberal arts.” The evening will feature a moderated conversation between Joe Templeton, Francis Preston Venable Professor of Chemistry, and Lloyd Kramer, professor of history and faculty director of the Humanities Program, who will explore the relationship between these two areas of human inquiry. Topics for discussion will include: What are the roles of the humanities and sciences in the production of human knowledge? What can they learn from each other? How can these two fields of human inquiry be reconciled in a balanced model of education? The panelists will also take questions from the audience. We invite all alumni and science fans to join us from 6-7 p.m. for a reception.  The formal program will begin at 7 p.m.

For more information, and for the link to RSVP, please visit https://alumni.unc.edu/events/beyond-the-stone-walls-science-and-the-humanities-in-dialogue/

Fascinating Event Coming Up: Buchdahl Symposium on Science, Technology, and Human Values -- This Friday, April 10.

Please see information below on Buchdahl Symposium on Science, Technology, and Human Values to be held on Friday, April 10th, from 9 am to 5:30 pm, James Hunt Library Auditorium.  The information for the symposium, including the agenda, can be also at: http://ids.chass.ncsu.edu/sts/Buchdahl2015.php

One of our symposium speakers, Peter Galison, Physicist and Historian of Science, Harvard University will be speaking on U.S. nuclear materials management at the symposium and will also be premiering his related film, "Containment" at the Full Frame documentary film festival on the evening of Friday, April 10th.  

Please feel free to share this information freely with colleagues and students.

April 10 deadline: NC Sea Grant Preproposals for 2016-18 Core Funding

North Carolina Sea Grant invites preproposals for coastal and marine research projects for the 2016-2018 core funding cycle. Completed preproposals are due April 10, 2015.

“Preproposals identify coastal research needs and describe the relevance of the research to North Carolina,” explains John Fear, deputy director. “We expect diverse proposals from researchers across the state, yet all focusing on topics that fit within our program’s strategic plan.”

Full proposals will be requested later this year only from investigators who have submitted preproposals. Maximum Sea Grant funding for the two-year funding period will be $100,000 per project. North Carolina Sea Grant requires nonfederal matching funds equal to at least 50 percent of the funding requested.

Proposals in a wide range of disciplines are encouraged, as are interdisciplinary and interinstitutional proposals that reflect the linkages within the state. Preproposals must emphasize, and fall under, one of the Focus Areas listed in the North Carolina Sea Grant Strategic Plan, which is included as a link in the application materials.

When preparing a preproposal, the principal investigator also must identify applications for — and measurable impacts of — the project’s results, and explain how those results will be shared with user groups. Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss topics and potential users of the results with Sea Grant staff.

In the preproposal stage, researchers are not required to have approval through a campus administrative process. Completed preproposals must be entered electronically into the North Carolina Sea Grant eSG system by 5 p.m. on April 10, 2015.

Detailed instructions, including the link to the online eSG system, are included with the application materials athttp://ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/core_funding, under Resources.

If you have questions, contact Fear at jmfear@ncsu.edu or 919-515-9104. You may also contact Susan White, North Carolina Sea Grant executive director, at snwhite3@ncsu.edu or 919-515-2455.

Annual Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources Call for Proposals

We have received this year's RFP for the US Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources. The Institute for Water Resources engages in research relating to water management, including floods. The RFP is available at this link.

Research Development and Grant Writing News: Amazing Resource!

Colleagues, I receive notices about this outstanding resource every month. The newsletter is consistently excellent, and I urge you to share this with your colleagues. Materials indicated below can be accessed using your Unity ID and password. 


The March 2015 issue of Research Development and Grant Writing News has been posted to: go.ncsu.edu/research-news. 

The Research Development Office maintains an institutional-level subscription allowing us to distribute freely within NC State University.  

Current and past issues of the newsletter and e-books:  New Faculty Guide to Competing for Research Funding: What all new faculty need to know about finding funding and writing research proposals and Strategies for Planning, Developing, and Writing Large Team Grants can be accessed online with a valid unity ID.

NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium--March 25!

Please distribute as widely as possible.

The Tenth Annual NC State University Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held in the Jane S. McKimmon Center next Wednesday, March 25, 2015. The poster session will be from 1:30 to4:00.  This year, there will be over 200 poster presentations representing research being conducted in 64 graduate programs.

This event is co-sponsored and organized by the NC State University Graduate Student Association (UGSA) and the Graduate School. Additional information may be found at:

www.ncsu.edu/grad/research/symposium.html

The primary goal of the symposium is to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate research at NC State. This is a great opportunity for all to take a look at the interesting research projects being conducted at the graduate level. 

Undergraduates who are interested applying to graduate school will certainly benefit from talking to our graduate students about their research, and perhaps getting ideas as to how to present their research at conferences in which they may participate in the future.

Questions should be directed to Dr. David Shafer at david_shafer@ncsu.edu or at 515-4462.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Graduate CV Bank and Job Announcements

Colleagues,

Earlier this year, at a meeting with the DGPs, I announced a new initiative in my office to improve the way we publicize research assistantship openings in the College. 

The reason for this initiative is straightforward: the College, like all colleges, is being asked to support more graduate students, and our faculty, who have become more successful at winning external grant funding, need to be able to recruit graduate students quickly after learning that their projects are funded. 

In many cases, a department's grad students may be entirely committed for a year, working on other projects. Or, in some cases, interdisciplinary work requires skills that don't exist in a researcher's own department, but that might be found among grad students in another department. Faculty often tell me that finding the talent for their research projects is difficult. I hope that this initiative makes finding such talent more efficient. 

The CV bank (simply, a folder with grad student CVs maintained in Google Drive) and a job posting listserv, are intended to bring together students look for research positions with faculty offering such positions. Any sort of position may be announced, ranging from occasional hourly work (of the sort funded by small internal grants like FRPDs or SRAs), to fully funded GSSP positions funded through external grants. I suspect that most positions will look like the former, as the latter type of positions will be filled by students that you and your colleagues are mentoring in your department, or in established interdisciplinary efforts.  

This is a first step, and a work in progress, and I welcome any ideas that would make this effort work better for your colleagues. Let me know how I can help in any way to improve upon this initiative to make it work for you.

Best,

Tom

Note that Sea Grant funds interdisciplinary research, so our faculty may find these opportunities very compelling. Let me know if you have any questions.

NC Sea Grant Opens Core Funding Cycle

North Carolina Sea Grant invites preproposals for coastal and marine research projects for the 2016-2018 core funding cycle. Completed preproposals are due April 10, 2015.

Contact: John Fear, jmfear@ncsu.edu, 919-515-9104

Katie Mosher, kmosher@ncsu.edu, 919-515-9069

Using the North Carolina Historical Newspapers Digital Collection

Save the Date: Tuesday, March 24th

What Can You Do with 3 Million Pages of Digitized North Carolina Newspapers?

An Introduction to Research, Teaching, and Engaged Scholarship Using the North Carolina Historical Newspapers Digital Collection

The Digital Innovation Lab, the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science, and the UNC Libraries cordially invite scholars (faculty, administrators, librarians and archivists, and graduate students) from the UNC community to explore potential research, teaching, and engaged scholarship applications of the North Carolina Historical Newspapers Digital Collection: 3.2 (and counting) million pages of pre-1923 newspapers from across the state, digitized and made available to the UNC community through a partnership between the UNC Libraries, the Digital Innovation Lab, and Newspapers.com.

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

2-5 pm

Pleasants Family Assembly Room

Wilson Library

Followed by a reception in Wilson Lobby

Participants will include:

University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) Call for Proposals 2015

University Global Partnership Network (UGPN)

Research Collaboration Fund - Fourth Call for Proposals (2015)

The University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) is pleased to announce the Fourth Call for Proposals of the UGPN Research Collaboration Fund. This Fund supports high-quality research collaborations between researchers at the UGPN partner institutions. The intention is that these awards go beyond pump-priming to support substantive engagement that leads to high quality outputs, such as joint papers or joint research bids. Proposals should be jointly submitted by faculty from at least two of the UGPN partner institutions.

Deadline for submission: Friday April 17, 2015 at 5:00 pm

For more information and to view the Call for Proposals, see http://oia.ncsu.edu/ugpn-grant-announcement-2015

If you have any questions, please contact David Dixon at david_dixon@ncsu.edu 

Office of International Affairs: http://oia.ncsu.edu

About UGPN

The University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) is a collaboration between NC State University, the University of São Paulo, Brazil and the University of Surrey, UK.  The mission of the UGPN is to develop sustainable world-class research, education and knowledge transfer through an active international network of Universities collaborating in research, learning and teaching to benefit global society.  As a network of strategic partners, UGPN promotes multi-lateral collaboration across four key areas: 1) joint research; 2) academic program development; 3) student and faculty exchanges; 4) innovation, entrepreneurship and technology transfer.

RFP: "Understanding the Relationships between SNAP, Food Security, and Health in the National Health Interview Survey"

The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR), in cooperation with the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the Food Nutrition Service (FNS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will competitively award grants to qualified individuals and institutions to provide rigorous research that utilizes data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) or from NHIS linked to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).

We seek new research with the NHIS or NHIS-MEPS that expands our understanding of (1) the interaction between adult mental and physical health and household food insecurity, (2) SNAP on the health of both family caretaker and children, and (3) food insecurity on health and the possible mediating role of SNAP.

It is anticipated that 4 grants of up to $75,000 each will be awarded.

Proposals are due April 29, 2015.  

The full RFP is available at:  http://www.ukcpr.org/resources/funding-opportunities

Please direct questions to NHIS Research Initiative at ukcpr@uky.edu  

Call for Nominations - Jackson Rigney International Service Award & Outstanding Global Engagement Award

Do you know somebody who has made significant contributions to the university or the world in international research, scholarship or service?  Faculty and staff who have made significant contributions to global engagement at NC State are eligible to be nominated for two different global awards this spring. Nominations are now being accepted for the Jackson Rigney International Service Award and the Outstanding Global Engagement Award.