IN THE NEWS
House project, study of bacterium take top honors at 13th EURēCA
Some 250 UT Knoxville undergraduates strutted their scientific, scholarly, and artistic stuff for the Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity in the University Center for 2009. A total of 183 research and creative projects were entered in EURēCA, which has been held annually on the UT campus for 13 years.
Levi Hooten, Daniel Luster, Joan Monaco, and Samuel Mortimer took home the Office of Research Top Undergraduate Research Award for a project titled "UPLOAD: A Sustainable Home for Norris, Tennessee." Trisha Stuth and Tim Ezzell were faculty advisors for the project.
The William Harris III Undergraduate Research Award, named for a retired UT associate vice chancellor of research, went to Danielle Harrell, whose project, "Growth Characteristics and Sugar Production in a Thermophillic Cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. Strain TS-821," was advised by Gladys Alexandre and Barry Bruce. Phi Kappa Phi awards went to Jonathan Bagby (advisor, Baldwin Lee), Steven Jaret (Linda Kah), and Scott Wofford (Karen Hilyard).
Complete list of winners
NSF releases next-generation FastLane: "Research.gov"
The National Science Foundation has made Research.gov available as a way for grant recipients to check on the current status of grant applications for multiple federal research agencies. The service currently covers applications submitted to the NSF, the Department of Defense's Army Research Office, and the Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.
The new service also includes a function that will allow recipients to submit financial reports on their NSF awards.
The service will allow Sponsored Programs staff, project directors, and principal investigators to check on the status of grant applications. Institutional administrators will also be able to manage the access to information and services.
The service can be accessed by going to www.research.gov, selecting NSF from the dropdown box next to "Login," and clicking "GO." Doing so will bring up another page that will permit login with last name, NSF ID, and password.
The NSF is soliciting feedback at feedback@research.gov.
UTK second in terms of total Kraken use
Researchers at UT Knoxville are high on the list of primary users for the National Science Foundation’s Kraken computer.
UT Knoxville ranked second, behind the Georgia Institute of Technology, in total usage in the eight months that Kraken has been in operation. UT had more than 20 million hours allocated for usage and has used 15 million. Other academic institutions with high usage included Georgia Tech (22.5 million), the University of Kentucky (11.4 million) and the University of Florida (8.7 million).
Kraken, which is billed as the world's fastest academic supercomputer, is devoted only to scientific and other academic research projects. The figures are taken from a report of the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS), which covers August 2008 through March 2009.
Five UT researchers have been heavy users: Bronson Messer, in astronomical sciences, Bamin Khomami in materials research, Jeremy Smith in molecular biosciences, David Keffer in materials research and Mario Stoitsov in physics.
"It is notable that UT is showing up as a primary user of Kraken," said Brad Fenwick, UTK vice chancellor for research. "As managers of the NSF computer, we are allotted a fraction of time on the machine, but UT researchers have seized the opportunity to use this world-class resource."
Other UTK users include David Banks, Jack Dongarra, Joshua S. Fu, Miguel Fuentes-Cabrera, Sergey Gavrilets, Igor Jouline, Michael Langston, Peter Liaw, Stephen Paddison, Thomas Papenbrock, Petr Plechac, Gerald C. Ragghianti, Roland Schultz, Javid Sheikh, Michael Vose, and Kwai Wong.
In actual usage by discipline, chemical/thermal systems research occupied 29 percent of Kraken usage, followed closely by physics (21 percent) and astronomical sciences (20 percent). Molecular biosciences accounted for 11 percent of Kraken usage. The balance included chemistry, earth sciences, materials research, atmospheric sciences, and staff accounts.
The University of Tennessee, in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, operates the NICS, which is a part of the Joint Institute for Computational Sciences.
Fulbright official to visit UT faculty
A representative from the Fulbright Scholars program will meet with interested faculty to discuss Fulbright opportunities on Tuesday, 28 April. The meeting is set for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 401 of the Haslam Building.
The representative, Andrew Riess, will consult individually on Wednesday, 29 April, with faculty who have made an appointment at the Tuesday afternoon meeting. The individual meetings will be scheduled between 8 a.m. and noon.
Faculty planning to attend on Tuesday should RSVP to Alan Rutenberg (arutenberg@utk.edu, 974-8686) by Friday, 24 April.
Rutenberg and Pia Wood, associate provost in the Center for International Education, are the UT Knoxville representatives for Fulbright programs.
ITC seeking two faculty fellows
The Innovative Technology Center is inviting faculty to apply for two ITC Faculty Fellowships. ITC Faculty Fellows will assist the center in advancing exemplary teaching and student experiences by supporting the appropriate use of technology within UT’s learning communities.
The fellows chosen will become a liaison with their colleagues on instructional technology issues. The fellows will receive a one-course release for fall and spring semesters.
Interested faculty should apply to itc@utk.edu no later than Monday, 27 April 09.
More information
Record undergrad research internships awarded
The UT Office of Research has awarded 77 undergraduate summer research internships, more than three times the 25 internships typically awarded in the past. The internships, worth $2,000 each, promote research and creative activity among undergraduates, under the supervision of faculty mentors.
List of Recipients
Twenty-five summer graduate fellowships were awarded in a parallel program. The funding comes from the Office of the UT Knoxville Chancellor.
UTK invention disclosures for March
A method and apparatus for the remote sensing of molecular species at nanoscale using a reverse photo-acoustic effect. David P. Hedden, Thomas G. Thundat, Ming Su.
Direct quantification of the quorum sensing signal, autoinducer-2. Shawn R. Campagna, Jessica R. Gooding, Amanda L. May.
RECOVERY ACT OPPORTUNITIES
NIH Research & Research Infrastructure "Grand Opportunities"
The National Institutes of Health is soliciting proposals for its Grand Opportunities (GO) program, which supports projects that address large, specific biomedical and biobehavioral research that will benefit from significant two-year funds without the expectation of continued NIH funding beyond that period. Projects should have a high short-term impact and a high likelihood of enabling growth and investment in biomedical R&D, public health, and health-care delivery.
Deadlines: Letter of intent to agency -- April 27, 2009 |
Agency deadline -- May 27, 2009
More Information
NIH Supporting New Faculty Recruitment to Enhance Research Resources through Biomedical Research Core Centers
The NIH invites proposals that support the hiring of new faculty for Biomedical Core Centers, which are defined as communities of multidisciplinary researchers focusing on areas of biomedical research relevant to the NIH. The institutional awards will provide funding to hire, provide appropriate start-up packages, and develop pilot research projects for newly independent investigators, with the goal of augmenting and expanding the institutionís community of multidisciplinary researchers.
LIMITED SUBMISSIONS: The number of proposals to many of the Institutes are limited. For quick information, see the breakdown below.
Deadlines: NIH letter of intent -- April 29, 2009 | Agency deadline -- May 29, 2009
Please contact Jim Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu) with any questions. More information
- National Cancer Institute -- broad institutional eligibility, limited to one proposal per institution, as many as 10 awards possible.
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute -- major components of institutions, one proposal per institution, 20 awards possible.
- National Institute on Aging -- broad institutional eligibility, one proposal per center or school per institution, as many as 5 awards possible.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism -- major components of institutions, one proposal per academic unit, as many as 10 awards possible.
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases -- no more than two proposals from an institution or school, as many as 4 awards possible.
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering -- all U.S. training institutions eligible, only one proposal per institution, as many as 4 awards possible.
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders -- only one proposal from each school within a university, as many as 7 awards possible.
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research -- U.S. Dental Training Institutions, only one per institution, as many as 7 awards possible.
- National Institute of Drug Abuse -- broad institutional eligibility, only one per institution, as many as five awards possible.
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences -- no limitations listed, 20 awards possible.
- National Institute of Mental Health -- broad institutional eligibility, only one clinician-scientist and only one nonclinical tenure-track faculty, as many as 6 awards possible.
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke -- no more than two proposals per institution, as many as 13 awards possible.
- National Institute of Nursing Research -- U.S. schools of nursing, only one proposal per institution, as many as 3 awards possible.
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine -- only academic institutions with active Integrative Medicine or Complementary and Alternative Medicine research programs eligible, only one proposal per institution, as many as 3 awards possible.
OPPORTUNITIES
The Beckman Young Investigators Program
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation is soliciting applications for its Beckman Young Investigators Awards. The award is open to researchers with tenure-track appointments in the chemical and life sciences who have not completed more than three full years in their appointment. Proposals must show promise of contributing to significant advances in the chemical and life sciences. Projects are typically funded for three years at a total of $300,000.
LIMITED SUBMISSION: Only two applications are allowed from the University of Tennessee. Interested UT faculty must submit an internal statement of intent to limitsub@utk.edu.
Deadlines: Internal statement of intent -- July 31, 2009 | Agency deadline -- October 1, 2009
More information
NIH Economic Studies of Health Insurance Coverage on Drug Abuse Treatment Availability, Access, Costs, and Quality
This National Institutes of Health R01 study solicits rigorous, theory-driven research on the effects of recent legislative and regulatory changes affecting insurance coverage for drug abuse treatment services. The objective of this program is to generate scientific knowledge based on research applying theoretical and advanced empirical methods both to examine the effects of recent changes in law and regulation and to elucidate causal relationships between insurance benefit design and drug abuse treatment services and their access, availability, use, quality, costs, efficiency, and outcomes. The award will cover up to $500,000 a year over a five-year period, and the agency expects to fund as many as five proposals.
Deadline: Agency due date -- July 14, 2009.
More information
NIOSH Career Development Grants in Occupational Safety and Health Research
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health invites proposals for research-career development related to occupational safety and health. The goal is to support research that will have an impact in reducing occupational disease and injury and to help ensure the availability of highly trained scientists in the field.
Deadline: Three times a year; see solicitation
More Information
NIH Exploratory Centers of Excellence
The NIH National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities is soliciting proposals to establish an Exploratory Center of Excellence to contribute either to improving minority health, to eliminating health disparities, or both. Each center must have core areas in administration, research, research/training education, and community engagement.
Deadline: Letter of intent -- May 19, 2009 | Agency deadline -- June 19, 2009
More Information
Living Stock Collections for Biological Research (LSCBR)
The NSF is supporting improvements in a partial operations of existing collections of living organisms, including viruses and bacteriophages, to be used in basic biological research. The program supports both short- and long-term improvements in existing collections of significance to the NSF research community.
Deadline: Proposal to NSF -- July 15, 2009
More Information
DOE plans solicitation on information and communication facility energy efficiency
The Department of Energy's Golden Field Office intends to issue, on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), a funding opportunity announcement entitled "Information and Communication Facility Energy Efficiency." The two areas of interest are (a) information and communications technologies research & development for energy efficiency and (b) demonstration and field testing of highly energy-efficient and pre-commercial technologies in data center or telecommunication facilities.
Schedule: The solicitation was scheduled to appear in March 2009 and is expected soon.
More Information |
