In this Issue:

National Office News:

Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) and National Conferences on Undergraduate Research (NCUR):

As many of you are aware, in June the CUR Executive Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NCUR Board of Governors to combine the two organizations into one effective October 2010. CUR and NCUR have released an announcement of this significant event and the press release is attached to this E-News. This is an exciting time for both organizations and will lead to more national visibility for undergraduate research.

CUR's New Enhanced Institutional Membership:

This new enhanced institutional membership allows all faculty members from your institution to join the Council on Undergraduate Research, as individual members, at no additional cost to the individual. Institutional cost is based on the number of Full-Time Equivalent students at your institution and ranges from $2000 to $4000 annually.

We hope that your institution will take advantage of this new membership opportunity to more fully engage faculty members, at your institution, in undergraduate research.

In addition to this new enhanced membership, we will continue to offer the regular institutional membership. Each institution may elect to choose one model or the other. The cost of the regular institutional membership for the 2009-2010 membership year will remain the same, at the current rate of $800, and includes three individual memberships.

Should you have any questions regarding institutional membership programs, or any other membership opportunities, please contact Robin Howard at robin@cur.org or 202-783-4810x203.

New Enhanced Members:

Biology Division Announces 2009-2010 Biology Travel Awards:

The Biology Division of the CUR is offering a limited number of travel grants for undergraduate students presenting original research results at a regional or national, discipline-specific meeting during the period of September 2009 – August, 2010. The grants will total up to $250 each. Award recipients are required to acknowledge CUR for support of their travel in their talk or poster. Minority students are encouraged to apply.

For further information and the application requirements, please visit http://www.cur.org/biostudenttravel.html

Direct inquiries via email to Eveylyn Hiatt, CUR Councilor: ehiatt@kwc.edu

New CUR Publication: Broadening Participation in Undergraduate Research: Fostering Excellence and Enhancing the Impact:

Editors: Mary K. Boyd, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, University of San Diego (mboyd@sandiego.edu) and Jodi L. Wesemann, Assistant Director for Higher Education, American Chemical Society (j_wesemann@acs.org)

Engaging undergraduate students in research, scholarship, and creative activity is a proven and powerful practice for enhancing educational outcomes and expanding frontiers of knowledge. This book is a rich collection featuring institutions that are maximizing the impact of this practice.

Member price is $45.00, Non-member price is $55.00 

To place your order, complete the online order form, or fax the order form to 202-783-4811.

For more information, please visit: http://www.cur.org/publications/broadening.html

CUR Quarterly Archive Sale:

Many issues of the CUR Quarterly are now available for $1. Complete your library today by visiting http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/members/createorder.asp. Remember to login using your Members Only username and password to receive the best price.

CUR Welcomes New Institutional Members:

CUR Institutes:

Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research Institute:  

This institute will be held October 23-25, 2009, at Concordia College at Moorhead, Minnesota. This workshop will bring together teams of three to five faculty members and administrators from institutions that are interested in either initiating an undergraduate research program or institutionalizing existing research activities.  The three days will consist of plenary lectures presented by facilitators associated with CUR interspersed with individual team meetings with CUR mentors.  For more information, please visit http://www.cur.org/institutes/instugr.html

Beginning a Research Program in the Natural Sciences at a Predominantly Undergraduate Institution:

This CUR Institute will be held November 20-22, 2009 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Starting a successful research program and doing scholarly work at a predominantly undergraduate institution poses unique challenges for a beginning faculty member. The overall goal of the institute is to give pre-tenured faculty the opportunity to learn from and discuss with experienced faculty how to establish and manage a research program. The application is available by visiting: http://www.cur.org/institutes/newfaculty.html

Mentorship, Collaboration and Undergraduate Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities:

This institute will be held February 5-7, 2010, in Mesa, Arizona. The institute will bring together teams of three to five faculty members and administrators engaged in enhancing undergraduate research opportunities at their home institutions, focusing on undergraduate research as faculty development, student-based inquiry and institutional support structure. Application is available by visiting:  http://www.cur.org/institutes/socscihum.html

Ongoing CUR Offerings:

The staff at Washington Partners has put together a web page of materials for CUR Member reference.  The web page houses information on advocacy and government relations issues.  Topics of interest include legislative and event summaries, information on on federal funding resources, ongoing update on the higher education act, and a learning and links section with descriptions of common government processes and links to useful websites.  

To access this page, please visit the members only page from the CUR homepage.  Please note that you will need your members only login to access the page.  Should you have any questions or comments regarding this page, please direct them to wpllc@cur.org

Recent Additions:

Undergraduate Research Watch List (July 13, 2009)

CLS AND CBRC Briefing on Educating Students in STEM Fields and Producing Significant Research (July 15, 2009)

FY 2010 Selected Federal Investments in Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations (July 15, 2009)

House Research and Science Education Subcommittee Hearing on Encouraging Women to Participate in STEM Fields (July 22, 2009)

House Research and Science Education Subcommittee Hearing on Improving K-12 STEM Education (August 4, 2009)

CUR Logins:

CUR assigns usernames and passwords to members so that they may login, allowing them to: update records; register for meetings at member rates; and purchase publications at member rates.  Your username and password have been sent to you previously.  Should you need another copy of this information sent to you via email, please visit http://cur.networkats.com/members_online/members/password.asp .  Non-members who have records in our database may also login to expedite registration processes, however discounts will only be given to members. 

Please encourage your students to sign up for the Undergraduate Researcher's Graduate School Registry.  The purpose of this registry is to facilitate connections between undergraduates and graduate schools seeking high quality students who are well prepared for research.  More information and the submission form are available at:  http://www.cur.org/ugreg/

Graduate Schools that are interested in purchasing a subscription to the registry should contact Robin Howard at robin@cur.org

Newsletter Subscriptions:

The CUR E-News is a membership benefit for individual members and contacts designated on CUR Institutional Memberships.  Should you know anyone that would like to receive a subscription, please encourage them to become a member by visiting http://www.cur.org/membership.html

CUR is pleased to announce two additional newsletters also available to CUR Members:

This Week In Washington is a weekly newsletter prepared by the staff at Washington Partners that provides an overview of upcoming events in Washington D.C. affecting American Education.

Deadlines and Upcoming Events is a newsletter published by the CUR National Office which sends reminders of submission deadlines, event registrations, and other important dates in the CUR Community. 

To subscribe to either of these newsletters, please login to the members only website, click "Review My Membership Information" and submit an update of your membership profile.

Newswise is an academic news distribution service that provides media with news leads from our member institutions.  Journalists receive this news by subscribing to an emailed Daily Wire.  From the wire, they review news releases and decide whether or not to follow up on any leads and contacts. 

Upcoming Thematic Wires:

Aging: Health, Finances and Family Wire Submission Deadline: August 13, 2009

Environment: Sustainability, Technology, Climate Change, and Health Wire Submission Deadline: August 20, 2009

Healthy Eating Habits Wire Submission Deadline: August 27, 2009

Breast Cancer Awareness: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention Wire Submission Deadline: September 3, 2009

CUR Institutional Members may submit releases to Nancy Hensel at nancy@cur.org.  Please indicate whether your press release is for a thematic wire, or a general wire.   For more information, please refer to the following document:  http://www.cur.org/pdf/newswise%20flyer.pdf

Advocacy:

Washington Partners, LLC provides a monitoring service of articles that mention CUR.  Please see the following articles below: 

Spotted®: The focus is on you!

Online Athens - Athens,GA,USA

... Program associate director, has been elected to serve a one-year term as a councilor in the At-Large Division for the Council on Undergraduate Research, ...

Undergraduate Research Organizations Join Forces

Newswise (press release) - USA

...of a new paradigm or field of study – was the subject of a recent conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), in Snowbird, Utah. ...

Students and Professors Attend Conferences and Participate in ...

Hiram College News

In addition, as part of a Gerstacker-Gund Summer Research Award, Shreiner participated in a Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) workshop on initiating ...

Attached to this E-News:

Undergraduate Research Legislative Watch List (pdf)

This Watch List is designed to catalog legislation that is of interest to CUR and its members. The Watch List, itself, is divided into two parts. The first part of the Watch List has three sections, the first of which discusses recent legislative action. The second section of the first part is a list of pending legislation of interest, and the third section lists appropriations bills. The second part of the Watch List is a comprehensive list of all of the bills from the first part, in chronological order. This part also provides a more detailed description of the bill’s status, cosponsors, etc.

Congressional Testimony

In July the U. S. House Science and Technology Committee held a hearing on Females in Science and Technology.  Kerry Karukstis, Mary Boyd and Diane Husic with the help of Washington Partners developed written testimony that was submitted to the House committee.  The testimony was also entered into the Congressional Record.

Washington Partners News June 26, 2009 Column:

Lawmakers Face Full Agenda after August Recess

The end of July meant that members of the House of Representatives left town for their August recess after a partisan debate about the future of the country’s health care system.  Talk about healthcare dominated the Hill for weeks, and it appears that while House leadership did in fact strike an agreement with the reluctant Blue Dog wing of the Democratic Party, the formal debate will not take place until the fall.  That means House Members left town on July 31st, leaving their Senate colleagues in town to slog it out for another five days as they consider the confirmation of President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.   After that, summer can really begin in the nation’s Capitol. 

Recent weeks also marked progress on the spending bills.  The House made good on its commitment to pass all twelve of its proposed spending packages before the recess.  The Senate has been slower, as usual, and has only passed four of the bills.  This means that the Senate will have to work on the eight others, and the two chambers will have to negotiate their differing versions of the bills before the end of fiscal year 2009—September 30, to avoid the need for any stopgap spending measures.  These temporary funding bills—called “continuing resolutions”—have become common practice, but many hoped that with the same party controlling both sides of Capitol Hill and the White House, they would not be necessary this year.  That seems unlikely.

Given the number of agencies that fund undergraduate research, Washington Partners worked with CUR to communicate with federal appropriators on its funding priorities.  Given the status of these bills, weighing in with Members is still timely and effective, and CUR members are encouraged to share any particular concern with their elected representatives.  Tools for doing so can be found on CUR’s Washington Partners page—look for the letters that CUR sent to Capitol Hill and use those as models, or craft your own message.  Also, the Advocacy Toolkit found on the website has good guidance on how to contact those who can affect funding decisions. 

CUR Offers Congress Perspective on Broadening Participation in STEM Study

On July 21, the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Science Education held a hearing, “Encouraging the Participation of Female Students in STEM Fields,” to examine the role of the federal government in increasing the participation of females in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.  The Subcommittee heard testimony on the current status of female participation in STEM elementary, secondary, and higher education programs, and how increasing the number of females in STEM fields might contribute to the country’s highly skilled, STEM-educated workforce and improve U.S. competitiveness.

During the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) explained that while girls and women have made substantial gains in the past few decades in terms of breaking down barriers in education and the workforce, “Women’s participation rates in certain STEM disciplines remains disproportionately low.” The Chairman suggested that in order to produce the number of scientists and engineers necessary to remain a global leader in STEM fields, the country must focus on increasing participation and encouraging talent in these fields from all students. “More can be done to encourage women in these fields,” Chairman Lipinski noted. He also explained that this hearing would help identify the barriers and unique challenges that women face in the STEM pipeline, and how to better encourage and retain women in STEM fields.

Ranking Member Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) agreed with the Chairman’s statements on the importance of increasing the number of women in STEM fields, asserting, “The U.S. can only benefit from having more people participate in these fields, especially women.” According to the Ranking Member, the jobs of the future will require some background in math or science, and it is necessary that all Americans have some STEM education background.

The panel heard from a number of witnesses on programs and practices that might encourage young ladies to pursue these fields of study. In addition, working with Washington Partners, CUR submitted a statement for the record related to this hearing that details how undergraduate research can expose young women and others to pursue study, research and careers in these fields. CUR’s statement is available on its members only website and attached to this E-News.

NIST Awards Universities Funds to Support Research

The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced in July that it is awarding grants totaling more than $55.5 million to four universities to provide cost-shared support for the construction of new scientific research facilities.

“These awards mean four major construction projects in these local areas, with the jobs and economic benefits they bring,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said of the awards, announced July 20, “but even more important, these four projects provide a major boost to scientific research at four respected universities, enhancing innovation, public safety and environmental protection for many, many years to come.” The new research buildings will provide state-of-the-art laboratory facilities supporting academic research across a broad range of topics affecting the Commerce Department's mission, including fundamental physics research, nanotechnology, aquaculture and marine ecology.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided funding for the competitive program to help support the construction of new or expanded research science buildings. NIST allocated up to $60 million of its construction grant funding to meritorious but unfunded project proposals that were received in a 2008 research construction grant competition in order to move the Recovery Act dollars as quickly as possible. NIST expects to award approximately $120 million in additional research construction grants under a new competition announced in May. For more information, visit: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/20090720_cgp_awards.htm.

House Education and Labor Committee Approves New Education Programs

On July 22, 2009, the House Education and Labor Committee marked up and passed the “Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act”, introduced by Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA), by a vote of 30-17. This bill is the panel’s budget reconciliation bill—a bill that is the result of instructions from the Budget Committee to find $1 billion in deficit reduction funds from its entitlement programs. Such budget reconciliation bills are often used to move policy priorities by protecting them from drawn out floor debate, since budget reconciliation bills cannot be amended on the floor. As expected, the bill essentially puts an end to the Federal Family Education Loan Program, replacing the private capital in federal student loan programs with the Direct Loan Program, at an estimated government savings of $87 billion. Under the bill, these savings would be invested in Pell Grants and a “revitalized” Federal Perkins Loan Program, and other new initiatives, as well as $10 billion for deficit reduction.

The bill clearly embraces the Administration’s priorities. Candidate Obama talked often of the importance of investing in early childhood education. A portion of the savings would also be used to create a new Early Learning Challenge Fund. The bill also invests $3 billion in college access and completion support programs for students. Further, a new multi-billion dollar community college initiative creates a new competitive grant program for community colleges to “improve instruction, work with local employers, improve their student support services, and implement other innovative reforms that will lead to a college degree, certificate or industry recognized credential to help fulfill local workforce needs’, according to the Committee. It also invests in building capacity for online learning and modernizing community college facilities.

While the debate of the bill was partisan, the final vote included two “ayes” from Republican members of the panel, making its passage bipartisan. Supporters of the bill think it could face a difficult debate on the floor of the House. Further, the Senate has indicated it will not be prepared to consider similar legislation until after the August recess, and it is unclear if that chamber shares the priorities and views of the House. For more information on the bill, visit http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/07/student-aid-and-fiscal-respons.shtml.

Opportunities and Announcements:

The CUR National Office has received the following announcements:  

LI-COR Biosciences Offers $1.75 Million in Matching Funds for Genomics Education:

LI-COR® Biosciences announces an enhanced matching funds program to support undergraduate and high school hands-on education in Genomics. $1.75 million in matching funds is available with LI-COR providing 60% of the funding to each qualifying institution in the United States.

The Genomics Education Matching Funds (GEMF) program now features a streamlined application process to help colleges acquire LI-COR DNA analysis systems for use by undergraduate students studying molecular biology and related fields. The new application process notifies institutions of award status within two weeks of submitting a fund request.

“Students who have the hands-on experience using the LI-COR system have a distinct advantage when they seek jobs and admission to post-graduate programs,” says Jackie Potts, LI-COR GEMF coordinator. “GEMF-partner schools tell us that integrating the 4300 into their curriculum provides a competitive advantage for students and their department, noting that work on the analyzer allows students to be knowledge producers not just knowledge consumers.”

More than 370 undergraduate programs are currently benefiting from the LI-COR GEMF and LEEF programs. The LEEF program helps primarily undergraduate institution acquire LI-COR environmental instrument systems for educational purposes.

LI-COR DNA analyzers are used in academic labs worldwide for a variety of research applications including sequencing, microsatellite analysis, AFLP®, and SNP discovery and reverse genetics research using TILLING and Eco-TILLING.

Complete information on how schools may apply for a grant is available at www.licor.com/gemf. Grants may be submitted between May 1 and September 30, 2009.

For more information:
D. Doc Chaves
Director of Marketing Communications
LI-COR Biosciences
4647 Superior St.
Lincoln, NE 68504
402.467.0700
doc.chaves@licor.com

Scialog® 2009: Solar Energy Conversion:

Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement is pleased to announce a new research funding program, Scialog® 2009: Solar Energy Conversion.

Scialog 2009 will accept proposals describing fundamental research at the molecular and nanoscale level that are directly related to conversion of solar energy to electricity or fuels. Preference will be given to plans describing: (i) development of novel high-performing materials that possess greater stability, lower cost, or offer higher efficiency than materials currently used in solar energy devices; (ii) innovative, highly efficient methods for solar energy conversion that take advantage of unique chemical or optical properties and are poised to overcome current bottlenecks limiting performance efficiency.

A Scialog award will provide $100,000 for an individual PI or $250,000 for a team of PIs over three years with considerable discretion for the PI.  The full award is for direct costs and no overhead expenses are allowed. Preliminary proposals are due August 17, 2009.

A full program description along with application instructions can be found on our website, or please feel free to contact us via email or telephone, 520.571.1111.

Online Publication Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry:

This paper argues that all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions should experience learning through, and about, research and inquiry. In undergraduate research, students learn and are assessed in ways that come as close as possible to the experience of academic staff carrying out their disciplinary research.

The origins of our paper lie, in part, in previous published work worldwide on bringing together teaching and disciplinary research. In particular, the paper stems from the United States undergraduate research movement, which started by providing research opportunities for selected students in selected institutions. The paper argues, as does much recent US experience, that such curricular experience should and can be mainstreamed for all or many students through a research-active curriculum. The authors argue that this can be achieved through structured interventions at course team, departmental, institutional and national levels. The argument is complemented by a large selection of mini case studies, drawn particularly from the UK, North America and Australasia.

To view the document online, please visit: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/publications/DevelopingUndergraduate_Final.pdf

NSF Academic Research Infrastructure -Recovery and Reinvestment Seeks Reviewers:

Please see the below email which was sent to the National Office requesting reviewers.

Dear Colleagues:

The National Science Foundation is requesting merit review expertise in the Academic Research Infrastructure – Recover and Reinvestment (ARI-R2) program (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09562/nsf09562.pdf). This program is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

ARI-R² is designed to support 21st century research and research training infrastructure in our Nation's academic institutions and non-profit research organizations, such as research museums, research laboratories, and research consortia. ARI-R² will revitalize existing research facilities so that they provide next-generation research infrastructure and facilitate the integration of researchers with shared resources such as remote instruments and research platforms, data repositories, and national computing facilities. Research facilities are shared space where sponsored and/or unsponsored research activities and research training take place. They may be "bricks and mortar," mobile or virtual research space.

The National Science Foundation is in need of expertise in a wide range of fields to evaluate the proposals submitted to this competition. NSF is in need of reviewers in three broad categories: a) expertise in a scientific, engineering or architecture field, b) experience in managing large facilities and centers, or c) expertise in computer networking; it is not expected that individuals will have competence in all categories. The merit review panels for this activity will be held during three weeks in October, 2009. Each panelist will be asked to commit up to 3 days to serve on a panel at NSF headquarters in Arlington, VA.  Travel expenses, per diem and an honorarium will be provided for your services.

If you have an interest in participating in the merit review process of this important program and have the time to serve on a panel in October, 2009, please go to http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/programs/ari/ari_reviewer/ and complete and submit the short form indicating your field of expertise and availability.

Thank you for contributing your time and attention to this critical program in the revitalization of United States research resources. 

ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers:

The goal of the ADVANCE program is to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.

Creative strategies to realize this goal are sought from women and men. Members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

More at http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383&govDel=USNSF_39

NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM):

This program makes grants to institutions of higher education to support scholarships for academically talented, financially needy students, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate; baccalaureate; or graduate-level degree in science and engineering disciplines. Grantee institutions are responsible for selecting scholarship recipients, reporting demographic information about student scholars, and managing the S-STEM project at the institution.

AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals that explore the faculty’s use of high-impact practices (such as learning communities, writing-intensive courses, and capstone projects) to foster student learning of essential outcomes. The conference seeks proposals highlighting models of these high-impact practices and those that address issues of faculty rewards, promotion and tenure, cost-effectiveness, and more.

More at http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257&govDel=USNSF_39

NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI-R²):

The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program is announcing a call for proposals that is separate from the standard January submission deadline. Awards made in response to this solicitation will be funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Public Law 111-5), and have special award conditions. Unless otherwise specified, ARRA funding should be considered one-time funding. Deadline: August 10, 2009.

In addition, please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes revised guidelines to implement the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA) (Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug. 9, 2007.)   As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals.  Proposals that do not comply with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of this new requirement). 

More information available at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09561/nsf09561.htm?govDel=USNSF_25

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is one of the most prestigious science and engineering fellowship programs in the United States.  Awardees are provided three years of graduate school support.  Fellows receive a $30,000 annual stipend, a $10,500 annual cost of education allowance, a one-time $1,000 international travel allowance, and access to TeraGrid supercomputing facilities. 

The program ensures the quality, diversity and vitality of the next generation of U.S. scientists and researchers.  The GRFP is intended for students in the early stages of their graduate career who are seeking research-based master's or PhD degrees in NSF-supported disciplines.  Applicants should have completed no more than 12 months of graduate study and must be U.S. citizens, U.S.nationals, or permanent residents prior to the application deadline date. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply for the GRFP. 

The application period will open in August online at www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/ and will close in early November. For more information concerning benefits, eligibility, and tips on applying, applicants are encouraged to visit www.nsfgrfp.org.and www.nsf.gov/grfp/.
Faculty with significant research experience and interaction with graduate students are encouraged to register as panel reviewers for the NSF GRFP at http://panelists.asee.org.  If selected, panelists will be invited for a three-day review session that takes place in the Washington, DC, area in early February. 

Since 1952, NSF has funded more than 43,000 Graduate Research Fellows. President Obama has promised to triple the number of awards in this program, from about 1,000 per year to 3,000 per year by 2012.

NSF Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP):

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program (STEP) seeks to increase the number of students (U.S. citizens or permanent residents) receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees in established or emerging fields within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Type 1 proposals are solicited that provide for full implementation efforts at academic institutions. Type 2 proposals are solicited that support educational research projects on ...

More at http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5488&govDel=USNSF_39

Online Undergraduate Journal in the Humanities: Valley Humanities Review:

The Valley Humanities Review is currently seeking essays in the humanities for publication in its Spring 2010 Issue. We seek essays of high quality, intellectual rigor and originality that challenge or contribute substantially to ongoing conversations in the humanities. Topics may include but are not limited to: literature, history, religion, philosophy, art, art history and foreign languages. VHR is committed to undergraduate research and scholarship in the field; therefore, we only accept submissions by current or recently graduated undergraduate students. Our reading period runs from September 1 to December 1 of each year. All submissions received outside of these dates will be returned unread. All submissions should adhere to the Chicago style in formatting, footnoting and bibliography. Essays should be between 3,000 and 6,000 words in length, be free of errors and have an original title. Submissions may be emailed to submissions-vhr@lvc.edu. Please visit www.lvc.edu/vhr for more information.

Short-Term Research Education Program to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research:

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Application Receipt Date(s): August 25, 2009 http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HL-10-013.html

This FOA issued by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, solicits Research Education (R25) applications from institutions/organizations to promote diversity in undergraduate and health professional student populations by providing short-term research education support to stimulate career development in cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, and sleep disorders research.  The overall goal of the program is to provide research opportunities for individuals who are from diverse backgrounds  underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research.

Call for Proposals for Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices:

Proposals due September 8 for the conference to be held March 25-27, 2010

AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals that explore the faculty’s use of high-impact practices (such as learning communities, writing-intensive courses, and capstone projects) to foster student learning of essential outcomes. The conference seeks proposals highlighting models of these high-impact practices and those that address issues of faculty rewards, promotion and tenure, cost-effectiveness, and more.

This conference will highlight the new and expanding roles that faculty are playing in developing and using high-impact practices—in courses, majors, general education, and in partnership with student affairs—along with discussion of their impact on both faculty and students.

The conference is designed for faculty members seeking innovative, robust, and practical designs for learning and teaching; assessment approaches proven to deepen student engagement; and a network of engaged colleagues. It is also geared toward administrators and others on campus looking to support and partner with faculty to advance the use of high-impact practices for more students, more intentionally, across multiple points in time.

Submit your proposals online by filling in each field of the submission form as directed. For more information, please call 202-387-3760 or write to network@aacu.org.

Call for Proposals for The Teaching Professor Conference:

The 2010 Teaching Professor conference will be held May 21-23 in Cambridge, MA with the theme “Educate. Engage. Inspire”. The deadline for submitting a proposal (75-minute presentations or panel discussions) is October 30th, 2009. Topic areas include (with more detailed descriptions on their site):

1. Scholarship of Teaching
2. Learning
3. The Pedagogies of Engagement
4. Teaching Unique Types of Courses
5. Faculty Growth, Resilience and Change
6. Teaching And Learning with Technology
7. Undergraduate Research

For more information visit- http://www.teachingprofessor.com/conference/proposals

Recovery Act Limited Competition: Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15):

Request for Applications (RFA) Number: RFA-OD-09-007

Application Due Date: September 24, 2009

Purpose. This NIH Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is supported by funds provided to the NIH under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Recovery Act” or “ARRA”), Public Law 111-5. The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. These AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH programs, to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale health-related research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions.

Mechanism of Support. This FOA will utilize the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) R15 award mechanism.

Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. It is estimated that up to 50 awards will be made in FY 2010. The total amount awarded and the number of awards will depend upon the quality, duration, and costs of the applications received.

Budget and Project Period. Applicants may request up to a total of $300,000 direct costs plus applicable Facilities and Administrative (F&A)/ indirect costs. Use the modular budget for direct cost amounts up to $250,000 and the detailed budget for direct costs amounts above $250,000. The total project period for an application submitted in response to this funding opportunity may be up to three (3) years.

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-09-007.html

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