An Eye on IRIS: November 2006 Archives

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November 14, 2006

Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities (RAPD) Program

DEADLINES ANNOUNCED:

03/01/2007
09/15/2007

Effective October 1, 2006, the Divisions of Chemical and Transport Systems (CTS) and Bioengineering and Environmental Systems (BES) will merge to form the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET). The mission of the Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Healthcare cluster is to provide opportunities to develop novel ideas into projects that integrate engineering and life science principles in solving biomedical problems that serve humanity. The Research to Aid Persons with Disabilities (RAPD)
program supports the development of technologies for new and improved devices or software for persons with disabilities. RAPD is also directed toward the characterization, restoration, and/or substitution of normal functions in humans. Emphasis is placed on significant advancement of
fundamental engineering knowledge and not on incremental improvements. Undergraduate engineering design projects are also supported, especially those that provide prototype "custom-designed" devices or software for persons with mental and/or physical disabilities. PIs are encouraged to apply for supplemental funding under the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program (NSF 00-107). Examples of topics in RAPD are: novel acoustic wave processing and noise reduction techniques for applications such as hearing aids; development of biocompatible detection technologies that could serve as massively parallel interfaces for communicating with neural tissue such as used in artificial retina; and novel technologies for home healthcare, such as new approaches for transdermal drug delivery and home healthcare medication management and telemonitoring. NOTE: Foreign researchers at U.S. institutions may be able to apply for this award through their institution. Contact the
program officer for details.

Posted by sharum at 3:41 PM

November 9, 2006

Human and Social Dynamics: Competition for FY 2007 (HSD)

National Science Foundation (NSF)
Directorate for Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences
Human and Social Dynamics: Competition for FY 2007 (HSD)
Dynamics of Human Behavior (DHB)

DEADLINES ANNOUNCED:
01/23/2007
02/07/2007
02/21/2007

Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) is an NSF-wide priority area that includes all NSF disciplines and fields. The focus on dynamics--on how cognitive systems, individuals, formal and informal organizations, cultures, and societies evolve and change over space and time--distinguishes research in the HSD priority area. Projects will explore the dynamics of changes that range in time from nanoseconds to millennia and across scales ranging from the internal workings of the human mind to the interplay of global social and cultural systems. In the FY 2007 HSD competition there will be only three areas of emphasis for consideration: Agents of Change (AOC, IRIS record 13585), Dynamics of Human Behavior (DHB, this record) and Decision Making, Risk and Uncertainty (DRU, see IRIS record 21345). Research projects that involve more than one of these emphasis areas are encouraged, but a primary area of emphasis must be identified. Research in the Dynamics of Human Behavior focuses on multidisciplinary examinations of dynamics--change in human behavior over time. Examples include the dynamics through which individuals and organizations (including families and other informal organizations) create, grow, learn, change, and act under the impetus of internal and external stimuli; the influence organizational, community, and environmental structures and processes have on these dynamics; the interplay of evolutionary forces and human behavioral change; and individual cognitive, computational, linguistic, developmental, social, biological, and other processes as dynamic evolving systems. These processes include systems of coordination and control in the behavior of individuals, the dynamics of coordination between individuals, and the dynamics of change across the life span of individuals and organizations. DHB research may draw upon formal concepts about dynamics from biology and mathematics, the physical sciences, information science and engineering to characterize dynamic behavior, such as work that calls upon complexity theory, agent-based or animal models, cognitive models, stochastic models, dynamical systems theory and bifurcation analysis. The interdisciplinary nature of the work may link the behavior of individuals and/or organizations and their social, cognitive or biological underpinnings, as they evolve over varying time scales, to influences including natural and built environments, geographical contexts, and social networks. Any tools and models for understanding human behavior that are developed as part of this competition should have applications across a broad array of HSD problems. HSD awards will enable researchers and educators to pursue different kinds of activities: (1) Full Research projects will support multidisciplinary teams of three or more investigators from at least two different fields in projects that use interdisciplinary approaches to advance fundamental understanding about human and social dynamics. Projects are expected to have significant educational or other broader impacts in addition to advancing fundamental knowledge. HSD awards will enable researchers and educators to pursue different kinds of activities: (1) Full Research projects will support multidisciplinary teams of three or more investigators from at least two different fields in projects that use interdisciplinary approaches to advance fundamental understanding about human and social dynamics. (2) Exploratory Research and HSD Research Community Development projects will support multidisciplinary teams of three or more investigators from at least two different fields, typically for one or two years. (A) Exploratory Research projects enable teams to perform preliminary activities that provide the basis for further work. (B) HSD Research Community Development projects will support interdisciplinary educational activities and other broad-ranging efforts, including research workshops and training activities that aim to increase awareness, capabilities, and networks within and across scholarly communities, with an eye to enabling interdisciplinary collaborations and increasing the quality of HSD research.

SUPPORT PROVIDED: In FY 2007, Human and Social Dynamics will support two types of Full Research proposals: Type 1, with maximum award sizes of $750,000, and Type 2, with maximum award sizes of $1,250,000. It is expected that most (approximately 50 to 70) awards will be made as Type 1 awards and a much smaller set (approximately 8 to 10) will be made as Type 2 awards. In addition to Type 1 and Type 2 Full Research proposals, HSD will continue to support Exploratory Research and HSD Research Community Development (ERCD) proposals, with maximum award sizes of $125,000.

Posted by sharum at 10:10 AM

November 1, 2006

Kirschstein - National Research Service Awards

Health and Human Services (Department of)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Kirschstein - National Research Service Awards
NRSA Senior Fellowships (F33)

Deadline: 12/05/2006
National Research Service Awards are provided for research training in specified areas of biomedical and behavioral research. The senior fellowship is designed to provide training for experienced scientists who wish to make major changes in the direction of their research careers or who wish to broaden their scientific background by acquiring new research capabilities. These awards will enable individuals beyond the new investigator stage to take time from regular responsibilities for the purpose of receiving training to increase their scientific capabilities to engage in health-related research. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) was established to evaluate and determine the efficacy of various unconventional, alternative or complementary medical practices. Unconventional practices
include medical interventions that are not widely taught at medical schools or are not generally available at hospitals within the United States. Examples of areas of interest include, but are not limited to: acupuncture; homeopathy; structural manipulation including chiropractic/
massage; visual imagery, relaxation techniques, meditation, herbal therapies, or diet and life style. The Center is especially interested in alternative procedures in the treatment of life-threatening diseases (e.g., women's breast cancer or AIDS HIV) and the subsequent impact on: a) course of disease; b) wellness/quality of life/ prevention; c) statistical/population disease trends; d) basic biological systems.

SUPPORT PROVIDED: Stipends for senior fellows are determined individually at the time of award. The amount of the stipend to be paid shall be based on the salary or remuneration the individual would have been paid from their home institution on the date of the award. In no case shall the NIH stipend exceed $51,036 per year. Support may be requested for a period of up to two years. Fellows in the first 12 months of postdoctoral NRSA support will incur a service obligation of one month for each month of support.

APPLICANT INFORMATION: Individuals must have received, as of the beginning date of the NRSA appointment a Ph.D., M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., O.D., D.P.M., Sc.D., Eng.D., N.D., D.C., Dr. P.H., D.N.S., Pharm. D., D.S.W., Psy.D., or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution and must have had at least seven subsequent years of relevant research or professional experience.

Posted by sharum at 1:56 PM