May 12, 2018
UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Grant Opportunity Search: http://pivot.cos.com
In this Newsletter
  • TEDxUCR: June 1
  • Keck Foundation
  • Heilmeier Catechism
  • NIH Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program
  • NSF CAREER Early Submission Incentive
  • Lewis Burke Slides
  • ORI Seminar - Research Misconduct
  • UCR Water Collaborative Workshop
  • NSF CAREER Educational Plans
  • Frosé
  • Birding in Panama
TEDxUCR: June 1
Please join us for UCR's annual TEDx event on June 1st, 2018 from 2:00-6:00pm at the UCR University Theatre!  We will have a wonderful lineup of 7 local speakers/performers. 

To get an idea of what you may see, vidoes from some of last year's speakers are on line

Tickets are available now and d inner is included with the purchase of tickets.

Student tickets (for students with ID) will be $17, and General Admission is $27. 

Ways to purchase tickets
Keck Foundation Prepropsoals: June 1
Earlier this year, UCR professors Sachiko Haga-Yamanak, Naoki Yamanaka, and Frances Sladek , were awarded a $1M grant from the Keck foundation.
The W.M. Keck Foundation offers the opportunity to discuss potential projects with universities before full proposals are submitted. UCR may submit one proposal each in the areas of Medical Research and Science/Engineering research on May 1 and November 1 annually (see http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-programs/research/eligibility-and-priorities details).
 
A successful proposal:
 
  • Focuses on important and emerging areas of research
  • Has the potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies
  • Is innovative, distinctive and interdisciplinary
  • Demonstrates a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm
  • Has the potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem
  • Falls outside the mission of public funding agencies
  • Demonstrates that private philanthropy generally, and the W. M. Keck Foundation in particular, is essential to the project’s success. For example, they don’t fund the type of research that the Gates Foundation funds.
 
The ideal target is  $1 Million over three years . An abstract might present a disruptive concept that was declined by a federal agency, with reviews that indicate the research is extremely innovative, exciting and would have a large impact, but is too risky due to the lack of preliminary data. The Keck Foundation will request previous federal feedback as part of their review process.
 
Some common reasons why concepts are rejected by Keck:
  • The project is not ambitious enough (i.e. represents only a small advance vs. creating a new paradigm).
  • The proposal does not fully detail the scope of work and potential impact.
  • The proposal does not list the reasons why Keck support is important.
  • The project focuses on disease-related therapies or treatments (in the case of medical research) as opposed to bench science.
  • The project focuses on incremental revision. Scalability of existing technology is rarely competitive.
  • The project focuses on implementation or policy.
An abstract of less than one page will help focus the conversation and is needed by June 1 in advance of the next phone counseling period which begins July 1. Please  do not  submit anything directly to the Keck Foundation.   Interested faculty should submit an internal preproposal following the below format http://or.ucr.edu/ord/limitedsubmissions.aspx 1, 2018.
 
Single-paged concepts for the Research Program must be in 12 point Times New Roman font with 1 inch margins and should include:
 
  1. an overview of the proposed project emphasizing any unique aspects and pilot studies (for Research Program concepts, indicate area of emphasis for project - medical research or science and engineering research);
  2. a description of the methodologies and key personnel;
  3. a brief justification of the need for W.M. Keck Foundation support; and
  4. an estimated budget broken down, if possible, by major areas, e.g., personnel, equipment, consumable supplies, etc. (budgets can be rough approximations at this stage).
 
If space allows, the authors are free to add other details (e.g., background to put the research into perspective, description of the institution’s prominence in the field, etc.). Avoid illustrations in these single-pagers – the researchers need all the room for text. If a reference is necessary, abbreviate it as (Science, 323, 45, ‘11). DO NOT USE (Jones et al., 2011).
 
Here is more information from the Keck Foundation’s home page:   Supporting pioneering discoveries in science, engineering and medicine has been our mandate from the beginning. By funding the high-risk/high-impact work of leading researchers, we are laying the groundwork for new paradigms, technologies and discoveries that will save lives, provide innovative solutions, and add to our understanding of the world. Both Senior and Early Career investigators are encouraged to apply.
Heilmeier Catechism
During my sabbatical, I twice visited PARC (formerly known as Xeriox PARC). PARC is the birthplace on many inventions in computing, including the computer mouse, the graphic user interface, Ethernet, and the laser printer. With the cutback in industrial R&D, PARC now is supported from external R&D including DARPA (as well as it's former parent company Xerox). One of the senior researchers who has been part of many DARPA grants had the Heilmeier Catechism taped to his whiteboard.

George H. Heilmeier ,  a director of ARPA in the 70s developed a set of questions that he expected every proposal to answer. He called them the "Heilmeier Catechism". DARPA still uses these and they are worthwhile outside of the DARPA context, e.g., when interacting with other agencies, particularly mission ones.

  1. What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon. What is the problem? Why is it hard?
  2. How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
  3. What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
  4. Who cares?
  5. If you're successful, what difference will it make?  What impact will success have? How will it be measured?
  6. What are the risks and the payoffs?
  7. How much will it cost?
  8. How long will it take?
  9. What are the midterm and final "exams" to check for success? How will progress be measured?
NSF CAREER Early Submission Incentive
If you are applying for an NSF CAREER award and you finish a complete draft by June 25 (midnight), mail it to  [email protected]  , and RED will hold a panel to review it and get you feedback by July 6. 

As incentive for finishing early, RED will support your research/travel with:

  • $1000 for first time submission
  • $500 for resubmission if you include the reviews of your prior submission and a summary of how you HAVE already modified the proposal
NIH Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program
Reviewing proposals is a great way to learn what works and what doesn't. Nick DiPatrizio reminded me of a NIH program for new faculty.

The NIH Center for Scientific Review has a Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program intended to help emerging researchers advance their careers by exposing them to a peer review experience that may make them more competitive as applicants while also helping them develop into critical and well trained reviewers.

ECRs can select the study sections that match their areas of expertise and remain in the program until they have had a chance to serve on a CSR study section or have received an NIH R01 award or the equivalent.

Participation as an ECR provides the opportunity to work with accomplished researchers in your field while gaining insights on how reviewers determine overall impact scores and how to improve your own grant writing skills.

To qualify for the ECR Program you must:
  • Have 2 years experience as a full-time faculty member or researcher in a similar role. Post-Doctoral Fellows are not eligible, but may become eligible following completion of their training.
  • Show evidence of an active independent program of research. Some examples might include:
  • Publications & presentations from independent research projects
  • Institutional research support
  • Patents
  • Supervisor of student project
  • Have at least 2 recent senior authored research publications in peer-reviewed journals in the last 2 years.
  • In press publications are considered
  • Senior author could be single author, corresponding author, first author or last author position.
  • Literature reviews or letters to the editor are not included
  • Manuscript in preparation or under review are not considered
  • Have not served on a CSR study section in a role other than a mail reviewer or ARRA reviewer
  • Review committee service at other agencies is permitted
  • Review committee service at NIH Institutions and Centers other than CSR is permitted
  • Mail reviews include review of one or more applications without participation in a study section meeting
  • Current funding is not required. Conversely, anyone who has received an R01 award is over-qualified to serve as an ECR and could be considered as a temporary reviewer.

More information about the program and application can be found here: https://public.csr.nih.gov/ReviewerResources/BecomeAReviewer/ECR/Pages/default.aspx
Lewis-Burke Slides
UCR works with Lewis-Burke Associates, LLC, a DC-based firm which monitors and provides guidance on federal funding. Representatives were on campus last week conducting a series of presentations with faculty groups as well as several for the broader campus focused on large center grants, early career faculty opportunities, and an overview of FY18 appropriations.

All of the slides can be viewed from the Resources tab of the RED Portal ( https://research.ucr.edu/OrPortal/). Included are slides from the following meetings

ORI Seminar Series - Research Misconduct
UCR’s Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is proud to present the final talk in the 2017-18 Seminar Series . The presentations focus on ethical dilemmas and hot topics in human subjects research.

The May seminar, entitled “Research Misconduct Process at UCR ”, will be led by Dario Kuzmanović, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Office for Research Integrity. The talk will take place on May 15 at 2:00 pm in HUB 268.

Cases of research misconduct continue to emerge with alarming frequency around the US and globally. A growing debate regarding low rates of reproducibility and an increase in the number of retractions, along with anonymous whistleblowers, is adding more fuel to the fire. Misconduct in research is a serious ethical and legal issue and primary responsibility for investigating it is placed on research institutions. All of these phenomena raise questions how exactly universities should treat these allegations and cases. This talk will contextualize some of these major forces and outline the current process for addressing allegations of research misconduct at UCR.  Crucial resources and tools for faculty and students will be highlighted and discussed.

Dario Kuzmanović is the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research Integrity and Assistant Research Integrity at Office of Research and Economic Development (RED). He started at UCR in 2015.  

This seminar is free and open to the public. No registration is required but seating is limited . Light refreshments will be provided. 
UCR Water Collaborative Workshop
Some faculty are planning to organize a half-day workshop at UCR in the fall to highlight opportunities for collaboration and funding as it relates to Water research, and need your help! The workshop will begin with a series of “lightning talks” followed by breakout discussions on major water related research themes. If you would like to be included, please enter your details into the UCR Water Experts Database: https://goo.gl/forms/KDbIM56S0YFDBkhq1

The database will be used to generate a mailing list and to launch a website to highlight UCR’s expertise in water related research in Science, Engineering, Policy and Public Health. If you are interested in helping organize the workshop, please indicate that in the database form. 
NSF CAREER Educational Plans
Here are some example of educational plans from recent NSF Career Awards in California. These may provide ideas for this years proposals. I know it's a bit long, but if you keep scrolling, there are some bird photos.

California Institute of Technology
  • This project aims to be an enriching opportunity for the high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students involved. The PI will train high-school students on scientific computing through engaging activities. The research team will host undergraduate students, who will contribute to research and develop their curricula by learning cutting-edge computational materials physics. The project will contribute to the development of graduate students with a unique interdisciplinary background at the intersection of physics, computer science, and materials science. They will be equipped to lead computational physics and materials science research in the United States.
  • The project will also offer undergraduate research opportunities in conjunction with Caltech's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program, alongside outreach activities to middle and high school students via Caltech's Center for Teaching, Learning and Outreach, in order to encourage future scientists and engineers.
  • The research aspects of this project are accompanied by an extensive educational and outreach plan aimed to prepare graduate and undergraduate students for successful careers in industry and academia as well as help educate general public about quantum science and nanotechnology through lectures and lab tours for high-school students and teachers from the Pasadena Unified School District. Moreover, all results from this project will be broadly disseminated through the talks at national and international conferences and journal articles as well as in publicly accessible blog posts and educational videos targeting broad audience.
Stanford University
  • High school, undergraduate, and graduate students and high school teachers will participate in the research program. The experimental and numerical data sets resulting from this research will be leveraged to establish active learning modules for wind engineering for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Workshops held during years two and five of the award will support the education of a diverse community of engineers to understand the complexity of urban flow and wind loading phenomena and the strengths and weaknesses of computational models, wind tunnel tests, and field experiments.
  • This proposal's education plan centers on training students---especially women, who are under-represented in the economics profession---to shape the next generation of researchers who will be involved in public policy. 
University of California-Berkeley
  • The educational component of this CAREER proposal involves the development of a monsoon forecasting contest with three goals: 1) fostering education on weather, climate, and relevant basic science; 2) enhancing recruitment and retention of high-promise, underrepresented high school students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields; and 3) creating an international community for disseminating and discussing monsoon forecasts and research. The monsoon forecasting contest is held through a website which allows participants to enter forecasts of onset date and total seasonal precipitation for the monsoon regions of West Africa, India, Australia, and North America. Participants are asked to submit a rationale along with their predictions, and the website also contains educational materials on monsoons, along with basic science explanations for convection, generation of wind from pressure gradients, and other relevant topics. Guidance for forecasters, including climatological monsoon onset date and precipitation amount, the state of El Nino, and links to operational products. As part of the forecasting contest, the project seeks the participation of inhabitants of monsoon regions as forecasters and as bloggers, to provide a real-world perspective on monsoons and their human impacts. The forecasting contest is accompanied by an educational outreach effort to the New Haven Public School system. The outreach is conducted through the Science Collaborative Hands-On Learning And Research (SCHOLAR) program, in which students take part in a three-week residential summer science program at Yale.
  • The research is coupled with a plan to integrate research and education at multiple levels: the project will train researchers at the interface of statistics, information theory and mathematics, preparing them to enter academic and industrial careers in data science, and skillfully adapt to new fields as national priorities change. Other aims are to promote collaboration within the broader research community through development of thematic workshops and tutorials.
  • Outreach to the community includes a plan to enhance STEM engagement for girls based on the Principal Investigator's ongoing efforts in local Oakland, CA and Berkeley, CA K-12 schools. Involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in the outreach activities substantially amplifies the impact.
  • This project's broader impact stems from an integrated program of education, research, and outreach that (i) creates a smart objects focused curriculum whose classroom projects are motivated by research needs, (ii) provides research experiences for undergraduates andunderrepresented minorities, (iii) mentors students on all aspects of successful research from articulating hypotheses to peer-reviewing papers,(iv) disseminates teaching materials on embedded systems and research pedagogy, (v) produces students who bridge disciplines,operating at the intersection of measurement science, information technology, and sustainability policy, and (vi) translates scientific discovery and technical knowledge into beneficial commercial products through industry outreach and internships, and (vii) engages with the National Labs to ensure that the research addresses pressing problems.
University of California-Davis
  • The research has strong broader impacts in education and outreach. These include the development of new courses on software engineering and testing with a focus on numerical software, a Computer Science summer boot camp, and a mentoring program for underrepresented minorities especially focused on Latino students.
  • The educational and outreach efforts will focus on engaging Hispanic students, ranging from K-12 to college, in science, technology, engineering and math. Summer fellowships will foster the participation of undergraduate Hispanic students in a research project about nonreciprocal antennas, allowing graduate, undergraduate, and high school students to interact and share knowledge and experiences learnt by implementing similar concepts at different frequencies. The organization of a workshop about reciprocity will bring together top experts in the field with graduate and Hispanic undergraduate and high-school students, enabling technical discussions and broadening the impact of this exciting topic on all society.
University of California-Irvine
  • To engage and inspire young generations to this approach, this project strives to (i) organize hands-on workshops at relevant conferences, (ii) design and develop an educational kit targeted to teaching CFD and high-performance computing (HPC) concepts, (iii) design lab-based courses on HPC for computational scientists, including hands-on labs using HiPer on large-scale systems for on-site students, and (iv) release videos and guest lectures through University of California's Early Academic Outreach Program. 
  • The educational component of this CAREER project is based on the idea that one of the best ways to help students succeed in the sciences, and to shape the innovators of the next generation is to inspire passion for science. This is achieved through the integration of research and teaching and activities that relate curricular concepts to societal issues that excite the students, and by demonstrating how perseverance is an important part for success. At the university level, courses will be re-designed to include: (i) socio-scientific issues related to ongoing research, and (ii) active learning techniques that encourage risk-taking and perseverance as a constructive path to scientific discovery. At primary and secondary education levels, the investigator will develop a mentor-toolkit to help professionals in STEM careers, who desire to serve as a role model but lack training in elementary education, to most effectively communicate their path to science and the struggles that they faced and overcame along the way.
  • She will expand upon a program, Rising Stargirls, that she has already created to strengthen the interest of middle-school girls from underrepresented groups in science. She will conduct monthly workshops for girls and help train educators to facilitate workshops in their own communities.
  • The CAREER educational objectives focus on stimulating interdisciplinary curiosity and growth through diverse curricular efforts and industry involvement in geo-structural undergraduate and graduate classroom training. It will cater to the increasing demand for technical rigor and a global mindset in engineering graduates. Professional career development activities will supplement the technical educational activities to increase the retention of diversity in geo-structural engineering in academia and industry, and stimulate a lifelong interest in research and development. The latter part of the educational plan will specifically target female engineers, and is aligned with NSF INCLUDES.
  • A substantial feature of this project is the extensive educational component that integrates research and education. This integration is achieved via a three-pronged approach including a summer workshop on random matrices, high school engagement, and undergraduate/graduate student mentoring.
  University of California-Los Angeles
  • The educational initiative will engage hundreds of undergraduate students per year in research cruises to the local continental shelf and slope off the coast of California. A captain/technician will be recruited to facilitate dozens of cruises annually using the UCLA Zodiac research vessel. The project investigator will develop organizational and educational materials to support the research cruises, with students guided to form their own research hypotheses and analyzing their own data using scientific computing tools. By the end of the project period this educational program will become self-sustaining, drawing from a combination of course fees, research/education grants, donations and direct support from UCLA. The project will also provide research training for a graduate student and support for an early-career faculty member.
  • Complementary educational activities will leverage modern media technologies to test the integration of laboratory research in the classroom and to engage broader groups outside the university in current scientific and engineering challenges related to energy and combustion.
  • The research components of this project are closely integrated with various education and outreach activities, offering cross-disciplinary training beyond traditional educational boundaries, and involving the participation of underrepresented and diversity groups. This is accomplished through industry-academia collaborations, development of a new interdisciplinary course curriculum, and establishment of a Nano-Energy outreach program.
  • There are some problems in this program designed for training graduate and undergraduate students who have an interest in probability theory. The investigator will also run workshops designed to foster the upward professional development of graduate and undergraduate students working in fields related to random matrix theory as well as to stimulate interaction across barriers between these disciplines. 
University of California-Riverside
  • The principal investigator will collaborate with local high schools to provide an opportunity for students to get exposure to large data sets and learn to use software tools for their analysis through designed extracurricular activities. Other initiatives include science demonstrations at community events targeted to the diverse community in Southern California's Inland Empire and recruitment of high-achieving students from nearby community colleges to spend their summer working on the project. 
  • Building on this research, the PI will integrate his observational expertise into local high-school and undergraduate education. A key element of this program will be the creation of a campus observatory at UC Riverside. This will be one of the few such facilities in the country to offer spectroscopy, one of the most broadly used techniques in science and industry, and will be used to promote STEM engagement among underserved groups in Southern California.
  • Sharing these new developments with undergraduate students at UC Riverside promotes green chemistry values as a part of a larger effort to increase research participation and scientific engagement. Through chemistry demonstrations and interactions between K-12 students from local schools and members of his research group, Dr. Martin fosters excitement and curiosity for the sciences and encourages young students from all backgrounds to pursue higher education and careers in science.
  • This project also provides new avenues for educational and outreach activities for underrepresented minority students in STEM through mentorship and Electric Vehicle club programs for local high school students and research opportunities for undergraduates of UC-Riverside.
  • The project has a vertically-integrated education plan spanning K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students. The project will engage economically disadvantaged middle and high school students in the same UAV testbed used for research verification. Also, research outcomes will be infused into new and existing undergraduate and graduate courses.
  • The integrated research and educational activities include curriculum development for both undergraduate and graduate courses in subjects including data science, and statistical and computational genomics. Activities will allow undergraduate students to participate in the research project, as well as training graduate student researchers to acquire interdisciplinary expertise. The project will reach out particularly to middle school students with the goal of engaging young women and underrepresented minority groups in STEM disciplines.
  • The short-term broader impacts of this project will be the acquisition and dissemination of basic information and the recruitment and training of STEM students. Students will receive training in genetic and molecular approaches and cutting-edge microscopy techniques; planning and execution of projects; and, effective scientific communication to establish themselves as scholars and mentors.
  • In addition to providing a vehicle for the training of graduate and undergraduate students at UCR, this research program incorporates outreach to community colleges in the inland southern California area with a focus on promoting opportunities for study in STEM fields among underrepresented groups.This research program incorporates a summer research experience for undergraduates at local community colleges as well as outreach to this community regarding opportunities for advanced study in chemistry.
University of California-San Diego
  • In tandem with the research project, the PI will organize and participate in a variety of educational and outreach activities. Firstly, the PI will try to bring the excitement of quantum physics to undergraduates by presenting introductory lectures on the PI's research. Secondly, the PI will organize a yearly workshop aimed at socio-economically disadvantaged high-school students, which will develop skills in formulating estimates relevant for everyday life. Finally, the PI will mentor undergraduate and graduate students on research topics closely aligned with the research component.
  • The proposed interdisciplinary project will be integrated with educational and outreach activities, including hands-on laboratory training for students, rigorous training on fundamentals of bioelectronic devices for engineering specialists and outreach activities towards underrepresented communities from K-12 to graduate levels focusing on women and local Hispanic communities.
  • The PI will also continue to encourage high school, undergraduate, and graduate students to work in combinatorial research, and continue to teach courses which cover the latest results and methods used in combinatorics and discrete geometry.
  • The research outcomes will be integrated with an extensive education initiative that consists of helping K-12 schoolteachers at the San Diego Unified School District promote earth science research into their courses. The investigator and her group will be working with science education leaders at Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) and San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) to design training workshops for the teachers around the experimental results from this project. Several undergraduate and graduate students, as well as one postdoc researcher will be supported as part of this project.
University of California-Santa Cruz
  • As part of this project, undergraduate and high school students will receive comprehensive training through (1) an immersive field-based class in Sitka Sound, Alaska, (2) intensive, mentored research internships, and (3) experiential training in science communication and public outreach that will include a variety of opportunities to disseminate research findings through podcasts, public lectures and radio broadcasts.
  • The outreach component of this CAREER project will increase Hispanic representation among STEM majors by using this research project with an existing NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). Hispanic high school students and high achieving community college students from Hispanic Serving Institutions from the local area will work and be mentored at three phases in their educational development: pre-college, early-college, and late-college. These stages will provide science career awareness to the pre-college group, provide opportunities for research experiences within the PI's research effort to the early-college group, and provide career-based mentoring and networking opportunities to the late-college group. These outreach efforts will benefit not only the participating students, but also students at UCSC, and the broader community.
University of Southern California
  • Research, education, and outreach will be integrated and assessed by: (a) communicating research results to policy makers, utilities, and other stakeholders on a project advisory board, providing pathways for developing environmental policies, and receiving feedback on the research to ensure that it can translate to the real world; (b) carrying out K-12 outreach by creating a research-based science module for underprivileged middle school students; (c) continuing pursuit of an immersive and visceral approach for inspiring students and citizens to live sustainable lives by creating and performing music that gives them a greater connection with their environment; and (d) training graduate students and incorporating research results into the PI's graduate course at USC.
  • Outcomes from this research will be translated into educational activities and pedagogical resources that can be used by other researchers and teacher educators as a means of enhancing the PCK of elementary and middle school teachers of mathematics. The project results will include developing a theory of beginning Grades 3-7 teachers' PCK growth and creating resources for researchers and teacher educators.
  • the project itself creates excellent educational opportunities for junior researchers to participate in training, teaching, mentoring and outreach activities, launching their careers in science while inspiring others. Specific attention for inclusion of undergraduate and high school students from underrepresented groups will expose more women and low-income students to STEM fields. These research and educational activities will increase their career opportunities while diversifying the pipeline of future scientists and broadening perspectives to solve future societal challenges. This project will also involve organizing a "SoCal Genome Stability" symposium that will enhance the dissemination of knowledge, open new networking, research and career opportunities for junior and senior scientists at colleges and universities across Southern California.
  • The educational component of this project will target several different levels of education from middle school students to PhD candidates. The PI will create a new undergraduate course in neuroeconomics, offer summer research internships to undergraduates, and train a business school PhD student in cutting edge methods in behavioral and neuroeconomics. There will also be a significant outreach component in which the PI will work with a STEM elementary school to broaden access to basic principles of behavioral economics.
When the visitors from Lewis-Burke were here, the conversation at dinner turned to Frosé (Frozen Rosé). It's all the rage in big cities like DC and LA, but judging from the reaction at the table hadn't quite made it to Riverside yet.

You can get Frosé at the Skybar in LA for $18 a glass. or, you can make your own. Many of the recipes call for ingredients like simple syrup, grenadine, as well as rosé. They suggest using the best rosé.

I wanted to try it, but it's a long drive to Skybar, and I don't really understand who the Kardashians are or why they are famous. Furthermore, in my opinion, most recipes are too much work and quite frankly, I can think of few wines that improved by freezing or adding sugar.

Then I remembered about a wine from my youth, Lancers Rosé, a cheap, overly sweet wine from Portugal that you can find for $7 on the bottom shelf of some grocery stores. So, here's my recipe

  1. Pour a bottle of Lancers in two ice cube trays and put in the freezer for 4-5 hours.
  2. Put the "slushly" wine cubes in a pitcher and stir with a wooden spoonto break up.
  3. Pour in glass and optionally garnish with a mint
  4. Drink outside on a sunny day
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Panama Birds
Bird watching can take you to exotic locations such as Trinidad, Costa Rica and Panama. Although the travel brochures of beaches lined with palm trees seem wonderful, birders often find themselves where the birds are such as sewage pond and landfills.

My wife and I recently visited El Valle de Anton in Panama, and one of the best birding spots was the compost heap of the lodge. So, one afternoon, off we went to the compost heap. When we arrived, there were a few stray dogs picking through the compost. Eventually, and with a little urging, they left and some birds emerged,

One of the first birds to arrive was the wood thrush, a brown and white bird with a spotted chest that can been founded in the eastern US. While looking through the birding guide to verify the identification, we saw a photo of a Rosy Thrush-Tanager, a more colorful bird and decided we had to see one of those on the trip.

We saw a variety of other birds at the compost heap, some of which may be featured in a future newsletter. As we were leaving, a rosy thrush tanager came out from the underbrush for a few seconds and I was able to get some photos including the one below.


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