The Office of the Vice President for Research announces several opportunities to enhance the use and operations of core facilities in alignment with the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan. Core facility directors may request support to upgrade the physical infrastructure and large equipment related to their operations. Additionally, faculty members can apply for grants to facilitate their use of core facilities and offset vivarium costs. This funding comes from the Strategic Investment Fund and is supplemented by the recovery of OVPR funds, offset by the BRI Debt Relief support received from the state.

1. Funding for renovations and large equipment purchases: Annual call for core facilities to request funding for renovations and large equipment purchases. This will require a 1:1 match and requests can range up to $200K for total project costs of up to 400K. Total funds available: $500K. Deadline for requests is April 1, 2025.
2. Mini grants to fund pilot projects: Ongoing call for researchers to request mini grants to fund pilot projects requiring core facility use up to $5,000 in total costs. If start-up funds are available, there is a 1:1 match requirement. Total funds available: $75K. Funding requests accepted on a rolling basis.
3. Mini grants for vivarium costs: Ongoing call for researchers to request mini grants to help pay vivarium costs that exceed that budgeted in existing grant funding. Limit of $50K per investigator; total funds available: $125K. If start-up funds are available, there is a 1:1 match requirement. Funding requests accepted on a rolling basis.

Please visit the OVPR website to learn more and submit a proposal.

Starting in Spring 2025, the Office of the Vice President for Research and K-State Libraries are excited to host a monthly networking poster session for K-State researchers. Faculty can enjoy light refreshments and wine while discussing ongoing research and projects.

Please note that the February session has been postponed. The first session will take place from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, 2025, on the 5th floor of Hale Library.

The first session will focus on Community Health and Well-Being, one of the core areas of the Opportunity Agenda in K-State’s Next Gen. Plan. This focus area encompasses understanding physical, social and cultural features of a community; researching social dynamics and cohesion within a community; identifying and addressing factors that drive health disparities (including social determinants of health and health care policies); and identifying and enhancing the structures, policies and practices that impact accessibility to education.

Please register if you would like to attend the March event or present your research poster during the following April 10 session.

The National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is NSF’s most prestigious award in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars. To help early career faculty who are interested in this program, the Office of Research Development will host an “NSF CAREER Nuts and Bolts” information session on March 27^th at 3:30 pm via zoom. The session will start with presentations on the requirements for submission, review criteria, submission protocols and evaluation resources. These will be followed by a panel of recent Kansas State University CAREER awardees who will provide tips on submitting to and receiving an award under this program. Session attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a CAREER Writing Clinic that will start shortly after the session and end in July when the proposals are due.



If you are interested in attending this session, please register here.  To find out more about the NSF CAREER Writing Clinic, please contact Mary Lou Marino at mlmarino@ksu.edu.

The Office of Research Development (ORD) will again offer a writing clinic that will use an iterative process to help interested faculty members develop and refine their submissions for the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). The clinic will begin in early April and continue until the proposals are due in mid-July.  Faculty will work with mentors through a step-by-step process to develop their proposals. The mentors will provide suggestions and support through the process. The early portions of the clinic will focus on goal and objective development followed by approach development. The program is designed so that the bulk of the writing will occur after classes end. You will spend April and early May refining your CAREER project ideas.

If you are interested in the NSF CAREER Writing Clinic, please contact Mary Lou Marino at mlmarino@ksu.edu.

It is also highly recommended that you attend the CAREER Nuts and Bolts session offered by ORD on March 27^th at 3:30 pm.

The National Science Foundation’s CAREER awards require the recipients to show evidence of research and education excellence. This 3:30 p.m. April 2, 2025, zoom session, presented by the Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE,) will help you demonstrate this in your NSF CAREER proposal/project. During this workshop, OEIE will provide resources to assist CAREER award applicants and recipients in developing evaluation plans and collecting evaluation data. Logic models will serve as the foundation for the discussion about how to:

1. determine evaluation activities based on professional goals
2. consider data collection methods that fit the award timeline
3. tailor reporting to demonstrate the overall impact of the work.  

If you are interested in attending, please register here.

For questions about the workshop, please contact Besangie Sellers at besangie@ksu.edu.

Structure:

• One-hour daily writing blocks
• Once a week, join your team for an in person writing session
• Together, establish internal due dates to promote a sustainable proposal preparation pace
• CNAP staff and peers to offer regular direction, guidance, and feedback on materials.

The collaborative will begin April 7th with ongoing rolling registration.

Register or learn more using the provided link or QR Code.

Please contact cnap@ksu.edu to learn more!

Attend K-State's inaugural President's Distinguished Lecture Series

April 8-9, 2025

Kansas State University is hosting the first lectures in the annual President's Distinguished Lecture Series featuring distinguished professor at North Carolina State University, Rodolphe Barrangou.

University-wide lecture: April 8 at 4 p.m. in Regnier Forum, “Insights from the Genome Editing Revolution”

Technical lecture: April 9, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. in 104 Throckmorton Hall, "The CRISPR Toolbox and its Many Applications in Microbiology"

More information can be found on K-State's website.

To streamline processes and enhance university security, Information Technology Services is implementing new policies for employees who leave the institution, which may affect research data retention.

Please use the provided link to learn more about alterations to:

• Relocating work/research documents
• Updating external service email addresses
• Returning K-State property
• Returning keys and access controls
• Setting an away message
• Retaining personal documents

Should you require support or have any additional questions, please reach out to your unit IT director or the Office of the Vice President for Research technology team at vprit@k-state.edu.

At this time, NIJ has cancelled all previously posted Notices of Funding Opportunity and associated webinars. Please check back to NIJ.OJP.gov and Grants.gov to keep up to date on future NOFO and webinar postings.

The National Science Foundation is hosting a variety of office hours and webinars throughout 2025 covering a wide range of programs and topics. Links to register and more information for each series can be found below:

• Intro to America’s Seed Fund at NSF Office Hours: March 18, 2025
• Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Office Hour: March 19, 2025
• Design for Environmental Sustainability in Computing Program Webinar: March 25, 2025
• Preparing your NSF SBIR/STTR Fast-Track Proposal Office Hours: March 27, 2025

Proper acknowledgment of your USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funding in published manuscripts, posters, presentations, press releases and other communications is critical for the success of our agency’s programs. We ask that you acknowledge USDA NIFA funding by using the following guidance. 

Standard USDA NIFA Funding Acknowledgment Language 

When acknowledging USDA support in accordance with 2 CFR Part 415, grantees must use the following acknowledgment for all competitive or capacity grants or initiatives supported by NIFA. This statement should be used in scientific publications, presentations, posters and related materials. 

"This work is supported by the [Full Program Name, no acronym], project award no. XXXXXXX], from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture." 

In addition, all publications and other materials, except scientific articles or papers published in scientific journals, must contain the following statement:  

"Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy." 

Press Releases and Media Interviews

The awardee is responsible for acknowledging USDA NIFA support in media postings and during news media interviews that discuss work supported by USDA NIFA by using language such as the following: 

“This work is/was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.”

Reminder: Using NIFA’s Official Identifier Correctly

The official NIFA identifier was updated in November 2020 and is now comprised of the USDA logo with NIFA signature lockup. Per NIFA regulations and guidelines, it is expected that grantees use NIFA’s official identifier in publications, posters, websites and presentations resulting from their award. The updated official NIFA identifier should be used on all print and digital materials moving forward.



Guidelines

• The integrity of the complete identifier should be maintained in all uses. Additions and deletions to the identifier are not permitted.
• To maintain clear identification, the identifier should always appear proportionally, isolated from other elements, such as titles or graphic devices. It should not be obscured in any way or reproduced against strongly patterned backgrounds that would tend to impair its recognition.
• When it is used in conjunction with symbols of other public and private sector partners, the NIFA identifier should have equal placement.
• Never enlarge a .png or .jpg file beyond 100%

Are you thinking about developing your first flight mission proposal in the next few years but have no idea where to start? Are you working or studying in any NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) discipline? If you are a scientist who would like to submit a NASA space mission proposal in the next few years but don’t know where to start, this August workshop is for you! We are interested in expanding the pool of potential NASA space mission Principal Investigators.

Workshop Description:

Ames Research Center, in collaboration with the University of Arizona, the University of Michigan, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC and the Heising-Simons Foundation, will host the PI Launchpad to guide participants through ways to turn their science and technology questions into a mission concept. Participants will go step-by-step through the process of developing a science case, defining requirements, building a team, securing partnerships, and obtaining support from the home institution. Participants also will have time for networking and personal reflection as they mature their mission concepts.

We are interested in expanding the pool of potential NASA space mission PIs. We will select between 35-40 participants from eligible applicants depending on funding availability and on the merit of the applications. Please visit the NASA NSPIRES website for the Pre-application Virtual Session Connection Information, application details, etc.

Please email questions to the 2025 NASA PI Launch Pad Organizers at this shared address hq-smd-piworkshop@mail.nasa.gov.

NIH will move to the Common Form for Biographical Sketch and a new NIH biographical Sketch Supplement prepared using SciENcv for Applications due dates and other submissions on or after May 25, 2025.

For all NIH and NSF grant applications after May 25, SciENcv must be used and created by all key personnel themselves. The biosketch must be created by logging into your own “My Bibliography”.

Please see the provided link for resources from the University of Illinois Chicago with directions on creating a NIH biosketch using SciENcv.

NIH-funded research team engineers new drug targeting pain sensation pathway

Study of CB1 receptor has implications for chronic pain treatment. NIH

More carbon dioxide in oceans could harm carbon-eating microbes, speed climate change

Increased ocean acidity could reduce populations of phytoplankton more than previously thought. Science

NIH centralizes peer review to improve efficiency and strengthen integrity

The proposed approach is expected to save more than $65 million annually by eliminating duplicative efforts across the agency, making the review process more efficient. NIH  



Microplastics could be fueling antibiotic resistance

Boston University researchers shocked to see that bacteria’s antimicrobial resistance is strengthened when exposed to plastic particles and point to a potential outsized impact on refugees. EurekAlert!

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