The Microbial Innovations for Climate-Resilient Agriculture, or MICRA, an NSF funded Focused EPSCoR Collaboration project, is accepting now applications for its Career Seed Grant.



The grant provides funds to build and boost the research career of Kansas State University assistant professors in the area of climate resilient agriculture in the Central High Plains by providing up to $10,000 funds for research, professional development and/or professional travel. Awarded funds should be spent within 12 months.

Applicants must be a tenure-track assistant professor or a non-tenure track research assistant professor with a home department in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, the College of Agriculture or the College of Arts and Sciences and have an official research appointment.

Please apply through the online link. 

Applications are due June 15. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer Stipends program supports continuous full-time work on a humanities project for a period of two consecutive months. NEH funds may support recipients’ compensation, travel, and other costs related to the proposed scholarly research. This is a limited submission; thus, if you are interested in submitting to this program you must notify (working title and a short, two to three sentence synopsis of your project) the Office of Research Development by August 2, 2024 via ordlimitedsubs@ksu.edu. If two or more faculty members notify by this date, an internal competition will be held with preproposals due by August 16, 2024.

This program’s anticipated due date to NEH is September 18, 2024. The new 2024 application should be available on the NEH website by June 18. Typically, NEH hosts a webinar for this program in mid-August, but due to the changes NEH is making to this program the webinar will be July 10 at 1-2 p.m. CT. Again, remember that to apply to this program, you must first go through the internal process outlined above because K-State can only nominate one tenure-track/tenured faculty to apply to this program. However, non-tenure track faculty may apply without nomination and without going through this process, but the Office of Research Development (ord@ksu.edu) would like to know in this case if you will be submitting.

The Office of Research Development will again offer a month-long writing clinic that will use an iterative process to help interested faculty members develop and refine their submissions for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipends program. This clinic is based on the approach ORD has successfully offered for the National Science Foundation CAREER opportunity and has used for the last four years for the NEH Summer Stipends program.

The Writing Clinic steps will be as follows:

1. Prewriting Questions – submit by July 8; group meeting week of July 8.
2. Significance and contribution section as well as the Organization and methods section– based on answers to prewriting questions – submit by July 15; group meeting week of July 15
3. Competencies, skills and access; final product and dissemination sections as well as the work plan (1 page) and bibliography – submit by July 22; group meeting week of July 22
4. Full 3-page narrative section, 1 page work plan and resume – submit by July 29; group meeting week of July 29.

We will meet once a week via zoom to review and discuss the writing assignments. Participants agree to take part in all sessions and complete the assignments of the clinic.

If you are interested in participating in this Writing Clinic please send an email stating your interest to ord@ksu.edu by June 26. Please use “Summer Stipends” on the email subject line.

NOTE: You do not have to participate in this writing clinic to notify the Office of Research Development of your interest in being nominated for a submission to the Summer Stipends program and participate in the limited submission process. Please see the Summer Stipends program announcement included above for more information.

NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli praises the recent release of the United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential and its role in bolstering research capabilities and collaborations.

Read the full statement here.

You’re invited to take part in a short survey to assist with NIFA’s Grants Modernization Initiative (GMI). Your participation in this survey is a crucial component in ensuring that our GMI is successful and that we can work to improve your experience over time. No matter where you fit into the NIFA grants management process, we want this to work for you!

This survey is designed to take less than 10 minutes to complete.

Take the survey.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science monthly virtual office hours are opportunities to share information and ask questions about our six research programs and two research and development and production offices. Researchers at all institutions are welcome to attend and learn more about our programs. Topics will vary each month.

Learn more about the programs, dates and times using the links provided below:

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research 
• Basic Energy Sciences 
• Biological and Environmental Research 
• Fusion Energy Sciences 
• High Energy Physics 
• Nuclear Physics 
• Accelerator R&D and Production 
• Isotope R&D and Production 

The office hour will be in the form of a zoom meeting, starting with a brief presentation on the monthly topic, followed by questions. 

Are you interested in serving as a reviewer for the Linguistics Program and/or the NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure - NEH Documenting Endangered Languages Program?

We want to hear from you! Help us learn more about you and your area of expertise by taking a short survey.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking subject matter experts to serve as peer reviewers to evaluate grant applications for the Fiscal Year 2024 grant cycle. AMS grant peer reviews bring together diverse individuals who provide fair, expert, and unbiased evaluations of grant applications. Reviewing applications will take approximately 6 weeks and non-federal reviewers will be compensated for their reviews.  

Current Programs Seeking Peer Reviewers:

• Acer Access and Development Program (Acer)
• Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP)
• Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP)
• Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP)
• Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP)

Learn more here.

Thursday, May 23, 2024, 12-2 p.m.

The Cybersecurity Workforce Data Initiative (CWDI), mandated by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and led by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation, is assessing the feasibility of producing national estimates on the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. As part of this effort, CWDI is holding a series of public workshops in 2024 to collect input that will shape a possible future federal data collection on the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. The theme of the second workshop is: Understanding the Knowledge Gaps: What Do We Need to Learn about the Cybersecurity Workforce? Please join us to hear more about the types of data the CWDI has identified as missing and may collect in a potential federal data collection effort and provide feedback on what information is most needed.

Panelists

• Akash Kaura, LinkedIn
• Amanda Theel, Argonne National Lab
• Simone Petrella, N2k

More details about the workshops are available here. Questions about the workshops or the CWDI can be addressed to NCSES-CWDI@nsf.gov.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is hosting a virtual grant writing webinar series: Debuting Your Research Career: How to Plan for and Write Your First (or Next) NIH Grant Application. This monthly webinar series is free and open to all to pre- and post-doctoral fellows, clinician-scientists, as well as early-stage and mid-career research investigators.

The series will provide information on the funding opportunities for early career researchers at NIAID, navigating the F, K, DP2 and R38/K38 awards, and understanding the peer review process.

Dates and Topics:

• May 23, 2024: Developing your candidate information section and research strategy for F and K awards
• June 20, 2024: Navigating NIH to prepare your grant application – DP2/R38/K38 awards
• July 18, 2024: Understanding the Peer Review process

Register here.

May 23, 2024, 6 – 7 p.m.

July 25, 2024, 6 – 7 p.m.

See additional dates and times on nsf.gov



Join this question-and-answer session to learn more about America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation. A Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program director will answer questions about how to get started, the basics of eligibility and what they look for when they review project pitches.

Register here.

The Cybersecurity Workforce Data Initiative (CWDI), mandated by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and led by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), is assessing the feasibility of producing national estimates on the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. As part of this effort, CWDI is holding three virtual workshops in 2024. Through these workshops, the public has the opportunity to provide input that will shape a possible future federal data collection on the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. Taking place in May and June 2024, these workshops will address three broad themes:

• May 23, 2024, 12 - 2 p.m. - Understanding the Knowledge Gaps: What Do We Need to Learn about the Cybersecurity Workforce?
• June 11, 2024, 12 - 2 p.m. - Aligning the Supply and Demand of Cybersecurity Professionals

Registration is now open.

May 28, 2024, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

June 3, 2024, 12 – 1 p.m. 

June 4, 2024, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

June 11, 2024, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

SBE CRISES Program Officers will host a series of office hours in May and June to address questions from PIs who were approved to submit a full proposal.

• All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
• If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact Naomi Hall-Byers in advance.
• To join office hours on May 28, June 4, or June 11, CLICK HERE.

For more information about the CRISES program, visit the Centers for Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society (CRISES) program page.

The Frontiers CTSA TL1 Postdoctoral Program is a prestigious training opportunity designed to cultivate a diverse and skilled cadre of postdoctoral translational researchers. Supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), the TL1 Program provides trainees with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to drive innovative and impactful clinical and translational research. Through a combination of mentorship, education, and hands-on research experience, the program aims to foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and innovation among its trainees, ultimately leading to improvements in health outcomes for individuals and communities.

Important Dates:

Applications Due: May 29, 2024, at 5 p.m.

Applicant Notification: June 17, 2024

Start Date: July 1, 2024

Program Benefits:

• Up to 2 Years of Training and Support

• Competitive Stipend and Research Project Expenses

• Childcare support

• Intensive Mentored Research Experience

• Formal Training in Clinical and Translational Research

• Tuition Remission for MS-Clinical Research Coursework.

• Additional Travel Support

Learn more and apply here.

A webinar will be held on May 29, 2024 from 11 - 1 p.m. to provide information to the community on the Hardware-Aware Artificial Intelligence for High Energy Physics lab call.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, under the High Energy Physics program, is issuing a $15M funding opportunity for Hardware-Aware Artificial Intelligence research to improve operations of experiments and facilities and enable the next generation of smart detectors.

The long-term goal is to develop AI techniques that benefit the unique hardware systems used across the High Energy Physics program. Investing in this area is a key step towards building more efficient experiments and facilities and moving intelligence onto detectors.

This announcement builds on HEP’s past investments in AI and Advanced Detector research as well as improved operations of experiments and facilities. Learn more about this opportunity and eligibility by visiting the HEP AI Initiative website.

May 30, 2024, 12 - 1 p.m.

The grant writing process can be daunting for early career scientists. In this webinar, we will have experts share their insights and experience on structuring the grant, the writing process, and building a compelling narrative. Questions from the audience as well as prepared questions will be addressed by the speakers. This zoom webinar is free and open to the public.

Register now!

For more information and to learn about future events, please visit the BES ECN events page.

Fulbright International Education Administrator awards allow U.S. citizens to travel on fully-funded seminars to learn about a country’s higher education system and gain new perspectives. In an interactive session, a panel of alums will share their experiences to help the audience pursue these unique professional development opportunities.

More information can be found on the Fulbright Program website.

The U.S. National Science Foundation will host the Spring 2024 NSF Grants Conference from June 3 – 5, 2024 in Philadelphia, PA. The conference is making an eagerly anticipated transition to a hybrid event.

Registration will open on Wednesday, March 6, at 11 a.m. for in-person and virtual participation. We anticipate in-person registration will sell out quickly, so be prepared to register as soon as possible.

More information can be found here.

Office Hours: Preparing your Phase I Proposal for America’s Seed Fund at NSF 

June 6, 2024, 1 - 2 p.m.

June 20, 2024, 1 - 2 p.m.

See additional dates and times on nsf.gov

Join this open-ended session to ask questions about what’s needed when creating a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) proposal. A SBIR/STTR program director will answer questions and point you to resources.

Register here.

June 6, 2024, 11 a.m.



Please join us for an informational webinar about the recently issued NSF Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) seeking proposals to the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program to catalyze research that advances the insurance sector's modeling and underwriting of terrorism and catastrophic cyber risks.  

The webinar will include an overview presentation from the program directors and allow time for Q&A. Register via Zoom for the informational webinar.

Jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Treasury Federal Insurance Office and the NSF Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences directorates, the goal of this DCL is to stimulate research in areas that support the effective provision of insurance against terrorism and catastrophic cyber risks. 

This funding opportunity is specifically designed to bring together the insurance sector, academic teams, government and other stakeholders to focus on developing and refining terrorism and catastrophic cyber insurance modeling and underwriting to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. financial system. Read the DCL here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Real-time captions will be available. If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to attend, please email rarequest@nsf.gov in advance.

June 6, 2024, 3 - 4 p.m.



Join NSF program directors from the Division of Research, Innovation, Synergies and Education in the Directorate for Geosciences regarding the new Focus on Recruiting Emerging Climate and Adaptation Scientists and Transformers (FORECAST) program in a virtual webinar to learn more about this new opportunity.

The FORECAST program seeks to facilitate transitions from status-quo graduate career preparation to student-centered models with an emphasis on building entrepreneurial and innovation capacity through intentional professional development activities. Focused on developing cohorts of innovative scholars from emerging research institutions and groups historically excluded in STEM, FORECAST should help develop STEM talent adept in community resilience and the translation of research outcomes for societal benefits.

Register here.

Representatives from NSF's Division of Enterprise Services will hold a technical webinar on system-related information to assist with CAREER proposal submission on Friday, June 7, 2024, from 1 - 2 p.m.

This webinar will include a review of the system-related requirements in the CAREER proposal submission timeline guidance, a demo of how to prepare a CAREER proposal in Research.gov, and a question and answer session. Submit question and answer session questions prior to the webinar to careerproposalprep@nsf.gov.  

Webinar registration link will be available in an advisory at the top of the Research.gov homepage on Monday, May 13. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with details about joining the webinar.

June 7, 2024, 1 - 2 p.m.

Representatives from NSF's Division of Enterprise Services will hold a technical webinar on system-related information to assist with CAREER proposal submission. This webinar will include a review of the system-related requirements in the CAREER proposal submission timeline guidance.

We invite you to submit your scientific images to be displayed in a professional art exhibition and then auctioned to support STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) programs in our region.

Your submission will ignite curiosity, inspire creativity, and support educational initiatives that empower future generations in STEAM fields.

How the program works:

1. Submit high-resolution artwork by Friday, June 7.

2. Artwork is selected by professional curators

3. Selected applicants will be notified in early July.

4. Chosen artwork will be:

• Professionally printed and framed
• Featured online and in the 2024 Science2Art video
• Featured in Science2Art exhibit at Linda Hall Library in Kansas City, MO

5. Auctioned online at BioNexusKC.org and at Annual Event in Fall 2024.

For more information or to submit artwork, visit the BioNexus KC website.

June 11, 2024, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

July 9, 2024, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

See additional dates and times on nsf.gov

Please join this Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Q&A webinar to learn about the PFI program. During the webinar, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the PFI program and what to expect for the submission deadline.

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation has issued a Request for Information on Use Cases to Inform a Future National Secure Data Service (NSDS) via its America's DataHub Consortium (ADC). This RFI encourages response from a broad and diverse group of communities, including but not limited to individuals and organizations that conduct work in research, policy, program, and education. The goal is to gather current and anticipated research, policy, program, and education use cases for a National Secure Data Service, and to also identify current and anticipated challenges and barriers that could be addressed through the use of an NSDS.

Responses are due by June 14, 2024.

ExpandAI Virtual Office Hours

June 18, 2024, 2 – 3 p.m.

July 16, 2024, 2 – 3 p.m.

See additional dates and times on nsf.gov.

Representatives from across the division will be available to discuss specific programs and funding opportunities. There will then be an open question and answer period – questions can be on any NSF or DBI topic. Join us remotely and bring your questions!

Register here.

June 18, 2024, 2 – 3 p.m.



The NSF Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) program is hosting virtual office hours for early career faculty planning to submit proposals to the Faculty Early Career Development Program by the July 24, 2024, deadline. The ECI program is a core, unsolicited research program.

More information and a Zoom link can be found here.

June 19, 2024, 1-2 p.m.

July 17, 2024, 1-2 p.m.

August 14, 2024, 1-2 p.m.

Please join the Decision Risk Management Sciences Program to discuss questions about the program with the program directors.

Office hours take place over Zoom monthly, generally on Wednesdays. Please see date(s) listed below and note that times listed are in the Eastern time zone.

To join, use the Decision Risk Management Sciences office hour Zoom link

• All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
• If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact Claudia Gonzalez-Vallejo or Bob O'Connor in advance. 

For more information about the program, visit the Decision Risk Management Sciences program page.

Decision, Risk and Management Sciences Office Hour

June 19, 2024, 1 – 2 p.m.



Please join the Decision Risk Management Sciences office hour to discuss questions about the program with the program directors. 



To join, use the Decision Risk Management Sciences office hour Zoom link

• All meetings during office hours are 1-on-1. Guests are seen in the order they join. You may have to wait if others join before you.
• If you need captions or other accommodations, please contact Claudia Gonzalez-Vallejo or Bob O'Connor in advance. 

For more information about the program, visit the Decision Risk Management Sciences program page.

NASA invites applications for the 5th annual course of the Spaceflight Technology, Applications, and Research (STAR) virtual training focused on the science and technology behind biological experiments in space. STAR is designed to encourage networking and collaborations in spaceflight technologies, applications, and research across all areas interested in space and biological sciences.

This course aims to facilitate the entry of researchers into space biology and preparation for spaceflight experiments using NASA and commercial platforms. The STAR course will cover both fundamental and applied aspects of the field of space biology, as well as practical aspects of preparing for, conducting, and analyzing the results of spaceflight experiments. See the STAR Program website for more information.

Responses must be submitted electronically using the NSPIRES web site before June 28, 2024. STAR-5 is open to all eligible individuals based on eligibility as outlined in Section III in the RFI.

Submitting a STAR application does not guarantee course acceptance. The course will take place virtually from September 2024 – February 2025 with sessions held weekly for two hours each.

STAR-5 questions will be accepted by email only and must be addressed to the STAR Management Team (Egle Cekanaviciute at NASA Ames and Ursula Koniges at NASA Headquarters) HQ-STAR-Management@mail.nasa.gov using a subject line that states “STAR-5 Application”.

The National Endowment for the Humanities will hold a Summer Stipends webinar on July 10 at 1 - 2 p.m. CT. This webinar will be important to attend if you are interested in applying to this program because NEH has made several substantial changes to the program including to eligibility, increasing the stipends from $6,000 to $8,000 and reducing the number of nominations an institution can make from two to only one. If you are unable to attend this webinar, NEH typically includes a YouTube video of its annual webinar on its Summer Stipends website.

Criminal justice researchers, practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and those interested in promoting safety, equity, and justice for all are encouraged to join us in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 16-18, 2024. 

During the three-day research conference, we will cover current and emerging challenges and present strategies for applying research findings into practice, including guidance on equitable and community-engaged research designs.

Plenaries include: 

• Ten Years of Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science 
• Violence Against Women Act 30-Year Anniversary 
• Advancing Justice for the Missing and Unidentified Through Research 

Let’s come together to advance justice through science. 

NIH study shows chronic wasting disease unlikely to move from animals to people

A new study of prion diseases, using a human cerebral organoid model, suggests there is a substantial species barrier preventing transmission of chronic wasting disease from cervids—deer, elk and moose—to people. The findings, from National Institutes of Health scientists and published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, are consistent with decades of similar research in animal models at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. NIH

Acetaminophen shows promise in warding off acute respiratory distress syndrome, organ injury in patients with sepsis

A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical trial has found that intravenous acetaminophen reduced sepsis patients’ risk of having organ injury or developing acute respiratory distress syndrome, a serious condition that allows fluid to leak into the lungs. Sepsis is the body’s uncontrolled and extreme response to an infection. While the trial did not improve mortality rates in all patients with sepsis regardless of severity, the researchers found that acetaminophen gave the greatest benefit to the patients most at risk for organ damage. With the therapy, those patients needed less assisted ventilation and experienced a slight, though statistically insignificant, decrease in mortality. NIH

Gut microbes linked to fatty diet drive tumour growth

Researchers have found a link between diet, a type of gut bacterium and breast cancer. The study, published on 6 May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science1, found that a high-fat diet increased the number of Desulfovibrio bacteria in the guts of mice, suppressing their immune systems and accelerating tumour growth. nature

How immune cells recognize the abnormal metabolism of cancer cells

When cells become tumor cells, their metabolism changes fundamentally. Researchers at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel have now demonstrated that this change leaves traces that could provide targets for cancer immunotherapies. EurekAlert!

k-state.edu/research

researchweekly@k-state.edu

785.532.5110