Internal leadership search, Office of the Vice President for Research

Open to K-State employees only

The Office of the Vice President for Research is seeking to fill a new director of core facilities position. This is a part-time position reporting directly to the Vice President for Research. This is an internal search open to any tenured faculty member at K-State having a significant record of sponsored research as well as direct experience with core or shared-use research facilities. This is expected to be a 25%-33% appointment but can be flexed to accommodate the appointed candidate’s personal circumstances — teaching and research obligations — and desired level of engagement.

The director of core facilities will serve as the OVPR’s point-person on the university’s portfolio of core and shared-use facilities and will establish and lead a council of core facility directors and select ADRs. The director and council will make recommendations in consultation with faculty PIs and academic leaders (deans, associate deans for research, department heads, center directors) to unify policies and practices around staffing, cost structure, accessibility, resourcing, and refresh/reinvestment plans. The director will also help to level-set expectations and provide an understanding of how new funds will be used to invest in core facilities on an ongoing basis. The director will coordinate and manage requests and develop and implement a strategy whereby core facilities are placed into a rotation for investments. In addition to working closely with core facility directors and ADRs, the director will also work closely with the senior associate vice president for research/director of the Office of Research Development as well as the Division of Finance (which has responsibility for capital projects and deferred maintenance).

This is an excellent opportunity to join a dynamic OVPR leadership team and contribute significantly to creating a sustainable model for the operation of core facilities, enabling faculty success, and enhancing competitiveness for extramural funding.

Interested candidates should submit a statement of interest and CV electronically to Abby Lear, executive director of operations and chief of staff, Office of the Vice President for Research at abby99@k-state.edu by December 1, 2023.

The Office of Research Development will host an information session on the Fulbright Scholar Program from 3:30-5 p.m. on November 14 via Zoom. The Fulbright Scholar Program offers nearly 400 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards for faculty in more than 135 countries.

The session will open with a brief overview of this program's submission requirements and an introduction to the Fulbright Scholars website. This presentation will be followed by presentations by two recent K-State Fulbright Scholar awardees. They will talk about their experience, the logistics of setting up an extended stay in another country and provide tips for the Fulbright Scholars submission.

Attendees will have plenty of opportunity to ask questions. If you are interested in the Fulbright Scholarship program, this is a session you should attend. Please register to attend by noon on November 13. 

Contact mlmarino@k-state.edu with any questions.

This session is part of the Office of International Programs’ International Education Week occurring November 8-17. 

10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 29

Successful innovation ecosystems strategically maximize economic, technological, and societal impact while cultivating a culture of progress and collaboration. UIDP has identified two timely topics related to innovation ecosystems of high importance that will be discussed at this event:

• The pressing contemporary issues of building and assessing innovation- ecosystems.
• Securing talent to bolster the well-being of these innovation communities.

Agenda Highlights

The event will focus primarily on: 

• Organizing for Impact: Proposal development, team building and effective staffing.
• Assessing Impact: Measuring economic development and talent retention.
• Small group discussions around talent, innovation and entrepreneurship, managing IP, optimizing diversity and more.

Learn more and register to attend.

The NSF-sponsored workshop on Sustainable Computing for Sustainability to be held in the Spring of 2024 has the dual goals of helping identify unaddressed sustainability challenges in the two areas below, as well as explore and offer guidance on how to build and sustain the interdisciplinary teams that those challenges typically require.



1. Computing for sustainability: How to harness computing to tackle sustainability problems such as climate change, or redesigning the power grid to better handle distributed renewable energy sources?
2. Sustainable computing: How do we ensure that computing does not itself contribute to creating sustainability problems and that it accounts for sustainability in its development and operation? 

To that end, the organizers are soliciting input from the research community to help guide the selection of themes the workshop should focus on. Inputs can be submitted using this form and you may submit multiple responses. Inputs will be accepted until November 20, 2023.

The Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention, or PIPP, Working Group at the National Science Foundation is seeking to identify possible panelists and their availability for the PIPP Phase II Centers competition. For that reason, we are conducting a short voluntary survey of those we believe may be valuable panelists and interested in participating. We would be grateful if you fill out the survey and consider being a panelist if you are not already taking part in the PIPP Phase II competition.

PIPP Phase II Panelist Survey

Panels will be held virtually on specific dates in February and March 2024. We expect each panel member to read and write reviews for approximately 6 full proposals. These reviews will be due about one week before the panel. Please hold the dates that you signed up for and assume you will be a panelist. You will be notified whether you have been selected for a panel no later than January 10th, 2024.   

In addition to finding panelists for PIPP Phase II, we would like to save your contact information and areas of expertise to help us find panelists and ad hoc reviewers in the future. For any questions or requests, please contact us at PIPP@nsf.gov.  

NASA's Science Mission Directorate is seeking subject matter experts to serve as external (email) and/or virtual panel reviewers of proposals to the "ROSES" research solicitation. 

All of the reviewer volunteer forms may be accessed on the main landing page or just follow the links below to the volunteer review forms. Once on a form, click the boxes to indicate the topics in which you consider yourself to be a subject matter expert. If your skills match our needs for that review and there are not too many organizational conflicts of interest, we will contact you to discuss scheduling.

Frontiers Informatics is seeking presenters at their next professional development opportunity from 4-6 p.m., on Thursday, Dec. 14. This opportunity provides professional development, networking, and the chance to display the success of your projects to others in the research community. If you would like to give a presentation, please sign up here or if you would like to join this exciting opportunity to connect with each other and our Frontiers Informatics colleagues, please register for the zoom webinar.

All are invited to attend a professional development opportunity and it is not limited to informatics research. All are invited to join this listening session where we will give exciting presentations and discuss how Informatics has contributed to the success of research projects.

The National Science Foundation is excited to announce the third Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, Office Hour!

When: 3-4 p.m., Wednesday, November 15

Office Hour Audience: This Office Hour will be of broad interest to stakeholders in EPSCoR jurisdictions, including potential future principal investigators.

Summary of Topic: The report on Envisioning the Future of NSF EPSCoR, published in August 2022, provided 8 recommendations for program improvement. Join us to find out what specific activities NSF EPSCoR has been working on in response to these recommendations and where the “Future of NSF EPSCoR” is heading. The discussion will include EPSCoR Section Head Sandra Richardson, NSF EPSCoR program officers, and the Future of EPSCoR subcommittee co-chair(s).

How to Attend: Advance registration is required. Register here to receive the link for the session. Please use an institutional email address for registration.

How to Submit Questions: Office Hour participants are encouraged to submit questions in advance through the registration form or by sending an email to epscor-office-hours@nsf.gov with “Office Hour Question” in the subject line. 

Register to attend.

November 28-30

Gaylord National Harbor in Washington D.C.

This is our 12th annual program, bringing together defense, private industry, federal agencies, and academic leadership to accelerate applications for state-of-the-art technology solutions. Our unique Innovation Partner packages for Defense TechConnect 2023 offers exceptional networking, showcase, pitch, and expo opportunities for your organization. By participating, you will have the chance to be front and center at one of the largest dedicated emerging tech and innovation matchmaking conferences of the year. Become a TechConnect Innovation Partner!

In addition to Defense TechConnect 2023, we are co-locating two conferences - SBIR/STTR Fall Innovation and Smart Cities 2023. This collaboration will provide a unique opportunity for networking and knowledge exchange.

Save the date and mark your calendars for this premier event! Already prepared to apply? Go ahead and submit your technology applications.

Saturday January 13, 2024

Sunday January 14, 2024

Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan, Kansas

The K-INBRE annual symposium is back once again, and we are excited to bring together students, faculty and staff from our 10 universities in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Register to attend by December 1.

Submit abstracts by December 1.

Symposium Schedule

Please contact Heiata Chapman or Clare Frantz with any questions.

Noon-1 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 21

The Directorate for STEM Education at the National Science Foundation is hosting a series of virtual office hours for the STEM Education Individual Postdoctoral Research Fellowships program to support PIs in preparing proposals for the upcoming deadline. These sessions are designed to complement the Program's recorded presentations.

The office hour sessions are an opportunity to communicate with NSF program directors via videoconference. Webinars will provide an overview of the program and the solicitation that supports awards for individual postdoctoral scholars. Office hours are designed as drop-in sessions for individuals who have questions about the program or the process of preparing proposals. You may also send questions to STEMEdPRF@nsf.gov.

Learn more and join.

Save the Date! Join the National Science Foundation for the Fall 2023 NSF Virtual Grants Conference, to be held during the week of December 4-7, 2023.

Registration will be free of charge and opens on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. Be on the lookout for the Registration is Open email, which will provide the registration links and details for this event.

In the meantime, please feel free to check nsfpolicyoutreach.com for the most up-to-date information and view recordings of sessions from previous conferences. You may also view the Spring 2023 Virtual Grants Conference recordings on our YouTube page. For those who cannot attend the live conference, all recorded conference sessions will be available on-demand shortly after the event and posted on our website and our YouTube page.

If you have any logistical questions about this virtual conference, please contact us at: grants_conference@nsf.gov

How Double-Stranded RNA Protects the Brain Against Infection While Making Damaging Neuroinflammation More Likely

When you get a run-of-the-mill viral infection, after a few days of symptoms your immune system typically fends off the bug, and you’ll make a full recovery. In rare cases, a virus can infect the brain. This can lead to much bigger problems, including cognitive impairments known as “brain fog,” other neuropsychiatric symptoms, potentially irreversible brain damage, or even death. For this reason, the brain, more than other parts of the body, relies heavily on immune responses that can control viral infections immediately. NIH

NIH researchers develop approach that could help supercharge T-cell therapies against solid tumors

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed a way to potentially increase the effectiveness of T cell–based immunotherapy treatments, such as CAR T-cell therapy, against solid tumors. T cells are specialized white blood cells of the immune system that eliminate infected or abnormal cells. In animal studies, the enhanced T-cell therapies were effective against cervical cancer and neuroblastoma, a common solid tumor in children. NIH

MilliMobile is a tiny, self-driving robot powered only by light and radio waves

Moving robots demands a lot of energy. Batteries, the typical power source, limit lifetime and raise environmental concerns. Researchers have explored various alternatives, but each has drawbacks: Insects roam; chargers limit range; lasers can burn people's eyes. NSF

Global fight against HIV is at risk

Will the United States remain committed to a landmark health program it started 20 years ago that saved more than 25 million lives around the world? For a younger generation of physicians, nurses, and researchers today, the depth of despair wrought by the HIV/AIDS epidemic at that time is almost unimaginable. Even more profoundly, for countries in Africa, the epidemic presented an existential threat. Without access to antiretroviral therapy or efficacious prevention tools, new infections continued unfettered, and people with HIV/AIDS faced near-certain death. Science

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