In this Newsletter

This event will provide an overview of the resources provided by UCR’s HPC Center along with a usage tutorial. Faculty, Postdocs and graduate students are welcome to attend. This includes a seminar-style introduction to the center’s hardware and software resources, including usage statistics, training events, online tutorials and access options via subscription and/or ownership models. The introduction will be followed by a tutorial about the general usage of the infrastructure covering the following topics: (i) user accounts, (ii) big data storage and backups, (iii) software management, installs and containerization; (iv) queuing system; (v) web-based access options; and (vi) external alternatives including AWS and XSEDE. During the tutorial section participants are welcome to follow along on their laptops. Guest accounts will be provided to new users.

Time and Date: 9:00 - 12:00 PM, Oct 26, 2018

Location: Campbell Hall 104 (University Lab Building)

Website: https://hpcc.ucr.edu/events_small.html

RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1HaDGpZMEJeV10phz2dpChKB-zyXE8Z77l8t3S-Vtr74/viewform?ts=5bbe285c&edit_requested=true

The HPCC website also has additional workshops include a Python workshop on Oct 18

I spent my sabbatical at the an Diego Super Computer Center and have invited them to UCR to give a seminar on the resources available at SDSC. Faculty, postdocs and graduate students are invited to attend a full day workshop. Some things that you may not be aware of:

The morning will provide general information and resources, and the afternoon will split into two parallel tracks (Data Science and Compute Intensive). You can select your preferred track during the RSVP process. An overview of the workshop agenda is provided below:

Morning Session:

Overview of SDSC resources and how to access them ~ 1 hour

Introduction to SDSC Comet ~ 2hours 

Afternoon Session 1 [Data Analysis and ML/DL Track]

Introduction to Machine Learning and Deep Learning on Comet [1.5 hours]

Afternoon Session 2 [HPC Applications Track]

Performance Tuning on HPC resources [1.5 hours]

Profiling and Tracing HPC Applications on Comet [1.5 hours]

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/san-diego-super-computer-center-workshop-tickets-51227655296

Time and Date: 930 - 4:30 PM, Nov 2, 2018

Location: Campbell Hall 104 (University Lab Building)

Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox

University of California, Riverside

 

invites you to attend the Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture presented by

 

Dr. France A. Córdova

Director of the National Science Foundation and

Chancellor Emerita of UC Riverside

 

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  

Highlander Union Building, Room 302

 

Please join us for a free lecture presented by Dr. France A. Córdova, who will discuss transforming the future of science by nurturing talented, skilled people from all backgrounds.

RSVP Here: https://myadv.ucr.edu/forms/ChancellorsDistinguishedLecture

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring a Proposers Day webcast to provide information to potential proposers on the objectives of an anticipated Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Accelerated Molecular Discovery (AMD) program.

The Proposers Day will be held via prerecorded webcast on October 18, 2018 from 10:00am -noon PST. Advance registration is required for viewing the webcast.

The goals of the AMD Proposers Day are to: (a) introduce the research community (Proposers, Academia, and Government) to the AMD program vision and goals; (b) explain the mechanics of a DARPA program and the milestones of this particular effort; and (c) encourage and promote teaming arrangements among potential organizations that have the relevant expertise, facilities, and capabilities for executing a research and development program responsive to the AMD program goals.

Registration and additional information regarding this SN can be found at the link below.

https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/DARPA/CMO/DARPA-SN-19-02/listing.html

For specific questions regarding this SN, please send email to [email protected] .

If you have not worked with DARPA before, please contact me at [email protected] for hints. DARPA is not NSF.

Several funding agencies have received full year funding including NIH, DOE and DOD. All others are funding with a continuing resolution through Dec 7.

Below are updates regarding some of UC's budget and appropriations research related priorities within the minibus packages that have recently been signed into law.

LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION AND RELATED AGENCIES

Department of Health and Human Services

ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES

Department of Energy

DEFENSE

Department of Defense (DoD) Research and Development is funded at $94.8 billion, $6.5 billion above FY 2018.

The above agencies have a full year budget that includes an increase over 2018 (and a substantial increase over 2017). Now is a good time to submit major proposals to these agencies. See the next note on NIA for example on the impact of NIH budget increases. Since NIH starts each year with approximately 80% of its budget dedicated to existing awards, a 5% increase means it now has 25% instead of 20% of it's budget dedicated to new awards an effective 25% increase. (As we saw in the recent past, a 5% decrease also means a 25% decrease in new awards)

Proposals submitted after February may be funded in 2020 and no one knows what the budget will hold in 2020 and beyond, but many feel the federal budget will level off or decline in 2020 as reducing deficits receives attention.

For agencies without full year funding, e.g., NSF and USDA, they have partial funding through Dec 7. It's difficult to predict what a new congress will do to finalize the 2019 budget, but the most likely scenario is that NSF will receive a small increase. There is no need to wait to submit proposals since NSF often takes 6 months or more to review proposals and the budget is likely to be finalized in 6 months.

On September 12th, 2018 Robin Barr, Director for the Division of Extramural Activities at the National Institute on Aging indicated ... [NIA] have expanded their general pay line to the 23rd percentile. Within the General Allocation, applications requesting $500,000 or more per year have a 20th-percentile funding line. Early stage investigators’ R01 applications have a 29th-percentile funding line. New investigators have a 26th-percentile line. You can see all of these numbers in a  table . The Alzheimer’s and related dementias funding lines have not changed from our May posting. The funding line for most of these R01s remains at the 28th percentile with an additional few percent for new and early-stage investigators.

The full article can be accessed here: https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/blog/2018/09/good-news-increased-pay-lines-ahead

Half-day Workshop on Aging

In the afternoon of Tuesday November 27th from 1-5pm, there will be a workshop for UCR faculty on the topic of Aging.

Please "Save the Date". More details and instructions on how to register will follow soon.

Organizing Committee:

Aaron Seitz, CHASS

Brandon Brown, SOM

Richard Carpiano, SPP

Xiaoping Hu, BCOE

Ye Li, GSM

Frances Sladek, CNAS

Gillian Wilson, RED

On August 20, 2018, Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health issued a  letter that discussed several concerns, including grantee failures to disclose substantial resource contributions from other organizations, such as foreign governments and foreign institutions of higher education, in grant applications. To ensure compliance with federal funding application rules, it is important to carefully follow the instructions published by federal sponsors. For your convenience, below are the NIH definition of Other Support , the NSF definition of Current and Pending Support and additional information.

Biographical Sketch – The Positions and Honors section should “List in chronological order the positions you’ve held that are relevant to this application, concluding with your present position.” 

Note: This should include appointments and positions at other institutions.

Biographical Sketch – “(b) Appointments. A list, in reverse chronological order, of all the individual's academic/professional appointments beginning with the current appointment.

Note: This would include appointments at other institution (foreign or domestic).

With heightened federal scrutiny and increasing concerns about this issue, it is more important than ever that together we ensure the submission of accurate and complete information about project support to Federal sponsors.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is hosting an informational webinar for institutions interested in learning more about DOL opportunities for higher education. DOL has indicated interest in working with institutions of higher education, in particular four-year institutions. This webinar will be an opportunity to learn more about DOL initiatives, resources, and opportunities. Information about how institutions can encourage work-based learning opportunities, including apprenticeships, will be provided. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask questions. 

 

This webinar builds on DOL’s July 2018 release of a funding opportunity to scale apprenticeships in several high-tech sectors including information technology (IT) and IT-related industries, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, financial services, and educational services. Lead applicants for the grants were required to be institutions of higher education.

 

Interest by the Administration in involving institutions of higher education in workforce development has also been evident in several policy pronouncements. This includes the establishment of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which is to include representatives from the education sector, the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, the DOL scaling apprenticeship grant, and other initiatives. Interest from Congress and the Administration in pairing higher education and workforce development is likely to continue.

 

Webinar Date: November 1, 2018

Time: 3pm-4pm EST

Webinar Link: https://dol.webex.com/dol/j.php?MTID=mf2e0c1f0278a544d690a812dd9b44c6a

Audio: 1-866-919-3594 Participant Code: 7697723

University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI)

The UCHRI facilitates experimental, interdisciplinary humanities scholarship through partnerships, research initiatives, and competitive grants. UCHRI recently released its 2018-19 Calls for Applications: https://uchri.org/grants/

 

 

 

 

For detailed information about these opportunities, go to https://uchri.org/news/uchri-announces-2019-20-calls-for-applications-including-six-new-grant-opportunities/ .

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES: Grants (Institutions)

 

 

Individual links to these grants can be found at:

https://www.neh.gov/grants/listing?f[0]=opportunity_open_or_closed:1

 

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS: Grants (Individuals)

 

 

The National Science Foundation has released Program Solicitation 19-501, Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations. This program will make an estimated 7-9 awards from a pool of $3 million to $6 million to support strategic linkages between U.S. and international research networks to stimulate and foster critical research advances. The AccelNet program builds on NSF investments in research networks, international network connectivity, large-scale science and engineering facilities, and research centers located both inside and outside the U.S. This new funding opportunity is designed to foster networks of networks, creating links between multiple networks that cross international boundaries, rather than creating a single new network (i.e., Research Coordination Networks).

 

A network is considered to be an established, coordinated, distributed group of scientific researchers who cooperate within or across fields to collect and share resources, knowledge, and expertise. A network of networks is a link among networks to amplify connections and leverage resources to accelerate advancement of the frontiers of science and engineering. Proposed international network-to-network collaborations must go beyond existing research networks to forge new linkages or enhance existing connections among networks to create novel connections and leverage expertise, data, facilities, and/or other resources. Participants in the network of networks may include stakeholders from universities, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private industry, so long as the goals of the network of networks are focused on advancing the frontiers of science, engineering, and STEM education.

 

There will be two classes of awards:

 

1. Catalytic (up to 3 years; total budget up to $750,000) – Networks of networks at the catalytic level may either be nascent in nature or be more established but have a limited-term goal.

 

2. Full-Scale Implementation (up to 5 years; total budget up to $2 million) – Full-Scale Implementation networks of networks are envisioned as consisting of a core of networks in the U.S. and abroad that are operational, have established an understanding of the status of the research and researchers across their fields, and are well-positioned to engage each other to advance research. Examples of the types of activities that projects at the Full-Scale Implementation level could undertake include, but are not limited to, coordinating goals among networks, developing and disseminating products and practices, engaging in synthesis efforts to integrate and transfer knowledge, and expanding effective professional development activities for students and postdoctoral scholars in international networks.

 

There is no limit on the number of proposals per institution, but an individual may participate in only one proposal per cycle.

 

Letters of intent are due December 21, 2018, and full proposals February 28, 2019. In the next cycle, letters of intent will be due October 30, 2019, and full proposals January 31, 2020.

 

The solicitation is available at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19501/nsf19501.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click .

On September 26, Fannie Mae announced its call for ideas on Healthy Affordable Housing. This call is part of Fannie Mae’s Sustainable Communities Innovation Challenge (The Challenge), which is a $10 million commitment to generate affordable housing issues to create housing opportunities that are safe, sustainable, and affordable while managing risk to protect lenders, homeowners and tax payers. 

 

Fannie Mae seeks ideas that respond to one or more of the following statements:

 

Fannie Mae defines sustainable communities as “safe, stable, thriving, vibrant communities that are resilient to shocks and stresses, and that offer residents integrated access to quality affordable housing and quality economic, health, and educational opportunities.” Healthy Affordable Housing is phase two of The Challenge, with phase one awarded in June 2018 and phase three to be announced in 2019. Informational webinars for applicants will be held on October 16 at 11:00am PT and October 23 at 11:00am PT.

 

Eligible projects include the following:



Research and Design

 

“Eligible scopes of work: Development of early stage ideas, including applied research, planning and/or feasibility studies; the design of prototypes, processes, model policies or pilot programs. These awards are for pre-pilot stage ideas and support projects to assess whether an interesting idea shows promise and value. The maximum contract award amount is $250,000, and the implementation timeline is up to 12 months.”

 

Idea Development

 

“Eligible scopes of work: Refinement of later-stage concepts, technologies, policies, practices, and/or programs that are ready for testing, initial implementation, and/or refinement. These awards will support further development of ideas that have: 1) completed research and design work that indicates the idea has promise and value; or 2) shown some early promise but have yet to fully pilot. Applicants submitting ideas at the Idea Development stage will be asked to provide initial proof of concept such as completed research and design work or other documentation that supports the value or promise of the idea. The maximum contract award amount is $500,000, and the implementation timeline is up to 24 months.”

 

Eligibility:  Only one idea submission per applicant. Public, private, nonprofit sector organizations, individuals, and cross-sector teams are eligible to apply. “Applicants applying as individuals or teams of individuals will need to demonstrate that they are an established business entity or will need to partner with an established entity if selected as contract awardees. Submissions from cross-sector teams are particularly encouraged.” 

 

Due Date: Submit ideas by November 1, 2018 at 5:00pm PT.

 

Sources and Additional Information :

As part of the strategic relationship between UC and OptumLabs, OptumLabs will provide up to seven UC researchers with OptumLabs-funded access to its database of de-identified, linked clinical and administrative claims information (terms and conditions apply).

 

The credit includes data access for one research project and OptumLabs technology infrastructure with standard configuration for two users. Each project is scheduled to last one year after data access is granted (unless an extension deadline is filed and approved).

 

OptumLabs is an open, collaborative center for research and innovation focused on improving patient care and value. The comprehensive real-world data with nearly 200 million de-identified lives across claims and clinical information contains a rich, linked dataset, which can be used to conduct broad or narrow investigations on populations and unique subsets within them.

 

We will be soliciting proposals for research ideas that leverage the OptumLabs data. Examples of research projects using OptumLabs data include: variation in care, utilization, safety and efficacy, predictive modeling, policy and incentives, outcomes, methods, literature review, health economics, guidelines/quality of care, epidemiology, disparities, delivery of care, and comparative effectiveness.

 

TIMELINE

 

ELIGIBILITY

Note: Previous awardees are eligible to apply for a new project.

 

Note: If you have resources to pay for access to the OLDW, you can move forward now. OLDW research can also be conducted using grant funding, and the OptumLabs team can support grant applications/proposals with feasibilities and letters of support.

Email Rick Little (OptumLabs Partner Relationship Executive) at [email protected] if you would like the fee schedule or more information.

 

Get more information by visiting the UC-OptumLabs microsite/knowledge repository:

https://sp.ucop.edu/sites/its/immediate/ciosupport/internal/optumlabs/

 

Ask questions about the OptumLabs data or your research idea by contacting Sarah Thayer, PhD (OptumLabs Director of Research) at [email protected].

 

Stay up to date on the latest OptumLabs opportunities and information by signing up for the OptumLabs listserv:

https://goo.gl/NgvXiw

Here's a horned lark from San Diego. San Diego is one of the best areas for birding, but summer is not the best season. I timed my sabbatical for least impact on UCR not for best birding. Nonetheless, I found some horned larks after 3 tries on Fiesta Island.