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NSF RCN-SEES: CE3SAR Research Opportunities
EPA: Climate and Integrated Assessment Modeling Studies
This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits proposals that advance the field of the economic and integrated assessment modeling of climate change through expert modeling comparisons and studies.
The closing date and time for receipt of proposal submissions, regardless of mode of submission, is 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on July 27, 2012. All hard copy proposal packages and electronic submissions through www.grants.gov must be received by EPA by 4:00p.m., EST on July 27, 2012 in order to be considered for funding. Proposals submitted electronically via www.grants.gov must be submitted by 4:00 p.m., EST on July 27, 2012. Proposals received after the closing date and time will not be considered for funding. Final applications will be requested from those eligible entities whose proposals have been successfully evaluated and preliminarily recommended for award.
NASA: Land-Cover/Land-Use Change
The LCLUC program has a special place in NASA Earth Science in developing interdisciplinary approaches combining aspects of physical, social, and economic sciences, with a high level of societal relevance, while using remote sensing tools, methods, and data.
This program element uses a two-step proposal process (see Section 2.3), with required Step-1 proposals due December 1, 2012. Those invited to submit Step-2 proposals must do so by June 1, 2013. Proposals need to be aligned with the LCLUC program goals and themes (see http://lcluc.hq.nasa.gov).
NASA: Remote Sensing of Water Quality
The Terrestrial Hydrology and Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Programs support this program element. Both programs support Presidential mandates and associated Federal research objectives, e.g., the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (http://www.globalchange.gov) and its strategic plan, The National Ocean Policy Draft Implementation Plan (http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/implementationplan).
Funds for this solicitation will be pending the Federal budget process for the Fiscal Year 2013. NASA expects to make selections in October 2012. Proposal start dates should be no earlier than January 1, 2013.
NASA: The Soil Moisture Active-Passive Mission Science Team
Proposals are solicited for participation in the Science Team (ST) for the Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) mission.
The Soil Moisture Active-Passive mission will use both active (radar) and passive (radiometer) L-band microwave remote sensing to determine the land surface soil moisture and freeze/thaw state. These measurements will advance the study of the water, carbon, and energy cycles, both individually and at their points of interconnection. The objective of this solicitation is to select a Science Team to assist with prelaunch and postlaunch science activities of the SMAP mission. The ST will function for the period from October 1, 2013, through the second year of the postlaunch science operations phase (SOP), currently planned to be January 25, 2017, for a total of 40 months.
CREATIV: Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures
Proposals for support in FY 2012 may be submitted at any time between December 1, 2011, and June 15, 2012
Creative Research Awards for Transformative Interdisciplinary Ventures (CREATIV): a pilot grant mechanism under the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) initiative, to support bold interdisciplinary projects in all NSF-supported areas of science, engineering, and education research.
CREATIV is the first grant award mechanism under INSPIRE, and will be the only one launched in FY 2012. In brief, its distinguishing characteristics are: only internal merit review is required; proposals must be interdisciplinary and potentially transformative; requests may be up to $1,000,000 and up to five years duration (further details and specifications below). In the future, further announcements will be made regarding INSPIRE activities to be launched in FY 2013 and beyond. The funding for INSPIRE in future years is expected to increase substantially each year, reaching a steady state in FY 2016.
NSF Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP)
The Science of Science & Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program supports research designed to advance the scientific basis of science and innovation policy. Research funded by the program thus develops, improves and expands models, analytical tools, data and metrics that can be applied in the science policy decision making process. For example, research proposals may develop behavioral and analytical conceptualizations, frameworks or models that have applications across a broad array of SciSIP challenges, including the relationship between broader participation and innovation or creativity. Proposals may also develop methodologies to analyze science and technology data, and to convey the information to a variety of audiences. Researchers are also encouraged to create or improve science and engineering data, metrics and indicators reflecting current discovery, particularly proposals that demonstrate the viability of collecting and analyzing data on knowledge generation and innovation in organizations.
Among the many research topics supported are:
- examinations of the ways in which the contexts, structures and processes of science and engineering research are affected by policy decision, - the evaluation of the tangible and intangible returns from investments in science and from investments in research and development, - the study of structures and processes that facilitate the development of usable knowledge, theories of creative processes and their transformation into social and economic outcomes, - the collection, analysis and visualization of new data describing the scientific and engineering enterprise.
NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program
Deadline: Fall 2012
The Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program supports research that addresses complex climate sensitive issues of concern to decision-makers and policy planners at a regional level. The RISA research team members are primarily based at universities though some of the team members are based at government research facilities, non-profit organizations or private sector entities. Traditionally the research has focused on the fisheries, water, wildfire, and agriculture sectors. The program also supports research into climate sensitive public health issues. Recently, coastal restoration has also become an important research focus for some of the teams.
NOAA Sector Applications Research Program (SARP)
Deadline: Fall 2012
NOAA's Climate Program has recently established a Regional Decision Support (RDS) effort to accelerate the Program's interaction with users of climate information and forecasts at multiple spatial and geographical scales. The RDS portfolio helps NOAA identify and serve the nation's needs for climate information to support decision making through an integrated program of: 1) research and assessment related to impacts and decision making needs; 2) transition of research to operations; and 3) operational production and delivery of local and regional climate services that can be utilized to enhance adaptive management options. NOAA's RDS activities include efforts managed by the research and operational entities of the agency, and involve productive partnerships with other agencies, universities and stakeholders. In support of the research component of the RDS effort, the newly established NOAA Sector Applications Research Program (SARP) will identify and promote research and application priorities that foster improved decision support for fundamental climate-related issues in key socio-economic sectors.
NSF Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER)
The Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program was established under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NSF and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). PEER is a USAID-funded competitive grants program that provides an opportunity to support scientists in developing countries who work with NSF-funded scientists at U.S. institutions. PEER is intended to build scientific capacity and empower researchers in developing countries to use science and technology to address local and global development challenges. PEER funding may be used to train students and faculty, equip laboratories and field stations, and fund research, building scientific networks to address global challenges.
NSF RCN-SEES: CE3SAR Engagement Opportunities
Business has made great progress in internalizing the concept of sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit, and is now addressing its role in society at large. Rio+20 will focus on how business can engage more fully in this process and act as a catalyst for action by identifying ways in it can achieve the most effective synergy with government, while helping shape the sustainability agenda over the next 20 years.
The WBCSD is developing specific deliverables for Rio+20 which are to:
Demonstrate the WBCSD’s role as the business thought leader on sustainability issues; Be recognized for the progress the WBCSD and its members have made since 1992; Insert key positions in outcome documents; Create vehicles for member companies to tell their stories and engage in the process.
Application deadline: April 20, 2012
Sustainability is emerging as a central theme for teaching about the environment, whether it be from the perspective of science, economics, or society. This workshop is for undergraduate faculty from all disciplines who are interested in a stronger integration of geoscience and other perspectives in teaching sustainability. We encourage applicants from the geosciences, other sciences, social sciences, economics, and humanities.
Texas Groundwater Summit - August 28-30, Austin, TX
Join us for an in-depth look at all things Texas groundwater – hear from expert speakers and panels, visit with exhibitors, and network with groundwater industry leaders – expected attendance of over 250!
Get the latest updates and discuss issues related to the drought; groundwater legislation, policy, and management; hydraulic fracturing; joint and regional planning; and emerging groundwater technology and programs.
Take a refresher course on groundwater and its management with our “ABCs of GCDs” program!
Who Should Attend?
- Groundwater conservation district staff and board members - Legislative, agency, and university leaders and staff - Municipalities, counties, water providers, and members of RWPGs - Groundwater industry professionals, including lawyers, engineers, and geologists - Oil and Gas industry professionals - Groundwater technology experts and vendors - Organizations and people interested in the future of groundwater in Texas
NSF RCN-SEES: CE3SAR Relevant Presentations
Rincon Bayou Reclamation Project 1994-1999
NSF RCN-SEES: CE3SAR Educational Tools
Creating a Learning Community for Solutions to Climate Change
The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) and the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) announce the launch of the Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning (CAMEL) online resource and community portal, January 19, 2012 at the 12th NCSE National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Environment and Security in Washington, DC.
CAMEL is a free, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-media online resource for faculty members and other educators to enable them to effectively teach about climate change causes, consequences, solutions, and actions...
Everything You Wanted To Know About Hydraulic Fracturing
Welcome to FracFocus, the hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website. This website is a joint project of the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
On this site you can search for information about the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells. You will also find educational materials designed to help you put this information in perspective.
NSF RCN-SEES: CE3SAR Documents
BEST3RN: A Built Environment Sustainability Transdisciplinary, Transinstitutional, and Transnational Research Network
The Vision
The vision of this proposal is to provide a higher and sustainable quality of life for people as individuals, families, communities, and organizations, and a higher and sustainable quality of place in the natural, built, and virtual environments, where people live, work, learn, heal, play, interact, and more, by coalescing and engaging researchers in engineering, science, architecture, business ...
SEP White Papers from Southwest Research Institute
(For Official Use Only by Members of the CE3SAR Research Coordination Network)
Potential to Leverage the CE3SAR RCN Collaboration to Pursue Specific NSF Sustainable Energy Pathways Proposals October 5, 2011
The purpose of this document is to provide a framework for identifying potential proposal opportunities within the Sustainable Energy Pathways (SEP) program. Its focus is leveraging the recently awarded multi-organizational Research Collaboration Network project Climate, Energy, Environment, and Engagement in Semi-Arid Regions (CE3SAR RCN) for maximum benefit to the NSF and the nation, as well as the participating organizations.
Through the SEP program, the National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to support innovative, basic research in science, engineering, and education for developing systems approaches to sustainable energy pathways. These approaches would be based on a full understanding of the pertinent scientific, technical, environmental, economic, and societal issues. Fundamental considerations for development of proposed sustainable energy pathways include (i) scientific knowledge and technological innovation; (ii) economic, societal, and environmental priorities; and (iii) education and workforce development. According to the solicitation, proposed systems approaches must support the overarching theme of sustainability, which is commonly defined by the triple objective of environmental benignity, economic feasibility, and social legitimacy. In addition to integrating these objectives in a scientific and engineering research plan, proposals must present a multidisciplinary team to accomplish NSF research and educational objectives.
The CE3SAR RCN thematic focus on climate, energy, environment, and engagement aligns with the NSF SEP program objectives. The CE3SAR RCN also provides a multidisciplinary platform for assembling teams from across its member institutions to conduct the solicited research. Strengthened by its region-specific focus on highly engaged communities of stakeholders in South Texas, the CE3SAR RCN is well composed to deliver one or more winning proposals in specific areas of science, engineering, and education. The NSF SEP solicitation identifies seven topical areas of research on scalable systems approaches for energy sustainability. These are
(1) Energy harvesting and conversion from renewable resources (2) Sustainable energy storage solutions (3) Critical elements and materials for sustainable energy (4) Nature-inspired processes for sustainable energy solutions (5) Reducing carbon intensity from energy conversion and use (6) Sustainable energy transmission and distribution (7) Energy efficiency and management
Any one of these topical areas can be cast on the South Texas region and addressed by some appropriate subset of CE3SAR RCN member institutions. Given the breadth and depth of capabilities available within its member institutions, multiple proposals could be considered by appropriately constructed teams. Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) has interest in several areas; depending on interest of other member institutions, SwRI can lead proposal development or participate with others who may be better positioned to take the lead. Topic (1) emphasizes renewable energy sources, which fits many capabilities and experiences SwRI presented in separate discussion with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in January 2011. Topic (2) includes a call for new approaches for modeling and analysis of energy storage and consumption patterns, as well as life-cycle analysis for energy storage. Within SwRI, the Geosciences and Engineering Division (GED) has extensive expertise in long-term risk assessment, network systems analysis, and geographical information systems (GIS), all of which are applicable to this topic. Topics (2) and (3) address constituent materials and processes, where GED, the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division, and Mechanical Engineering Division have substantial expertise. Topic (5) addresses carbon management, climate change mitigation through green house gas emissions reduction, and carbon capture and sequestration. This topic aligns with an SwRI internal research and outreach initiative in this area. For the past three years, SwRI has sponsored an annual Industry Lecture Series focusing on control of carbon emissions and low carbon energy technologies, which has involved speakers from industry and government, and stakeholders from the public and private sectors. Topics (6) and (7) cover design, operational management, and security of energy infrastructure systems. These topics align well with capabilities of several divisions of SwRI, including the Automation and Data Systems Division, Smart Grid projects, and engagement with City Public Service of San Antonio, the largest municipal utility in the nation and a leader in alternative and renewable energy.
Next Steps:
If interested in discussing with Southwest Research Institute possible participation in any of the topical areas outlined in this discussion, including teaming on specific potential proposal initiatives, please contact Wes Patrick at 210.522.5158 or wesley.patrick@swri.org.
Potential Proposal for NSF Sustainable Energy Pathways Program
A Quantitative Framework for Evaluating Sustainability Energy Pathway Alternatives October 6, 2011
Most new technologies developed either to improve energy production from existing sources (e.g., nuclear, hydroelectricity) or from new sources (e.g., solar, biomass, etc.) are carried out within the boundary of individual subject matter disciplines. Furthermore, they often are limited with respect to how much of the energy development and utilization process is evaluated (e.g., waste production and related impacts commonly are ignored). To objectively evaluate sustainability, however, it is essential to incorporate the many perspectives that simply cannot be addressed by individual disciplines, and to assess all aspects of energy source. The scenarios that must be considered for understanding the ultimate impact of a potential improvement to an existing technology or a newly developed technology can very quickly get highly complex and tenuous from the standpoint of conducting an equitable comparison of sustainable technologies. For informed decision making, there is a critical need for sustainability studies to use a quantitative framework that is suitable for comparing energy sources against each other using a common set of criteria and appropriate consideration of uncertainties while exposing these sources to a variety of stressors.
We propose to take an integrated approach and develop a conceptual framework that will encompass a variety of energy sources. Although not all aspects may be able to be incorporated in the first phase of developing the analysis tool, the framework envisions treating the entire life cycle of each alternative energy source or combination of sources. Thus, it will examine a full range of possible positive and negative effects, starting with characterization and continuing through development, production, utilization, and disposition of any arising wastes. The product of the proposed research initiative will be a system-level quantitative analysis tool for analyzing, comparing, and ranking pathways to sustainability with appropriate consideration of uncertainties. The conceptual framework development will be inherently multidisciplinary because a variety of existing and alternative energy sources will be the starting points for each pathway. The framework will involve a set of criteria, against which various energy sources and deployment scenarios will be evaluated for screening. Model results will be evaluated against a common performance or decision metric such as life cycle cost/benefit ratio. Model results and their sensitivities will also be evaluated with respect to several intermediate metrics such as energy cost, adverse impact on resource needs, environmental/ health effects, vulnerability to disruptive sources, disposition or wastes and residues (e.g., carbon dioxide production associated with hydrogen energy production and nuclear waste associated with nuclear power) and the like The framework will provide avenues to compare the impact of very-low-probability disruption of high intensity and large-scale energy sources (e.g., nuclear power) against higher-probability disruption of more geographically-dispersed, low-intensity energy sources (e.g., wind, solar) for continuous supply of electricity to a grid network.
We propose to develop this approach in three phases. Phase I will focus on developing a modeling tool for a selected list of energy sources. Phase II will include a mixture of sustainable energy source pathways. Multi-criteria-objective optimization will be carried out to identify the best option, with the constraints of available data and associated uncertainties. Phase III will involve testing the model for a manageable-size representative geographic region for which reasonably good data would be available. The ultimate goal, which may or may not be achievable in Phase III depending on data demands and availability, is to test the model at the south Texas region scale. This framework will be flexible enough to provide an understanding of the impacts of new developments in technology in relation to the other existing technologies.
Next Steps: If interested in discussing with Southwest Research Institute possible participation in this potential proposal initiative, please contact Wes Patrick at 210.522.5158 or wesley.patrick@swri.org.
NSF Proposal
Steering Committee Research Summaries
Presentations
Presentation at NSF March 2011
Graphic depiction of the role of GIS technologies
Meeting Notes
2012
2011
