NASA K-12 STEM & Teacher Professional Development

NASA is seeking proposals that focus on secondary education and incorporate innovative approaches for development and delivery of instructional materials, create experiences that capture the interest of learners, and actively involve participants in NASA science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content applications.

Amount: $750,000 - $1.5m over two years

Due: September 25, 2009

Proposals initiating professional development opportunities for in-service educators. This funding category supports sustained secondary education level in-service teacher professional development, with emphasis on reaching high school level educators. Proposals should utilize NASA content to enhance teacher content knowledge and confidence in teaching STEM. Proposals should articulate, in reasonable detail, how teachers will apply knowledge gained through participation in the proposed activity to the classroom. Proposers should also identify where and how NASA-unique content will be integrated into teaching activities. Proposals for in-service professional development should involve schools, school districts, state departments of education, or other academic institutions, where appropriate.

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Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU Sites must have a well-defined common focus that enables a cohort experience for students. These projects may be based in a single discipline or academic department, or on interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme.

Amount: Varies

Due: October 22, 2009

REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program. This solicitation features two mechanisms for support of student research: (1) REU Sites are based on independent proposals to initiate and conduct projects that engage a number of students in research. REU Sites may be based in a single discipline or academic department, or on interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme. Proposals with an international dimension are welcome. A partnership with the Department of Defense supports REU Sites in DoD-relevant research areas.

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NOAA Coastal & Marine Habitat Restoration

Through this solicitation, NOAA seeks to openly compete funding available for multi-year national and regional habitat restoration Partnerships. Partnerships will result in implementation of a wide-range of individual habitat restoration projects, from locally-driven, grass-roots projects that emphasize stewardship and hands-on restoration, to mid-scale, watershed level projects that yield significant ecological and socio-economic benefits.

Amount: $250,000 - $5 million

Due: September 30, 2009

NOAA envisions working jointly on such Partnerships through its Community-based Restoration Program (CRP) to identify, evaluate, fund, and administer projects that offer this range of ecological, socio- economic and stewardship benefits to coastal watershed communities.

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Impact of Climate Change on Extreme Floods in the Western United States

The Bureau of Reclamation announces the availability of funding to explore questions relating to extreme floods and climate change.

Amount: $200,000

Due: August 10, 2009

Does the paleoflood chronology in the western U.S. indicate increased frequency and magnitude during specific, long-term climate shifts, and do those floods correlate well with the long-term, streamflow record? To develop the chronology, this study will: (1) conduct paleoflood field studies, (2) utilize two geochronology techniques for validating age constraints of paleofloods, and (3) run hydraulic models to estimate the discharge of individual paleofloods. By combining these three methodologies, a robust paleoflood chronology can be developed that will reveal critical information about theoretical questions about extreme hydrologic responses to climate change. Further work will focus on implications for flood hydroclimatology and flood frequency analyses. Results from this study will be disseminated widely to various state and federal agencies, non-profit groups and floodplain managers.

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Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP)

The SciSIP program underwrites fundamental research that creates new explanatory models, analytic tools and datasets designed to inform the nation’s public and private sectors about the processes through which investments in science and engineering (S&E) research are transformed into social and economic outcomes.

Amount: $50,000 - $400,000 across 3 years

Due: December 16, 2009

The FY 2009 competition includes three emphasis areas: Analytical Tools, Model Building, and Data Development and Augmentation. The emergent body of research will develop and utilize techniques for retrospective and prospective analyses. In addition, research will provide insight into factors that propagate new ideas at levels from the molecular functioning of the human brain to the organizational, state, national and international levels as well as advances the analysis and visualization of datasets describing complex social relationships and networks.

In addition to these three emphasis areas, the FY 2009 competition particularly encourages the submission of proposals that demonstrate the viability of collecting and analyzing data on knowledge generation and innovation in organizations. In addition to providing innovative and scientifically based ways of describing and analyzing knowledge generation and innovation in organizations, these demonstration projects should address three specific aspects of the data collection approach:

• scalability and sustainability;
• protection of the confidentiality of respondents in computerized, widely accessible databases; and
• evaluation and assessment of the project's progress towards its scientific goals

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Enduring Questions: Pilot Course Grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announces the availability of the Enduring Questions grant program supports a faculty member’s development of a new course that will foster intellectual community through the study of an enduring question. This course will encourage undergraduate students and a teacher to grapple with a fundamental question addressed by the humanities, and to join together in a deep and sustained program of reading in order to encounter influential thinkers over the centuries and into the present day.

Amount: $25,000

Due: September 15, 2009

An Enduring Questions grant supports the development of a new undergraduate humanities course that must be taught at least twice during the grant period. The grant supports the work of a faculty member in designing, preparing, and assessing the course. It may also be used for ancillary activities that enhance faculty-student intellectual community, such as visits to museums and artistic or cultural events. An Enduring Questions course may be taught by a faculty member from any department or discipline in the humanities or by a faculty member outside the humanities (e.g., astronomy, biology, economics, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology), so long as humanities sources are central to the course.

For more information, click here.