The University Record, January 10, 2000

Research Reporter

Research opportunities, application deadlines, U-M policies concerning sponsored research, campus research resources and more are available on the Research Web site. Point your browser to www.research.umich.edu. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Division of Research Development and Administration.

Kathryn DeWitt Joins the DRDA Staff

Kathryn (Kathy) DeWitt has joined the DRDA staff as an assistant project representative and will be replacing Neil Gerl, who recently retired.

Kathy graduated cum laude from Eastern Michigan University. Since 1988 she has served in a number of positions at the University, and most recently was an administrative associate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Before her positions at the University, she worked at the Ann Arbor Family Practice and the National Bank of Detroit. Her work experience in the College of Engineering has equipped her well to join DRDA, bringing the user perspective to our team. Kathy’s phone number is 763-6438 and fax is 764-8510; you can reach her by sending e-mail to: dewitt@umich.edu.

National Science Foundation Announces $50 Million ‘Special Competition’ for Grants on Biocomplexity in the Environment

The National Science Foundation has announced a special competition to award $50 million in grants under the Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative.

The competition will support work in two areas:

  • Integrated Research to better understand and model complexity that arises from the interaction of biological, physical and social systems, specifically research projects that directly explore nonlinearities, chaotic behavior, emergent phenomena or feedbacks within and between systems and/or integrate across multiple components or scales of time and space in order to better understand and predict the dynamic behavior of systems. Research projects can be up to five years in duration. Annual budgets may be up to $600,000, with budgets up to $1 million each year possible if extremely well justified.

  • Incubation Activities that enable groups of researchers who have not historically collaborated on biocomplexity research to develop projects via focused workshops, virtual meetings and other types of development and planning activities. Incubation Activities can be up to two years duration with total budgets not to exceed $100,000 and cannot be renewed.

    The program announcement describing the initiative can be found at www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf0022/nsf0022.htm.

    The deadline for letters of intent is Jan. 31, and for proposals March. The anticipated date of awards is September 2000. DRDA Contact: Dave Plawchan, 764-7237 or davedrda@umich.edu.

    Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation--Grant Application Announcement

    The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation focuses on funding research for innovative grants for translational research in ovarian, uterine, breast or cervical cancer. Translational research is broadly defined as research that will provide a scientific link between laboratory research and the clinic. The grant will be up to $100,000 (combined direct and indirect costs) for a two-year period. As only one grant application will be accepted from the University of Michigan, please send a letter of nomination from the department chair, a curriculum vitae and a one-page summary of the proposed research to Jan Rosan at M7300 Med Sci I, Box 0624, by Jan. 21 for consideration.

    DRDA’s Arts & Humanities Sponsored Projects Workshop

    The Arts and Humanities Workshop will be an introduction to DRDA and sponsored projects at the University, focusing specifically on the needs of arts and humanities scholars.

    Areas covered include contacts and services at DRDA, finding funding opportunities, writing letters of inquiry and proposal narratives, developing a project budget and proposal processing. Sample funding searches, letters of inquiry, proposal narratives and budgets will be reviewed, followed by a question and answer session.

    The workshop will be presented by Chris Black, Addie Ryznar and Jamie Saville 8:30 a.m.–noon Jan. 27 in Suite 18, Wolverine Tower. For on-line registration, consult the Research Web site (www.research.umich.edu). Cost of the workshop is $10 for materials. If you have any questions, contact Janet Seegert, 764-7241 or jseegert@umich.edu.

    2000 Edition of Funding Opportunities in the Health Sciences Is Available

    The 2000 edition of DRDA’s publication Funding Opportunities in the Health Sciences is now available. Copies already have been sent to administrators in health-related departments. If additional copies are needed, please contact Laurie Wadhams at wadhams@umich.edu or Julie Feldkamp at feldkamp@umich.edu.

    The electronic version of this publication is located on the Research Web site at www.research.umich.edu/research/funding/healthbook.html. It is updated continuously as new sponsor information is received, and can be searched by keyword(s), sponsor name and/or deadline date. It also contains URL links to sponsor Web sites, many of which provide sponsor application forms and guidelines. We encourage you to use the electronic version and welcome any feedback or comments.

    The Lilly Centre for Women’s Health

    The Lilly Centre for Women’s Health will provide monetary grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 for pilot projects in both basic gender-based research and clinical studies in women’s health, including analysis of existing clinical data or small clinical projects. No indirect costs may be charged against the grant under this program.

    Detailed information on this announcement can be found at: www.research.umich.edu/research/news/research_reporter/fy00/000110/Lilly.html.

    Deadline: March 15. DRDA contact: Tom Zdeba, 764-7250 or tzdeba@umich.edu.