workshop

BIOTECHNOLOGY/BIOECONOMY WORKSHOPS ADDRESS CRITICAL NATIONAL NEEDS RELEVANT TO NSF REGIONAL INNOVATION ENGINES

The Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Engineering (ENG) Geosciences (GEO), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), in collaboration with the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnership (TIP), have led a series of workshops that catalyzed community engagement in topics relevant to the Regional Innovation Engines (Engines) funding opportunity that seeks to expand our Nation’s innovation capacity and enhance the Nation’s economic and industrial competitiveness.

The workshops focused on topics that addressed how advances in biotechnology and other fields could advance the U.S. bioeconomy to solve pressing societal problems.  Workshops were facilitated by University Industry Demonstration Partnerships (UIDP) and brought together stakeholders from academia, industry, government, and private foundations.

More information and links to the workshop reports can be found below.

A final workshop on Innovation Ecosystems for Adaptive Sustainable Health  will be held on May 10-11, 2022.

Once finalized, all workshop reports will be made available on the UIDP website, check back here for more information.

Common topics discussed in the workshops that are crucial in establishing successful Engines include:

  • Advancements in fundamental science and technology
  • Developing data repositories on shared and standardized platforms
  • Working across the value chain to translate innovation into impact
  • Identifying best practices in establishing partnerships and stakeholder engagement
  • Collaborating with social scientists to ensure effective messaging that fortifies public trust of new technologies
  • Establishing a resilient and sustainable supply chain
  • Establishing robust cross-disciplinary training and education programs

Learn more about the Engines Program
Individuals interested in Regional Innovation Engines should consult the Broad Agency Announcement – including the FAQs, which lay out possible topics of interest.  Also, consider attending the webinars hosted by the TIP Directorate, the first of which is May 17, at 1 PM EDT. The link for registration is here.

BIO hosts annual HBCU-EiR Proposal Writing Workshops

On June 7 and June 13, program directors from the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) will be hosting two proposal writing workshops geared toward faculty members who teach and conduct research at HBCUs. The proposal writing workshop includes information on the basics of merit review as well as a session on writing  a review and participating in a mock panel. While it is tailored to the Excellence in Research (EiR) program, the workshop is not restricted to faculty interested in applying to the EiR program. If you would like to attend the workshop, please email mcbwebreg@nsf.gov to obtain a registration form before April 28.

This is a follow-up to the webinars that BIO hosted in April, geared toward faculty members who are interested in applying to NSF’s HBCU EiR program. The slides from those webinars can be found below.

March2022_BIO_HBCU Webinar

Fourth Interdisciplinary Workshop in Series on Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Approaching

The fourth and concluding workshop of a series of interdisciplinary workshops to engage research communities around the topic of Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 22-23.

Registration is required. Click here for more information about the workshop.

Updated Guidelines for Conference and Workshop Proposals

The Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) has updated its guidelines for conference and workshop proposals to reflect changes in NSF’s latest Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG 20-1). Both the new PAPPG and these updates go into effect June 1, 2020. The new guidelines emphasize MCB-specific funding priorities and best practices for submitting proposals requesting funding to support conferences, workshops, and other meetings.

The infographic below summarizes key tips for submitting competitive conference and workshop proposals. Contact your MCB program director with questions or comments.

*Budget with Justification – Additional budget guidelines include the following:

  • Attendees whose primary purpose at the meeting is to learn and receive training are considered participants and their costs should be listed on Lines F. 1-4, “Participant Support Costs.”
  • Speakers and trainers generally are not considered participants; their costs should be listed on the appropriate line, e.g., “Other Direct Costs: Other” (Line G.6). [PAPPG Chapt II.C.2.v Participant Support]
  • Indirect costs do not apply to the “Participant Support Costs” category, but they do apply to all other categories at the organization’s federally negotiated rate. Absent this rate, the organization may request a de minimis indirect cost rate of 10% of the modified total direct costs without providing supporting documentation or may elect not to charge indirect costs. [PAPPG Chapt II.C.2.g.viii Indirect Costs]
  • Supported participants should be members of the US scientific community (e.g., individuals working in US institutions). [PAPPG Chapt I.E. Who May Submit Proposals]
  • Federal funds must not be used to pay for alcoholic beverages or for entertainment. [Chapt II.2.xiii. Allowable and Unallowable Costs]

MCB AT YOUR MEETING: ‘FINDING YOUR INNER MODELER’ AS A CELL BIOLOGIST

This image shows a blue and yellow flyer with the drawing of a cell beside the title that announces the ‘Finding Your Inner Modeler’ workshop at the University of Illinois on July 13, 2017. The workshop was funded by NSF MCB. Participants can register for free by April 15, 2017 at http://tinyurl.com/NSFmodelingworkshop. Support for travel and lodging expenses are available for a limited number of participants. Graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and under-represented minorities at all career stages are strongly encouraged to apply. For information, contact Dr. David Stone at dstone@uic.edu.

Join us on July 13, 2017 at the University of Illinois at Chicago for a one-day workshop entitled “Finding Your Inner Modeler.” Funded by MCB, this is the first in a series of one-day workshops offered over the next three years and organized by Dr. David Stone, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences at University of Illinois at Chicago.

This workshop series was designed to help cell biologists with no experience in modeling gain confidence and build fruitful collaborations with computational experts. As Dr. Richard Cyr, MCB Program Director in the Cellular Dynamics and Function (CDF) cluster, notes, “With increasing frequency, successful NSF proposals integrate computational models with experimental work. Many researchers want to learn how to apply them to their research in a meaningful way, but are unaware of the new tools that are available and where they can begin their modeling efforts.” Dr. Stone continues, “A primary goal of the year one workshop is to promote new collaborations between cell biologists and experienced computational modelers.” One of the co-organizers of the workshop, Dr. Liz Haswell, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis says, “One of the unique aspects of this workshop is our match-making website that will help biologists and modelers pair up to solve complex problems in cell biology.” In years two and three of the workshop, participants will be invited to present their collaborative projects to computational and systems biology experts. Dr. Cyr adds, “We want to build a large and robust community of researchers who can help one another with their projects.”

Please register by April 15, 2017   http://tinyurl.com/NSFmodelingworkshop

There is no fee to register. Travel and lodging support for a limited number of eligible participants is available. Registrations received by April 15, 2017 will have full consideration for the limited travel and lodging support.

Graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and under-represented minorities at all career stages are strongly encouraged to apply.

Keynote addresses will be presented by Dr. Wallace Marshall (University of California, San Francisco) and Dr. Rob Philips (California Institute of Technology).

Other presenters and panelists include: Dr. Mary Baylies (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center), Dr. Angela DePace (Harvard University), Dr. Leslie Loew (University of Connecticut), Dr. Carlos Lopez (Vanderbuilt University), Dr. Alex Mogilner (New York University), Drs. Ben Prosser and Vivek Shenoy (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Max Staller (Washington University in St. Louis), Dr. Marcos Sotomayor (Ohio State University), and Dr. Shelby Wilson (Morehouse College).

For a detailed schedule of events, go to https://pages.wustl.edu/haswell/finding-your-inner-modeler. For additional information, please contact Dr. David Stone at dstone@uic.edu.

To search for an interdisciplinary collaborator, sign up at the workshop’s collaborator-matching website: https://compmodelmatch.github.io/main/ (starting May 1, 2017).