[DIALOGnews] DIALOG AND DISCCRS News 07/23/02
Susan Weiler
weilercs@whitman.edu
Wed, 17 Jul 2002 10:06:04 -0700
NSF Criterion on "Broader Impacts"
NASA Cloud Research
U.S. Senators Query Admin on Climate Plan
Postdoctoral Position, Carbon Cycle Research at UCLA.
Chemical Oceanography position at NSF
Postdoctoral Position in Microbial Ecology, Inst. for Limnology
(Mondsee, Austria)
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NSF CRITERIA
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
Arlington, VA 22230
Notice No. 127
July 08, 2002
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PRESIDENTS OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES AND HEADS OF
OTHER NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANTEE ORGANIZATIONS
SUBJECT: Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements
Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion
The National Science Board approved the use of two merit review criteria
in March 1997, and each subsequent issuance of the Grant Proposal Guide
(GPG) since 1997 has continued to strengthen the coverage relating to
the importance of broader impacts in the preparation and review of
proposals submitted to NSF. In addition, two separate Important
Notices/1 have been issued to inform/remind the community of NSF's
intentions in this area.
In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January
2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation
guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and
Project Description. The GPG now specifies that Principal Investigators
(PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements
within the one page Project Summary. The GPG also reiterates that
broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in
the Project Description and described as an integral part of the
narrative. Examples illustrating activities likely to demonstrate
broader impacts are available electronically at the web site:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf022/bicexamples.pdf
In order to ensure that proposals are treated equitably, the FastLane
system has been enhanced to remind/inform PIs of the new proposal
preparation requirements. Through incorporation of reminders in the
proposal preparation process in FastLane, as well as increased coverage
of these guidelines on the NSF web site, we expect to increase
compliance by informing PIs of the requirements at the point in the
process when the information will be most useful.
Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that
do not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project
Summary. We believe that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and
processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of
broader impacts to NSF funded projects.
We continue to appreciate your commitment to conveying the importance of
both intellectual merit and broader impacts of research and education
activities to both the Principal Investigators who are developing and
submitting proposals, as well as to those who may serve as proposal
reviewers. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to ensure
that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making funding
decisions.
Rita R. Colwell, Director_________________
Important Notice 121, New Criteria for NSF Proposals, and Important Notice
125, Merit Review Criteria, both addressed the issuance and implementation
of broader impacts of the proposed effort in the preparation and review of
proposals submitted to NSF.
This notice can be found on the NSF web site at
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/od127/imptnot.pdf. All notices can be
found on the NSF web site through the online document system
http://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/index.html
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NASA CLOUD RESEARCH
NASA press release 02-125
*LOOKING AT CLOUDS FROM ALL SIDES NOW
NASA-led research of cirrus clouds by more than 450
scientists could lead to improved forecasts of future climate
change -- forecasts of your weather today, tomorrow and years
into the future.
This month, NASA is conducting a field campaign in southern
Florida to investigate high tropical cirrus clouds composed
of tiny ice crystals. Researchers hope to determine how these
clouds form, how they limit the amount of sunlight reaching
the surface of the Earth and how they trap heat rising from
the surface and lower atmosphere. This key information will
provide data that will markedly improve our understanding of
these cloud systems, and thereby improve the computer models
used to forecast global climate change and its regional
impacts.
High, tropical cirrus clouds are made up of tiny ice crystals
that float at altitudes from 20,000 feet to 60,000 feet.
The campaign includes deployment of six aircraft over two
surface sites ranging in altitude from near surface to 70,000
feet. A modeling team is supporting flight planning,
preliminary data analysis to help validate the instruments'
integrity, and subsequent modeling and analysis with the goal
of developing a more complete understanding of these cloud
systems.
The aircraft will sample air flowing into and being processed
by the cloud systems and will evaluate the composition and
structure of the resulting cirrus clouds. One of the six
aircraft, the NASA ER-2, will serve as a remote sensing
platform to support satellite measurements and to extract
details of the cloud structures.
Recent observations from NASA's Terra satellite, with
improved sensitivity to detect cirrus cloud systems, suggest
that cirrus are present more than expected both temporally
and spatially across the planet. Cirrus may act to warm or
cool the planet and the tendency toward warming or cooling
depends on the extent, duration, thickness and location of
the clouds.
Satellite observations can assess the extent of cirrus. Field
campaigns, when coupled with concurrent satellite
observations, allow development of a detailed understanding
of the evolution of these cloud systems and verification of
satellite-deduced cirrus characteristics.
"Our objective is to find out how ice clouds affect global
warming and climate change," said Eric Jensen, project
mission scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett
Field, Calif. "The combination of measurements and computer-
modeling studies will improve our understanding of how cirrus
clouds may change in response to other aspects of climate
change," he explained. "For example, if the Earth's surface
heats up and thunderstorms become more intense, will larger,
thicker cirrus clouds be formed? How might these regional
climate events affect the bigger picture?"
"Clouds are the largest source of uncertainty in computerized
global climate models," Jensen said. "We want to measure the
ice crystal sizes, cloud optical depths and the heating or
cooling of the Earth's surface caused by tropical cirrus
clouds, particularly those generated by intense storms."
Optical depth is a measure of the visual or optical thickness
of a cloud.
The effort is called the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical
Anvils and Cirrus Layers - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment
(CRYSTAL-FACE). Partner government organizations include the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National
Science Foundation, the Department of Defense Office of Naval
Research and the Air Force, and the Department of Energy. The
Naval Air Facility, Key West, Fla., is hosting the aircraft
for this research effort.
This research is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a
long-term research effort that utilizes the unique vantage
point of space to view our home planet to better understand
and protect life here, while exploring for life in the
universe. CRYSTAL-FACE will support data validation of NASA
satellite investigations, including EOS Terra and Aqua
satellite missions and the Tropical Rainfall Measurement
Mission.
For more detailed information of the CRYSTAL-FACE mission,
please see:
http://cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/crystalface/
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US SENATORS QUERY ADMIN ON CLIMATE PLAN
From AGU ASLA 02-17 Senators Query Administration Officials About
Bush Climate Plan
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts asked Bush Administration
witnesses to explain how the President's plan to decrease "Greenhouse
Gas Intensity" will reduce the danger of global warming at a hearing of the
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on 11 July
2002. Greenhouse Gas Intensity is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions
to gross domestic product (GDP). The Bush plan--released on 14 February
2002 calls for decreasing that ratio from 183 metric tons of emissions per
million dollars GDP to 151 metric tons per million dollars GDP over 10
years. Administration witnesses admitted that overall greenhouse gas
emissions for the U.S. would go up even if Greenhouse Gas Intensity
decreased, assuming a growing economy.
The Bush Administration plan (entitled U.S. Climate Change Strategy:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/climatechange.html )
incorporates a variety of tax incentives and calls for voluntary reductions
to greenhouse gas emissions by American businesses. The plan includes
carbon sequestration, primarily through the Department of Agriculture,
and touts fuel cell research as the path towards higher fuel efficiency. The
plan also continues funding for climate change research currently
administered through the U.S. Global Change Research Project
(USGCRP), proposing to spend $1.7 billion overall in fiscal year 2003.
Kerry, who chaired the hearing, contrasted the Bush Administration plan
with the recently released U.S. Climate Action Report 2002 (
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/car/index.html ). Kerry
cited the Climate Action Report which states: "Greenhouse gases are
accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities,
causing global mean surface air temperature and subsurface ocean
temperatures to rise." Kerry charged that the Bush plan will not reduce
emissions leading to global warming and that it overemphasizes
uncertainty in the science of climate change. He added that "there will
always be some uncertainty in science, but it is not an excuse for no action
in the face of risk". AGU's position statement on climate change, which
states that the present level of scientific uncertainty does not justify
inaction in mitigating or adapting to climate change, predated Senator
Kerry's remarks by nearly 4 years.
***Witnesses Defend Bush Plan***
James Connaughton, Chair of the Council of Environmental Quality,
stated that the long-term goal of the plan is to stabilize "concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous
interference with the climate system, recognizing that we currently do not
know what that level is."
Glenn Hubbard, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors to President
Bush, defended the Bush plan as a strategy to 1) slow the growth rate of
greenhouse gas emissions, 2) create a platform based on science,
technology and institutions for good decision-making, and 3) embrace
international efforts to reduce emissions particularly with developing
nations. Hubbard stated that short-term sharp changes to emissions are not
warranted and would have higher economic costs than a slower and
measured response advocated by the Bush plan. He cited uncertainty in
scientific projections of the impact of increasing greenhouse gases on the
climate and uncertainty in economic forecasts as two reasons for an
approach tied to economic performance, the Greenhouse Gas Intensity
metric.
John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
responded directly to Senator Kerry's quote of the link between
greenhouse gases and global warming by citing a sentence that follows
what Kerry quoted earlier: "The changes observed over the last several
decades are likely mostly due to human activities, but we cannot rule out
that some significant part of these changes is also a reflection of natural
variability." Marburger reminded the senators that this particular sentence
is often half-quoted, and that it stems from a National Research Council
report released a year ago ( http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10139.html ).
James Mahoney, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
Atmospheres, stated that President Bush has directed the federal agencies
to reestablish priorities for climate change research. Through the
President's Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), Bush would like
to see a focus on identifying the scientific information that can be
developed within 2 to 5 years to assist the nation's evaluation of optimal
strategies to address global change risk. Mahoney noted that the last ten
years have been a "period of discovery and characterization" in climate
change research, and that it is time to move into a "period of
differentiation and strategy investigation."
Testimony and statements submitted for the record are available on the
web at http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/hearings0202.htm .
***House Hearing Held Day Before***
Marburger and Mahoney gave similar testimony before the House Science
Committee on 10 July 2002. Robert Card, Undersecretary for Energy,
Science, and Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy also testified.
All three witnesses were asked to explain how the goals of CCRI and the
Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI) related to ongoing federal
climate change programs and how the whole enterprise could be structured
to yield more useful information for decision makers.
Mahoney responded that there should be more emphasis on strategies and
scenario development dealing with the consequences of climate change,
noting that more resources should go to managing risk in the face of
uncertainty in climate and economic projections. Card stated that the
focus at DOE is to find carbon-free sources of energy.
Testimony and statements for the House Science Committee hearing are
available at http://www.house.gov/science/hearings/full02/index.htm .
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Sources: U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives
Questions or comments about ASLA? Need to change your e-mail
address? Contact pfolger@agu.org. To read previous ASLAs, visit
http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/sci_pol.html
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POSTDOCTORAL POSITION, CARBON CYCLE RESEARCH AT UCLA
The department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Institute of Geophysics and
Planetary Physics (IGPP) at UCLA are inviting applications for a
postdoctoral fellow to work in the Biogeochemistry Group of Prof.
Nicolas Gruber on inverse methods to study the global carbon cycle. The
work will focus on the estimation of the magnitude and variability of the
exchange of carbon dioxide across the air-sea interface on the basis of
measurements of ocean interior carbon concentrations and of atmospheric
carbondioxide. Responsibilities of this job include the further
development and application of inverse methods to study air-sea CO2
exchange and other carbon cycle problems, the analysis and interpretation
of results of oceanic and atmospheric tracer transport models, and the
interpretation of oceanic and atmospheric observations relevant to the
carbon cycle. Candidates must possess a Ph.D. in earth, applied math,
physical, biological, or chemical sciences. Training in oceanic and/or
atmospheric sciences is strongly preferred. A strong mathematical
interest with experience in inverse methods is highly desirable.
Experience with numerical models of the ocean or atmosphere is not
necessary but helpful. The appointment will be made for an initial period
of two years at the PGR VII level, with a starting annual salary of
$40,512. A third year of funding is available. Please send a
resume, a statement of research interest, and the names of three
references to Nicolas Gruber, 5853 Slichter Hall, University of
California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095. e-mail:
ngruber@igpp.ucla.edu. Deadline for applications is September 30, 2002.
UCLA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and encourages
women and minorities to apply.
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CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY POSITION AT NSF
Title: Oceanographer (Associate Program Director), AD-1360-3,
GEO/OCE (Closes: 09/16/2002)
Information available at:
http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?e20020142
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POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN MICROBIAL ECOLOGY, INST. FOR LIMNOLOGY
(MONDSEE, AUSTRIA)
Submitted by DIALOGer Jens Boenigk
The Institute for Limnology (Mondsee, Austria) offers a
3-year PhD-position in Microbial Ecology
(Interactions between protists and suspended sediment, FWF-project P15940)
Salary: The gross salary is ? 1512,-- per month.
Location: Mondsee (which is 30 km from Salzburg, Austria)
Further Information and application:
Dr. Jens Boenigk, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Limnology,
Mondseestr. 9, 5310 Mondsee, Austria; Phone +43 6232 312529 ; e-mail:
jens.boenigk@oeaw.ac.at; web: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/limno/job.htm
--
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Biology Department
Whitman College
Walla Walla, WA 99362
Tel: 509-527-5948
Fax: 509-527-5961
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
DIALOG and DIACES poster http://aslo.org/dialog/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster
http://aslo.org/disccrs/disccrsposter.pdf
Minorities in the Aquatic Sciences http://aslo.org/mas/
MOVING? Please send ADDRESS CHANGES to phd@whitman.edu