NSF advances 25 projects to explore bold ideas for transformative research

 

ANNOUNCEMENT NSF advances 25 projects to explore bold ideas for transformative research   September 15, 2020 The U.S. National Science Foundation is always seeking to engage the most creative minds with innovative ideas that will help understand and surmount the world’s most difficult challenges. NSF 2026 is one of the agency's "10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments," intended to ensure continuous exploration at the frontiers of U.S. science and engineering. Previously, NSF invited the scientific community, industry, nonprofits and the public at large to participate in the NSF 2026 Idea Machine, a competition to help set the U.S. agenda for fundamental research in science and engineering. NSF received 800 ideas from nearly every state, with the potential to address grand challenges in fundamental research or in STEM education. All entries were reviewed by experts and 33 ideas were selected for their timeliness, ambition, potential scientific and societal impacts, and potential for interagency, international and public-private partnerships. Some of the themes that emerged include: How to design a resilient environment that will adapt to a rapidly changing world How to reduce waste and harness it for energy How to design new materials that mimic properties of living things How to expand artificial intelligence to incorporate empathy How to empower K-12 and other educators to engage all members of society in STEM literacy and to become the problem-solvers of tomorrow To further develop the themes, NSF invited proposals for conferences and early concept, exploratory research. NSF awarded 21 research and four conference projects totaling over $6 million. Scientists, engineers and educators from 27 institutions across the country will be involved in these highly interdisciplinary projects. "With the NSF 2026 Idea Machine, NSF ventured beyond our traditional paradigms to invite input from trusted stakeholders as well as new and unconventional partners. This ensures that our future research themes will bridge recognized gaps in existing knowledge and reflect the interests and priorities of the American people," says Suzanne Iacono, head of integrative activities. The funded projects focus on diverse topics, including artificial general intelligence, environmental sustainability, evolution and diversity of human cognition, biomaterials, emergence, diversification and enhancement of the STEM workforce, and others. All are designed to engage multiple science and engineering disciplines to develop the top-ranked Idea Machine themes into thoughtful, cross-cutting research agendas. Further information on the NSF 2026 Idea Machine and the list of awards is available at nsf.gov.

Check out the latest from NSF’s Science Matters blog - September 16, 2020

09/16/2020

SCIENCE MATTERS  sciencematters@nsf.gov Check out the latest from NSF’s Science Matters blog. Wed, 16 Sep 2020 Bringing scientists together to protect the Earth from space weather “One-hundred-sixty-one years ago this month, in early September 1859, a powerful magnetic storm generated by the sun collided with the Earth. The interaction triggered a worldwide event. Auroras, more commonly referred to as the northern and southern lights, became visible near the equator. Closer to the poles, people were awakened by near-daylight in the middle of the night. But along with the spectacular light show, the storm also left a serious mark -- disrupting telegraph systems across the world. The geomagnetic storm became known as the Carrington Event, named after the astronomer who observed sunspot and solar flare activity on the sun’s surface in the days before the storm. He correctly linked the increased solar activity to the ensuing coronal mass ejection that hit the Earth’s magnetic sphere, which surrounds and protects the Earth from cosmic radiation.”   Continue Reading

U.S. and UK Collaborative Research on Bioinformatics, Microbiomes and Synthetic Biology

09/17/2020

ANNOUNCEMENT U.S. and UK Collaborative Research on Bioinformatics, Microbiomes and Synthetic Biology September 17, 2020 Research in science and engineering benefit immensely from international collaboration and bringing together scientists from diverse backgrounds. The U.S. National Science Foundation is pleased to announce 14 collaborative biology research projects, supported jointly with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, part of U.K. Research and Innovation. "As the world becomes more interconnected, so must our research," said Theresa Good, deputy director of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. "This international collaboration will lead to enhanced ability to understand biological principles and mechanisms, and to discoveries in fields from agriculture to manufacturing." The projects with a total investment of $8.7 million and £6.5 million by the two agencies will generate new data, enhance theories on the relationships between organisms and their environments, and advance state-of-the-art methods to understand and harness life’s innovations. Through this partnership, NSF and BBSRC have invested more than $36 million and £24 million respectively in 52 research projects since 2014. "The BBSRC and NSF’s Directorate for Biological Sciences have a long history of partnering to enable transatlantic collaboration between U.K. and U.S. scientists," said Amanda Collis, executive director of Research Strategy and Programmes. "These latest awards will result in new tools, approaches and knowledge to push back the frontiers of discovery and keep both countries at the forefront of bioscience research globally." Projects supported include research to develop software and protocols to compare genetic information among rice strains. This "future-proofing" of genomic resources enhances scientists’ understanding of a crop that provides the major daily caloric needs for 50% of the world’s people, accelerating the search for desirable traits such as resistance to periodic droughts and flooding. To impact agriculture more broadly and assist with conservation, other researchers will examine the evolutionary histories of plants and microbes and how they have responded to drought. The biologists will use techniques such as DNA sequencing and computerized tomography-scanning of roots to determine the effects of soil microbiomes on plant health. Other research focuses on synthetic biology. One project will use sphingolipids, components of the protective membranes around animal and bacteria cells, to make self-contained vesicles like tiny soap bubbles. This first step in developing realistic synthetic cells that can be programmed could lead to new health care technologies and new ways of replacing environmentally damaging and unsustainable chemical manufacturing methods. In addition, using synthetic biology tools, another project aims to understand how cells control their shape and movement, essential to the development and function of multicellular organisms. Researchers will define how the rules of protein-protein interactions affect cell biology by building synthetic proteins, whose patterns of interaction can be "built to order." Learn more about NSF/UKRI research cooperation and view the full list of awards at nsf.gov.