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JULY 2004 ISSUE: Volume 11, Number 1

Funding Opportunities

Campus News

Funding Tips

Carolina in the Capitol

Federal News

Funding Opportunities

Carolina Internal Funding Opportunities and Limited Awards

Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences
Internal deadline: July 15, 2004

Chicago Community Trust
Searle Scholars Program
Internal deadline: July 15, 2004

Pew Charitable Trusts
Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences
Internal deadlines: July 15, 2004 (Basic sciences candidates); August 30, 2004 (Clinically oriented candidates)

University Center for International Studies
Fulbright Scholar Program
Deadline: August 1, 2004

Want to find more internal funding opps and limited awards? Try Carolina Internal Funding Database.

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National Science Foundation

Program Announcements & Information

Subscribe to NSF Custom News Service notification listserv.

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National Institutes of Health

Week of July 2, 2004
Week of June 25, 2004
Week of June 18, 2004
Week of June 11, 2004

Subscribe to NIH Guide Table of Contents notification listserv.

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Multidisciplinary

American Library Association
Carnegie-Whitney Grants for Publication Projects
Deadline: November 8, 2004

Environmental Protection Agency
Valuation for Environmental Policy
Deadline: September 28, 2004

Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, John Simon
Fellowships to Assist Research and Artistic Creation
Deadline: October 01, 2004

Humboldt Foundation, Alexander Von
Research Fellowships in Germany
Deadline: open

National Endowment for Financial Education
Financial Education
Deadlines: August 3, 2004, February 1, 2004, and April 5, 2004

Open Society Institute
Soros Justice Fellowships
Deadline: September 22, 2004

Want to find more funding opps? Try COS

The most efficient way of identifying relevant funding opportunities is to conduct a funding search using keywords, award types, citizenship, geographic location, and other terms describing yourself and your research. For more information on setting up a personalized funding search, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 or gs@unc.edu.

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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Administration for Children and Families
Assets for Independence Demonstration Programs
Deadline: July 27, 2004

Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Cultural Experiences for Deaf or Hard of Hearing Individuals
Deadline: July 30, 2004

International Education Research Foundation
Sepmeyer Research Grants on International Educational Systems
Deadline: Open

Kellogg Foundation, W. K.
Entrepreneurship Development Systems for Rural America
Deadline: August 13, 2004

National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
Young Investigator Award
Deadline: July 26, 2004

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Teen Occupant Protection Campaign
Deadline: July 9, 2004

National Institute of Justice
Crime and Justice Research
Deadline: September 28, 2004

Social Science Research Council
Abe Fellowship (contemporary policy-relevant issues)
Deadline: September 01, 2004

U.S. Agency for International Development, Budapest USAID-Regional Services Center
Macedonia Higher University Linkage Program
Deadline: August 6, 2004

U.S. Institute of Peace
Economics of War and Peace Program and Southeast Asia Program
Deadline: August 2, 2004

Women's Sports Foundation
RYKÄ Women's Fitness Grant
Deadline: August 16, 2004

Want to find more funding opps? Try COS

The most efficient way of identifying relevant funding opportunities is to conduct a funding search using keywords, award types, citizenship, geographic location, and other terms describing yourself and your research. For more information on setting up a personalized funding search, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 or gs@unc.edu.

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Health and Medical Sciences

Aetna Foundation
Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Health End-of-Life Care Programs
Deadline: October 1, 2004

Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy
Young Investigator Award
Deadline: September 15, 2004

American Association for Cancer Research
Landon-AACR Prizes for Cancer Research
Deadline: August 10, 2004

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Immediate Relief To Decrease Unsafe Injections in Selected Countries in Africa and the Caribbean Under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
Deadline: August 13, 2004

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Trauma Information and Exchange Program
Deadline: July 26, 2004

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Developing and Implementing the Institute for Quality in Laboratory Medicine
Deadlines: July 7, 2004 (letter of intent); July 22, 2004 (application deadline)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Simplified Procedures for Routine HIV Screening in Acute Care Settings
Deadline: August 2, 2004

Department of Defense
Prostate Cancer Research Program Clinical Trial Award
Deadline: December 7, 2004

Duke Charitable Foundation, Doris
Doris Duke Clinical Interfaces Award
Deadline: November 2, 2004 (pre-proposals)

Epilepsy Foundation
Junior Investigator Research Grants Program
Deadline: September 01, 2004

Johnson Foundation, Robert Wood
Community Health Leadership Program
Deadline: September 22, 2004 (letter of intent); November 10, 2004 (completed nomination)

Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Susan G.
Basic, Clinical, and Translational Research Grant
Deadline: August 2, 2004

Lloyd Foundation, John M.
Grants for HIV/AIDS Education/Awareness
Deadlines: August 15, 2004; January 15, 2005

Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation
Research and Fellowships in Spinal Cord Injury or Disease
Deadline: Open

PhRMA Foundation
Predoctoral, Post Doctoral, Sabbatical, and Research Fellowships in Health Outcomes, Informatics, Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacology/Toxicology, Pharmacology/Morphology, and Pharmaceutics
Deadlines: Vary

Thrasher Research Fund
Grants for Improving the Health of Children
Deadline: continuous

Want to find more funding opps? Try COS

Want to find more contracts? Try FedBizOpps

The most efficient way of identifying relevant funding opportunities is to conduct a funding search using keywords, award types, citizenship, geographic location, and other terms describing yourself and your research. For more information on setting up a personalized funding search, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 or gs@unc.edu.

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Life and Physical Sciences

Beckman Foundation, Arnold and Mabel
Beckman Young Investigators Program
Deadline: October 01, 2004

Department of Defense (Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research)
Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)
Deadline: November 18, 2004

Department of Defense (Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, and Air Force Office of Scientific Research)
Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP)
Deadline: August 26, 2004

Environmental Protection Agency
Food Quality Protection Act/Strategic Agricultural Initiative Program
Deadline: July 27, 2004

Environmental Protection Agency
Benchmarking the Integration of Sustainability into Engineering Curricula at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education
Deadline: August 3, 2004

Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF)
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Deadline: October 1, 2004

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Measurements, Modeling, and Analyses in Support of AURA and Other NASA Satellite Observations of the Earth's Atmosphere
Deadlines: July 16, 2004 (notice of intent); August 30, 2004 (applications)

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Native Plant Conservation Initiative
Deadline: July 15, 2004

Want to find more funding opps? Try COS

Want to find more contracts? Try FedBizOpps

The most efficient way of identifying relevant funding opportunities is to conduct a funding search using keywords, award types, citizenship, geographic location, and other terms describing yourself and your research. For more information on setting up a personalized funding search, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 or gs@unc.edu.

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Arts and Humanities

American Council of Learned Societies, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
New Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society
Deadline: September 1, 2004

Canadian Embassy
Canadian Studies Research Grant Program
Deadline: Deadline: September 30, 2004

Dumbarton Oaks
Fellowships in Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, and Garden and Landscape Studies
Deadline: November 1, 2004

Institute of Museum and Library Services
Cooperative Agreement to Develop, Offer, and Evaluate an Instructor-Mediated Online Course to Train Library and Museum Personnel to Plan and Evaluate Outcomes-Based Projects
Deadline: September 15, 2004

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Recording Academy Research Grants
Deadline: October 1, 2004

National Endowment for the Humanities
Stabilization of Humanities Collections Grants
Deadline: October 1, 2004

National Humanities Center
Fellowships
Deadline: October 15, 2004

Alicia Patterson Foundation
Journalists Fellowship Program
Deadline: October 01, 2004

Rothschild Foundation, Judith
Grants for Illuminating Work of Deceased Lesser-known American Artists
Deadline: September 15, 2004

Society for the Arts in Healthcare
Grants to Support Arts and Healing Programs
Deadline: August 15, 2004 (letter of intent)

Weill Foundation for Music, Kurt
Grants to Performers and Scholars
Deadline: November 01, 2004

Want to find more funding opps? Try COS.

The most efficient way of identifying relevant funding opportunities is to conduct a funding search using keywords, award types, citizenship, geographic location, and other terms describing yourself and your research. For more information on setting up a personalized funding search, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 or gs@unc.edu.

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Campus News

Upcoming Workshops at the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR)

OSR is offering several programs throughout the summer. Visit the OSR web site for course descriptions, locations, and online registration.

Brown Bag Lunch Series

  • Cost Sharing: Wednesday, July 21, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
  • Terminated Accounts: Wednesday, August 18, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Preparing JIT and eSNAP through the ERA Commons

  • July 8, 2004, 9:00-11:00 a.m.
  • August 26, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.

Working in the eRA Commons

  • August 12, 2004, 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Using the New e-version IPF

  • July 14, 2004, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
  • July 28, 2004, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
  • August 4, 2004, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
  • August 11, 2004, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
  • August 25, 2004, 3:00-4:30 p.m.

Minimal Stipend for Postdoctoral Fellows

The faculty-based UNC Postdoctoral Advisory Committee, which establishes postdoctoral policies, has recently examined the question of postdoctoral stipends and recommended a change in how the minimal stipend level is determined. MORE INFO

Research Administration Support Group (RASG) Meeting

The next RASG meeting will take place Thursday, July 15, 2004, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in 133 Rosenau Hall in the School of Public Health. The program will include:

  • Updates from the Office of Human Research Ethics: What's new with the IRB's? by Daniel Nelson, Director, Office of Human Research Ethics
  • Remarks by Chancellor James Moeser, with time for questions
  • Professional Societies in Research Administration by Jim Peterson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research

RASG provides a forum for discussion and open exchange of ideas as well as an information network for policies, procedures, and sponsor guidelines. All individuals involved in research and research administration are invited to attend. For more information or to look at presentations from previous sessions, click here.

Office of Animal Care and Use Temporary Relocation

The Office of Animal Care and Use is temporarily located in 501 Berryhill Hall until the end of July 2004. After that time the office will move back to its old location in Medical Building 52 on Mason Farm Road. All phone numbers, mailing, and electronic addresses remain the same.

New Appointment in the Office of Technology Development

The Office of Technology Development (OTD) is pleased to announce its new Assistant Director Jackie Quay. Jackie comes to OTD from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention where she was a Patent Advisor in the Technology Transfer Office. She is a registered patent attorney with a J.D. from UNC Chapel Hill and has 16 years of laboratory research experience in the life sciences.

New Appointment in the Office of Information and Communications

Cherry Crayton, a graduate of N.C. State, joined the Office of Information and Communications (OIC) on June 21 as an editorial assistant. Cherry, who has previously worked for the Town of Cary and two daily newspapers in North Carolina, will assist with Research Support and write and edit stories for Endeavors magazine and various other research publications. You can contact Cherry at ckcrayton@unc.edu or call 962-6136.

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Funding Tips

Customized Finding Funding Workshops for Groups

One of the GrantSource Library’s most useful services for faculty and staff is our customized group workshop on how to identify potential funding sources for research, training, programs, and other scholarly endeavors. As you begin planning your professional development activities, faculty retreats, or staff meetings for the coming academic year, we invite you to schedule a Library workshop in your department. We will work with you to plan a session relevant to your faculty’s funding needs and research interests.

In each session, the GrantSource Librarian demonstrates some of the online resources that faculty and staff can use to identify funding opportunities in their discipline. Participants also learn how to set up a time-saving Community of Science funding alert, conduct a personalized electronic search for targeted grant information, and find Carolina internal funding sources. Other topics include tips for conducting a funding search and an overview of resources available through the GrantSource Library.

Please contact us at gs@unc.edu or 919-962-3463 to discuss your needs and to schedule a workshop for your research team, department, center, or institute.

For a list of already scheduled workshops, click here.

New Funding Opportunities Database in the GrantSource Library

The Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS) funding database is now available on a three-month trial basis through the GrantSource Library’s web site. Carolina campus-based researchers, research administrators, and graduate students can search this database of more than 8,000 active federal and private funding opportunities in medicine, sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Users can search IRIS by agency, deadline date, keywords, and other criteria. Most IRIS records contain live links to sponsor Web sites, electronic forms, or Electronic Research Administration (ERA) portals, so getting started on finding funding is only a mouse-click away.

An especially useful tool is the IRIS alert service which allows you to create and save your own IRIS search profile. It will automatically run at specified intervals (daily, weekly, monthly) and alert you to upcoming funding opportunities in your areas of interest. This is a true “set it and forget it” funding alert tool. To learn how to start receiving alerts, click here.

Other features of IRIS include:

The GrantSource Library invites you to try out the new IRIS funding database, alert service, and other useful features. Please note that this database is available on campus only until September 30. We will evaluate the feasibility of a long-term subscription at that time.

Let us know if you have any questions about how to use IRIS. We also welcome your feedback as we evaluate this new service. Contact us at gs@unc.edu or 919-962-3463.

Funding for Chemical and Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism Research

If you are looking for anti-terrorism funding, consider looking at the Upcoming Programs in Chemical and Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism search, created by the Illinois Researcher Information Services (IRIS). This listing includes funding opportunities from federal and private agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. All opportunities have deadlines before November 30, 2004 or have no deadlines. Check out this new resource here.

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Carolina in the Capitol

Legislative Process


Defense Appropriations

Recall that each year the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Federal Affairs, works to advance a short list of research proposals for targeted Congressional funding support. This year Chapel Hill has received powerful support in the House Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill, which includes significant funding for two of the University's priorities.

The House and Senate have now passed different versions of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 DoD Appropriations bill. Under the House bill, total funding for the science and technology program categories (those programs that are the primary source of funding for basic and applied research) would increase by 5.7 percent over the current year's budget to $12.8 billion. Total funding for the science and technology categories in the Senate version would increase by 0.9 percent to $12.2 billion. President Bush's original budget request for these categories of expense was $10.5 billion, a cut of $1.6 billion or 13.2 percent relative to FY 2004. Science and technology funding constitutes 3.1 percent of the total proposed DoD budget in this year's House bill, and 2.9 percent in the Senate bill.

With the support of US Rep. David Price (NC-04) and other members of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation, UNC's "National Demonstration Program for Citizen-Soldier Support" and the "Nanofluidic Electronic Sensor Technologies for Defense Applications" both were funded in the House version of the Department of Defense Appropriations bill. The Citizen-Soldier program will address a range of community support structures for Reserve and Guard families when members are called to active duty. A multi-institution team will ensure that Reserve Component service men and women, their families, and employers have the necessary support while they prepare for, carry out, and eventually return from active military service. The Nanofluidic program is a novel research program that will advance fluidic-based electronic sensor technologies to detect hazardous agents associated with chemical and biological weapons. Nanofluidic electronic sensor technologies hold the promise of providing "laboratories on a chip," which would enable reliable chemical and biochemical assays in postage stamp size packages, and new microfuel cells that would power sensors for autonomous deployments in the battlefield.

Now that the House and Senate have passed their respective versions of the Defense funding bill, a subset of members from each chamber will meet in conference in early July to hash out details and discrepancies between the two versions of the draft legislation. While final funding for "Citizen-Soldier" and "Nanofluidics" will be determined in conference, the House "mark" (a term of art for the specifications of one chamber's, committee's, or chairman's draft legislation) attests to the University's public service and scientific leadership on critical national concerns.


Higher Education Reauthorization Efforts

The House of Representatives has begun the process of reauthorizing the Higher Education Act (HEA), a 1998 law authorized through September 30, 2004 that regulates more than $70 billion in aid and loans for students. The higher education community, represented by the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the American Council on Education (ACE), has voiced its opposition to the bill primarily on two grounds: first, that the bill would significantly alter the relationship between the federal government and universities and colleges by undermining academic autonomy; and second, that the bill authorizes little new funding for student aid programs.

Traditionally, internal decision making by universities and colleges has been relatively autonomous from government management, while accountability has been assured through a variety of measures including extensive reporting requirements for the use of public funds, rigorous accreditation procedures, and public choice fostered by institutional diversity (which is sharpened by the highly competitive education market). Associations of higher education and their members believe that changes proposed in drafts of the HEA reauthorization would place American higher education on a slippery slope toward federal control of internal and academic decision making and would, in the long run, diminish competition, educational choice, and quality. Regarding student aid, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finds that student aid improvements in the bill are helpful, but much more money is needed to meet student financial needs.

Despite the difficult fiscal situation facing the federal government, providing greater access to college for the entire continuum of student applicants – through increases in federal student aid overall and protection of key funding formulas for the distribution of federal funds – is essential. The university looks forward to working with Congressional leaders to craft legislation to reauthorize the HEA in ways that improve access while preserving the traditional relationship between the federal government and higher education.


National Institutes of Health (NIH) Policy Developments

Our office frequently works at the intersection of science and politics. Two contentious areas involve the use of human embryonic stem cells for research and human sexuality research. Research supported by the NIH over the past 50 years has helped make the United States the world leader in science and medicine and has enhanced the quality of life of millions of Americans. Congress and the Bush Administration both have a strong hand in overseeing the direction of NIH research, primarily through appropriations and policy debate on the institutes’ priority setting process.


Stem Cell Research

One especially heated point of debate involves the use of embryonic stem cells for research purposes. Embryonic stem cells are being researched for treatment of a variety of diseases and conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injury, among others. Stem cells may eventually be able to replace any damaged cell in a body and thus the implications for a variety of diseases are profound.

On August 9, 2001, the Bush Administration announced that federally funded stem cell research would be limited to the use of existing stem cell lines – which were estimated at that time to include more than sixty unique lines. Many objected to the limitation, and while concern among researchers has been growing, the Bush policy recently gained renewed scrutiny and debate when Nancy Reagan publicly disagreed with it, saying “science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with answers that have so long been beyond our grasp. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this." The former first lady’s activism is attributed to her own experience in Alzheimer’s research through the course of her late husband’s illness.

The debate over using stem cells for research centers on whether scientists can extract stem cells from surplus frozen embryos left over from in-vitro fertilization, and whether the existing stem cell lines that have been approved for research will be of sufficient quality, given degradation of existing lines. Currently, the NIH estimates that only 19 stem lines are available for federally funded research, as opposed to the more than 60 thought to exist at the time of the issuance of the Bush Administration’s 2001 policy.

A group seeking to protect and preserve federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), is comprised of leading universities and medical centers in the United States. The Coalition recently circulated a letter – which Carolina’s Chancellor Moeser signed – requesting that President Bush expand the 2001 policy to more stem cell lines. The debate on stem cells is expected to continue through the Presidential campaign season, as President Bush and Senator Kerry have opposing views on the issue. Senator Kerry believes that the barriers to stem cell research can be lifted and that funding of stem cell research should become a priority in universities and the medical community, provided there is strict ethical oversight. President Bush’s spokesman Ken Lisaius reaffirmed Bush’s 2001 policy stating: “The president does not believe that life should be created for the sole purpose of destroying it. He does believe we can explore the promise and potential of stem cell research using the existing lines of stem cells."


Defending Human Sexuality Research

Another key concern among those who worry about the politicization of NIH’s scientific autonomy involves human behavioral research linking the public health burden of diseases, such as HIV transmission, to sexual behavior. In the fall of 2003, the Traditional Values Coalition compiled a list of nearly 200 NIH grants which concern sexual behavior, HIV transmission, or other risk taking behaviors. The Coalition characterized this research as a waste of taxpayer dollars, arguing the work has “little or no bearing on public health.” As a result of the Coalition’s pressure, Congress held hearings and questioned NIH Director Zerhouni as to the adequacy of this research.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is taking a leadership role through the American Association of Universities (AAU) in supporting the validity of current, peer-reviewed NIH research - especially human behavioral research that links the public health burden of diseases to sexual behavior. Examples of Carolina faculty’s research which received scrutiny include one project seeking to describe the potential for the spread of HIV/AIDS in India, and another project investigating gender, migration, and HIV risks among recently immigrated Latinos in the United States. Carolina and our colleagues believe this and other targeted research is needed to design effective prevention and control strategies against the transmission of HIV and AIDS. Failure to study the behavior of at-risk populations will make it more difficult to control HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Similarly, the well-established, rigorous peer review system ensures that only the highest-quality public interest research is funded. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will continue to defend the integrity of NIH’s peer review process and the validity of our faculty’s research.

Questions?

Feel free to contact Allison Rosenberg or Tom Cors with questions or interests concerning the University’s federal program, activities, or agenda.

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Federal News

NSF and Library of Congress Launch Research Program for Digital Information Management

The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program of the Library of Congress (NDIIPP) is partnering with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish the first research grants program to specifically address digital preservation. NSF will administer the program, which will fund cutting-edge research to support the long-term management of digital information.

The first program announcement of the planned ten-year enterprise is the Digital Archiving and Long-Term Preservation research program. This program expects to make approximately $2 million in initial awards and seeks proposals in three main focus areas:

  • Digital repository models
  • Tools, technologies and processes
  • Organizational, economic and policy issues

The solicitation is available here.

New NIH R56 Grant Gives Near-Misses a Second Chance

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces the new NIH High Priority, Short-Term Project Award (R56) to be awarded beginning in Fiscal Year 2005. The new R56 grant will fund, for one or two years, high-priority new or competing renewal R01 applications that fall just outside the limits of funding of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.

The award is intended for both junior scientists and experienced scientists. Investigators may not apply for an R56 grant. Instead, recipients will be selected from R01 applications that fall at or near the payline margins.

Additional information, and a list of participating institutes, is available here.

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