Title: Supporting International Collaborations
1- Supporting International Collaborations
- for U.S. researchers at the
- National Science Foundation
- South Carolina Universities Workshop,
- Clemson University
- April 20, 2007
Wayne Patterson Program Manager for Developing
Countries Office of International Science and
Engineering National Science Foundation
2Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
3Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
4NSF in a Nutshell
- Independent USG Agency
- Funds basic research education
- Uses peer-reviewed grant mechanism
- Low overhead highly automated grant management
processes
- Discipline-based structure
- Bottom-up proposal driven
- Cross-disciplinary mechanisms
- Use of Rotators/IPAs
- National Science Board
5NSF Role in Research and Development Fiscal Year
2004
Total U.S. National RD - 312B
Total Federal RD Obligations
101B
Other
6
NSF
4
Other
Industry
96
Federal
64
30
Total Federal Basic Research 27B
Total Federal Academic Basic Research -
14B
NSF
NSF
21
Other
13
Other
79
87
Latest complete data currently available
6- FY06 Budget 95 awards, 5 administration
- Each year NSF receives over 41,000 proposals and
about 10,000 new awards are made (23 funding
rate) - The average annual research grant is 3 years at
140,000/year. - Awards are made to over 2,000 US colleges,
universities and other research institutions.
7NSF Support for Basic Research at Academic
Institutions Share of Total Federal Support - FY
2004 Preliminary
8NSF funding for South Carolina Universities
- Survey of South Carolina NSF-funded universities
- 17 universities, 4 technical colleges, 10 other
awardees - Total of 320 active NSF awards
- Total value of these 217,679,626
- 44 (13.8) involving international collaboration
- Only 6 (1.9) in the Office of International
Science and Engineering
9Numbers of Awards in SC
Institution Total of Awards of Intl Awards of OISE Awards
University of South Carolina 139 23 2
Clemson 100 15 2
College of Charleston 22 3 0
Coastal Carolina U 6 1 1
Furman 6 0 0
MUSC 6 1 0
Florence-Darlington Tech 4 0 0
Tetramer 4 0 0
10Value of Awards in SC
Institution Total Value of Awards Value of Intl Awards Value of OISE Awards
Clemson 56,282,940 2,395,052 59,342
University of South Carolina 38,747,305 6,350,317 50,722
South Carolina State 5,141,595 - -
College of Charleston 4,050,035 574,622 -
Florence-Darlington Tech 3,623,525 - -
Claflin 2,708,225 - -
MUSC 2,024,214 539,046 -
Morris 1,630,305 - -
Allen 1,545,162 - -
Coastal Carolina 1,097,180 85,000 85,000
11Where in the World is South Carolina?
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Kyrgyzstan
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Peru
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- Venezuela
- Antartica
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Central America
- China
- Colombia
- Domenica
- East Asia and Pacific
- Ecuador
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
12Or
13What happens to your proposal when it arrives at
NSF?
14Proposal Review Criterion Intellectual Merit
- Potential to advance knowledge within and
across fields - Qualifications of investigators
- Creativity and originality
- Conceptualization and organization
- Access to resources
15Proposal Review Criterion Broader Impacts
- Promoting of teaching, training and learning
- Participation of underrepresented groups
- (race, gender, geographic distribution, type of
institution ) - Enhancement of infrastructure for research and
education - Dissemination of results
- Benefits to society
- International collaboration
16Grantsmanship
- Know yourself Know your area of expertise, what
are your strengths and what are your weaknesses
PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD LITERATURE RESEARCH - Know the program from which you seek support.
- Read the program announcement specific goals and
specific requirements
17Grantsmanship (cont)
- Formulate an appropriate research objective - a
methodical process of building upon previous
knowledge to derive or discover new knowledge - Develop a viable research plan doable within a
reasonable budget and in a reasonable time - State your research objective clearly in your
proposal - Frame your project around the work of others
- Grammar and spelling check
18Grantsmanship (cont)
- Format and brevity are important page limit
- Know the review process Proposals - by panels
must be written to a broader audience - Proofread your proposal before it is sent Many
proposals are sent out with idiotic mistakes,
omissions, and errors of all sorts. - Submit your proposal on time DONT WAIT UNTIL
THE LAST MINUTE - Send proposals to other sources build your team
- Volunteer to be a panelist
19References for grant writing
- www.nsf.gov study programs, active awards,
initiatives, etc - TWELVE STEPS TO A WINNING RESEARCH PROPOSAL,
George A. Hazelrigg, NSF see
http//xsrv.mm.cs.sunysb.edu/300/lectures/proposal
.pdf
20Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
21- International Collaboration
- International collaboration is commonplace
- About 20 of the worlds scientific and technical
articles in 2003 had authors from two or more
countries, compared with 8 in 1988 - One-quarter of articles with U.S. authors have
one or more international coauthors, which is
similar to the percentages for Japan, China, and
the Asia-8.
22 Discovery is a global enterprise. For the U.S.
to remain in the forefront of world science and
technology, it needs scientists and engineers
from all disciplines who can operate and lead
international teams and track international
discoveries in some of the most challenging
research areas. Arden L. Bement,
Jr. NSF Director 2004
23- Domestic and international collaborations are
expanding in response to the complexities of new
scientific fields, the growing scale and scope of
scientific initiatives, new capabilities provided
by advances in information and communications
technologies, professional ties established
during study or work abroad, and explicit
government policies and incentives.
Source National Science Board, Science and
Engineering Indicators-2004
24- NSF International Objectives
- A MEANS for advancing FRONTIER RESEARCH
- Provide ACCESS to sites, facilities, people,
ideas - Prepare a GLOBALLY ENGAGED U.S. SE workforce
- Build and strengthen effective collaborations and
institutional partnerships to address problems of
a global/regional scale - NSF does NOT have a foreign affairs or foreign
assistance mission
25Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
26Support for International Activities
- Supplements to existing NSF grants
- Part of new proposals to NSF disciplinary
programs - New proposals to Office of International Science
and Engineering
27International activities embedded in disciplinary
grants
- Facility Improvements and New Equipment for the
Archbold Tropical Research and Education Center
(ATREC), Dominica, Lesser Antilles - Ickes, Kalan, Clemson University
- ATREC, located on the island of Dominica, the
only non-marine field research station in the
Lesser Antilles, and is composed of almost 20,000
ft2 of building space and 92 hectares of
secondary forest. - Wide variety of habitat types lowland and
montane rain forest, elfin forest, tropical dry
forest, littoral forest, volcanic fumaroles and
their associated highly specialized vegetation,
beaches with nesting sea turtles, two freshwater
lakes, one boiling lake, over a hundred rivers,
and coral reefs. - The Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a United
Nations World Heritage site, is within walking
distance. - Field courses from seven U.S. universities have
been based at ATREC, most returning year after
year. - Funds provided will address
- renovating the plumbing and roofing for the
entire field station, - creating a secure collections facility and wet
lab within existing the existing structures, and - updating existing classrooms and kitchen.
- The island of Dominica is one of the poorest
countries in the Caribbean, but has unparalleled
biological resources. - ATREC provides tremendous opportunities for
collaboration with the Dominica branch of the
University of the West Indies and Dominica State
College.
28International activities embedded in disciplinary
grants
- Materials World Network Design of Responsive
Materials via Mixed Polymer Brush Approach - Luzinov, Igor, Clemson University
- The focus of this work is on chemical design and
characterization of novel responsive
nanostructured materials, namely ultrathin films
made of mixed polymer brushes, with controlled
and variable hydrophilic/hydrophobic/
steric/inonic interactions. - To accomplish the objectives of the project a
US-German team of specialists possessing
complementary expertise in the area has been
assembled. - The team includes I. Luzinov (Clemson
University, synthesis of (mixed) polymer
brushes) S. Minko (Clarkson University,
properties/applications of mixed polymer
brushes) M. Stamm (Dresden Technical University
and Leibniz-Institute for Polymer Research
Dresden, protein adsorption onto the mixed
polymer brushes) M. Mller (University of
Gttingen, theoretical modeling of the mixed
brushes) K. Hinrichs/N. Esser and K.-J. Eichhorn
(Institute for Analytical Sciences in Berlin,
study of the brushes with spectroscopic
ellipsometry).
29International activities embedded in disciplinary
grants
- Collaborative Research Iron and Light Effects on
Phaeocystis antarctica Isolates from the Ross
Sea - DiTullio, Giacomo, College of Charleston
- The colonial prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis
antarctica is a major bloom-forming alga in
Antarctic shelf waters where, alongside diatoms,
it is considered a keystone species in its impact
on regional biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem
structure. Iron levels in these waters fall to
values as low as 0.1 nM during the mid to late
summer, concentrations that are likely to limit
the growth of phytoplankton, including P.
antarctica. - In this project, P. antarctica will be collected
from the southern Ross Sea and grown in
semi-continuous batch cultures for use in
experiments at the University of Charleston to
investigate the effects of iron availability and
irradiance on the growth rate, cellular iron
quota, buoyancy, biogenic sulfur production,
pigment content, redox-protein expression, and
photosynthetic efficiency of P. antarctica. - This species may have also played a central role
in the inferred basin- scale changes in
biogeochemical cycles linked to
glacial-interglacial climatic change.
30Office of International Scienceand Engineering
(OISE)
31Proposals to OISE
- Planning Visits (20,000 max)
- Workshops (25-60,000)
- PASI (65-100,000)
- Partnerships for International Research and
Education (2.5 million) - http//www.nsf.gov/oise/
32Planning Visits
- Short trips by US researchers in promising new
areas - Fully assess foreign expertise, facilities,
equipment, data, experimental protocols, etc. - Detailed preparation for collaborative research
- Used more often for countries where access is
harder
33Example of Planning visit Lawrence Pratt, Fisk
- This award supports a planning visit to enable
Professor Lawrence Pratt of Fisk University in
Nashville, Tennessee to meet with Professor Bui
Manh Nhi at Ho Chi Minh City University of
Pedagogy in Vietnam. - The visit will include workshops consisting of
lectures and laboratory exercises on
computational chemistry applied to organolithium
compounds that will train investigators and
students in Vietnam. This will then lead to
collaborative research projects between the
Vietnamese, the PI and his graduate students at
Fisk University in which the students will have
the opportunity to visit the Ho Chi Minh City
University. In turn some of the Vietnamese
students may enroll in Fisk University for
graduate work to further their collaborative
research projects. - The study of organolithium compounds is a field
of major importance in the development of new
synthetic methods, and computational methods are
a major tool to study these compounds. Although
Vietnam is a developing country without extensive
laboratory facilities for research, the
University of Pedagogy does have a computational
chemistry laboratory that is sufficiently
equipped for moderate research projects, or more
extensive research projects in collaboration with
other institutions.
34Workshops
- Co-organized by U.S. foreign investigator
- NSF supports U.S. participants
- Identify areas of joint research purpose is to
develop new, targeted collaborations - Outcome should be a proposal to one of the
disciplinary offices within NSF - Priorities vary by region
35Examples
- Patterson and Jan Persens, University of the
Western Cape, South Africa - The Mathematics of Computer Security, Tunis,
Tunisia, August 2004 - Patterson and Ricardo Baeza-Yates, University of
Chile - Computational Methods for Security in a Web
Environment, Arica, Chile, July 2006
36Example Chaden Djalili, USC
- US-Peru Workshop in Nuclear Physics and Its
Applications, June 11-16, 2007, Cusco, Peru - Djalali, Chanden, University of South Carolina
- This Americas Program award will support a
workshop on nuclear physics and applications to
be held in conjunction with the Seventh Latin
American Symposium on Nuclear Physics and
Applications in Cusco, Peru, June 11-16, 2007. - The workshop is being organized by Dr. Chanden
Djalali of University of South Carolina, and Dr.
Philip Cole of Idaho State University in
collaboration with Dr. Fernando Umeres Sanchez of
the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del
Cusco, Peru. - This workshop will discuss topics presented at
the symposium such as nuclear matter at high
densities, nuclear astrophysics, neutrino
physics, exotic nuclei, as well as photo- and
electron-nuclear physics with the attendant
applications of nuclear physics.
37Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI)
- Short courses of two to four weeks duration, at
the advanced graduate and post-doctoral level. - Courses should involve distinguished lecturers
and active researchers in the field, preferably
from the Americas. - PASIs aim to disseminate advanced scientific
knowledge and stimulate training and cooperation
among researchers of the Americas in the
mathematical, physical, and biological sciences,
and in engineering fields
38Recently Funded PASIs
- Modern challenges in statistical mechanics -
Argentina - Study of surfaces, interfaces and catalysis -
Venezuela - Physics at the nanometer scale - Argentina
- Green chemistry - Uruguay
- Quantum information - Brazil
- Materials for energy conversion and environmental
protection Brazil - Process Systems Engineering - Argentina
39Partnerships for International Research and
Education (PIRE)
- Cutting Edge scientific research
- Strong international partners
- Innovative models
- Involvement of students junior researchers
- Institutional resources (IT, language/culture,
curriculum, study abroad, other) - 14-17, 5-year awards of up to 2.5M each
- Eligibility Ph.D. granting in U.S. (20 in 2
years) - Prelim proposal deadline October 30, 2006 (limit
3 per institution)
40PIRE
U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research and Education
Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics in 6.1-Angstrom
Semiconductors PI Junichiro Kono, Rice
University
41PIRE
Remote Sensing for Hazard Mitigation and Resource
Protection in Pacific Latin America PI Gregg
Bluth, Michigan Tech University
42PIRE examples of FY05 projects
- UCSB and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
Electron Chemistry and Catalysis at Interfaces.
14 professors, extended research visits, jointly
mentored grad students, summer schools, language
training, tech transfer. PI Alex Wodtke. - Penn State, NC AT, U. Witwatersrand, as well as
other U.S. institutions and scientists in 9
African countries PIRE-AfricaArray Project.
Geophysics focus, semester at university in
Africa, e- and field courses, language training,
HBCU involvement. PI Andy Nyblade.
43Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
44Postdoctoral Researchers
- Participation in NSF disciplinary awards
- Disciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowships
- International Research Fellowships
45International Research Fellowships
- Designed to introduce young scientists to
international research opportunities - Provides support to carry out research at science
and engineering establishments in foreign
countries - Research experiences range from tenures of 9 to
24 months - Applications from women and minorities, and for
work in developing countries are especially
encouraged.
46International Research Fellowships Eligibility
Requirements
- U.S. citizenship or permanent residency
- Applicants must have a Ph.D. by the time IRFP
tenure begins - Applicants cannot have had their Ph.D. longer
than two years at the time of application - Deadline October 3, 2006. Next year, Second
Tuesday In September!
47From the Participants...
- I look back and recognize how much my
involvement in Iceland has shaped and opened up
new opportunities. I am still actively working
with my colleagues in Icelandand my work there
has enabled me to apply for positions (and
receive job offers!) for which I would have
otherwise been unqualified.
48From the Participants...
- Overall the fellowship seems to have had an
extremely positive effect on my careerI was
interviewed for four of the six tenure-track jobs
for which I applied I was given tenure-track job
offers at two universities and I have accepted
my dream job at a four year research university.
49Outline
- Introduction to NSF
- International Collaboration at NSF
- Support for Faculty
- Programs for Postdoctoral researchers
- Programs for students
50Support for Students
- Participation in NSF disciplinary awards
- Integrative Graduate Education and Research
Traineeship (IGERT) Program - Graduate Research Fellowships
- Participation in OISE planning visits or
workshops - Dissertation Enhancement Awards
- East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes (EAPSI)
- International Research Experiences for Students
- International REUs
51Dissertation Enhancement Research
- Supports doctoral student research in a foreign
country - Must be collaborative, with evidence of
intellectual involvement of foreign institution - U.S. faculty mentor is PI on proposal
- Up to 15,000 per award for up to 2 years
- Apply to NSF disciplinary program or OISE
- Deadlines 9/15 and 2/15 annually for OISE may
vary for disciplinary programs
52Example of a Dissertation Enhancement Award
- Continuity Hypotheses Revisited English L2
Acquisition of Bulgarian Nominal Domain - Dubinsky, Stanley, University South Carolina
- With NSF support and under the direction of
Stanley Dubinsky and Hyeson Park. Ms. Mila
Tasseva-Kurktchieva will investigate the second
language (L2) acquisition of the Bulgarian noun
phrase by adult native speakers of English. The
goals of this research are (i) to test a new
variant of the dynamic approach to the L2
acquisition of Bulgarian nominal structure,
including the timing and order of acquisition of
gender and number agreement, possessives, and
definite determiners. The study will use a unique
pool of subjects-US Peace Corps volunteers
exposed to the target language through both
immersion and classroom instruction. This
research will be among a few studies to focus on
the very early stages of L2 acquisition-three to
four weeks after subjects' first exposure to the
target language.
53East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S.
Graduate Students (EAPSI) www.nsf.gov/eapsi Become
an internationally experienced researcher.
Spend eight weeks conducting research and
experiencing life in Australia, China, Japan,
Korea, New Zealand or Taiwan
54EAPSI Applicant Eligibility
- U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Enrolled at U.S. institution in a research
oriented masters, M.D. or Ph.D. degree program - Fields of science or engineering supported by NSF
and represented among host institutions - December 12, 2006--Application deadline
55 - Unprecedented Number of Howard Students Selected
by NSF for International Research - April 25, 2006 In the Summer of 2006, Howard
University will send its largest number of
students ever to study and do research in Asia as
a result of successful applications to the
National Science Foundation by four Howard
graduate students in Computer Science and
Electrical Engineering. Three of the four
students, Ebonie Loftin, Ngizambote Mavana, and
James Tolbert II, all master's students in
Computer Science, were selected for the NSF's
East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes to do
research in South Korea. With three students
selected for South Korea, Howard University led
all universities in the United States in students
selected for that country. The fourth student,
Kenneth Bird, a third-year doctoral student in
Electrical Engineering, was selected to do
research in China.
56International Research Experiences for Students
- Can include graduate and undergraduate students
- Supports small groups of students in a focused
field - Awards of up to 50,000 per year for up to 3
years - Deadlines 9/15 and 2/15
57IRES in Senegal
- When their DC-8 flew into a tropical storm off
the coast of West Africa, Aaron Pratt and Tamara
Battle realized their lifelong dream--to study
storms and weather systems at their source.
During that flight, lightning struck their plane.
The resulting storm turned into a tropical
depression and ultimately became known as
Hurricane Helene, one of the strongest Atlantic
hurricanes in 2006. - African dust is very critical for hurricane
formation. One of our flights allowed us to see
the dust kicked up in the Sahara Desert, said
Pratt, who is pursuing a doctorate in atmospheric
science from Howard University in Washington,
D.C., as is Battle. I had never done research
overseas before and didnt know what to expect.
Working with scientists in both Senegal and Cape
Verde helped put our research in the proper
perspective.
Graduate students study African storms onboard a
DC-8 airplane to understand links to U.S. storms.
58IRES in Senegal (2)
- Dr. Gregory Jenkins of Howard University received
an International Research Experiences for
Students (IRES) award in 2006 to allow eighteen
U. S. graduate students to conduct research with
U. S. and Senegalese scientists in studying the
effects of African weather systems on the United
States. - The award supports American students work with a
large multinational team of scientists on a
project called the African Monsoon
Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA). Scientists and
students from around the world are involved with
the project, which is also funded by nations in
Africa, Europe and Asia.
59IRES in Armenia Coastal Carolina
- Undergraduates in Armenia Investigating the
Chemistry of Heterogeneous Catalysts - Goodwin, John, Coastal Carolina University
- This US-Armenian project provides US
undergraduate students opportunities for training
and research in Yerevan, Armenia. The research
activities revolve around porphyrin synthesis and
isolation, heterogeneous catalysis, and molecular
modeling. The principal investigators are John
Goodwin from Coastal Carolina University and
Tigran Kurtikyan from the Molecular Structure
Research Center in Armenia. - The US students spend eight-weeks in the Armenian
laboratory where they benefit from the
complementary expertise and instrumentation of
the Armenian researchers. The subject research
area has practical implications in the
development of suitable catalysts for activation
of atmospheric oxygen for a number of purposes.
Development of robust heterogeneous catalysts for
activation of molecular oxygen is important for a
wide range of applications including
environmentally-benign synthesis, water
purification, fuel-cell technology, and on-site
chemical nerve-agent decomposition. - This project fulfills the program objectives of
providing US students with a global perspective
and opportunities for professional growth through
international cooperative research training,
networking and mentoring.
60REU International Site in Ghana
- Can the seeds of a pepper plant in West Africa be
used as a crop insecticide here in the U. S.?
Will the Ghanaian Mangrove oyster become one of
our next delicacies? What is the necessary
environment for the survival and propagation of a
stingless bee? - These and other questions are being explored by
U. S. undergraduate students under the direction
of Daniel Wubah, Professor of Biology at James
Madison University.
Sharonda Johnson taking extractions from a plant
with her Ghanaian mentor, Dr. Yaw Opoku-Boahene
61REU International Site in Ghana
- According to one student, Akhil Rastogi,
participating in this program was key to his
admission into several professional and graduate
schools because the first question at every
interview was tell us about the research that
you did in Ghana. - The answers from the above?
- Dzifa Gbewonyor found that an extract from the
Ashanti pepper plant seeds has an effect as an
insecticide on cowpea plants. - Alexandra Sutton discovered that harvesting the
oysters has high potential, but further study on
the oysters ability to filter salt content is
necessary. - And Nicholas Davenport demonstrated that
deforestation has a negative effect on the
survival of the stingless bee.
62REU International Site Japan (USC)
- Chemical Engineering Research in Japan
- Amiridis, Michael, University of South Carolina
- This award supports the Department of Chemical
Engineering at the University of South Carolina
(USC) for the establishment of a three-year
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site
in Japan. Students will be assigned an individual
research project to work in the Fall Semester
with faculty research mentors at Osaka
University, Sophia University (Tokyo), and Kyoto
University in collaboration with USC faculty. - In addition, two USC U.S. graduate (Ph.D.)
students will also travel to Japan together with
the REU group and serve as mentors to the
students while also doing research in Japan. - Research projects will be on topics such as the
catalytic role of supercritical water in organic
reactions molecular simulations of gas
permeation through organic membranes shock tube
studies of the thermal decomposition of
hydrocarbons the synthesis of molecular
composites emission control during the pyrolosis
of coal and synthesis of nanoporous materials
using copolymer gel templates.
63Looking Beyond the Borders A Project Directors
Handbook of Best Practices for International
REUswww.nsf.gov/pubs/2006/nsf06204/index.html
64 www.nsf.gov/oise wpatters_at_nsf.gov 703-292-8189