Found beneath the table of contents (on the right-hand tool-bar) are two new items:  information about the next scheduled introductory NEON webinar (3/14/11), and a place for you to submit anonymous comments and suggestions.  This "suggestions box" is meant for you to propose changes to the format / content of the monthly introductory NEON webinars and / or monthly email updates.  Some time back, an individual from one of our member institutions suggested that we include a list of open NEON positions in our monthly updates, and we did so because it was a great idea (right-hand tool-bar, below).  We are interested in listening to what you have to propose!

NSF's FY12 Budget Request 

On February 14, 2011, the White House sent its FY12 budget request to Congress.  The proposed budget maintains a doubling path for the three key science agencies - NSF, the DOE Office of Science, and NIST - as outlined in the 2007 America COMPETES act that was re-authorized in December 2010.  The 2012 budget for these three agencies is $13.9 billion, a 12.2% increase over FY10.   

NSF Director Dr. Subra Suresh unveiled the President's FY12 budget for NSF on February 14, 2011 at NSF (Arlington, VA).  The proposed NSF budget is $7.8 billion, a 13% increase over the FY10 omnibus level at $6.9 billion.  (FY11 numbers are not available because on the on-going Continuing Resolution, hence increases in budget numbers are relative to the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for FY10 signed into law on December 2009).  The Research and Related Activities (R&RA) account sees an increase of 12.4% to $6.3 billion, Education & Human Resources (EHR) is increased by 4.4% to $911.2M, while the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account under which NEON construction is funded sees an increase of 91.6% to $224.7M.  These increases should support approximately 2000 additional research grants over FY10, which translates to a 27.8% increase.

The theme of linking fundamental research to national challenges ran through strongly in Dr. Suresh's NSF FY12 presentation.  Of particular relevance to NEON, the proposed budget "embraces the broadening scope of science, which enhanced observational capabilities make possible".  Dr. Suresh further stipulates that key to his vision of advancing NSF's mission is promoting the opportunities associated with the new "Era of Observation" and "Era of Data and Information".  NEON was one of the observational capabilities highlighted in his presentation, together with other MREFC projects like the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), and others. 

Other highlights of the FY12 budget include:

• The Faculty Early Career Development program (CAREER) at $222M for the support of young faculty.  At the FY12 levels, it will support approximately 60 more CAREER awards than at the FY 2010 Enacted level, for a total of 606 new awards.
• The Graduate Research Fellowship program (GRF) at $198M that supports the development of students and early-career researchers. Under this new budget, 2,000 new fellowship offers will be made, maintaining the doubling of new fellowship awards achieved in FY 2010.
• Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) at $12.4M will catalyze interdisciplinary research by seamlessly integrating a suite of new activities with existing efforts and other NSF investments so as to foster and support transformative research through interdisciplinary research (IDR) proposals.
• New STEM education programs include Teacher Learning for the Future (TLF) ($20M: focuses improving the training of pre-service, in-service, and future generations of teachers), Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-based Reforms (WIDER) ($20M: implementation of evidence-based undergraduate instructional practices to improve student outcomes, based in part on demonstration models of such practices), and Transforming Broadening Participation through STEM (TBPS) ($20M: seek innovative solutions for broadening participation in STEM at the undergraduate level. 

NSF Biology Directorate FY12 Budget Request 

The Biology (BIO) Directorate's FY12 proposed budget is $794.5M, an increase of 11.2% increase over FY10.  The increases within the BIO divisions MCB, IOS, DEB, DBI, EF are shown below.

The Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) portfolio is a cross directorate program designed to spark innovations for tomorrow's clean energy solutions with a crossdisciplinary approach to sustainability science.  BIO will participate in SEES by funding activities that will generate discoveries, advances, and capabilities in climate and energy science, engineering, and education to inform societal decisions needed for future environmental and economic sustainability and sustainable human well-being.  Increased funding will be directed across all BIO divisions, reflecting a broad portfolio of support for Sustainability Research Networks, research on Sustainable Energy Pathways, Postdoctoral Fellowships in Sustainable Solutions, Dynamics of Coupled Natural Systems and the Dimensions of Biodiversity program.

BIO is also participating in the new NSF investment, Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21).  BIO's contribution is $6M, split between the Emerging Frontiers (EF) Division (NEON's home within BIO) and the Division for Biological Infrastructure (DBI).  EF and DBI will support each of the new programmatic components of CIF21:  data enabled science, community research networks, new computational infrastructure, and access and connections to cyberinfrastructure facilities.

NEON's Role in the Era of Observation and the Era of Data and Information

NEON and OOI (Ocean Observatories Initiative) belong to a class of NSF environmental observatories (EOs) charged with generating and curating credible sources of data and information products with clearly documented provenance, quality protocols, uncertainty estimates, and other qualitative descriptors.  These EOs form an ecosystem of national facilities that will collect and analyze data on the impacts of large-scale environmental changes on oceanic, atmospheric, and terrestrial systems.  As NEON and OOI are being constructed, the research community should capitalize on opportunities offered by the key science agencies (NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIST) to build capacity.  In particular, NSF solicitations like Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models, Macrosystems Biology, Climate Change Education, the Environmental Synthesis Center, and others are meant to build the community's capacity to take advantage of EOs.  (This perspective has not been vetted with or endorsed by NSF.  They remain solely the author's interpretation and projection of NSF intent.)

In unveiling NSF's FY12 budget, Dr. Suresh acknowledges the related challenges of managing the vast amounts of data generated by NSF scientific facilities, and of ways to transform that data into knowledge.  DataONE is an example of a NSF project to build distributed cyberinfrastructure to allow discoverability and utility of observational data.  NEON staff are actively participating in workshops and meetings to offer ideas and assess how we can contribute to these efforts.  NEON, Inc.'s recent MOU with the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (announced in the December 2010 update) and our membership into the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners signify our commitment to facilitate collaborative activities that promote interoperability in observation methodologies and informatics.  We're part of an ecosystem of organizations trying to develop the tools and capabilities that would allow the user community - you - to "make sense of the data deluge" (quote from Mark Parsons, NSIDC). 

The user community, on the other hand, will need to develop new capacities as opportunities for data-intensive scientific discovery arise.  The requirement to submit a data management plan with NSF proposals (see article in this issue, "How to Write a Data Management Plan for a NSF Proposal") will help the user community develop awareness of the issues related to repurposing data for intents other than which the data might have originally been meant for.  Other challenges are highlighted in Reichman et al 2011 ("Challenges and Opportunities of Open Data in Ecology", Science 11 February 2011: Vol. 331 no. 6018 pp. 703-705, DOI: 10.1126/science.1197962).  In that article, the authors highlight technical and sociological challenges that we all need to be aware of and prepare ourselves for.  If we are to rise to the challenge of pushing the frontier of the ecological sciences in a data-intensive future, we will all need to venture beyond our comfort zone and learn to interact beyond our traditional disciplines.  This goes beyond interacting with another discipline within the environmental sciences: it means actively seeking opportunities to learn about concepts and frameworks in education, computer science, social science, decision-support, and other areas.  

You may sometimes notice announcements about new funding opportunities in the email update's regular "Solicitations" section that may at first seem somewhat irrelevant.  A judgment call is made in each instance as to whether such solicitations might provide inspiration to spawn off an interdisciplinary collaboration.

Climate Science Day on Capitol Hill 2011 

National Science Board Receives NEON AOP Update

At the February 14 2011 meeting of the National Science Board (NSB) at NSF (Arlington, VA), Dr. Elizabeth Blood (NSF NEON Program Director, Division of Emerging Frontiers) presented an informational update to the NSB on the NEON Airborne Observation Platform (AOP). Such regular updates to the NSB are routine for major initiatives that rise to the level of NSB oversight. NSB members were engaged in the Q&A that followed the presentation.

NIMBios Opportunity:  Mathematical Ecology & Evolution For Graduates

The 2011 Summer Graduate Program in Mathematical Ecology and Evolution, co-sponsored by NIMBioS, will be held July 25 - August 5, 2011, at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. Topics will include infectious disease, resource management, invasive species and evolution biology. Graduate students from the mathematical, physical and life sciences are encouraged to apply. Application deadline: March 15, 2011.  For more information about the program and how to apply, click here .

The Volume 3, Issue 1 of the NIMBios Newsletter highlights a number of other interesting opportunities.  That issue is accessible here.  Interested readers should sign up for the bimonthly newsletter at the NIMBios website.

How to Write a Data Management Plan for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Proposal

As of January 18, 2011, all proposals to NSF must include a supplementary document of no more than two pages labeled "Data Management Plan".  This supplement should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results (seeAAG Chapter VI.D.4).    The NSF policy includes the sharing of results, primary data, physical samples and collections.  This policy also mentions that NSF will enforce this policy through a variety of mechanisms and provide appropriate support and incentives for data cleanup, documentation, dissemination, and storage.  James Brunt (Chief Information Officer, LTER Network Office) has offered guidance on the data management plan.