C-DEBI Newsletter – February 18, 2014
C-DEBI Newsletter – February 18, 2014This newsletter is also accessible via our website.
Our Spring 2014 calls for deep biosphere proposals for our Research Small Grants, Education Small Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowships and Graduate Fellowships are now open. Help us further our mission to explore life beneath the seafloor and make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins. C-DEBI’s research objectives include support of research activities related to the study of life in the deep marine subsurface, including analysis of samples and data from past cruises; participation in upcoming cruises; and field, laboratory and theoretical studies of the deep subsurface biosphere. Our overall education goal is to create distinctive, targeted, education programs at the K-12, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels in order to train and foster the next generation of deep subseafloor biosphere researchers. The deadline for the Spring 2014 calls is April 1, 2014. C-DEBI values a diverse research and education environment and encourages proposals from applicants who would help to improve diversity in C-DEBI and STEM fields. Funding is only available to individuals sponsored in US institutions.
NSF: EarthCube Research Coordination Networks (RCN) Program Solicitation
EarthCube RCNs are intended to advance geosciences cyberinfrastructure through interaction, discussion and planning between geoscientists and cyberinfrastructure experts. RCNs provide opportunities for academic geosciences communities to organize, seek input, come to consensus and prioritize data, modeling, and technology needs. Deadline: March 12, 2014.
NSF: Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBS) Program Solicitation
1) Pilot Demonstration Awards build upon the advanced cyberinfrastructure capabilities of existing research communities, community recognized data collections, and disciplinary research interests, to address specific challenges in science and engineering research; and extend those data capabilities to broad community needs, of interest either to a large number of researchers within a research domain, or extending beyond that to encompass other disciplines. These awards may last up to three years in duration.
2) Early Implementation Awards are large “at scale” evaluations, building upon cyberinfrastructure capabilities of existing research communities or community recognized data collections, and extending those data focused cyberinfrastructure capabilities to additional research communities and domains with broad community engagement. These awards will develop frameworks that provide consistency or commonality of design across communities and implementation for data acquisition, management, preservation, sharing, dissemination, etc. This includes data and metadata format and content conventions, standardized constructs or protocols, taxonomies, or ontologies. These awards may last up to five years in duration. Full proposal deadline: April 9, 2014.
NSF: SI2 Program Solicitation
1) Scientific Software Elements (SSE): SSE awards target small groups that will create and deploy robust software elements for which there is a demonstrated need that will advance one or more significant areas of science and engineering. The development approach may support the hardening of early prototypes and/or expanding functionality to increase end-user relevance. Submission window: March 3 – March 17, 2014.
2) Scientific Software Integration (SSI): SSI awards target larger, interdisciplinary teams organized around the development and application of common software infrastructure aimed at solving common research problems faced by NSF researchers in one or more areas of science and engineering. SSI awards will result in a sustainable community software framework serving a diverse community or communities. Submission window: June 13 – June 27, 2014.
Moore Foundation: Data-Driven Discovery Initiative
Pre-applications are due Monday, February 24, 2014 by 5 pm Pacific Time. We expect to extend invitations for full applications in April 2014. Full applications will be due five weeks after the invitation is sent, currently anticipated for mid-May 2014.
IODP: Call for Scientific Ocean Drilling Proposals
The proposal submission deadline is April 1, 2014. For more information and proposal guidance, please visit http://www.iodp.org/submitting-proposals or contact science@iodp.org.
IODP-USSSP: Rolling Proposals for Pre-Drilling Activities and Workshops
The U.S. Science Support Program (USSSP) accepts proposals on a rolling basis for pre-drilling activity and workshops related to the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).
The subsurface realm is colonized by microbial communities to depths of >1000 meters below the seafloor (m.b.sf.), but little is known about overall diversity and microbial distribution patterns at the most profound depths. Here Ciobanu et al. show that not only Bacteria and Archaea but also Eukarya occur at record depths in the subseafloor of the Canterbury Basin. Shifts in microbial community composition along a core of nearly 2 km reflect vertical taxa zonation influenced by sediment depth. Representatives of some microbial taxa were also cultivated using methods mimicking in situ conditions. These results suggest that diverse microorganisms persist down to 1922 m.b.sf. in the seafloor of the Canterbury Basin and extend the previously known depth limits of microbial evidence (i) from 159 to 1740 m.b.sf. for Eukarya and (ii) from 518 to 1922 m.b.sf. for Bacteria.
Applications due February 28, 2014. Test drive one of our published activities, or one of the many developed during previous workshops.
C-DEBI: Community College Research Internship for Scientific Engagement (CC-RISE), June 16 – August 8, 2014
Applications are due March 1, 2014.
Wrigley Institute: High School Marine Science Lab at USC’s Wrigley Marine Science Center
Please see the flyer or download the application, due March 31.
Activities and Workshops
Join us for a joint scientific conference and workshop focused on bioenergetics and metabolisms in deep subsurface ecosystems. This meeting will provide a forum for discussing and establishing what is known, unknown but knowable, and unknowable about microbial metabolisms in the deep subsurface. This next and final DEBI RCN meeting will include a hands-on modeling component for a subset of the participants on the final day. We invite graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and more “seasoned” researchers interested in the geochemical supply of energy for microorganisms, their catabolic and anabolic demands, and novel approaches to investigating these. Due to space and financial limitations, participation will be limited to approximately 30 participants. Some travel funding is available. Applications due March 10, 2014.
C-DEBI: Nominations open for the 2013-2014 Networked Speaker Series
The 3rd International Conference of Geobiology, June 16-18, 2014, Wuhan, China
Registration deadline is Feb 28, 2014.
ISSM 2014: Call for Abstracts
Abstract Deadline: April 1, 2014.
Employment
Call open until March 15 (or until a suitable candidate is found).
To apply for the position, please follow this link: http://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/35661 Applications will be reviewed starting January 15, 2014
Don’t forget to email me with any items you’d like to share in future newsletters! You are what makes our deep biosphere community!
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