Wyss Fellowship Program

The Wyss Foundation, a private charitable foundation dedicated to land conservation in the InterMountain west, is accepting proposals for its 2011 fellowship program.

Nonprofit organizations working on land conservation issues in eastern Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico are encouraged to apply to host a fellow.

The two-year fellowship program is designed to provide training and campaign experience for future conservation leaders. Sponsoring organizations contribute staff time to mentor and monitor the fellow's work and cover overhead expenses as well as 20 percent of the fellow's salary and benefits. The Wyss Foundation will provide host organizations with a grant for project expenses and travel as well as the remaining 80 percent of the fellow's salary and benefits.

Host organizations are responsible for selecting and hiring the fellow in consultation with foundation staff. Current employees of the sponsoring organization are not eligible for the program.

Visit the Wyss Foundation Web site for complete program information and application instructions.

Coral Reef Conservation Fund

Administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, the Coral Reef Conservation Fund provides grants to public-private partnerships working to reduce and prevent degradation of coral reefs and associated reef habitats (e.g., seagrass beds, mangroves, etc).

Funding is available for conservation projects in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Projects must implement watershed management plans and local action strategies designed to improve water quality, enhance coral reef ecosystem resilience, and improve the management of protected marine areas that harbor key coral reef ecosystem components and functions.

Funding is also available for activities that support the priority goals and objectives with respect to international coral reef locations identified in NOAA CRCP's International Strategy.

Amount: $20,000 - $70,000 (matching required)

Date due: December 15, 2010

For more information, click here.

NSF Major Research Instrumentation

The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education, museums, science centers, and not-for-profit organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. Development and acquisition of research instrumentation for shared inter- and/or intra-organizational use are encouraged, as are development efforts that leverage the strengths of private sector partners to build instrument development capacity at academic institutions.To accomplish these goals, the MRI program assists with the acquisition or development of shared research instrumentation that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. Instruments are expected to be operational for regular research use by the end of the award period.

For the purposes of the MRI program, proposals must be for either acquisition or development of a single instrument or for equipment that, when combined, serves as an integrated research instrument (physical or virtual). The MRI program does not support the acquisition or development of a suite of instruments to outfit research laboratories/facilities or to conduct independent research activities simultaneously.

Amount: $100,000 - $4m

Due date: January 27, 2011

For more information, click here.

6th Annual Coastal Conference in partnership with Oregon Sea Grant

The 6th Annual Heceta Head Coastal Conference will be held in partnership with the Oregon Sea Grant on October 28 - 29 at the Florence Events Center.  The them for this year's conference is "Oregon's Ocean: Working Waterfronts". 

For more information, click here.

Discovery Research K-12 (STEM focus)

The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to enable significant advances in student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this solicitation begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. DR K-12 invites proposals that meet a variety of educational needs, from those that address immediate challenges facing preK-12 STEM education to those that anticipate the future when expectations, roles and resources are likely to be aligned in different ways. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning. 

Project goals, designs, and working strategies should be informed by prior research and practical experience drawn from all relevant disciplines and they should focus on concepts and skills that are central to STEM disciplines. Tthe DR K-12 program has the more focused goal of fostering the creation of a new generation of resources, models, and tools that take full advantage of the capabilities of information and communications technologies to enhance the education of K-12 learners. The DR K-12 program accepts proposals for exploratory projects, full research and development projects, and synthesis projects, as well as for conferences and workshops related to the mission of the program.

Amount: Varies

Date due: Letter of Intent (11/05/10); Full proposal (01/06/11)

For more information, click here.

NOAA Pacific Northwest Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

This Federal funding opportunity meets NOAA’s Mission Goal to protect, restore and

manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystems-based management. Proposals should address one of the three areas of interest: (1) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences for Students; (2) Professional Development for Teachers related to Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences; (3) Exemplary Programs combining Teacher Professional Development with long-term classroom-integrated Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences for their Students.

Amount: $60,000

Date due: October 8, 2010

For more information, click here.

NASA Undergraduate Opportunity

NASA is offering undergraduate students an opportunity to test an experiment in weightless science as part of the agency's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. Proposals are due by Oct. 27.

The program, managed by the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, provides aspiring explorers a chance to propose, design and fabricate a reduced gravity experiment. Selected teams will get to test and evaluate their experiment aboard a microgravity aircraft. The specially modified jet aircraft flies approximately 30 roller-coaster-like climbs and dips to produce periods of micro and hyper-gravity, ranging from weightlessness to three times the force of Earth's gravity.

"This project gives students a head start in preparing for future ventures by allowing them to do hands-on research and engineering in a truly reduced gravity laboratory," Program Manager Douglas Goforth said.

Interested teams also should submit a letter of intent by Sept. 22. This step is optional, but serves as an introductory notice that a team plans to submit a proposal for the competition. All applicants must be U.S. citizens. Full-time students must be at least 18 years old.

NASA will announce the selected participants on Dec. 8. The actual flights will take place in summer 2011. Selected teams may invite a full-time, accredited journalist to fly with them and document the experiment and gravity-defying experience.

With this program, NASA continues its tradition of investing in the nation's education programs with the goal of strengthening the future workforce.

For more information, click here.