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Message from the Assistant Director for Biological Sciences: One Last Update
Dear Colleagues,
As I noted in previous newsletters, I will be retiring at the end of September after 23 years with NSF. It is a bittersweet departure as I have enjoyed and am proud of all that the agency has accomplished over that time, especially all that we have accomplished within BIO over the last four years.
Most obviously, we weathered a pandemic and supported important work that you all did to help understand, track, and mitigate SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. But that did not stop us from advancing in other areas, including beginning new partnerships; developing and releasing new strategically aligned broadening participation programs; deepening our interactions with other areas of science and engineering through engagements with other Directorates at NSF; increasing our community interactions, including through this newsletter; and supporting a breadth of biological science -- conducted by this community -- that has increased our knowledge of the life across species, time, and location.
There are more highlights of that support below including announcements of new awards, new solicitations, and new outcomes from the research you all are conducting.
Internally, I am proud that for the last two years BIO has been ranked among the top places to work across the federal government. Thanks go to my colleagues across the Directorate who work diligently and with dedication in supporting both you and each other. Their teamwork and shared commitment to NSF's mission and values is exemplary. It takes a village!
I also want to thank you all for the support you have given to BIO and NSF, and the great science you have conducted. Thank you.
The search for the next BIO AD is still ongoing. Beginning October 1, BIO's current Deputy Assistant Director, Dr. Simon Malcomber, will become Acting Assistant Director. Simon has served on numerous working groups at NSF and is intimately familiar with all facets of BIO. He began his time in BIO as a rotating program officer in the Systematics and Biodiversity cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology in August 2012 and most recently served as that division's Deputy Division Director. He is a systematist by training and received his Ph.D. in Evolutionary and Population Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and B.S. in Botany from University of Reading in the United Kingdom.
I know Simon will lead BIO capably and wish him and all of you the best moving forward!
Sincerely,
 Joanne Tornow
NSF Assistant Director for Biological Sciences
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Research supported by a Biology Integration Institute award found that even modest climate warming produced major problems for many species, including reduced growth and increased mortality. In addition, reduced rainfall amplified the negative effects of warming on the survival of several boreal species.
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Supported by an award from the Division of Environmental Biology's Systematics and Biodiversity Cluster, researchers from institutions around the world stitched together nearly 1.5 million location records to produce the largest global map of insect diversity, which they hope will be used to direct future conservation efforts.
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Research funded by the Plant Genome Research Program identified AGL62, a gene universally found in all flowering plants, as the trigger to a plant's production of fruit and seed.
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Researchers supported by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences identified a way to release the brakes on plants' production of aromatic amino acids by changing, or mutating, one set of genes. The genetic change also caused the plants to absorb 30% more carbon dioxide than normal, without any ill effect on the plants.
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Reminder: Share your highlights and outcomes with your Program Officer as soon as possible. We also encourage you to illustrate how an NSF award enabled your work when discussing it publicly and promoting it.
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You can always use the Funding Search to find new opportunities, upcoming deadlines, and programs that support your area of research.
BIO Core Programs
As a reminder, the core programs in all BIO Divisions accept proposal submissions at any time and have no deadlines. Submissions to these programs must now be made through Research.gov or Grants.gov.
Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI)
Division of Environmental Biology (DEB)
Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS)
Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB)
Newly released
Upcoming Deadlines
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Building Synthetic Microbial Communities for Biology, Mitigating Climate Change, Sustainability and Biotechnology (Synthetic Communities) (Full proposal deadline: October 3, 2022)
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Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) (Full proposal deadline: October 11, 2022)
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Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice (PACSP) (Full proposal deadline: October 11, 2022)
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NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP) (Full proposal deadline: October 17, 2022 for Life Sciences; October 18-21 for other fields)
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Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) (Full proposal deadline: October 21, 2022)
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Macrosystems Biology and NEON-Enabled Science (MSB-NES) (Full proposal deadline: November 14, 2022)
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Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES) (Full proposal deadline: November 15, 2022)
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Organismal Response to Climate Change (ORCC) (Full proposal deadline: November 15, 2022)
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Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) (Full proposal deadline: November 22, 2022)
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Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS) (Full proposal deadline: December 15, 2022)
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Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology (BRC-BIO) (Full proposal window: December 1 - December 30, 2022)
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Synthesis Center for Molecular and Cellular Sciences (SCMCS) (Preliminary proposal deadline: January 13, 2023)
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Over the last few months, NSF has made several sets of awards to support innovative research, training, and education efforts across the biological sciences, the tree of life, and the country.
NSF is investing more than $7.5 million in new research focused on empowering more reliable prediction of the spread of infectious diseases, the effects of mitigation measures and other critical aspects of national health crises.
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To support the analysis and integration of environmental data sets that provide information at varying scales and advance the use of data-intensive approaches and training in environmental science, NSF has announced the creation of the Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab, or ESIIL.
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NSF's Coastlines and People, or CoPe, program has announced $51 million in new awards to protect the natural, social and economic resources of U.S. coasts, and to help create more resilient coastal communities.
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NSF has made 12 new awards totaling more than $35 million through its Research and Mentoring for Postbaccalaureates in the Biological Sciences program, known as RaMP.
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Fifteen new projects totaling more than $21.6 million funded by NSF will explore complex interactions in ecosystems around the globe, examine how they affect a variety of species from humans to bees to trees, and develop tools and models that can be used to predict future impacts to vital resources.
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NSF has made four related awards totaling more than $38 million over five years. The grants will support the creation of four Biology Integration Institutes that will engage in integrative science.
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26 projects from two new NSF programs will support investigations into climate impacts on the organism and on biodiversity. 12 projects, totaling over $14.7 million over three years, are part of the Organismal Response to Climate Change (ORCC) program. The remaining 14 are from the Biodiversity on a Changing Planet (BoCP) program and total $16.9 million over five years.
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Nearly $26 million in new awards as part of the Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP) program will support interdisciplinary investigations and collaborations that aim to predict and prevent the next infectious disease outbreak, significantly contributing to national security, public health and economic stability.
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Each division hosts regular office hours on topics of relevance to the community that provide investigators the opportunity to communicate with and ask questions of program officers. Notices are posted on NSF.gov, and more information is available on each division's blog.
* - change from regular day due to Federal Holiday
To get the latest on what’s happening in BIO and learn about announcements, opportunities, upcoming deadlines and more, visit our directorate page.
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Emerging Frontiers (EF)
EF supports multidisciplinary research opportunities and networking activities that arise from advances in disciplinary research.
Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS)
IOS supports fundamental research aimed at understanding organisms as units of biological organization, encouraging the use of integrative, interdisciplinary approaches to solving complex problems in organismal biology
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