Dear Colleagues,
The National Science Foundation, Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) program is accepting applications with a proposal deadline of 9/26/2018.
The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles), biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities.
The overarching goal of the INFEWS program is to catalyze well-integrated, convergent research to transform understanding of the FEW Nexus as integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS activity is designed specifically to attain the following goals:
1. Significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system of systems through quantitative, predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant cyberinfrastructure;
2. Develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior of FEW systems and increase decision support capability;
3. Enable research that will lead to innovative and integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems solutions to critical FEW systems problems;
4. Grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and managing the FEW system of systems, through education and other professional development opportunities.
INFEWS NETWORKING/ INFORMATION SESSION:If you are interested in learning more about this program, you are already planning to apply, or are looking for proposal partners and collaborators, we are inviting you to join us for an Information Session on Friday, May 11th. The session will be hosted by the UC Davis, Office of Research in Room 129 Office of Research, located at 1850 Research Park Drive.
We will be joined via remote conferencing by program officers from NSF and USDA/NIFA:
- Rachel Melnick, National Program Leader, USDA/NIFA
- Brandi Schottel, Associate Program Director, NSF
Lunch will be provided. Please register for the information session here: https://ucdinfewsinfo.eventbrite.com
Additional information regarding this funding opportunity can be found at the program's website, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18545/nsf18545.pdf
Thank you.
Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)