ANR Contracts & Grants Updates
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UC ANR Accepting Applications for the FY23 UC ANR Mini-Grant Program Due March 3, 2023

  • By Kathleen P Nolan

Dear Colleagues,

UC ANR is seeking to support collaborative projects that add value to the impact of Statewide Programs and Institutes (SWP/I) or Research and Extension Centers (REC). Projects should develop and/or support the continuum of research dissemination or curriculum development in support of SWP/I or REC efforts.

Priority will be given to projects completed by June 30, 2023.

The FY23 Statewide Program and Institute Priority Areas are as follows:

Identified Priority Areas by Statewide Program

1. Agricultural Issues Center:

  1. Assessment of current knowledge of climate smart practices in the Dairy industry. Fellow to work with staff at the Agricultural Issues Center, the California Institute for Water Resources, county Dairy Advisors and industry to collect, synthesize and analyze an assessment of the use of climate smart technologies in the dairy industry. The assessment will focus on technologies available to dairy operators, costs, and use of available technologies. The results of this assessment will form the foundation for applying for grants to integrate economics and biology into a model to assess the costs and changes in greenhouse gas emissions for different management and policy scenarios.

2. California Naturalist Program:

  1. An AES faculty or UCCE Advisor to spend three months to develop detailed outline for a bioregional manuscript (5000-8000 words) as part of the ANR California Naturalist 8000 series (preferably on the Mojave, Colorado Desert, or South Coast bioregion). In addition to the publication outline, identify co-authors, potential reviewers, develop maps, graphics, and charts, and prepare a plan for completing a publication within the following 9 months.
  2. AES faculty who can work with our Climate Stewards Academic Coordinator to create or refine a participatory science protocol using an application/tool such as ISeeChange to collect local input and validation over time to measure and track climate impacts and data that will lead to enhanced local adaptive capacity and community resilience for our Climate Stewards partners.
  3. UCCE Advisor or AES faculty to co-design a Climate Stewards or California Naturalist course with a local partner organization willing to host and deliver the co-designed course for an agricultural or wildland urban interface community audience.

3. California 4-H Youth Development Program:

  1. Fellow to conduct an environmental scan of youth leadership programs/curriculum/literature; develop a youth leadership framework for youth development (4-H) to guide program development, curriculum development, and evaluation.

4. Community Nutrition and Health:

  1. Work with Director and 10+ Advisors of Community Nutrition and Health to facilitate a collaborative statewide needs assessment to guide departmental efforts into the next 3-5 years. This will involve compiling and comparing local needs assessment data.
  2. Work with Director and CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL), UC Director and select county based CFHL colleagues to assess equity-driven strategies and identify areas of opportunity for increased Health Equity focus.
  3. Work with Director and CFHL, UC Director and select county based CFHL colleagues to create a model for paid internships that will support graduate students on the campuses in nutrition, community and human development, human biology, exercise science, etc. to take on projects with the SWP leaders and or other academics in the areas of nutrition security, food systems, physical activity for vulnerable communities with an emphasis on health equity and DEI. Ideas could include having the student collaborate with partners such as a non-profit, food bank, schools, etc. to collect information, conduct interviews, etc.
  4. Research projects that establish a process to mine existing data to build the evidence base for a future direction of work (i.e., develop program evaluations and/or evaluation tools/infrastructure).

5. Informatics and GIS:

  1. Fellow to support analysis of data and algorithm development. Also support to cover summer salary for a “Faculty Fellow” to support intellectual innovation in the field.

6. Integrated Pest Management:

  1. An academic to provide guidance on measuring impacts at the statewide program level for human-health, environmental, and economic condition changes.

7. Master Gardener Program:

  1. Fund academics to work with UC Master Gardener Online Training Coordinator Lauren Snowden on the development of core and continuing education online training modules. Project involves an academic identifying/compiling a fully annotated PowerPoint presentation on a core topic for the UC Master Gardener Program (e.g., Introduction to Horticulture, a 4-hour training class) as well as quiz questions, handouts/worksheets, and supplemental hands-on activities associated with the course. The Online Training Coordinator will develop the e-learning module and work with the academic to edit/iterate until a final product is available. In addition to an annotated PowerPoint, quizzes, handouts/worksheets, and hands-on activities, the academic will identify images, and be available for filming various training components.
  2. Working with UC Master Gardener Marketing/Communication Coordinator, lead review and organization of gardening intellectual property hosted online as part of the Integrated Web Project. Funds could be awarded to cover single or multiple sections based on academic's areas of expertise. This project includes integrating California Master Gardener Handbook content with currently online intellectual property. Secondary benefit of this project is capturing edits/additions to the California Master Gardener Handbook (so there will be an authorship opportunity for the individuals engaged in this effort as well).
  3. Working with UC Master Gardener Statewide Training Coordinator, create and deploy statewide toolkits based on academic's research to support UC Master Gardener volunteer programming. Toolkit may include PowerPoint presentations, project suggestions, and/ handouts for the public. The goal of this effort is to better utilize academic research statewide. For example, Janet Hartin and Igor Lacan writing up findings from their ‘Trees for Tomorrow' research that has been successfully utilized for impactful volunteer projects in Sonoma and Southern CA. Example toolkit: Master Gardeners - Asian Citrus Psyllid Distribution and Management (ucanr.edu).

8. Master Food Preserver:

  1. Work with Director and Statewide UC Master Food Preserver Program team to understand current metrics available through Volunteer Management System and data analytics to create a process and tool(s) for annual or semi-annual program evaluation. Time permitting, work to establish baseline data by implementing a first round of program evaluation.

Identified Priority Areas by Statewide Institutes

9. California Institute for Water Resources:

  1. Support local or regional workshops, organized on a topic of local water resources management.
  2. Fund research on topic related to water resources management of policy relevance, or end-uses of water such as agricultural production or urban needs.
  3. Fund research to develop a database of researchers and professionals within a water research and management community at a local or regional scale.

10. Nutrition Policy Institute:

  1. Fund faculty or graduate students to collaborate on: 1) Mapping county level data on access to child care homes and centers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program in relation to community characteristics and needs for use by state and local agencies overseeing child care licensing and the food program.
  2. Analyzing data and collaboratively writing a paper for publication on California's new universal school meals programs.
  3. Translating research findings on federal nutrition program evaluations to create research briefs and infographics for dissemination to decision-makers.

11. Organic Agriculture Institute:

  1. We need someone to make maps of organic acreage across California based on an existing California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) dataset.

12. Research and Extension Centers:

  1. Develop short videos highlighting ways REC staff have worked with AES, specialists, and advisors to build research infrastructure, collect data, and extend results.
  2. Build a toolbox of evaluation tools for ag and natural resource education programs delivered to youth and/or adults at RECs by community education specialists.
  3. Develop curriculum focused on ag education and career development utilizing the research projects occurring at RECs as the foundation for exploring science careers in ag-related fields.
  4. Work with Associate Director of REC system to develop materials highlighting REC-based projects showcasing successful collaborations between campus academics and RECs with the goal of utilizing these materials to generate stronger connections between campus academics, the RECs, and UC ANR.

To apply, please submit your 1-to-2-page proposal (maximum of 2 pages) through the ANR Universal Review System (URS), no later than March 3, 2023.

The maximum award amount is $20,000 per project.

To review the full application details, see the Mini Grant Request for Proposal.

Thank you.

Kathleen Nolan, Director, ANR Office of Contracts & Grants (OCG)