Call for Participation

Two high school seniors will receive a full scholarship to exchange ideas with scientists and other professionals from the academic and corporate worlds.  The nearly month-long experience includes lectures and hands-on research projects presented by scientists from across the nation; overnight camping trips into the Monogahela National Forest; and a visit to Washington D.C.  The selected delegates must not only demonstrate academic achievement in science, but also show potential for thoughtful scientific leadership. 

The NYSC experience is offered at no cost to its participants, so that selected delegates may attend regardless of their financial status.  Contributions to the National Youth Science Foundation® allow delegates to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Educational and recreational programming, as well as meals, lodging, and round-trip air passage on scheduled airlines are provided free of charge.

Delegates arrive in Charleston, West Virginia, on Thursday, June 30, and depart on Sunday, July 24, 2011.  The NYSC is held near Bartow in the eastern mountains of West Virginia, within the Monongahela National Forest.  Application forms are available on the NYSC website at www.nysc.org and must be submitted directly to each state's selection coordinator for NYSC.  Application deadline for most states is Friday, January 21, 2011

 Links to delegate application material:

http://www.nysc.org/2011/NYSC.pdf 

www.nysc.org/2011/application.docx

www.nysc.org/2011/application.doc

www.nysc.org/2011/application.pdf

NSDL's Middle School Portal is hosting a free online web seminar this coming Thursday as part of its MSP2 Pedagogy 2.0 series: 

Visit Middle School Portal at: http://www.msteacher2.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

The National Science Foundation has released an updated solicitation, NSF 11-502 for Cyber-Enabled Discovery & Innovation (CDI).   

Full Proposal Window:  December 1, 2010 - January 19, 2011

Type I Full Proposal Submission Window

Full Proposal Window:  December 1, 2010 - January 20, 2011

Type II Full Proposal Submission Window

Synopsis: 

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) is NSF’s bold five-year initiative to create revolutionary science and engineering research outcomes made possible by innovations and advances in computational thinking.  Computational thinking is defined comprehensively to encompass computational concepts, methods, models, algorithms, and tools.   Applied in challenging science and engineering research and education contexts, computational thinking promises a profound impact on the Nation’s ability to generate and apply new knowledge.  Collectively, CDI research outcomes are expected to produce paradigm shifts in our understanding of a wide range of science and engineering phenomena and socio-technical innovations that create new wealth and enhance the national quality of life. 

CDI seeks ambitious, transformative, multidisciplinary research proposals within or across the following three thematic areas:  

• From Data to Knowledge: enhancing human cognition and generating new knowledge from a wealth of heterogeneous digital data;
• Understanding Complexity in Natural, Built, and Social Systems: deriving fundamental insights on systems comprising multiple interacting elements;  and
• Virtual Organizations: enhancing discovery and innovation by bringing people and resources together across institutional, geographical and cultural boundaries. 

With an emphasis on bold multidisciplinary activities that, through computational thinking, promise radical, paradigm-changing research findings, CDI promotes transformative research within NSF.  Accordingly, investigators are encouraged to come together in the development of far-reaching, high-risk science and engineering research and education agendas that capitalize on innovations in, and/or innovative use of, computational thinking.  Research and education efforts around the world are beginning to address various aspects of the CDI themes, and CDI projects are expected to build upon productive intellectual partnerships involving investigators from academe, industry and/or other types of organizations, including international entities, that advance CDI objectives within the rapidly evolving global context. 

Congruent with the three thematic areas, CDI projects will enable transformative discovery to identify patterns and structures in massive datasets; exploit computation as a means of achieving deeper understanding in the natural and social sciences and engineering; abstract, model, simulate and predict complex stochastic or chaotic systems; explore and model nature’s interactions, connections, complex relations, and interdependencies, scaling from sub-particles to galactic, from subcellular to biosphere, and from the individual to the societal; train future generations of scientists and engineers to enhance and use cyber resources; and facilitate creative, cyber-enabled boundary-crossing collaborations, including those with industrial and international dimensions, to advance the frontiers of science and engineering and broaden participation in STEM fields. 

Two types of CDI awards will be supported as a result of the FY 2011 CDI competition:

• Type I awards will require efforts up to a level roughly comparable to: summer support for two investigators with complementary expertise; two graduate students; and their collective research needs (e.g. materials, supplies, travel) for three years.
• Type II awards will require larger (than Type I) efforts up to a level roughly comparable to: summer support for three investigators with complementary expertise; three graduate students; one or two senior personnel (including post-doctoral researchers and staff); and their collective research needs (e.g. materials, supplies, travel) for four years.  The integrative contributions of the Type II team should clearly be greater than the sum of the contributions of each individual member of the team.

PolarTREC - Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating is currently accepting applications from teachers and researchers for the fifth year of teacher research experiences during the 2011 (usually Arctic) or 2011-2012 (usually Antarctic) field seasons.

ABOUT PolarTREC:
PolarTREC, a program of the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) and funded by the National Science Foundation, pairs K-12 teachers with researchers for professional development through teacher research experiences in the polar regions. The program integrates research and education to produce a legacy of long-term teacher-researcher collaborations, improved teacher content knowledge, and broad public interest and engagement in polar science.

Through PolarTREC, teachers spend two to six weeks in the Arctic or Antarctic, working closely with researchers in the field as an integral part of the science team. While in the field, teachers and researchers will communicate extensively to communities and students of all ages across the globe, using a variety of tools including online journals, photos and other multimedia, and web-based seminars.

Teachers and research projects will be selected and matched to fill the approximately 12 openings available. All major expenses associated with teacher participation in PolarTREC field experiences are covered by the program, including transportation to and from the field site, food, lodging, and substitute teacher costs.

Teacher Application Deadline: Friday, 1 October 2010
Teacher Application: http://www.polartrec.com/teachers/application

Researcher Application Deadline: Friday, 1 October 2010
Researcher Application: http://www.polartrec.com/researchers/application
Note: Researchers, if you need more time or your funding is pending, please contact us.

For further information, please contact PolarTREC at:
Email: info@polartrec.com
Phone: 907-474-1600

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
More information about PolarTREC, including program goals, requirements, expectations, and frequently asked questions, is available at:
http://www.polartrec.com

Email: info@polartrec.com