NEScent welcomes proposals in K-12 evolution education for underrepresented minorities. Apply by Sept. 1 or Jan. 1


Deadline Sept. 1, 2011 or Jan. 1, 2012

As part of ongoing efforts to increase diversity in evolutionary science, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center is sponsoring a range of targeted activities in the general area of “K-12 Evolution Education for Underrepresented Minorities." We seek to support one or more Catalysis Meetings, Working Groups or other synergistic activities that lead to the creation of new programs, activities or initiatives designed to increase exposure and participation in evolutionary science by K-12 minority students who are historically underrepresented in the discipline.

In particular, proposals that are significantly interdisciplinary, and that demonstrate a mix of senior and emerging researchers, including graduate students, are encouraged. Competitive proposals will not only define the target audience(s) and outline strategies for developing innovative activities, but will also include detailed plans for implementation and assessment. Proposals should also indicate how activities and programs align with state and/or federal education standards.

NESCent invites researchers to submit proposals for two kinds of meetings:

Catalysis Meetings: These one-time meetings bring together ~30 experts from diverse disciplines to focus on a major question or research area in evolutionary science. Catalysis Meetings typically last for 3-5 days.

Working Groups: Working Groups involve small groups of scientists (10-12 participants) collaborating intensively on the analysis or synthesis of data, models or both, to address a major question in evolutionary science. Working groups will typically meet 3-4 times over two years, with each meeting lasting 3-5 days.

Synergistic Activities: We also strongly encourage linkages among our science programs (see url below). We invite proposals that plan synergistic activities between two or more of the following: working groups, catalysis meetings, postdoctoral fellows, sabbatical scholars, short-term fellows, and graduate students. Proposals for each of these must be submitted separately; they should include a clear statement of linkage between proposals (including clear identifications in each of the separate proposals of which proposals are linked).

NESCent will not support collection of new data or field research, but encourages the synthesis of existing data and information resources. NESCent is committed to making data, databases, software and other products that are developed as part of NESCent activities available to the broader scientific community.

To learn more about the various types of proposals, and the proposal process, please visit /science/proposals.php, or contact Dr. Allen Rodrigo (a.rodrigo@nescent.org) or Dr. Jory Weintraub (jory@nescent.org).

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