National Science Foundation: Developing a Community-Driven Data and Knowledge Environment for the Geosciences

EarthCube is a community-driven activity sponsored through a partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) to transform research in the academic geosciences community. EarthCube aims to create a well-connected and facile environment to share data and knowledge in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner, thus accelerating people’s ability to understand and predict the Earth system.

Achieving EarthCube will require a long-term dialogue between NSF and the interested scientific communities to develop cyberinfrastructure that is thoughtfully and systematically built to meet the current and future requirements of geoscientists. New avenues will be supported to gather community requirements and priorities for the elements of EarthCube, and to capture the best technologies to meet these current and future needs. The EarthCube portfolio will consist of interconnected projects and activities that engage the geosciences, cyberinfrastructure, computer science, and associated communities. The portfolio of activities and funding opportunities will evolve over time depending on the status of the EarthCube effort and the scientific and cultural needs of the geosciences community.

Two funding opportunities will be supported:

1. Science-enabling capabilities and pilots: This opportunity builds capabilities to improve geosciences data use and reuse for observational, experimental, and computational research that is interoperable with emerging standards and resources. It also solicits pilot efforts to integrate different datasets and tools from multiple GEO disciplines.
2. EarthCube Research Coordination Networks (RCNs): This opportunity supports the formation of RCNs closely tied to the science and data needs of core geosciences programs and domains supported by GEO.

Additionally, the EarthCube program will accept requests for supplements to support adoption of emerging EarthCube open web standards and existing cyberinfrastructure by science projects and data resources. Supplements will be accepted for the following types:

1. Science adoption: Target broadening or enhancing existing geoscience projects to achieve new research and education outcomes through adoption of existing data and software tools (including, but not limited to, products from EarthCube projects). Possible projects include the adoption of data standards to support the science goals of a project.
2. Data resource adoption: Support data facilities and data resources to adopt robust standards and/or implementation of pilot tools/activities to improve discovery, interoperability, and access to data and cyberinfrastructure services. In conjunction with EarthCube/Council of Data Facilities developments, these awards would facilitate adoption of new semantic web standards and machine-readable publishing patterns, such as for the EarthCube data repository and resource registries. These awards are meant for an initial implementation of these standards and are not meant to sustain existing core functions of data facilities.

Amount: A total of up to $10,000,000 will be available to make up to 12 awards that range up to $300,000 for a period of up to 36 months.

Eligibility:

• Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the U.S., acting on behalf of their faculty members
• Nonprofit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research labs, professional societies, and similar organizations in the U.S. associated with educational or research activities
• Other federal agencies and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): Contact the appropriate program before preparing a proposal for submission

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=322782

This post was filed under: