name - 17 November, 1999

NSF Proposal

Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 22:35:18 -0400
To: msharkey@byron.ca.uky.edu, dwagner@uconnvm.uconn.edu, pswhite@unc.edu
From: pick@pick.uga.edu (John Pickering)
Subject: NSF Proposal -- Are we game?
Cc: Karen_Ballentine@nps.gov, hbarrios@ancon.up.ac.pa,
        bogartg01@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us, moth@ra.msstate.edu,
        bcarroll@infointl.com, colwell@uconnvm.uconn.edu,
        Coley@biology.utah.edu, PCOLEY@bci.si.edu, gladys_cotter@usgs.gov,
        cvcove01@homer.louisville.edu, idg@nhm.ac.uk, mark_fornwall@usgs.gov,
       Phil_Francis@nps.gov, whallwac@sas.upenn.edu, wfharris@utk.edu,
        bphayden@nsf.gov, cgodoy@rutela.inbio.ac.cr, djanzen@sas.upenn.edu,
        Johnson.2@osu.edu, tkiernan@npca.org, keith_langdon@nps.gov,
        lockard@pick.uga.edu, longinoj@elwha.evergreen.edu,
        grsm_friends_of_grsm_np@nps.gov, spruance@infinet.com,
        jmorse@clemson.edu, becky_nichols@nps.gov, chuck_parker@nbs.gov,
        pulliam@ecology.uga.edu, mrose@esper.com, dsmith@sel.barc.usda.gov,
        dsiegel@nsf.gov, Mike_Soukup@nps.gov, Chris_Stein@nps.gov,
        mjwillia@tricon.net, windsord@tivoli.si.edu, WOODDM@EM.AGR.CA

Folks,

I just returned from two weeks on the road and have lots to do, the least
of which is starting something new.  However, here's a good possibility for
some serious funding -- NSF's recent Special Competition Announcement for
Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology.   For details
please see
        <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1999/nsf9912/nsf9912.htm>.

In short, I quote "This competition is designed to meet a growing need for
larger, explicitly integrated research projects that address major issues
within or accross these fields of ecology and evolution.  The competition
especially seeks to enable the kinds of synergisms and intellectual
leveraging that result from integrated and synoptic approaches to key
questions from differing perspectives and scales."  Maximum award of $3M
over 3-5 years.  In addition to the intellectual merit, review criteria
include an emphasis on "Integration of Research and Education" and
"Integrating Diversity [women & men, underrepresented minorities, & persons
with disabilities]..."  In 1999, the deadline for the full proposal is 9
February.

While we might wish to consider a proposal entitled "GSMNP-ATBI," I suggest
that we'll have a stronger proposal if we focus our intellectual questions.
I wish to get your feedback on a focus on terrestrial
plant-herbivore-parasitoid-hyperparasite interactions, addressing questions
of spatial scale, community diversity, density dependence, trophic
interactions, phenology, and host specificity.  If we go this route, there
are two possibilities: one is to stay within eastern North America, focused
around the Smokies; the other is to include our tropical friends in a
tropical-temperate comparison of such questions.

I have spoken with Dan already.  He intends to put in an independent
proposal from the ACG to extend what they're doing there.  He's willing to
explore linking ACG's intellectual efforts to a larger temperate-tropical
comparison with the Smokies.  If we go the larger tropical-temperate route,
I hope that Don-Lissy-BCI and Jack-Rob-ALAS would like to join us in some
capacity.

In writing this, it isn't my intent to discourage the
Becky-Chuck-John-GSMNP-ATBI aquatic team from applying.  If the aquatic
biologists or other taxa/questions wish to develop a proposal, I'll help
them to the best of my capacity.  However, John rather than I should take
the lead on an aquatic proposal.  Ultimately the ATBI might even have
several proposals submitted over the next several years to this
competition.

In terms of science, my vision is to build our temperate zone effort around
Peter (plants), Wags (herbivores), and Mike (parasites) and then add the
tropical folks if they show interest and we decide to go that route.  Mike
is game.  I'm blind-siding Peter and Wags.  Sorry, guys.

I hope that our educational team
(Chris-Eli-Glenn-Karen-Parks/School_Yards_as_Classrooms) will get involved
and consider developing the protocols and technology to involve a large
number of schools in caterpillar hunting, rearing, photographing, and
databasing so that students learn and produce quality data towards our
scientific goals.  Wags has just written a great guide to help them.

Regarding databasing, I trust that
(Bonnie-Gladys-Mark-Norm-Rob-&-the-Invisible-Blob) will pull it all
together before too long.  In the meantime, I suggest that we use Biota as
our means of data entery.

Regarding logistics, I hope that
(Charles-Frank-Mary-Meryl-Tom-&-the-Friends) can help us set up the process
so that we can apply with this and future proposals to NSF through Discover
Live in America/Friends of Great Smokies rather than through our respective
universities.  If possible, I would like one goal of our Development Team
to be that of raising sufficient support from other sources such that
Discover Life in America's cooperating scientists and educators do not need
to request ANY indirect costs from NSF or other donors.  In short, Discover
Life in America's infrastructure should try to contribute all indirect
support to all cooperators' proposals.  This match would save anywhere from
10 to 100+ percent that is typically charged by most institutions.  The
logic behind my reasoning is that by charging no overhead we will (1) show
a substantial contribution to NSF and other agencies from whom we seek
funds, (2) make our proposals more competitive by producing more science
and education for donors' dollars, and (3) force ourselves to keep our
overhead costs low because they will be coming out of our hide rather than
that of our potential funding agencies.  In short, let's "Think
Differently" and develop ground rules so that we build a lean, efficient
support team and make our proposals as competitive as possible.

Please send me your input and thoughts.  Depending on who is game and how
much they're willing to participate (and write), I'm willing to take the
lead on this.  Your deadline in which to respond with comments to me is 25
November.  If the general response is positive, I'll send NSF the required
letter of intent that is due on Monday, 30 November, discuss this during
our planning meeting 14-17 December (see <www.discoverlife.org>), and spend
the holidays and January making this work.

For those of you whom I have not copied on this, please forgive me.  I hope
that the others will share this with you as they see fit.  For those of you
whom I owe personal responses to your emails, thanks.  Please forgive me,
I'm somewhat behind.

Cheers,
Pick

John Pickering
Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2602
Office: 706-542-1115                                 Messages: 706-542-3379
Laboratory:  706-542-1388                              FAX: 706-542-3344

e-mail: pick@pick.uga.edu                              Home: 706-353-7076
Web sites:     <www.discoverlife.org>       <http://dial.pick.uga.edu>


Discover Life in America | Great Smokies | NSF_IRC | Pickering - 17 November, 1999