RESEARCH & EDUCATION PROGRAMS - IOS Tools: Support for the collaborative development of enabling tools and resources

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) in the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF has released a Dear Colleague letter that calls attention to the division’s plans to provide augmenting funding that supports the collaborative development of tools and resources across the programmatic areas covered by the division.

According to the letter, a non-exhaustive list of areas in which such tools might be developed includes:

• High-throughput measurements on individual organisms in laboratory and field settings
• High-accuracy measurements in the field
• Wireless data collection
• Imaging of live organisms and associated analysis tools
• Data analysis tools
• Genomic resources

There are two components to this effort. The first is development of a “Tools” Wiki that is intended to bring potential tools developers together with those that might use and improve the tools in their research. Instructions on how to register to use this Wiki are included in the Dear Colleague letter.

The second component involves taking advantage of existing funding opportunities, including Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) or Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER). Both of these programs allow for tool and resource development projects derived from collaborative interactions initiated on the Wiki, and proposals may be submitted to any program or cluster in IOS (see the NSF Grant Proposal Guide). Development of tools and resources may be part of a hypothesis-driven project or may be the focus of an entire project. If you’re unsure whether your ideas may be a good fit for this opportunity, the Program Directors in IOS will be glad to discuss their suitability for submission of formal proposals.

Proposals should be submitted prior to June 1, 2010.