Read the research blog Further Findings.
Research Prizes and Honors
[Have you or a colleague won a research-related prize or honor? Let the Research Alert know.]
FOUR RESEARCHERS NAMED SIAM FELLOWS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
TO APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE
The University of Texas at Austin had four of the first class of fellows in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Fellowship is an honorific designation conferred on members distinguished for their outstanding contributions to the fields of applied mathematics and computational science.
Those named are:
- Ivo M. Babuska, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
- Thomas J. R. Hughes, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
- J. Tinsley Oden, Institute for Computational Engineering and Science
- Harry Swinney, Department of Physics
Read more on the fellowships and the list of all 183 fellows.
News and Information
OSP OFFERS CLASS: THE LIFE CYCLE OF A SPONSORED RESEARCH GRANT
The Office of Sponsored Projects is presenting a class called The Life Cycle of a Sponsored Research Grant.
The class takes place May 20, 2009, from 1:30-4 p.m. in Room NOA 4.106 in the North Office building (NOA). Registration is through TXCLASS SP101.
Participants will learn about the services available from the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP), which serves as the coordinating office for externally funded research projects submitted by The University of Texas at Austin.
The presentation will provide an overview of the grant award process and will include information and tips on using electronic research administration tools, budget development, and other pre-award issues, as well as grant account administration issues. Related policies and procedures will also be discussed. This class is open to everyone but is most appropriate for entry-level research administrators.
QuotedUT Researchers in the News
[A sampling of recent quotes by university faculty members and researchers. To be included in this section, let the Research Alert know when you or a colleague have been quoted.]
USA TODAY
May 6, 2009
HEADLINE: Racism hurts kids’ mental health;
Study: Minorities more likely to be depressed
(From an article about a study on children and racism.)
The study asked students whether they “ever” experienced racism, and that raises a question, says Rebecca Bigler, a University of Texas psychologist. In other research, children who report racism consistently say it rarely happens, she says. “We don’t know if it was a rare occurrence with these kids. Maybe it only has to happen once to be devastating if you’re young.”
NEWSHOUR
April 30, 2009
HEADLINE: After Filing For Bankruptcy, Chrysler Faces Tough Road Ahead
(From a segment about the Chrysler bankruptcy filing.)
JEFFREY BROWN (interviewer): Well, Jay Westbrook, coming back to the bankruptcy proceedings in the meantime, what is the impact on Chrysler’s workers, its retirees, dealerships? What happens to them? What kind of impact?
JAY WESTBROOK (law professor): All of them are going to lose a good deal, obviously, in this process, in terms of what they came in with, but all of them have to do that if Chrysler is going to survive.
It’s a little bit like everybody being in a boat, and you brought all your most precious possessions with you, and now basically everyone has to throw a lot of that overboard in order to keep the boat floating.
On the other hand, this is the way for something to survive at Chrysler and, therefore, for all these different stakeholders to come out of this experience with something, rather than nothing. Otherwise, Chrysler, I’m afraid, would expire.
Research Opportunities
Important university research deadlines:
Awards and Grants
Limited Submissions
AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT
The University of Texas at Austin Stimulus Package Web page is online.
—ARRA–NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
The Recovery Act Limited Competition for NIH Grants: Research and Research Infrastructure “Grand Opportunities” (RC2) deadline has been moved from May 27 to May 29, 2009.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
—DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Air Force Fiscal Year 2010 Young Investigator Research Program
Deadline: July 28, 2009
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Computational Science Research for Ice Sheet Modeling
Deadline: May 26, 2009
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
2009 Exploratory Advanced Research Program
Deadlines: June 24, 2009 and Sept. 23, 2009
NASA
New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity 2009(PDF)
Deadlines: Notice of Intent, June 12, 2009; Proposal, July 31, 2009
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Non-Invasive Methods for Diagnosis and Progression of Diabetes, Kidney, Urological, Hematological and Digestive Diseases and Hypertensive Disorders
Deadline: June 5, 2009
Economic Studies of Health Insurance Coverage on Drug Abuse Treatment Availability, Access, Costs, and Quality
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, June 14, 2009; Application, July 14, 2009
Translational Research for the Prevention and Control of Diabetes and Obesity
Deadlines: July 1, 2009 and Nov. 2, 2009
Nutrition Obesity Research Centers
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Oct. 22, 2009; Application, Nov. 18, 2009
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Urban Long-Term Research Area Exploratory Awards
Deadline: July 7, 2009
Social-Computational Systems
Deadline: Sept. 21, 2009
Education and Interdisciplinary Research
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2009
ARTS, CULTURE AND HUMANITIES
Craft Research Fund
Project Grants and Graduate Research Grants (in contemporary and decorative arts)
Deadline: July 1, 2009
OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Topics
* Create Low-Cost Diagnostics for Priority Global Health Conditions
* Create New Ways to Induce Mucosal Immunity
* Create New Vaccines for Diarrhea, HIV, Malaria, Pneumonia and Tuberculosis
* Create New Tools to Accelerate the Eradication of Malaria
Deadline: May 28, 2009
Leakey Foundation
General Research Grants
Deadline: July 15, 2009
Helen Hay Whitney Foundation
Research Fellowships (early postdoctoral research in biomedical sciences)
Deadline: July 15, 2009
Archaeological Institute of America
Harriet and Leon Pomerance Fellowship (in Aegean Bronze Age Archaelogy)
Deadline: Nov. 1, 2009
Research Project
[Let the Research Alert know about your research projects.]
Collaborative Research: Advanced Analogical Search with Integrated Function and Form: The Verrocchio Project
RESEARCHER: Kristin Wood, professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, principal investigator
AGENCY: National Science Foundation
AMOUNT: $50,913
The research objective of this award is to improve understanding and capabilities in concept generation through design by analogy methods.
The proposed approach, a collaboration between the disciplines of cognitive psychology, engineering design and computer science, is to provide new tools for design based on a representation that associates functional and geometric information, combining a linguistic search for functional similarity with a multi-level search for geometric similarity to automatically identify and present analogies to the designer.
The initial application for the Verrocchio Project is the design of prosthetic and orthotic devices for persons with disabilities, a domain that is ripe for innovation.
The initial search space is the USPTO utility patent repository.
Deliverables will include:
(1) means to more effectively generalize design problems through functional descriptions;
(2) the ability to search for analogical solutions with alternative functional representations;
(3) ways to search for geometric similarities across a set of functional analogies; and
(4) the ability to produce a tractable set of analogies for use by the designer.
