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.]
Let the Research Alert know when you or a colleague receive a research-related prize or honor.
News and Information
SNAP PROGRESS REPORTS BECOME ALL ELECTRONIC
If you are submitting a progress report for a SNAP (Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process) eligible award, as of Aug. 1, 2010 you must submit electronically using the eSNAP module in eRA Commons. (See the June 2010 Nexus article.)
An eSNAP User Guide can assist first-time users. For technical assistance, contact the eRA Help Desk.
NEW FACILITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE COST RATE GOES INTO EFFECT SEPT. 1, 2010
The rates for Facilities and Administrative (FandA) Costs have been renegotiated for The University of Texas at Austin.
In a July 1, 2010 memo, OSP Director Susan Sedwick said:
“The current on-campus federally negotiated indirect costs rate applies to all proposals including those submitted to for-profit and federal entities … Proposal budgets must use the effective rate that corresponds with the proposed start date for the project and should be calculated on modified total direct costs (MTDC) … For proposals with a proposed start date of Sept. 1, 2010 through Aug. 31, 2011, use 53.5 percent.”
Read the memorandum. A copy of the negotiated rate agreement can be found on the Office of Sponsored Projects Web site.
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.]
The New York Times
July 12, 2010
A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America
Research indicates that generally, the more experienced teachers are, the better their students perform, and several studies have criticized Teach for America’s turnover rate.
“I’m always shocked by the hullaboo, given Teach for America’s size” – about 0.2 percent of all teachers – “and its mixed impact,” said Julian Vasquez Heilig, a University of Texas professor. Dr. Heilig and Su Jin Jez of California State University, Sacramento, recently published a critical assessment after reviewing two dozen studies. One study cited indicated that “by the fourth year, 85 percent of T.F.A. teachers had left” New York City schools.
“These people could be superstars, but most leave before they master the teaching craft,” Dr. Heilig said.
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.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Computer Science Study Group
Deadline: July 1, 2011
Bioinspired Photonics
Deadline: Aug. 16, 2010
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins
Deadline: Oct. 5, 2010
2011 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program
Deadline: Sept. 13, 2010
Subjective Well-being: Advances in Measurement and Applications to Aging
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Sept. 3, 2010; Application, Oct. 3, 2010
Partnerships for Next Generation Biodefense Diagnostics
Deadlines: Letter of Intent, Oct. 4, 2010; Application, Nov. 4, 2010
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Interface Between Computer Science and Economics and Social Science
Deadline: Oct. 5, 2010
ARTS, HUMANITIES AND CULTURE
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
DAAD/AICGS Research Fellowship Program (research in German, United States and European relations)
Deadline: Aug. 31, 2010
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
Teaching Development Fellowships
Deadline: Sept. 30, 2010
America’s Media Makers: Development Grants
Deadline: Aug. 18, 2010
America’s Media Makers: Production Grants
Deadline: Aug. 18, 2010
OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has extended the deadline for the submission of proposals to the Hogg Mental Health Policy Academy to Monday, July 26, 2010 at 1:00 PM. Contact the foundation with questions at hogg-grants@austin.utexas.edu.
SRC Global Research Collaboration Call for White Papers
Nanomanufacturing Science: Patterning,
Nanoengineered Materials, and Metrology
Deadline: Application window, Aug. 2-9, 2010
Interconnect and Packaging Science: Back End Processes
Deadline: Application window, Aug. 2-16, 2010
Institute for New Economic Thinking
Research Grants (to pursue ground-breaking high-impact research in economics)
Deadlines: Stage 1 proposals, July 31, 2010; Stage 2 proposals, Sept. 20, 2010
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Active Living Research: Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Deadline: Letter of Intent, July 1, 2011
Research Project
[Let the Research Alert know about your research projects.]
Model and Testing of Enhanced Cutaneous Perfusion to Manipulate Heat Convection between Skin and the Body Core
RESEARCHER: Kenneth Diller, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, principal investigator
AGENCY: National Science Foundation
AMOUNT: $324,995
This research involves the design of novel devices and development of new models to take advantage of a recently observed phenomenon capable of rapidly reducing body core temperatures. The research builds upon observations that arteriovenous anastomoses (AVAs) in glabrous skin become mechanically distended when a small negative pressure (about 40 mm Hg) is applied to the body. When negative pressure is utilized in conjunction with surface cooling of the skin, body core temperatures can be rapidly lowered due to increased blood flow rates between the skin and the body core.
The intellectual focus of this project is to build a predictive model of heat transfer between the skin and body core via enhanced blood perfusion through distended AVAs. The model will be used to design devices and identify appropriate protocols for manipulation of human thermoregulatory function. Specifically, the complex AVA control mechanisms will be measured and characterized by way of human testing and the corresponding constitutive models will be incorporated into the Wissler thermoregulatory model.
The broader focus of the research is to develop a new technology that can rapidly reduce core temperature from hyperthermic (heat stress) states for industrial, military and athletic needs and from normothermia to hypothermic states for medical needs (therapeutic hypothermia). The research may also lead to new treatments of stroke, cardiac arrest and concussion. Outreach to local minority-serving high schools will be a key component of the activity. New educational materials will be developed in conjunction with the research and will be disseminated in the archival learning science and engineering education literature. Experimental and modeling outcomes of the research will also be incorporated into supplemental learning materials of a new biotransport text.
