Weekly Newsletter

November 16, 2020

Dear colleagues-

As COVID cases rise and Thanksgiving nears, campus is getting pretty quiet…

Events and lectures are dwindling, but there are a few things going on this week that might be of interest. Last fall the Center held a lunch and learn about writing policy pieces and Op-eds in collaboration with the Purdue Policy Research Institute, and they are running a similar event again on Wednesday, registration is open now. Also, Read below for information on two upcoming lectures in EEE and FNR.

Next week we will also hold our second co-sponsored film in our ongoing EJ film series, También la Lluvia (Even the Rain). Registration is open now.

In the last week, Arequipa Nexus Institute teams have had two publications, the post-harvest food handling team, and the water management team, congratulations! Also in the news, just today, we can congratulate David Warsinger’s lab for reaching the quarter-finalist stage in a DOE international solar innovation competition for their desalination technologies, best of luck!

As a reminder, our third issue of Earth Today is now available and this month's departmental focus is on EEE, Environmental and Ecological Engineering.

Read on for additional opportunities and events.

Upcoming Events

Environmental Justice Film Series

Monday, November 23, 6:00 PM | Virtual

The 2020-2021 Environmental Justice Film Series continues with the film También la Lluvia (Even the Rain), a story about a director and producer who travel to Bolivia to shoot a film depicting the conquests of Christopher Columbus and, while there, find themselves embroiled in controversy. The film will be followed by a post-screening discussion.

The Series is Co-Sponsored by the Center for the Environment, Native American Educational and Cultural Center, The Department of Spanish and Portuguese/School of Languages and Cultures, Department of Anthropology, The Arequipa Nexus Institute JEDI Postdoctoral Working Group, & The Division of Student Life.

Additional Upcoming Events

EEE Research Seminar feat. Lindsey Darling

Tuesday November 17 | 10:30 AM

Join EEE for a research seminar featuring FNR PhD student Lindsey Darling, who will be speaking about two hundred years of canopy and socio-economic changes in the Chicago region, and the long-term consequences of urban forest planning and management.

Click here to join the virtual seminar.

Policy Brief and Op-Ed Overview Session

Wednesday, November 18 | 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Interested in how to develop a policy brief or op-ed? Here’s another opportunity! Purdue Policy Research Institute and the Scholars Strategy Network offer a 2-part session overview on policy brief and op-ed writing. The policy brief section will be presented by Dr. Rosalee Clawson, Professor of Political Science and former interim Director of PPRI. The op-ed section will be presented by Dr. Kathryn Brownell, Professor of History and co-editor of the Washington Post’s “History in the Making”.

Register here to attend.

FNR Seminar Series - Dr. Elizabeth Cook

Friday November 20 | 12:00 - 1:00 PM

Join FNR for the latest installment of their seminar series, featuring Dr. Elizabeth Cook, Assistant Professor in Barnard College's Environmental Science Department. Dr. Cook will give a lecture titled: A social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) framing for future resilience in cities. Immediately following the seminar, all attendees are invited to an informal virtual coffee hour for continued discussion and questions.

Click here to join the virtual seminar.

Racial Justice Discussion - US Native American Heritage Month

Wednesday, November 18 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

All are invited to participate in a discussion of racial justice in honor of US Native American Heritage Month, featuring professor Dawn Marsh of Purdue's History department. Professor Marsh will discuss an example of an Indiana town and indigenous peoples striving to tell true US history. All attendees are encouraged to read this article prior to the discussion for a full background.

Click on this link to join the discussion.

Funding Opportunities

COVID-19 Funding Opportunities – This list is updated frequently.

DOD-DARPA SenSARS ($500K for Phase 1 and $500K for Phase 2 option)
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is issuing a Disruption Opportunity (DO) inviting submissions of innovative basic or applied research concepts in the technical domain of environmental pathogen sensing. SenSARS aims to identify SARSCoV-2 signatures suitable for rapid indoor air monitoring and use these signatures to develop and demonstrate a technology readiness level (TRL) 4 prototype sensor. Deadline: December 1

North Central Region Sun Grant Program ($450K over 2 years)
The primary goals of the Sun Grant Initiative are to address national energy and resource needs and establish a national bioeconomy through coordinated regional research, education, and Extension activities focused on agriculture and forest-based fuels, products (e.g., chemicals and materials) and power. Preproposals are due February 1, 2021, with invited full proposals due March 30, 2021.

NSF Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR): Data Science Corps
This solicitation prompts the community to envision creative educational pathways that will transform data science education and expand the data science talent pool by enabling the participation of undergraduate and Master’s degree students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, skills, and technical maturity in the Data Science Corps. These activities are envisioned to be inherently collaborative, with a lead organization and one or more collaborating organizations. Deadline: February 12

NIH Pilot Projects Enhancing Utility and Usage of Common Fund Data Sets (R03)
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to announce the availability of funding to demonstrate and enhance the utility of selected Common Fund data sets, including generating hypotheses and catalyzing discoveries. Award recipients are asked to provide feedback on the utility of the Common Fund data resources. Deadline: February 19

EPA Viral Pathogen and Surrogate Approaches for Assessing Treatment Performance in Water Reuse
The EPA, as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing to conduct research on existing and novel surrogates for the detection and monitoring of the presence of human enteric viral pathogens and surrogates in water reuse applications, where wastewater is the source water. Additionally, proposals should aim to identify quantitative reductions of infectious viral pathogens and surrogates across unit treatment processes and full treatment trains to improve viral risk assessments; viral log reduction targets; and unit process credits for water reuse applications. Deadline: January 6

NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS)
For FY 2021, applications to the SAS RFA must focus on systems approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agricultural system within the context of the long-term goal of increasing American agricultural production by 40% with a reduction in environmental footprint by 50% by 2050. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach for projects focused on the themes in the USDA Science Blueprint:

sustainable agricultural intensification;
agricultural climate adaptation;
value-added innovation; and/or
food and nutrition translation

These projects are expected to significantly improve the supply of affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible agricultural products, while fostering economic development and rural prosperity in America. Letters of intent are due on January 7 and full applications will be due on April 4th.

NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI)
This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) invites workshop and Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals that incorporate scientific insights about human behavior and social dynamics to better develop, design, build, rehabilitate, and maintain strong and effective American infrastructure. NSF is particularly interested in proposals that integrate a deep understanding of human cognition, perception, information processing, decision making, social and cultural behavior, legal frameworks, governmental structures, and related areas into the design, development, and sustainability of infrastructure. Deadlines: November 3 – Conference proposal; December 11 – EAGER concept paper; January 15 – EAGER full proposal

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