Weekly Newsletter

 November 30, 2020
 
 
Dear colleagues-  

Welcome back for the countdown…

Our events calendar has wound down for the semester, but that doesn’t mean there’s no reason to read on. In addition to a slew of funding opportunities, we congratulate several affiliates including Jake Hosen, Laura Bowling and Sara McMillan, as well as Andrew Flachs and Ankita Raturi, for recent funding success. You can also read more about affiliate Catherine Aime’s recent coverage in The Atlantic and learn more about climate change and its impact on coffee.

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

Read on for additional opportunities and events.
 
Featured Research
Jake Hosen's Team to Study Wetland Usage



Congratulations to C4E affiliates Jake HosenLaura BowlingSara McMillan, and grad student Danielle Winter who received a $500,000 USDA NIFA grant to study 
how hydrology and plant community diversity can be modulated to maximize nutrient retention and minimize production of greenhouse gasses from wetlands.

Read more about their work here.
 
C4E Affiliates Win Award for US Food System response to Covid-19

C4E affiliate and assistant professor of Anthropology Andrew Flachs was recently awarded a Just Tech Covid-19 Rapid-Response grant from the Social Science Research Council for his project entitled "
Technological Transitions in the US Local Food System in Response to Covid-19". His team also includes Ankita Raturi, assistant professor in ABE.


Both Flachs and Raturi are members of the Center's Building Sustainable Communities signature research area.


Read more about the project and award here.


Check out this and other Covid-19 research being done by Purdue faculty on our dedicated webpage.
 
Fungus Commits Floral Fraud to Fool Insects into Spreading It

Cathie Aime, professor of Botany & Plant Pathology and C4E affiliate, was part of a team that worked to identify a type of fungus - Fusarium xyrophilum - that spreads its spores by pretending to be a flower, encouraging insects to land on it and carry the fungi spores with them through the air. Continue reading about the sneaky fungi here.
 
In the News
Purdue joins national manufacturing cybersecurity collaboration
Purdue University News | November 2020



Purdue University's Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) is joining the national Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) to improve cybersecurity and energy efficiency for American manufacturing. Involved in the project is C4E affiliate and head of EEE at Purdue, John Sutherland. Read more about the collaboration. 
 
Coffee Rust Is Going to Ruin Your Morning
The Atlantic | September 2020



C4E affiliate and professor of Botany and Plant Pathology Cathie Aime was quoted recently in The Atlantic as part of an article on rust fungi affecting coffee plants throughout Latin America. Continue reading.
 
Are you monitoring water in Indiana?

Participation wanted for the 2020 Indiana Water Report

The Indiana Water Monitoring council (InWMC) invites your participation in the 2020 Indiana Water Report. The Summary will be a compilation of short summaries that describe efforts in Indiana to monitor water quality and quantity in the air, soil, groundwater, streams, and lakes.
 
Please see this letter letter which includes guidelines for authors and provides a link to the 2018 Indiana Water Report to show the general writing style that they seek to emulate.

The deadline for submissions is December 10, 2020 with the intent of having the Summary available by January 1, 2021. Please submit your contribution or intent to contribute to Randy Bayless asap.
 
Funding Opportunities

COVID-19 Funding OpportunitiesThis list is updated frequently.

Shah Lab Seed Grants
The Shah Lab seed program has a number of problem statements related to agriculture. Please read through the problem descriptions and an overview of the organizations submitting the problems. If you are interested, you should complete this brief Qualtrics survey by December 7th. The problem statements selected to move forward in the process will be announced during the week of Dec 14th. Webinars will be scheduled with the organization’s representatives for deeper understanding of the challenge (first two weeks of Jan 2021). Deadline: December 7

Limited Submission: NIH Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award (R01)   
The Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award is intended to identify the most talented Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) who intend to make a long-term commitment to research in the Environmental Health Sciences and assist them in launching an innovative research program focused on the understanding the effects of environmental exposure on people’s health. Only one application per School or College within a University is allowed.
Internal deadline: Preproposal due in InfoReady by December 14
Sponsor deadlines: February 26

DOE-SC Environmental System Science (ESS) 
The goal of the ESS program in BER is to advance an integrated, robust, and scale-aware predictive understanding of terrestrial systems and their interdependent biological, chemical, ecological, hydrological and physical processes. The program seeks to develop an integrated framework using a systems approach to unravel the complex processes and controls on the structure, function, feedbacks, and dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems, spanning from the bedrock through the rhizosphere and vegetation to the atmospheric surface layer.  Deadlines: December 17 – Pre-application; March 4 - Application

USDA-NIFA Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) Pre-Applications 
The purpose of the SCRI program is to address the critical needs of the specialty crop industry by awarding grants to support research and extension that address key challenges of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture, including conventional and organic food production systems. Projects must address at least one of five focus areas:
  1. Research in plant breeding, genetics, genomics, and other methods to improve crop characteristics
  2. Efforts to identify and address threats from pests and diseases, including threats to specialty crop pollinators;
  3. Efforts to improve production efficiency, handling and processing, productivity, and profitability over the long term (including specialty crop policy and marketing)
  4. New innovations and technology, including improved mechanization and technologies that delay or inhibit ripening; and
  5. Methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production efficiency, handling and processing of specialty crops
Requires 1:1 matching funds. Deadline: January 26 – Pre-application


USDA 2021 Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship, Fall Release 
The Borlaug Fellowship Program advances USDA’s agricultural research goals of promoting collaborative programs among agricultural professionals of eligible countries, agricultural professionals of the United States, the international agricultural research system, and United States entities conducting research by providing Fellowships to individuals from eligible countries who specialize or have experience in agricultural education, research, extension, or other related fields. USDA then places Participants with U.S. research institutions for 10-12-week intensive programs, which are expected to contribute to the strategic goals and objectives of the Participant and the institutions through a “real-world” agricultural research scenario, providing opportunity for application of research agendas where they can have a direct impact on food security and economic growth in an emerging economy. Deadline: February 1

USDA-NRCS Indiana Partners for Conservation Fiscal Year 2021 
NRCS is announcing the potential availability of funding for agreements for the purpose of leveraging NRCS resources, addressing local natural resource issues, encouraging collaboration and developing state-and-community-level conservation leadership. Proposals must be for projects based in Indiana and focus on conservation issues. A 50% cost share is required. Deadline: January 25
 
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