Small Grants for Exploratory Research:
Hurricane Katrina
Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposals are for
small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research in the fields of science,
engineering, and education normally supported by the NSF. The SGER
is one mechanism NSF will use to support fundamental science and
engineering projects whose results may enable our country to better
mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from catastrophic
events. SGER proposals may be submitted to individual programs.
Research suitable for SGERs is characterized as:
-
preliminary work
on untested and novel ideas;
-
ventures into emerging and potentially
transformative research ideas;
-
application of new expertise
or new approaches to "established" research
topics;
-
having a severe urgency with regard to availability of, or
access to data, facilities or specialized equipment, including
quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters
and similar unanticipated events; or
-
efforts of similar character
likely to catalyze rapid and innovative advances.
In the case of hurricane Katrina, a SGER award would allow for
the rapid collection of ephemeral data—data that must be
gathered rapidly in the aftermath of disasters before their validity
are compromised with the passage of time.
SGER awards cannot exceed $200,000 for a period of two years,
however most are for smaller amounts and/or for shorter durations.
Interested researchers are strongly encouraged to contact program
directors in their disciplines to discuss the opportunities for
SGER awards.
Described below are a few specific examples of SGER topics:
Within the NSF priority area, Human and Social Dynamics (HSD),
program directors are accepting SGER proposals that are multidisciplinary
in nature, involving a research team of at least three investigators
who represent at least two distinct disciplines, one of which must
be a social science. (Note: the HSD SGER submission due date is
September 23rd). The proposals may focus upon such issues as decision-making
under crisis conditions, human and organizational preparedness
for and response to social crises, risk assessment and vulnerability
analysis, societal responses to warnings, evacuation notifications,
search and rescue, and community resilience.
Within the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), program directors
are accepting SGER proposals from the research community to support
reconnaissance teams to enter the Gulf Coast disaster areas, when
open, to capture data from Hurricane Katrina. Three ENG divisions
are supporting this effort: the Division of Bioengineering and
Environmental Systems (BES), the Division of Civil and Mechanical
Systems (CMS), and the Division of Electrical and Communications
Systems (ECS).
-
BES is interested in funding research on
environmental impact assessment, including public health and
disease effect, petrochemical and other contamination, damage
to the potable water and wastewater systems, damage to municipal
solid waste and hazardous waste containment facilities, and
erosion.
-
CMS is focusing upon wind speeds and storm
surge; spatial damage distribution; damage to residential
structures; impact damage to larger engineered structures;
damage to the levee systems and documentation of the repair
efforts; damage to coastal bridges and highways, railroad,
and pipelines; and damage to onshore and offshore industrial
facilities. In addition, CMS is interested in supporting research
into issues of emergency management, including effectiveness
of disaster planning, effectiveness of warning and evacuation
systems, social vulnerability analyses, establishment and operation
of emergency shelters, infrastructure restoration management,
search and rescue and the delivery of medical care, and urban
versus rural effects of the storm.
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ECS is focusing
its efforts on four areas. The first is electrical power
systems, which includes incipient failure detection, restoration
processes, power quality issues, and fault data. The second
category is telecommunications, which includes fiber optic,
wired, and wireless link assessment and restoration, and sensor
networks for integrated damage assessment. Research on intersystem
dependencies between communication and power systems is also
encouraged. Third, proposals on robotics and sensor networks
that focus on autonomous damage assessment, sensor fusion,
and decision systems, are also sought. And fourth, proposals
on the use of adaptation and computational intelligence to
accelerate response are being sought.
Within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
(SBE), program directors are accepting proposals that focus on
the human and social dimensions of the Katrina catastrophe and
recovery from it. (Note: for these SBE proposals, a submission
due date of September 23rd has been established.) They may address
the entire range of individual and social responses in anticipation
of, during and after Katrina; for example: decision making and
political mobilization before during and after Katrina, economic
and psychological impacts of Katrina, including the economic and
psychological dimensions of recovery from Katrina on children and
adults; sources of differential impacts on different social groups;
the breakdown of law and order following Katrina, and its effects
on recovery efforts and on victims; altruistic responses to Katrina
by people and organizations, including faith-based organizations,
and geographical, political, cultural, social and psychological
dimensions of the dispersion of residents from the affected areas
following Katrina. SGER proposals dealing with any of the preceding
topics are appropriate if information needed for research will
disappear or degrade if not soon collected. Researchers are also
encouraged to submit standard grant proposals dealing with responses
to and effects of Katrina if data collection need not begin for
some months.
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Within the Division of Social and Economic
Sciences (SES), the programs most likely to entertain Katrina-related
proposals are Decision, Risk and Management Sciences, Economics,
Innovation and Organizational Change, Law & Social Science,
Political Science and Sociology.
-
Within the Division
of Behavioral and Cognitive Systems (BCS) the Programs most
likely to entertain Katrina-related SGERs are: Social Psychology,
Geography, Developmental and Learning Sciences, and Cultural
Anthropology.
While the opportunities described above are specific examples
of SGER proposals, SGERs are an NSF-wide mechanism. Therefore investigators
are
strongly encouraged
to contact the NSF program(s) most germane
to the SGER proposal topic before submitting a SGER proposal. This
will help to determine whether the proposed work meets the guidelines
described above (and in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide at
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/2.jsp#IID1
)
or whether the proposed work is more appropriate for submission
as a fully reviewed proposal.