[CCoE Notice] NSF/USDA Announce Second Competition for Water Sustainability and Climate Program, Due October 19

[Fritz Claydon]

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*Funding Opportunity: NSF/USDA Announce Second Competition for Water
Sustainability and Climate Program, Due October 19*

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*Lewis-Burke Associates LLC – June 17, 2011 *

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released its
solicitation<http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503452>(NSF
11-551) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Water Sustainability and Climate
(WSC) competition.  The purpose of this program is to “understand and
predict the interactions between the water system and climate change, land
use (including agriculture, managed forest and rangeland systems), the built
environment, and ecosystem function and services through place-based
research and integrative models.” The first WSC competition was held in FY
2010 as part of NSF’s ongoing Science, Engineering, and Education for
Sustainability (SEES) initiative. New this year, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) plans
to contribute $5 million to the competition; total program funding is
anticipated at $31 million in FY 2012, depending on the availability of
funds.  ****

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*Research Areas of Interest*

NSF and USDA-NIFA are seeking projects covering the following topics (taken
from the solicitation): ****

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**·         **Developing theoretical frameworks and models that incorporate
the linkages and feedbacks among atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, oceanic,
and social processes that can be used to predict the potential impact of (1)
climate variability and change, (2) land use and (3) human activity on water
systems on decadal to centennial scales in order to provide a basis for
adaptive management of water resources.****

**·         **Determining the inputs, outputs, and potential changes in
water budgets and water quality in response to (1) climate variability and
change, (2) land use and (3) human activity, and the effect of these changes
on Biogeochemical cycles, water quality, long-term chemical transport and
transformation, terrestrial, aquatic and coastal ecosystems, landscape
evolution and human settlements and behavior.****

**·         **Determining how the built water systems and governance systems
can be made more reliable, resilient and sustainable to meet diverse and
often conflicting needs, such as minimizing consumption of water for energy
generation, industrial and agricultural/forest rangeland production and
built environment requirements, reuse for both potable and non-potable
needs, ecosystem protection, and flood control and storm water management.**
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USDA-NIFA in particular is interested in projects that increase knowledge of
water sustainability at the watershed and groundwater scale, and
specifically, “the creation of hydrologic and climate models that are (1)
integrated with or can later be coupled to models on agricultural production
or natural resource management; or (2) that can be used to describe and
predict thresholds or trends in water quality and quantity, resilience of
agricultural lands, forests or rangelands to changes in water availability
that affect their ability for food, feed, fiber and fuel production or
provide ecosystem services under altered seasonal or extreme climate-driven
conditions.” ****

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In addition, proposals are expected to study the water system in its
entirety and integrate the biological sciences, geosciences, engineering,
and social sciences, which may require that multi-institutional partnerships
be developed. ****

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*Awards and Funding*

NSF and USDA-NIFA anticipate making 12 to 26 awards totaling $31 million.
This is nearly double the total funding for WSC in FY 2010.  The intent is
to fund more projects at roughly the same funding levels as the last
competition.  Similar to the FY 2010 competition, the program includes three
categories of awards:****

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**·         **Category 1 – Small exploratory or incubation grants are
intended to assist in the development of teams, identification of sites,
facilitation of workshops, and the development of plans for establishment or
operation of a study site or modeling effort.  NSF anticipates making four
to ten awards at $150,000 apiece for one to two years. ****

**·         **Category 2 – Between two and four awards will be made for
place-based observational and modeling studies, which will be funded for up
to five years at a maximum of $5 million for each award. ****

**·         **Category 3 – Synthesis, modeling and integration grants will
use existing data to integrate and synthesize across watershed and
groundwater sites.  Both NSF and USDA-NIFA funds will be used to support
between six and twelve projects at a maximum of $1.5 million each for three
to five years.   ****

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*Eligibility and Due Dates*

This program is open to universities, other non-profit/non-educational
organizations, for-profit organizations, and Federally Funded Research and
Development Centers (FFRDCs).  ****

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*Full proposals are due October 19, 2011.*  Unlike the FY 2010 competition,
letters of intent are not required. ****

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Additional information and be found on the NSF website:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503452.  ****

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*Wendy A. Naus*****

Lewis-Burke Associates LLC****

1341 G Street NW****

Eighth Floor****

Washington, D.C. 20005****

Phone: (202) 289-7475****

Fax: (202) 289-7454****

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Disclaimer:  This message is intended only for the named****

recipient.  If you are not the intended recipient you are notified****

that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in ****

reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.****

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-- 
Fritz Claydon Ph.D.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Associate Dean of Administration and Research
University of Houston
Cullen College of Engineering
713.743.4204
fclaydon at uh.edu


[image: Logo]

 *A Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university*
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