The OSU Advantage Accelerator is currently seeking proposals that describe technology-based projects in any discipline that will move OSU-owned technologies closer to commercialization. Proposals should describe a project that requires $15,000 or less of funding to achieve an important milestone(s) connected to commercialization. Proposals can include expenses for activities related to customer discovery, prototyping, student time, research, commercialization plan development and more. Each project may be awarded up to $15,000 and should span 9 months or less, beginning in October 2020. Proposals are due no later than 5 p.m. on Sept. 23. Read the full RFP here:https://advantage.oregonstate.edu/advantage-accelerator/funding-opportunities/aid-fund

Funding provided for teaching faculty to participate in The Fall 2020 Blended Faculty Learning Community. The group will use Canvas and meet via Zoom, and will focus on effective practices for blended learning and the use of educational technology. Sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning and Academic Technology. Join us: See the Call for Proposals.

NEW Fast track funding for developing COVID-19 biosensors for skin or oral cavities

Preapplications DUE Wednesday September 9, 2020, 5:00 pm

Full RFA attached

The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation & Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is announcing fast track funding for early-stage projects aimed at developing biosensors for COVID-19 open to researchers in the Pacific Northwest. This one-time opportunity through the NIH is part of the Emergency RADx-Rad initiative to detect the virus or other biomarkers in nasal and oral cavities or skin.

This funding is intended to support innovators with promising technologies and identified biomarkers for early-stage product concept development (R&D) by providing support and project tracking. Each applicant may request up to $434K for 2 years.

This funding is not for discovery research or for identification of new biomarkers. Biosensing devices are expected to target skin or the oral cavity as sampling sites. Skin biosensing designs must target detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs, i.e. scents or odors) emanating from skin in passive and noninvasive manner for use at point of care. In addition to VOCs, oral biosensing technologies may target a wealth of biological, chemical and physical biosignatures representative of SARS-CoV-2 virus and/or COVID-19 disease sampled from exhaled breath/droplets, saliva, and tissues in the oral cavity using a variety of detection schemes.

Projects must have the infrastructure to rapidly report study findings to the RADx-Rad Data Coordinating Center. Researchers applying to this funding opportunity are strongly encouraged to also review the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) funding opportunity (RFA-OD-20-019), 

Researchers apply through WE-REACH. Other RADx-Rad opportunities for small companies and institutional initiatives are below. Applicants in those categories apply directly to NIH.

https://www.washington.edu/we-reach/ (Pre-SBIR institutional researchers)

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-20-017.html (U18 for cooperative submissions)

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-20-020.html (R44 SBIR Phase II)

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-20-021.html (R42 STTR Phase II)

For more information and submission information see https://www.washington.edu/we-reach/

Student Technical Assistant

OSU Human Resources job posting #P06709SE. Recruitment closes Friday, September 11, 2020.

We are seeking to hire one student worker whose chief responsibility will be machine shop operations, maintenance and general facility support. This position requires a goal-driven self-starter capable of working independently while consistently meeting goals on schedule.

Student Operations Assistant

OSU Human Resources job posting #P06711SE. Recruitment closes Monday, September 14, 2020.

This recruitment will be used to fill up to three part-time (minimum 12 and maximum of 20 hours per week) Student Operations Assistant positions. Student workers will be members of the ATAMI Operations Team performing routine to complex tasks in support of ATAMI’s operational mission to administer a safe and secure facility.

I am a third-year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh contacting you on behalf of the Pitt-CMU ACS Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee. We are a group of chemistry and chemical engineering graduate students from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University who have been selected to organize a symposium at the Spring 2021 ACS National Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. We invite you to our website for more information about our symposium and speakers, who are experts in the field of materials science (https://pitt-cmu-gsspc.github.io/).

We are contacting you in the hopes that you will share two excellent opportunities for your graduate students. We ask that you share the following information and attachments with the graduate students in your department. We are currently accepting applications for:

• The Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee for the Spring 2022 ACS National Meeting to be held in San Diego, California
• Graduate student travel grants to attend the Spring 2021 ACS National Meeting being held in San Antonio, Texas

The Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee is a unique opportunity for graduate students to learn how to organize and execute a symposium and make invaluable connections within and outside of academia. Communicating your research to the scientific community is important in not only moving science forward, but also in making connections and networking, yet funding to attend conferences can be difficult to come by, especially in these trying times.

Information on how to apply to either opportunity is attached. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions (pitt-cmugsspc@pitt.edu).

Thank you for your time!

Zoe Simon

Pitt-CMU GSSPC Finance Chair

We have (5) $1,500 awards available this year for students focused in chemistry and materials science.

Visit ereztech.com/award for full scholarship details.

The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, & the Arts  (Office of URSA) is excited to announce this year’s call for faculty submissions for the 2020-2021 URSA Engage Program, a program designed to provide first and second year students, and transfer students in their first year at OSU, opportunities to pursue research or a creative activity under the guidance of an OSU faculty mentor. 

The mentor summary submission form can be accessed at this link (see “Step 1”).

While we hope that undergraduates and mentors will be able to work together in-person during the 2020-2021 school year, we are planning for the possibility that students in the URSA Engage Program will be required to engage in research remotely. Click here for a collection of strategies that OSU mentors are currently using to keep their undergraduates engaged in research while working remotely (this is a live document – feel free to contribute if you have other ideas).

Below are the four major steps involved in selection for the URSA Engage Program. More detailed information about eligibility and deadlines can be found on our website.

1. Faculty submit the mentor summary form by October 19, 2020.
2. The opportunities submitted by faculty will be posted on our website for students to view on October 23^rd.
3. Students will read through mentor summaries and reach out to faculty mentors they are interested in working with. Students and faculty will then discuss shared interests and whether they want to work together on a project.
4. Faculty will ultimately decide which student(s) they will allow to move forward with an application to the URSA Engage Program (i.e. students cannot apply until they have a mentor secured).
5. Students who have secured a mentor will then apply to the URSA Engage Program. Student applications will be evaluated by the Office of URSA.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We appreciate your partnership and willingness to mentor students early in their careers at OSU!

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2021 Jefferson Science Fellows (JSF) program. Established by the Secretary of State in 2003, this fellowship program serves as an innovative model for engaging the American academic science, technology, engineering, and medical communities in U.S. foreign policy and international development through on-site work at the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  The JSF program is open to tenured, or similarly ranked, faculty from U.S. institutions of higher learning who are U.S. citizens. For 2021, up to ten fellowships will be available at the U.S. Department of State and up to five fellowships will be available at USAID. The JSF program is a means for providing the U.S. Department of State access to additional high-level science and technology expertise. This resource can be especially helpful at a time when the Department has given a high priority to science, technology, and engineering in meeting our global diplomacy and development challenges. The Fellows bring a broad range of scientific and technical expertise in areas such as physics, chemistry, information technology, life sciences, engineering, environment, agriculture, health, and social sciences. The JSF program provides both functional and regional bureaus in the Department with access to scientific and technical expertise and allows the Department to leverage these senior leaders’ broad scientific and professional networks. Universities across the United States in turn benefit from the insights in foreign policy and diplomacy gained by their senior faculty and from new international linkages vital for success in a rapidly globalizing education and research enterprise. USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID’s work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity, demonstrates American generosity, and promotes a path to recipient self-reliance and resilience. USAID works in over 100 countries to promote global health, support global stability, provide humanitarian assistance, catalyze innovation and partnership, and empower women and girls. USAID benefits from the innovative ideas, energy, and state-of-the-art technical knowledge that Fellows bring, and Fellows enhance their knowledge of government and global issues and obtain valuable professional experience that enriches their careers and the organizations to which they return.  After successfully obtaining a security clearance, Fellows are on-boarded at the U.S. Department of State or USAID for one year, after which, and upon mutual agreement, they remain available as experienced consultants to their host office or bureau. The JSF program is a partnership that is mutually beneficial to both the government and participating universities. The deadline for applications is October 16, 2020 at 5 PM ET. To learn more about the JSF program and to apply, visit www.nas.edu/jsf.

The UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is seeking outstanding candidates for the Paul D. Boyer/Donald J. Cram/Willard F. Libby Teacher-Scholar program.  This program provides both teaching and research opportunities for recent Ph.D. graduates (Ph.D. earned 2017-2021).

We will begin reviewing materials and applications on October 11, 2020.

We would greatly appreciate if you can share the attached flyer with your department/division and research group alumni members. 

Application link: tinyurl.com/UCLATS2021