The Interstellar Initiative

The New York Academy of Sciences, along with The Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, will hold a two-day networking conference in June in New York City and they want YOU.

Maybe. Attendance is by invitation only as this is a mentor-mentee matchup opportunity. NYAS is looking for Early Career Investigators in four broad categories: 1) Clinical Research; 2) Life Science; 3) Physical Science; and 4) Technology. 2018's event has two major interest themes of Cancer and Neuroscience, and will also focus on the topic of Artificial Intelligence in medicine.

Please see the full announcement for more information on the event and eligibility criteria: https://www.nyas.org/events/2018/the-interstellar-initiative/. If you are interested and eligible, the application portal can also be found at that link. Applications are due by 11:59pm on April 2nd.

NIH wants your input on their Strategic Plan for Data Science

In their latest Request for Information (RFI) notice, the National Institutes of Health recognize that "data science has increased in importance for biomedical research over the past decade" and they expect this trend will continue; because of this, they have created a draft strategic plan for data science which explains their goals, objectives and implementation tactics to keep the NIH on the cutting edge. The draft plan may be downloaded here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/NIH-Strategic-Plan-for-Data-Science.pdf. Responses to this request for information must be received by April 2nd, and submitted electronically to: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=73. Please see the complete RFI notice at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-18-134.html for more about what questions the NIH wants you, the stakeholder, to answer for them.

NEH boosts fellowships to $5000/month

Earlier this month the NEH announced that they are increasing the amount of their fellowships from $4200 a month to $5000 a month, for a maximum stipend of $60,000 over a 12-month period. That's almost $10,000 more per year! The increase applies to the NEH's 'regular' fellowships as well as the NEH-Mellon fellowships for digital publication.

Please see this press release dated February 21, 2018, for more details: NEH Increases Award Amount for NEH Fellowships. The deadline for both types of NEH Fellowships is April 11, 2018.

NSF Spring Grants Conference

The National Science Foundation has sent out a 'Save the Date' for their always popular Spring Grants Conference. It will be held at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center on June 4th and 5th. The registration will open on March 15th at 12pm EST at this link: NSF Spring 2018 Grants Conference.

A Note about the Government Shutdown

As with the previous shutdown a few years ago, many federal funders have temporarily dismissed their "non-essential" employees and some have blacked out their websites. While the Feds are staffed by skeleton crews, many grant-related tasks will not be undertaken: awards may be delayed; Fordham will not be able to draw down funds; proposal deadlines will be pushed back indefinitely; program officers and grant management staff will not answer phone calls or respond to emails. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to your OSP contact. We're here to get you through this.

Additionally, here is a list of contingency plans submitted by Federal agencies to the Office of Budget and Management.

NIH's 'All of Us' is looking for research topics

The NIH's 'All of Us' program looks to create a diverse database of more than one million people across the country willing to share information about their health, habits and the conditions where they live. Anyone can sign up! And now the NIH is looking to researchers to provide them with ideas about what topics are most important to study. You can submit your research ideas and questions at the All of Us Research Priorities website: https://allofusresearchpriorities.ideascale.com/. What do YOU think is the most important medical research we should be using this database for? The submission window is open until February 9th, 2018.

NEH upcoming grant deadlines

As recently as late Fall, it was not clear that the National Endowment for the Humanities would be able to issue grant announcements for the Spring (see: "NEH Head Says Humanities Funding Still a Question Mark," NET News, October 20, 2017).
We're happy to share the NEH's announcement of upcoming grant competitions, including some which may be of particular interest to Fordham faculty:

• NEH Public Scholar (due 2/7/18)

• Summer Seminars and Institutes (due 2/22/18)

• NEH/Melon Fellowships for Digital Publication (due 4/11/18)

• NEH Fellowships (due 4/11/18)

• Digital Humanities Advancement Grants (two deadines: 1/16/18 and sometime in June)

More information about these and other opportunities may be found on the NEH website: https://www.neh.gov/grants.

History of Medicine lecture series

The US National Library of Medicine announces its History of Medicine Lecture Series for 2018, kicking off on January 29th. Lectures are held at 11am on the National Institutes of Health campus, and are free, but to insure adequate space attendees are requested to register for the lectures. If you can't make it in person, the lectures are also live-streamed, and archived for later watching. Lectures include:

• Theresa MacPhail, PhD, Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Evolution of Viral Networks: H1N1, Ebola, and Zika;

• A Conversation about Graphic Medicine, a special program in conjunction with Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well Drawn, a new NLM special display, traveling banner exhibition, and online exhibition launching soon;

• Trevor Owens, Head of Digital Content Management, Library of Congress, Scientists' Hard Drives, Databases, and Blogs: Preservation Intent and Source Criticism in the Digital History of Science, Technology and Medicine;

• Heidi Morefield, MSc, 2017 NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellow in the History of Medicine, Doctoral student, Department of the History of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University, Transplanting Technology: Dr. Michael DeBakey and Cold War Technology Transfer;

• David S. Jones, MD, PhD, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine, Harvard University, Making the Case for History in Medical Education

For more information on the lecture series, check out NLM's announcement here.