Distinguished Lectures in Mathematical and Physical Sciences

The National Science Foundation announces the 2017-2018 Distinguished Lectures in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, a series of free lectures at the NSF Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. If you are going to be in the area, all you need to do is send an email to arrange for a visitor badge at least 24 hours prior to the lecture you wish to attend. The schedule is:

•Monday, Dec. 11, 2017: Soft Materials Research in the Era of Machine Learning, Juan de Pablo, professor of molecular engineering, University of Chicago.

•Monday, Jan. 22, 2018: Turning Inert Nitrogen from the Atmosphere into Useful Products through Mild Catalytic Chemistry, Nobel laureate Richard Schrock, professor of chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

•Monday, Feb. 12, 2018: Strange Bonds and Odd Angles: Exploring Exotic Chemistry in Space, Michael McCarthy, associate director, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

•Monday, April 23, 2018: Modeling and Simulation of Asteroid-Generated Tsunamis, Marsha Berger, professor of mathematics and computer science, New York University.

•Monday, May 21, 2018: Hairy Hydrodynamics in Biology and Beyond, Anette (Peko) Hosoi, professor of mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

•Monday, June 25, 2018: Atomic Clocks in the Next Quantum Revolution, Marianna Safronova, professor of physics, University of Delaware.

For more information, please see NSF's Media Advisory 17-012.

NIH regional seminar on program funding and grants

NIH announces Early Registration rates for a May 2018 regional seminar on program funding and grants administration for researchers or administrators who want to learn more about NIH, talk to colleagues from the area, and speak with NIH personnel. The two-day seminar will be held May 2nd to 4th, at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington DC. Registration is open now and early bird rates are available until December 15th. There are also full and half-day workshops available.

Act FAST! NIH regional seminars sell out very quickly.

Should scientific presentations use emojis?

Last November, a team of scientists attended Emojicon in San Francisco and demanded that the Unicode Consortium approve a new set of scientific emojis that would better help them express themselves quickly. (See: Scientists call for emoji that represent the full spectrum of nerdom, Quartz, November 14, 2016.)

Now, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, after meeting with conference organizers to discuss efforts to increase transparency in the communication of scientific results, has released a Request for Information on developing emojis for scientific presentations such as conference posters. Use of an accepted emoji indicating, for example, randomized trials or a double-blind protocol, would allow someone viewing a poster to quickly assess the research method's rigor.

Responses are requested by December 15th. See NOT-NS-18-014, "Request for Information on Developing Experimental Design "Emoji" Symbols for Use in Scientific Presentations" for more information.

scientist emoji via Wikimedia Commons

NEH announces collaborative research grants

The NEH announces three types of collaborative research grants, for a proposal deadline of December 6, 2017. Each grant type supports groups of two or more scholars engaging in significant and sustained research in the humanities, and seeks to encourage interdisciplinary work. The three available grants are:

Type 1: Convening Grants – up to $50,000
Convening grants last one year and typically fund conferences and working group meetings to sharpen the chosen research topic and discuss and plan subsequent publication.

Type 2: Publication Grants – up to $250,000 (no more than $100,000 per year)
Publication grants last one to three years and support the project toward completion of its publication goals. Publications can appear in traditional print or in digital form. Note that costs paid to publishers and subventions are not supported.

Type 3: Archaeology Grants – up to $250,000 (no more than $100,000 per year)
Archaeology grants last one to three years and support projects that lead to publication.

Please see the Collaborative Research Grants page for more information.