The iDigBio Visiting Scholars Program is envisioned to support short-term (typically 1 to 3 month) visits and residencies, e.g., junior faculty on sabbatical or during summer leave. Shorter or longer visits may also be considered for this program. Two types of proposals will be considered:

1. proposals that are based at the iDigBio headquarters (HUB) at the University of Florida.
2. proposals that are based another host (non-federal) institution in the U.S. and also include a short (i.e., ~1 to 2-week-long) to visit the HUB.

During the period of support, the iDigBio Visiting Scholar would be expected to work on a project and produce a deliverable that advances collections digitization efforts in research and/or education. As examples, this focused time might be used to (a) produce some tangible improvement or research project related to the host’s collection digitization effort, (b) develop a collections digitization workshop for iDigBio, (c) develop an appropriate course (undergraduate, or graduate) in a relevant topic that could serve as a prototype for the HUB and TCNs (Thematic Collections Networks), or (d) develop an outreach project that communicates the importance of collections digitization to the public. Note that possibilities are not limited to the examples described.

This Visiting Scholars program includes a monthly stipend of $7,500 (typically up to $22,500) as well as some travel/relocation funds (up to $2,500), as appropriate to the applicant’s activity plan.

This program is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The deadline for receipt of the 2013 application is 1 August 2012.

For submission details please visit iDigBio’s website:https://www.idigbio.org/content/idigbio-2013-visiting-scholars-program.

Please take a few moments to send an invitation to your members of Congress to encourage them to attend this important science briefing.

Take action at http://capwiz.com/aibs/issues/alert/?alertid=61339071.

College students and faculty members have long argued that the approach to undergraduate education in the life sciences should be modernized to reflect what we now understand about how students learn.  Twenty-first century science demands that students develop scientific and technical skills, and also the capacity to work beyond traditional academic boundaries.  Undergraduate students, regardless of their major, deserve and need a life sciences education that helps then understand biology and how scientific research is conducted.  Informed decision-making, whether managing one’s health, deciding what food to eat, or understanding how individual actions influence the environment, requires an appreciation of the nature of science.

In 2006, the NSF initiated a multi-year conversation with the scientific community, with assistance from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  That dialogue, which was co-funded with the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, generated the 2011 report, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action.

The scientific community actively informed the recommendations in the Vision and Change report.  Among these were a recognition that a 21^st century education requires changes to how biology is taught, how academic departments support faculty, and how curricular decisions are made.

“There is now broad consensus about the change that is needed,” said HHMI’s Cynthia Bauerle.  The way biology is taught needs to change in order to “spark student interest in science and prepare them for the challenging scientific problems we face in the 21^st century.”

Prior efforts to reform post-secondary life sciences education have focused on helping individual faculty members improve their teaching methods.  These initiatives have created points of excellence at institutions across the country, but have failed to produce the systemic change that is needed to fundamentally improve college-level biology education.

To foster this widespread change, the NSF, NIH, and HHMI have partnered to launch the PULSE program.  Supporting the effort are Knowinnovation and the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

The PULSE initiative will facilitate the systemic change that was identified as a national priority in the Vision and Change report.

Clifton A. Poodry of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the division of NIH providing funding to PULSE, notes that NIH has a long-standing commitment to training the next generation.  “We look forward to furthering this goal through our partnership with NSF and HHMI to implement recommendations of the Vision and Change report for improving undergraduate biology education,” said Poodry.

This year PULSE will select 40 Vision and Change Leadership Fellows.  The selection process will identify individuals experienced in catalyzing undergraduate biology education reform at institutional, departmental, or divisional levels in the nation’s colleges and universities.  The Fellows will represent research universities, regional or comprehensive universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges.  The Fellows will be engaged in a yearlong effort to develop an implementation strategy for the Vision and Change report.

“What we are trying to achieve is systemic change, transformation of undergraduate biology education in this country,” stated Judith Verbeke of the NSF.  This is why the PULSE effort is encouraging current or former biology department heads to apply.  “The focus is intentional,” said Verbeke, “because it’s at the level of the department that so many decisions are made.  We are looking to the department as the most appropriate unit to make real change.”

Ideal applicants will be aware of the history and discourse of reforming undergraduate life sciences education; have undergraduate teaching experience as well as experience mentoring, motivating and evaluating other faculty; and will have experience as current or former chairs or department heads.  Applicants should be active in cultivating the mix of scholarship in teaching and life sciences research appropriate to their type of institution.  Successful candidates will have a record of working collaboratively and creatively with individuals from different backgrounds.

It is through diversity of perspective that we achieve change, Bauerle said, “We seek not only those who are already members of the choir, but also committed life scientists and educators who question how best to proceed.”

Applications for the Vision and Change Leadership Fellows program will be accepted through July 9, 2012.  Information about the PULSE program, including application guidelines, is available at www.pulsecommunity.org.  The Vision and Change report is online at http://visionandchange.org/finalreport.

The legislation, as approved by the House Appropriations Committee, is supportive of NSF.  The agency would receive $7.3 billion, $299 more than this year.  The budget line that funds NSF’s research directorates would receive a 4 percent increase.  Education funding would increase by 5 percent.  The Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account would remain essentially flat at the fiscal year 2012 level.  Funding for agency operations and grant administration would also remain flat.

It is important that members of Congress are reminded by their constituents of the importance of sustained federal investment in our nation’s scientific research enterprise.  Please take a few moments now to send a prepared letter to your Representative to urge his/her support for NSF.

Take action at http://capwiz.com/aibs/issues/alert/?alertid=61299141.

All interested individuals are welcome to attend this public event.

Program speakers:

• Dr. Mary Liz Jameson, Associate Professor, Wichita State University
  “The Value of Biological Collections to Science, Education, and the Economy”
• Dr. Larry Page, President, Natural Science Collections Alliance, Curator of Fishes, Florida Museum of Natural History
  “Digitization: Exponentially Increasing Access to Collections Data”
• Dr. Michael A. Mares, Director, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and Professor of Zoology, University of Oklahoma
  “Protecting and Using America’s Irreplaceable Resource Now and in the Future”

RSVP for the briefing at http://www.aibs.org/rsvp/digitization.html.

According to a press release by NSF, the new awards will increase the diversity of organisms to be digitized and enhance the development of techniques to digitize specimens.

“The collections being digitized are unprecedented in their worth to research and education, and hold huge potential for future development and integration with other biological data from genomes to phenomes,” said Dr. John Wingfield, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences. “With the diversity of information digitized, these projects are addressing issues of interoperability, access and analysis–’big data.’ The benefits will be felt for many generations to come.”

Four new Thematic Collections Networks (TCNs) will be funded.  Last year, NSF announced funding for the first three TCNs, as well as for a national entity.  The new TCNs are:

• Mobilizing New England Vascular Plant Specimen Data to Track Environmental Changes
• Digitizing Fossils to Enable New Syntheses in Biogeography - Creating a PALEONICHES-TCN
• The Macrofungi Collection Consortium: Unlocking a Biodiversity Resource for Understanding Biotic Interactions, Nutrient Cycling and Human Affairs
• Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN): A Model for Collections Digitization to Promote Taxonomic and Ecological Research

Additionally, two new Partners to Existing Networks were announced.  These smaller grants will enhance existing TCNs by adding their collections to fill gaps identified in the original network proposals.  The new partner awards will focus on digitization of subtropical bryophytes and lichens, as well as high altitude lichens.

IPBES aims to address the accelerating loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services around the globe by bridging the gap between accurate and impartial science and policymakers.

“Today, biodiversity won,” said Sir Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor of the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in a statement on 23 April.  “Over 90 governments successfully established the science-policy interface for all countries.  Biodiversity and ecosystem services are essential for human wellbeing.  This platform will generate the knowledge and build the capacity to protect them for this and future generations.”

IPBES will provide four core functions: 1) identify and prioritize key scientific information needed for policymakers and catalyze efforts to generate new knowledge; 2) perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services; 3) support policy formulation and implementation by identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies; and 4) prioritize key capacity-building needs to improve the science-policy interface.

IPBES is “critically important to support implementation of the new Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity and to promote global sustainable development,” stated Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.  “We believe that IPBES can help ensure that developing countries and communities have access to sound scientific information to inform development policies, protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services in a way that addresses poverty alleviation and promotes growth with equity.”

“Our community of biological scientists greatly appreciates the years of leadership by Representatives Wolf and Fattah in advocating for the research dollars needed to address national challenges, help our nation to remain globally competitive, and equip our young people for the science and technology jobs of the future,” said Nadine Lymn, co-chair of BESC and director of public affairs for the Ecological Society of America.

Representatives Wolf and Fattah have led the effort in recent years to sustain federal investments in critical research programs.  Representative Wolf, a Republican representing the 10th district of Virginia, chairs the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.  Representative Fattah, a Democrat from the 2nd district of Pennsylvania, is the senior Democrat on the subcommittee.  Last year, they worked together to press for and secure federal support for the National Science Foundation and other science agencies.

Representative Wolf was among the members of Congress that called for the National Academies to make recommendations to Congress about how the United States could regain its global leadership in science-driven innovation and competitiveness.  This effort led to the publication of the “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report, which sparked a national effort to strengthen U.S. research and education programs.  The Congressman is also responsible for the generation of a recent report by the National Science Foundation on best practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.  In the 110th session of Congress, Wolf sponsored a bill that would have attracted more students to pursue careers in science and engineering.

Representative Fattah is a strong supporter of neuroscience research.  Last year, he successfully led the effort for the creation of an interagency working group to coordinate federal investments in neuroscience research.  The Congressman is also very supportive of STEM education.  Last year, he co-organized an event in Philadelphia for the rollout of the National Science Foundation report on best practices in STEM education.  Representative Fattah also has worked to increase minority participation in STEM fields.

“Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Fattah have been powerful and steadfast advocates for scientific research, particularly at the National Science Foundation,” said BESC co-chair Robert Gropp, director of public policy at the American Institute of Biological Sciences.  “They both appreciate that research drives innovation, informs solutions for global problems, and will contribute significantly to our nation’s economic recovery.”

The Natural Science Collections Alliance is a member of the Biological and Ecological Sciences Coalition (BESC), an alliance of organizations united by a concern for every aspect of the biology of the natural world, from agricultural systems to zoology.  BESC supports the goal of increasing the nation’s investment in the non-medical biological sciences across all federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Please visit www.esa.org/besc.

One example of a proposed revision is adding known lineal descendents to the list of parties who are to be notified of an inadvertent discovery of Native American human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects on federal land.  Another revision would clarify the exceptions to the requirements for repatriation.

More information is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-04-18/html/2012-9228.htm.  Comments on the proposed changes will be accepted through 18 June 2012.