Title:  Small Grants for Exploratory Research: Hurricane Katrina
Date: 09/16/05                              
						
						
Small Grants for Exploratory Research: Hurricane Katrina

Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) proposals are for 
small-scale, exploratory, high-risk research in the fields of 
science, engineering, and education normally supported by the NSF. 
The SGER is one mechanism NSF will use to support fundamental science 
and engineering projects whose results may enable our country to 
better mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from 
catastrophic events. SGER proposals may be submitted to individual 
programs. Research suitable for SGERs is characterized as:

    * preliminary work on untested and novel ideas;
    * ventures into emerging and potentially transformative research 
      ideas;
    * application of new expertise or new approaches to "established"
      research topics;
    * having a severe urgency with regard to availability of, or 
      access to data, facilities or specialized equipment, including
      quick-response research on natural or anthropogenic disasters and
      similar unanticipated events; or
    * efforts of similar character likely to catalyze rapid and
      innovative advances.

In the case of hurricane Katrina, a SGER award would allow for the rapid 
collection of ephemeral data—data that must be gathered rapidly in the 
aftermath of disasters before their validity are compromised with the 
passage of time.

SGER awards cannot exceed $200,000 for a period of two years, however most 
are for smaller amounts and/or for shorter durations. Interested researchers 
are strongly encouraged to contact program directors in their disciplines to 
discuss the opportunities for SGER awards.

Described below are a few specific examples of SGER topics:

Within the NSF priority area, Human and Social Dynamics (HSD), program 
directors are accepting SGER proposals that are multidisciplinary in nature, 
involving a research team of at least three investigators who represent at 
least two distinct disciplines, one of which must be a social science. 
(Note: the HSD SGER submission due date is September 23rd). The proposals 
may focus upon such issues as decision-making under crisis conditions, human 
and organizational preparedness for and response to social crises, risk 
assessment and vulnerability analysis, societal responses to warnings, 
evacuation notifications, search and rescue, and community resilience.

Within the Directorate for Engineering (ENG), program directors are accepting 
SGER proposals from the research community to support reconnaissance teams to 
enter the Gulf Coast disaster areas, when open, to capture data from Hurricane 
Katrina. Three ENG divisions are supporting this effort: the Division of 
Bioengineering and Environmental Systems (BES), the Division of Civil and 
Mechanical Systems (CMS), and the Division of Electrical and Communications 
Systems (ECS).

    * BES is interested in funding research on environmental impact assessment, 
      including public health and disease effect, petrochemical and other 
      contamination, damage to the potable water and wastewater systems, damage
      to municipal solid waste and hazardous waste containment facilities, and 
      erosion.
    * CMS is focusing upon wind speeds and storm surge; spatial damage 
      distribution; damage to residential structures; impact damage to larger 
      engineered structures; damage to the levee systems and documentation of 
      the repair efforts; damage to coastal bridges and highways, railroad, 
      and pipelines; and damage to onshore and offshore industrial facilities. 
      In addition, CMS is interested in supporting research into issues of 
      emergency management, including effectiveness of disaster planning, 
      effectiveness of warning and evacuation systems, social vulnerability 
      analyses, establishment and operation of emergency shelters, 
      infrastructure restoration management, search and rescue and the delivery 
      of medical care, and urban versus rural effects of the storm.
    * ECS is focusing its efforts on four areas. The first is electrical power 
      systems, which includes incipient failure detection, restoration processes, 
      power quality issues, and fault data. The second category is 
      telecommunications, which includes fiber optic, wired, and wireless link 
      assessment and restoration, and sensor networks for integrated damage 
      assessment. Research on intersystem dependencies between communication and 
      power systems is also encouraged. Third, proposals on robotics and sensor 
      networks that focus on autonomous damage assessment, sensor fusion, and 
      decision systems, are also sought. And fourth, proposals on the use of 
      adaptation and computational intelligence to accelerate response are being 
      sought.

Within the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), program 
directors are accepting proposals that focus on the human and social dimensions of 
the Katrina catastrophe and recovery from it. (Note: for these SBE proposals, a 
submission due date of September 23rd has been established.) They may address the 
entire range of individual and social responses in anticipation of, during and 
after Katrina; for example: decision making and political mobilization before 
during and after Katrina, economic and psychological impacts of Katrina, 
including the economic and psychological dimensions of recovery from Katrina on 
children and adults; sources of differential impacts on different social groups; 
the breakdown of law and order following Katrina, and its effects on recovery 
efforts and on victims; altruistic responses to Katrina by people and organizations, 
including faith-based organizations, and geographical, political, cultural, 
social and psychological dimensions of the dispersion of residents from the 
affected areas following Katrina. SGER proposals dealing with any of the preceding 
topics are appropriate if information needed for research will disappear or 
degrade if not soon collected. Researchers are also encouraged to submit standard 
grant proposals dealing with responses to and effects of Katrina if data 
collection need not begin for some months.

    * Within the Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES), the programs most 
      likely to entertain Katrina-related proposals are Decision, Risk and Management 
      Sciences, Economics, Innovation and Organizational Change, Law & Social Science, 
      Political Science and Sociology.
    * Within the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Systems (BCS) the Programs 
      most likely to entertain Katrina-related SGERs are: Social Psychology, Geography, 
      Developmental and Learning Sciences, and Cultural Anthropology.

While the opportunities described above are specific examples of SGER proposals, 
SGERs are an NSF-wide mechanism. Therefore investigators are strongly encouraged 
to contact the NSF program(s) most germane to the SGER proposal topic before 
submitting a SGER proposal. This will help to determine whether the proposed work 
meets the guidelines described above (and in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide at 
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/nsf04_23/2.jsp#IID1) or whether the proposed work is 
more appropriate for submission as a fully reviewed proposal.