ASPiRE Summer Support

Looking for support for your summer research / creative endeavors? The ASPiRE Internal Grant Program has several deadlines remaining for the following competitions:

Ad-Hoc Program
A supplemental program (limited to $250) to support costs associated with research or creative endeavors.
Upcoming Deadlines: May 16; June 15, 2011
Guidelines: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/SPO/ASPiRE/FacultyPrograms/AdditionalPrograms.aspx

ENHANCE Program
The purpose of the ENHANCE Program is to provide support for faculty members involved in early investigations, the results of which will serve as the basis for a federal grant proposal. The funds will support Supplies, Equipment, Expenses, and Travel (S.E.E.T.) in costs (up to $3,000) to acquire preliminary research or other information that will directly impact the development of the proposal, enhance the feasibility of the request, and result in a stronger proposal submission.
Upcoming Deadlines: May 16; June 15, 2011
Guidelines: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/SPO/IncentivePrograms/ENHANCE.aspx

Reprint/Publication Support Program
Provides support for expenses associated with publication, reprints, and page charges.
Upcoming Deadlines: May 16; June 15, 2011
Guidelines: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/SPO/ASPiRE/FacultyPrograms/AdditionalPrograms.aspx

Travel Support Program
Provides assistance in securing external funding for research or sponsored projects. Travel is primarily for face-to-face meetings with program officers of funding agencies or foundations.
Upcoming Deadlines: May 16; June 15, 2011
Guidelines: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/SPO/ASPiRE/FacultyPrograms/AdditionalPrograms.aspx

International Travel Program
Program funds are awarded to tenured and tenure-track faculty members to facilitate international academic or creative activity
Upcoming Deadline: June 15, 2011
(For travel dates occurring July 1, 2011 - August 14, 2011)
Guidelines: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/AdministrativeOffices/SPO/ASPiRE/FacultyPrograms/InternationalTravel.aspx

For questions regarding the ASPiRE Program, please contact the ASPiRE Program Manager, or email aspire@bsu.edu.

Funding Opportunities: Learning in Formal and Informal Science

The Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings
DRL invests in projects to enhance STEM learning for people of all ages in both formal and informal learning settings. Its mission includes promoting innovative and transformative research and development, and evaluation of learning and teaching in all STEM disciplines. New and emerging areas of STEM must play prominent roles in efforts to improve STEM education. The integration of cutting-edge STEM content and the engagement of scientists, engineers, and educators from the range of disciplines represented at NSF is encouraged in all DRL initiatives. DRL's role is to be a catalyst for change by advancing theory, method, measurement, development, evaluation, and application in STEM education. The Division seeks to support both development of promising new ideas and large-scale implementation of proven educational innovations.

The Division's programs and activities offer a set of complementary approaches for advancing research, development, and improvement of practice.

• The Informal Science Education (ISE) program supports innovation in anywhere, anytime, lifelong learning, through investments in research, development, infrastructure and capacity-building for STEM learning outside formal school settings.
• The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program enables significant advances in preK-12 and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines through research and development on innovative resources, models, and technologies for use by students, teachers, administrators and policy makers.
• The Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program invests in projects designed to address the growing demand for professional and information technology workers through the design, implementation, scale-up, and testing of technology-intensive educational experiences for students and teachers, and through related research studies.
• The Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program advances research at the frontiers of STEM learning, education, and evaluation, in order to provide foundational knowledge for improving STEM teaching and learning at all educational levels and in all settings.
• The Promoting Research and Innovation for Methodologies in Evaluation (PRIME) program emphasizes innovative approaches for determining the impacts of STEM education projects and programs, and expanding the theoretical foundations for evaluating STEM education and workforce development initiatives.
• Transforming STEM Learning (TSL) explores the opportunities and challenges implied by radically innovative visions of the future for STEM learning.

Each of these programs and activities is also intended to improve their field's capacity to further STEM learning. They are central to NSF's strategic goals to: Transform the Frontiers, Innovate for Society, and Perform as a Model Organization. These goals emphasize "... the seamless integration of education and research..." and address the connections between NSF programs, societal needs, and the key role of new knowledge and creativity (NSF, 2011).

NIH Personal Statement Template

In January 2010, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revised their biosketch guidelines to include a mandatory personal statement. The NIH guidelines offer this advice in preparing your personal statement.

“Personal Statement. Briefly describe why your experience and qualifications make you particularly well-suited for your role (e.g., PD/PI, mentor, participating faculty) in the project that is the subject of the application.”

The personal statements we have critiqued as grant writers and the ones that we have evaluated as grant reviewers have been relatively unimpressive. Either they rehash what is in the proposal narrative or read like last minute, uncogitated copy. Relatedly, the NIH guidelines regarding the personal statement are rather terse.

We recommend writing a three-paragraph personal statement with subheadings as follows.

• Proposal Goal. This would be a brief, one-two sentence overview of what the proposal is trying to accomplish in big picture terms. Remind the reviewers what your proposal target is before you persuade them that you can reach that target.
• Relevant Experiences. As you write this paragraph, lift up the different types of experiences you have had, e.g., academic experience, administrative experience, research experience, mentoring experience, research experience.
• Leadership Qualification. In this section, you describe why your relevant experiences qualify you for your role in the project. For example, if you were to be the Principal Investigator (PI) in a project, you might indicate that your prior experiences form a solid foundation to assume the PI role because you have developed administrative skills essential to manage large scale projects that also require a broad range of people skills. You want to point out that you have the ability to manage, decide, and set priorities. Your past experiences have shown that you accept responsibility and carry out action plans. Your communication skills motivate others to accept responsibility and achieve. Use your relevant experiences to show how those developed skills transfer to essential leadership qualifications.

We recommend the personal statement be at least one-half page long. You can find the NIH biosketch guidelines in their updated (March 25, 2011) SF424 R&R instructions here.

Even if you don’t apply for NIH funding, you should look at the NIH biosketch formatting and consider using it in applications to other sponsors, unless they have specific formatting requirements.

From Grants Resource Center: ED Cancellations Confirmed, but Still Not Official

Last week, the GRC learned that the U.S. Department of Education will cancel three competitions of popular grant programs, two of which currently have open solicitations. Because of the prior uncertainty of the FY 11 budget, program officers within ED were advised to take a “business as usual” approach while specific budget cuts were being determined.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Comprehensive Program--Just two weeks ago, the GRC hosted a web conference featuring program officer Claire Cornell where she acknowledged that the Comprehensive Program may endure some budget cuts. However, she said then that ED was still proceeding with a new competition with a May 23, 2011 deadline. More recently, Sarah Beaton, co-coordinator, acknowledged that an official cancellation notice should appear in the Federal Register soon.

This is an unfortunate turn of events for the Comprehensive Program, as FY 11 may be the last year applicants see this program in its current form. In the FY 12 proposed budget, the Comprehensive Program has been zeroed out (but not proposed for elimination) in favor of a new First in the World competition within FIPSE, which would promote and test innovative strategies for improving college access, postsecondary education quality, and postsecondary completion.

European Union (EU)-U.S. Atlantis Program--The GRC featured this program during the Proposal Development Workshop in February and it still has a deadline set for May 24, 2011. Rumors of budget cuts for this program had been circulating among EU stakeholders a month or so before ED acknowledged it. Additionally, the other international programs formally housed under FIPSE (North American Mobility, U.S.-Russia, and U.S.-Brazil) may also suffer from severe budget cuts.

Emergency Management for Higher Education--This program will not have a competition for new awards in FY 11 and no solicitation has been released. The GRC will follow the future of this program closely as it is not mentioned in the FY 12 proposed budget.

The Sponsored Programs Office will let the campus community know more as we hear it.

Uncovering the Past on the Wabash

“It’s great working with the community. They were all very interested in the project that we were doing, and it’s great to see the community come together and get involved in such important work.” - Stefan Woehlke, Graduate Student, Anthropology

It’s 1791 and the U.S. infantry are surrounded by opposing Native American forces near the banks of the Wabash River. Pinned down and outnumbered, soldiers are forced to fall back, surrendering the land to the Native American warriors.

Three years later, American forces are again forced to defend their territory, this time at a fort built near the Wabash. A fierce battle ensues that results in several casualties, but this time the U.S. soldiers are victorious, not only securing the fort, but gaining control of land that would become one of America’s earliest settlements.

Military assaults like the Battle on the Wabash (1791) and the Battle of Fort Recovery (1794) are often forgotten in the annals of history. However, a team of Ball State researchers have embarked on a journey to uncover the remnants of wars more than two centuries old.

Mark Hill

Awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service, Dr. Mark Hill, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Director of Applied Archaeology Laboratories, and his colleagues, Dr. Colleen Boyd and Dr. Mark Groover of the Department of Anthropology and Ms. Beth McCord formerly of the department, began working together on the development of the American Battlefield Protection Project (ABPP). Based in Ohio, the project’s primary goals are to: (a) pinpoint the exact location of the Battle on the Wabash and the Battle of Fort Recovery and (b) provide Ohio residents with the information needed to protect and preserve the surrounding sites of the battlefields.

With no set boundaries currently delineating the 97 acres of land on which both historical battles took place, extensive background research was first needed to understand the geographic layout of the area. To accomplish this task, student researchers from the department of history and anthropology were recruited to assist the ABPP team. Historic sources, including maps and texts derived from primary and secondary sources, were examined to identify key features and events associated with the two battles. Local historians and collectors were also interviewed to determine the location of previously identified battle-related artifacts. Newspaper articles and town records were reviewed to determine past construction and development activities within the battlefield area.

Additionally, Native American communities were also contacted for any documents and stories passed down orally that were related to the battles. However, acquiring this information can sometimes pose a challenge as history graduate student Eliot Reed points out, “It’s always difficult when you do Native American research. There are very few resources because you are usually using British and American sources.”

Once all the data from the written and oral resources were collected, they were used to help develop the research design. Using geographic information systems (GIS) digital mapping software, students were then able to better identify key battlefield features and terrain. Anthropology graduate student Stefan Woehlke explains: “I combine historical maps with modern maps of the battle area; sort of laying maps on top of one another to get an understanding of the battlefield layout. Some of what I’m trying to do is predict where the Native American Indian’s were and the paths they took when they were surrounding the American military.”

Now that the research phase is complete, students have focused their attention on excavating the battlefield sites for war remnants. Prior to entering the field, a team of approximately 10 students participated in a field school—an archaeological “boot camp”—to equip them with the training and knowledge needed to effectively locate and identify artifacts. “It’s a really good opportunity for students to get the opportunity to learn archeology,” said field school operator Dr. Mark Groover.




In addition to metal detector training, students are taught a number of other advanced techniques such as magnetometer, resistivity, and ground penetrating radar survey methods. “The research and fieldwork is great,” said Jessie Moore, a second year anthropology graduate student who is using this project for her thesis. “I want to be an archeological technician or archeologist, [but] without this I would have no clue how to do basic methodology in the field. A lot of positions out there require you to have that kind of experience.”

A majority of the excavations are being conducted on private property so landowner permission was crucial in beginning excavations. However, even more important was building relationships with the land owners. For this, Dr. Hill credits the assistance of Christine Keller, an archeologist on the team and native of the community being excavated. “Christine is our primary liaison with the community,” explains Hill. “She’s very active in the community and represents us well with the Fort Recovery Historical Society. Having these connections allows us to be more involved and to provide us the opportunity to really be a part of the community, rather than being an outsider.”

In addition, Hill values the partnerships formed with the Archeological Society of Ohio and Fort Recovery Museum that will be providing volunteers during the course of the project. Any artifacts found as a result of the field excavations will be donated to the museum to be on display for the public.

If you would like more information on this project contact Dr. Mark Hill or Christine Keller in the Department of Anthropology.

Fulbright Scholar Program Information Session: May 4

Wednesday, May 4

12 noon - 2 p.m.

Room 303 - L.A Pittenger Student Center

The Sponsored Programs Office will present an information session on the Core Fulbright Scholar Program for Ball State University faculty and professional personnel Wednesday, May 4, from 12 noon to 2 p.m. in Room 303 of the L. A. Pittenger Student Center.Please feel free to bring a brown bag lunch. Beverages will be provided.

Former Ball State Fulbrighters, Jay Bagga and John Pichtel, will share their insight and experiences about the Fulbright program; SPO and Contracts and Grants Office staff will sketch out application procedures and award management.

Click here for a PDF of the information session agenda.

Fulbright Application Deadline: August 1, 2011 for the 2012-13 award period.

Information for all Fulbright programs is available at www.cies.org. Flash drives containing guidelines ad application material will be available at the session.

RSVPs and questions about the workshop may be directed to Augusta Wray.

Interested, but not able to attend?
For an individual consultation, please contact Justin Miller.


**Students interested in applying for the Fulbright US Student Program, please contact Dom Caristi.**

Highlights from the 2011 Emerging Media Initiative Faculty Symposium

As emerging media continues to be an increasing area of interest in higher education, Ball State University has taken a vested interest in expanding its media capabilities over the next five to 10 years. With this goal in mind, the 2011 Emerging Media Faculty Symposium provided some insight into how the University is planning on further developing its services and research to students and faculty through innovation and strategic thinking.

The Symposium, which is now in its 4th year, is part of Ball State’s Emerging Media Initiative (EMI) which focuses on the areas of leadership and sustainability, faculty and research, engagement and economic development, and student opportunities, according to its website.

Photo by Corey Ohlenkamp

With the key focus of this year’s symposium being on the faculty and research component, President JoAnn Gora revealed the formation of four newly formed task force teams that would usher in a new wave of strategies to help promote Ball State’s growing online education programs. “We need to continually market the case for Ball State’s value,” she said, emphasizing the rapid growth and changes in the way people consume information.

Each task force is comprised of an interdisciplinary team of faculty members on campus and are each assigned specific goals and objectives. A representative from each team gave a short presentation on their research and also offered recommendations that could be used as BSU moves forward in expanding its online capabilities. The four teams include:

1. Emerging Media Curriculum Task Force: Presented by Lori Byers, Associate Dean, College of Communication, Information and Media
2. Healthcare Task Force: Presented by Kerry Anne McGeary, Phyllis A. Miller Professor of Economics
3. Online Learning Task Force: Presented by Jen Bott, Associate Professor of Management and the Executive Director of the Master of Business Administration and Certificate Programs
4. Education of the Future Task Force: Presenters Phil Repp, Vice President for Information Technology and Susan Tanock, Professor of Elementary Education

Following this session, professors from the department of mathematics, theatre, elementary education and psychological sciences discussed some of the major myths to online education, which included:
           
           Myth 1: “I won’t be able to connect with my students”
           Myth 2: “Teaching quality is compromised online”
           Myth 3: “It’s just a talking head on a screen"
           Myth 4: “Online teaching requires too much time and tales away from my research”

At the end of both informational sessions, time was allotted for Q&A with the audience. You can read more about the symposium at the Ball State Daily News. You can also learn more about BSU’s Emerging Media Initiative by visiting the program’s website.

Recap of the 16th Annual Student Symposium

With more than 220 students in attendance at this year’s Annual Student Symposium, the record turnout marked a milestone in the event’s 16 year history. Originally started in 1996 with only 10 hand-selected projects, the event has grown to 166 projects—and counting. “The Sixteenth Annual Student Symposium was an extraordinarily successful event—both in terms of the numbers of students represented, and the variety and depth of projects,” said Kristi Koriath, Director at the Sponsored Programs Office.

Organized by the Sponsored Programs Office (SPO), the symposium provides a forum to showcase the accomplishments of Ball State University undergraduate and graduate students who have carried out research projects, creative endeavors, and other scholarly activities.

The event took place from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29 in the Student Center Ballroom and Cardinal Hall C. Due to the large number of entries, this was the first year that two venues were used to display projects. Entries were separated based on the student’s selection of “research” or “creative” on the registration form. “It’s only because the Ballroom was so crowded last year,” said Augusta Wray, one of the program’s event coordinators. “Last year we had 116 submissions and 175 students and this year we had 166 projects and 228 student participants. There just wasn’t enough room. It certainly wasn't the ideal situation, but next year we plan on having a larger venue."

Students from various fields of study, under the direct mentorship of faculty advisors, were given the opportunity to explore research interests and personal passions, such as the exploration of Benthic and Planktonic Forminiferal Biostratigraphy of the Middle Eocene Cockfield Formation of Eastern Mississippi (Jordan Edmunds), while for others it was simply examining The Visibility of International Students in the Midwest (Jenny Klucarich). Whatever the topic of interest, each project provided symposium attendees with ample opportunities to learn about both new and familiar subjects.

“Many of the projects were highly technical and very detailed,” said Koriath. “However, everyone with whom I spoke had a ready grasp of their project, but yet could make their work comprehensible to someone not necessarily in-the-know about the discipline.”

Submissions were separated into two distinct categories, Creative and Research, and were also evaluated by two separate sets of judges. Under the Creative Projects category, the judges were Jen Blackmer, Associate Professor of Theatre; Lori Byers, Associate Dean of the College of Communication, Information, and Media; and Kecia McBride, Associate Dean Associate Professor of English.

Research Projects were judged by Derron Bishop, Associate Professor of Physiology, and Assistant Director of the Center for Medical Education; John Emert, Associate Dean of the Honors College, and Professor of Mathematical Sciences; Jeff Grigsby, Associate Dean of the College of Science and Humanities, and Professor of Geology; and Michael Holmes, Director of Insight and Research, and Professor of Communication Studies.

Prior to the start of the Symposium, judges spent 3.5 hours reviewing, evaluating and rating individual projects. Evaluation was based on the quality of poster design and informational content provided. At the close of the event, a formal awards ceremony was held in Cardinal Hall A where Provost Terry King congratulated the student participants for their hard work and contributions to their field. Following his remarks, Jeffry Grigsby, Professor of Geological Sciences and Associate Dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities, announced the winners under the Research category and Jennifer Blackmer, Associate Professor of Theatre, announced the winners under the Creative category.

The Student Symposium Awards were established in memory of Dr. Linda Keys, Mr. Jeffrey Litten, and Ms. Sandra Smith, all of whom served in Sponsored Programs Office. They were instrumental in developing the Symposium as the premier event for students to showcase their work and were avid supporters of student research endeavors.

For a full list of 2011 student participants click here. You may also view exclusive video interviews from some of this year’s student presenters by visiting the SPO YouTube Channel.

2010-11 Researcher of the Year and Creative Endeavor Awardee Lectures

Researcher of the Year and Creative Endeavor Awardee Lecture

Monday, April 18, 2011

3:00 p.m.

L. A. Pittenger Student Center Forum Room

(Map it!)

	Thomas Lauer Department of Biology 2010-11 Researcher of the Year Exotic Critters of our Great Lakes: Biological Pollution in Action
	Jennifer Blackmer Department of Theatre and Dance 2010-11 Creative Endeavor Awardee Science on Stage: The Limits of the Human

Each year, the Outstanding Researcher of the Year and recipient of the Outstanding Creative Endeavor of the year are announced at the annual faculty fall convocation. The Sponsored Programs Office (SPO) hosts a presentation event each year for the Research of the Year and Creative Endeavor awardee to lecture and display or discuss their work for the campus community.

For more information on past Researchers of the Year and Creative Endeavor Awardees, please visit the SPO website by clicking here.

New NIH Podcasts

Podcast on Writing About Human Subjects in Your Application
Continuing the podcast series on grant writing, the next topic is the human subjects section. Do you need to include this section in your application? Should you include this section if you are using human tissue samples without their personally identifying information? Listen to “Human Subjects Risk and Protection” for answers to these questions and more.

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Writing Your Research Plan Podcast
The research plan and other narrative sections of the application are next. Your research project really is a story and can benefit from some careful crafting. Listen to “Telling Your Story” for some tips and advice.

To get new All About Grants podcasts as they are released, subscribe by visiting iTunes or catch NIH's podcast RSS using your favorite software.