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NSF PR 02-83 - October 15, 2002
NSF Awards $37.9 Million in Grants to Study Biocomplexity
in the Environment
To foster a better understanding of the interrelationships
among living things at all levels--from molecular
structures to genes to ecosystems--and how they interact
with their environment, the National Science Foundation
(NSF) has awarded $37.9 million in 47 research grants
to scientists and engineers across the country.
"The interplay between life and its environment is
complex," explained NSF Director Rita Colwell. "The
connections are not necessarily straightforward or
easily discerned. These ribbons of interconnections,
often difficult to tease apart, are what NSF's biocomplexity
in the environment awardees will study."
Research on biocomplexity in the environment, said
Colwell, provides science with a more complete understanding
of natural processes, of human behaviors and decisions
in the natural world, and of ways to use technology
effectively to observe the environment and to sustain
the diversity of life on earth.
This systems approach is the crux of biocomplexity
studies, believes Colwell. Scientists and engineers
must work in teams across diverse fields that go well
beyond biology to include physics, systems engineering,
economics, geochemistry and others, on studies that
extend from the submolecular to mass changes in climate
with potential for worldwide impact. "Past investments
in molecular biology, remote sensing, information
science, and mathematics have yielded tremendous advances
and powerful new technologies and tools that now make
biocomplexity research possible," she said. "The biggest,
most exciting scientific questions are now at the
interfaces of disciplines, such as biological chemistry,
computational ecology, and environmental genetics."
NSF's Special Competition in Biocomplexity in the Environment:
2002, is the third phase of a multi-year effort. Five
subcategories of awards were made: Dynamics of Coupled
Natural and Human Systems (CNH), with 10 awards totaling
$7.5 million; Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles (CBC),
with 18 awards totaling $16.6 million; Genome-Enabled
Environmental Science and Engineering (GENEN), with
four awards totaling $7.2 million; Instrumentation
Development for Environmental Activities (IDEA), with
four awards totaling $5.4 million; and Materials Use:
Science, Engineering, and Society (MUSES), with 11
awards totaling $1.2 million.
Research projects in the CNH sub-category include studies
of: complex interactions among policies, people and
panda habitat in the Wolong Nature Reserve landscape;
coupled human and natural systems in Yellowstone;
and human-climate interactions in a desert metropolis.
Those in the CBC sub-category focus on: coupling of
carbon and water cycles in a cold, dry ecosystem;
ecosystem response to elevated arsenic concentrations;
and biogeochemistry of iron and sulfate reduction
in extreme acidic environments. GENEN awardees will
conduct research in such areas as: the interaction
of viral genomes with the marine environment; analysis
of factors determining the ecological function and
resilience of microbial communities; and development
of methods linking genomic and ecological responses
in a freshwater species. IDEA grantees will study
ways to develop: an autonomous sensor for environmental
water quality monitoring; multifunctional scanning
nanoprobes for analysis of chemical processes at the
interface of microbes and minerals in the environment;
and an instrument for measurement of microbial enzyme
activities in aquatic ecosystems. MUSES investigators
will study: the industrial ecology of particulate
materials; disposable and reusable textile materials
in healthcare facilities; and defining sustainable
uses for agricultural products.
For a complete list of research projects, please see:
http://www.nsf.gov/geo/ere/ereweb/fund-biocomplex.cfm
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