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Research Corporation for Science Advancement Announces Scialog
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Research Corporation for Science Advancement Announces Scialog®
Major Research Initiative, Designed To Accelerate 21st-Century Transformational Science, Will Initially Focus on Solar Energy Conversion
Tucson, AZ - 6/15/09 - Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) announces a major new research initiative called Scialog®. This multi-year grant program is designed to accelerate the work of 21st-century science by funding individuals or multi-disciplinary teams to pursue transformative research, in dialog with their fellow grantees, on crucial issues of scientific inquiry.
In multi-year cycles, specific research topics will be chosen and, within each topic, research proposals will be solicited, selected and then funded. Each multi-year initiative will promote scientific innovation in the face of a complex research challenge that serves as a driver in contemporary science. Successful grantees will be asked to address a few narrowly focused key issues on a particular research topic and to communicate with one another in an annual closed conference to share insights and build further collaborations.
"Scialog is a bold effort to build new communities of innovative researchers working in interdisciplinary teams. The program is dedicated to tackling complex scientific questions of global importance," said James M. Gentile, Ph.D., president of Research Corporation for Science Advancement. "By encouraging dialog and intellectual risk-taking among grantees, we hope to inspire transformative science. Our success will be measured, in part, by whether we attract additional funders, public or private, to carry that science forward."
The initial Scialog round will focus on funding and building research teams to undertake groundbreaking studies in the conversion of sunlight directly into useable forms of energy, such as electricity. This initiative is entitled "Scialog 2009: Solar Energy Conversion." The topic has been chosen because reliable domestic sources of renewable energy are critically important for U.S. security, global stability and an environmentally sustainable economy.
Scientists from any college or university in the United States are eligible to apply, and details regarding the application process are available on the RCSA website (http://www.rescorp.org). The initial Scialog is funding grants of $100,000 for individual researchers and $250,000 for qualifying teams of researchers, for a total of $3.2 million.
The Scialog process is guided by a panel of internationally recognized scientists chosen from the research, scholarly and science policy communities. The chair of that panel is Dr. Vicki Chandler, chief program officer for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Science Program and former head of the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. The list of current panel members is available at http://www.rescorp.org/scialog/solar-energy-conversion.
Each Scialog grant will fund research for three years, and grant recipients will attend an annual Scialog closed meeting for researchers at Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ. The initial round of grants has begun with a request for proposals related to energy technology - with awards to be made by April 2010. A second round, focusing on another topic to be determined, will begin three years later.
The first three-year Scialog round is being conducted in partnership with Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz), which is funding three projects by Arizona researchers through its Solar Technology Institute for a total of $4 million. The Arizona researchers and the RCSA-funded researchers, who need not be from Arizona to qualify, will come together during the annual Biosphere 2 meetings to discuss their solar energy research.
"The Solar Technology Institute of Science Foundation Arizona is supporting projects focused on short-term disruptive technology breakthroughs to bring down the price of solar energy," said Richard C. Powell, co-director of the Solar Technology Institute and a past president of the Optical Society of America. "This complements the longer-term basic research projects in solar energy supported by RCSA to ensure the future growth and viability of solar energy. The Scialog partnership of SFAz and RCSA provides an important venue for communication and collaboration between these two research communities."
For more information visit www.rescorp.org, or contact Richard Wiener, RCSA program officer, at rwiener@rescorp.org, or 520.571.1111.
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Research Corporation for Science Advancement (www.rescorp.org) - formerly known as Research Corporation - was founded in 1912 and is the second-oldest foundation in the United States (after the Carnegie Corporation) and the oldest foundation for science advancement. Research Corporation is a leading advocate for the sciences and a major funder of scientific innovation and of research in America's colleges and universities.