Launched in July 2009, the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) is approximate 40 percent into its planned decadal span of research. Much of the original vision of the DCO came from geologist Robert Hazen. Hazen and his colleagues have effectively set in motion many streams of observation and analysis. The unusual scope of the DCO—from diamonds to life—presents great challenges for integration and synthesis. This grant provides three years of support for the hiring of one full-time postdoctoral researcher and one graduate student to assist DCO Executive Director Hazen as he initiates this process of synthesis and integration.

This grant provides two years of continued administrative and research support to the Deep Life Community of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO).  One of four scientific communities within the DCO, the Deep Life community is a multi-national consortium of scientists working to revolutionize our understanding of the quantities, movements, forms, and origins of deep life.  Subsurface microbial ecosystems may extend to 20,000 feet beneath the seafloor and continental surface, and studies of these deep, dark biological reservoirs suggest their total carbon content may rival all surface life.  Instead of tapping into solar power, deep microbial communities harvest energy from fuels such as methane and hydrogen sulfide or buried detrital matter to drive synthesis of macromolecules and reproduce.  Led by microbial biologist Mitch Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Deep Life Community will use grant funds to extend molecular studies to a greater number of samples from high-value marine and continental sites and describe the diversity, distribution, and functional adaptations of deep life.  Experiments will explore life’s interplay with geological processes in the deep subsurface, including studies of microbial activities and distributions in hydrogen-­rich habitats which favor abiogenic synthesis of methane and higher hydrocarbons.  In addition, deep life researchers will explore the limits of deep life using improved life detection capabilities and develop and apply tracer approaches to track the flow of carbon into biomolecules and cells.

Funds from this grant provide two years of continuing administrative and research support to the Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community of the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO).  One of four scientific communities within the DCO, the Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community concerns itself with crystals, fluids, and magmas at the high pressures and temperatures characteristic of deep Earth.  Supported research will extend measurements on carbon-bearing systems to previously inaccessible conditions, combining an extraordinary array of experimental techniques with careful computational studies on challenging chemical systems.  Under the direction of UCLA geophysicist Craig Manning, as many as 19 distinct research projects are envisioned during the next two years, with a focus on simultaneously conducting numerical simulations and laboratory measurements on the same physical properties of the same materials.  Also supported under this grant is the compilation and publication of a comprehensive open-access database of thermochemical properties of carbon-bearing minerals, melts, and fluids, as well as their mixtures, to lower-mantle pressure and temperature conditions.  The continued research of the Extreme Physics and Chemistry Community promises to contribute in powerful ways to the DCO’s goal of radically advancing our understanding of deep Earth carbon.

This grant funds two years of continued support to the Sloan Science-in-Film initiative by the Sundance Institute, which runs the Sundance Film Festival, the premiere independent film festival in the U.S. Funds will support five annual components of the initiative: a commissioning grant for a high quality feature film script that involves science, engineering, or mathematics; a feature film fellowship for a talented filmmaker interested in science-themed narratives; a $20,000 best Science and Technology feature film prize; a moderated panel discussion by filmmakers and scientists, and an awards reception.

Funds from this grant provide two years of funding to the Tribeca Film Institute for its ongoing efforts to support films and filmmakers that explore scientific and technological themes. With Sloan Foundation support, the Institute will award up to $150,000 each year to between three and six compelling narrative filmmaking projects that explores scientific, mathematical, and technological themes and storylines, or that feature a leading character who is a scientist, engineer, innovator, or mathematician. In addition to such financial support, Tribeca provides selected filmmakers with professional guidance and mentorship, including project notes, networking assistance, and exposure to financing and distribution executives. Funds from this grant also support a series of high profile events at the Tribeca Film Festival, including a screening and discussion series, readings of in-progress scripts exploring scientific and technological themes, and an awards ceremony and reception honoring winning filmmakers.

The Science on Screen program, based at Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre, creatively pairs screenings of classic or new release films with discussion of relevant scientific topics by notable scientists or technologists. Pairings featured in the Science on Screen program to date include a discussion of viral outbreaks paired with a screening of 12 Monkeys, a discussion of dog behavior and intelligence paired with a screening of Best in Show, and a discussion of the feasibility of time travel paired with a screening of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. This two-year grant to the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation will fund a small grant program designed to expand Science on Screen, allowing Coolidge to provide small grants to independent cinemas around the country that help offset the costs of running and publicizing their own Science on Screen series. Over the next two years, it is anticipated that at least forty new independent cinemas will sign on to the program, bringing the number of participating theaters nationwide to nearly one hundred.

Funds from this grant support the work of Brent Stephens at the Illinois Institute of Technology to develop and document an open network of inexpensive, standardized, and synchronized measurement devices for recording long-term indoor environmental and building operational parameters. Stephens will focus on the parameters that are most likely to influence indoor microbial communities, including environmental conditions (air temperature, relative humidity, light), characteristics of the building’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (air flow rates, air exchange rates), human occupancy, and surface environmental conditions (surface temperature and water activity).In addition to developing and testing the sensors themselves, Stephens will make public the documentation and directions for how to build and deploy the sensors. He will also prepare several peer-reviewed publications for the microbial ecology, building science, and sensor development communities.

This grant provides two years of continued support to microbiologist Jonathan Eisen at the University of California, Davis for the continued operation and development of the Microbiology of the Built Environment network (microBE.net), a research network and associated website that aims to encourage collaboration, resource sharing, and information exchange in the growing multidisciplinary community of researchers working on understanding the built environment microbiome. Funded activities include the continued operation of the network website, the curation and creation of tools and other resources for researchers, the coordination of several meetings and workshops, and outreach to relevant stakeholders, including researchers, regulators, government funding agencies, and the public.

Funds from this grant support efforts by the American Council on Education (ACE) to understand and increase the impact of the Sloan Awards for Retirement Transitions, a series of awards given to 15 U.S. colleges and universities to honor and accelerate innovative, effective policies for successfully managing the culminating stages of faculty careers. First, ACE will monitor the progress of the 15 retirement award winners. They will collect campus reports as to how innovative practices and programs have been embedded in campus culture so that faculty members feel free to use them and are satisfied with the outcome. Second, from this group of 15 winners, ACE will select five to six institutions that are ready and committed to take their programs to the next level of institutional transformation. Three, ACE will identify three or four institutions that were initially interested in competing for the awards, but because of timing or other issues on their campuses, reluctantly chose not to compete. ACE will work closely with these schools to achieve the institutional changes necessary to support faculty in their final career stage as they are transitioning to retirement. Knowledge gained from these activities will be used to mount a deep and widespread communication effort within higher education to educate other institutions about effective ways that universities and colleges can change their campus cultures in order to support senior faculty choosing to work longer, assist them in transitioning to an active next career phase, and promote culminating career legacies.

In 2012, the Trustees of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation approved a $3.2 million grant to the University of Texas to support a project to re-contact and survey the original, nationally representative High School and Beyond (HSB) 1980 sophomore class cohort in order to assess the effects of early-life human capital on later-life labor market, health, and family outcomes. This new data set will provide scholars with access to a wealth of data collected contemporaneously when the respondents were adolescents and young adults. These data include measures of cognitive and noncognitive skills, school performance, standardized test scores, family socioeconomic origins, health, early life careers, and family formation. The new dataset will enable scholars to study in previously unavailable detail the antecedents of later life labor market activities. This grant provides supplemental support to that project by creating a pool of funds for incentive payments for survey participants to ensure an 80 percent response rate.