This grant provides two years of continued support to the Deep Energy community of the Deep Carbon Observatory. Researchers working in the Deep Energy community investigate the abiotic methane and hydrogen in the deep recesses of Earth. These compounds, when oxidized, release energy into the rocks around them, feed microbial life, and possibly contribute to humanity’s store of energy resources. Recent discoveries, many of them by DCO researchers, suggest that such deep energy reserves are significantly more plentiful than science has imagined. Over the next two years, Deep Energy researchers will use both field-based investigations in oceanic and continental settings and lab experiments on fluid-rock interactions to shed light on a number of important scientific questions, including how to differentiate between abiotic and biotic hydrocarbons; the role of serpentinization and other hydrogen-generating reactions in the production of deep energy; how deep energy reactions mediate the form, quantities, distribution, and mobility of abiotic carbon and hydrogen; and the relationship between deep energy and deep microbial life. In addition, the Deep Energy team will begin collaborative work with other DCO communities to bring together insights from numerous disciplines in geoscience to create a functional four-dimensional Deep Carbon in Earth Model.

This grant provides partial support to a research project by the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of Texas, Austin. A multidisciplinary team of hydrologists, geologists, economists, and engineers led by geologist Bridget Scanlon will analyze the hydrological characteristics and wastewater production of five major shale oil and gas plays across the country. Using data on previous drilling at each play, the team will construct historical wastewater production estimates and then use these baseline analyses to forecast future water use and wastewater volumes. The team will then compare how water needs associated with shale drilling compare to other water demands in different regions and then estimate the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on contributing to water scarcity in these areas. Additional work will focus on gaining a better scientific understanding of increased seismicity induced by the injection of wastewater into disposal wells.

Funds from this three-year grant support efforts by Jonathan Eisen at the University of California, Davis to provide key intellectual infrastructure support and services to the growing multidisciplinary community of researchers working in indoor microbial ecology. Through the Microbiology of the Built Environment network (microBE.net) Eisen organizes meetings and workshops, provides a hub for resource and information sharing, disseminates results and funding opportunities, aids in the dissemination of data collection and analysis standards and protocols, and helps bridge disciplinary boundaries by connecting researchers in biology, informatics, architecture, and the building sciences. Over the next three years, Eisen will continue the work of microBE.net, providing additional resources to the MoBE community in six thematic areas:  antimicrobials in the BE; nonhumans in the BE; extreme BEs; BE water systems; technical needs for the MoBE field; and general MoBE interests. Activities targeting each theme will include web development, meeting and workshop organization, social media, pilot research projects, creation and curation of open textbooks, development of a community-driven genome sequencing program, writing of scholarly articles on research and tool development, and continued development of the microBEnet blog with further recruitment of MoBE scholars to contribute to the development of modules for MoBE educational activities (e.g., college courses).

This grant supports a multidisciplinary research effort led by the Institute for Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis) to examine natural gas as an alternative fuel option to power trucks, other long-haul vehicles, municipal bus and taxi fleets, and light-duty passenger vehicles. Bringing together leading economists, engineers, geographers, policy experts, and computer scientists, ITS-Davis will organize a workshop on the issue and commission a series of papers providing a comprehensive overview of the tradeoffs associated with the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel in the transportation sector. Data from the workshop will then be used to enrich ITS-Davis’s model of the infrastructure and refueling network that must sustain any transition to natural gas as an alternative fuel. Working closely with researchers at Arizona State University, ITS-Davis also plans to expand its model to accommodate changes in diesel and natural gas fuel prices, alternative technology costs, various rates of new vehicle diffusion, altered traffic flow patterns, and changes to state-level policies.

Mathematical formulas are undiscoverable by modern search engines. If you are looking for a famous theorem or an equation with a name, standard search engines like Google or online encyclopedias like Wikipedia can direct you to it. But if what you are looking for is an equation that expresses one variable in terms of another, you are out of luck. Because the consumer base for such information is small and because the task of programming computers to recognize mathematical formulas is difficult, no major search engine has prioritized mathematical search. Yet from a societal point of view, the benefits of accelerating discoveries by providing such search capabilities could surely be enormous.   This grant funds a project by John Lafferty from the University of Chicago and David Blei from Columbia University to advance the field of mathematical search by developing a software program that uses sophisticated pattern recognition and statistical machine learning techniques to recognize and identify mathematical formulas on the web.

This grant provides two years of continued support to the University of Oregon’s Biology and the Built Environment Center (BioBE). Led by microbiologist Jessica Green and architect GZ Brown and founded with the assistance of a 2010 Sloan Foundation grant, the BioBE Center aims to develop a predictive science of the built environment microbiome by bringing together a multidisciplinary research team of microbiologists, engineers, architects, and building experts. Over the next two years, Center researchers will launch a number of research projects that attempt to expand our understanding of how ventilation, structure, and daylight influence the composition and function of indoor microbial communities. Specific topics to be studied include how antimicrobial compounds influence the indoor microbiome and how that influence is mediated by building design, how restricting exchange with outside air affects community composition indoors, and whether earlier findings suggesting that design influences the microbial dust communities are generalizable across building types. In addition to supporting the Center’s research, additional grant funds support the Center’s training and outreach activities designed to bring new talent into the field and disseminate research results widely among the scholarly community and public.

Funds from this grant support a program at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts that encourages top film students to write, direct, and produce films with accurate, high-quality scientific content. Grant funds support a number of interrelated activities at USC, including an annual production grant competition, which gives two $22,500 grants to help quality student scripts become films, two $15,000 screenwriting awards given to the best student science-themed scripts, and an annual $17,500 animation award for the best science themed animation produced by a student animator. In addition, USC hosts an annual seminar that introduces students to the program and brings in working scientists to expose students to cutting-edge scientific research and discoveries and an annual screening night where winners’ works are screened. USC also helps facilitate student interaction with industry professionals and the submission of science themed works to film festivals and other dissemination outlets.

This grant provides continued support for a fellowship program by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which supports young economics scholars whose research focuses on issues relating to the labor market for aging workers. Fellowships are awarded for a single year, with a review at the end of the first year and a second-year of funding available but conditioned on satisfactory progress in the first year.  The annual selection process includes a broadly disseminated call for proposals that is sent to an extensive list of U.S. Ph.D.-granting economics departments, to researchers who are members of the Society of Labor Economists, and to researchers affiliated with the NBER research programs in Aging, Labor Studies, and Public Economics. Applications are then reviewed by a panel of experts on labor economics, aging, and public finance. Fellows are selected based on the panel’s evaluation of their potential to make important contributions to understanding the determinants and consequences of labor market activity at older ages. Funds from this grant will support three cohorts of four doctoral students beginning with the 2016-17 academic year.