*Research and Teaching Funding **Opportunity** at NCEAS: Distributed Graduate Seminars*
The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, at the University of California, Santa Barbara (NCEAS), invites PIs to submit proposals for a unique research and teaching opportunity. Distributed Graduate Seminars involve faculty and students at multiple universities, distributed nationally or globally. Initially the scientific leaders of the seminar meet at NCEAS to collaboratively plan seminar courses that will take place at their own institutions, on the same topic, to address an overarching research question. Students at the participating institutions are then enrolled in these courses held simultaneously across sites, and each seminar leader teaches the seminar course in-person at his or her own institution. Each group works with local or regional data, interacting with other groups through web-based collaborative spaces (e.g., data entry portals). At the end of the seminar course representatives from each group come to NCEAS to conduct a grand synthesis. The seminar affords students the opportunity to use data-sharing tools, and to participate in collaborative and synthetic research. Seminar leaders benefit from the opportunity to collaborate with their colleagues at widely distributed universities while engaging in meaningful and creative pedagogy at their home institutions. A relatively high level of participation (~25%) from Minority-Serving Institutions is expected, and the participation of undergraduates is encouraged. PIs may be faculty, professional researchers, postdoctoral associates or graduate students. Proposals may originate from and include undergraduate institutions. Since 1995, NCEAS has hosted 3,500 individuals, 50-75% of whom are typically new to NCEAS each year. Thus far NCEAS has supported 370 projects yielding more than 1,000 scientific articles. Proposal deadlines are twice a year. The next deadline is *July 24, 2006**. *Prospective PIs are encouraged to contact the Deputy Director Stephanie Hampton ([EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) or the Director Jim Reichman ([EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) during proposal development. For additional information and application instructions, go to: http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/opportunity/rfp.html Or, contact the Center: Telephone: (805) 892-2500 Fax: (805) 892-2510 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- Stephanie E. Hampton Deputy Director National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis University of California, Santa Barbara 735 State St., Suite 300 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3351, USA http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel (805) 892-2505 Fax (805) 892-2510
