Here at ITN, we scour the web to create a hand-picked list of opportunities that may be relevant to an academic project or collaboration with a business partner. By understanding your business focus or applied research interests, we can better identify funding opportunities that may be of interest to you. This is by no means an exhaustive list, however, it does cover a variety of research areas and industry segments.

Please use the links to access the grant source, including applicable details and deadlines.

FEATURED COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITY:

Request for Social Science Research: Interest and Capacity 11-1-2011

Study of Biomass Feedstock Producers and Potential Biofuel Users -

To gauge interest in collaborating to produce crops, and in collaborating to site and/or utilize a biofuel processor.

A Berks County firm has been working with the US Department of Agriculture on commercializing a biofuel processing technology. And they have asked ITN to assist in finding faculty who would be interested in conducting a survey of Biomass Feedstock Producers and Potential Biofuel Users. The attachment provides greater detail on the project. We would appreciate it very much if you would forward this to appropriate departments and faculty.

This project has the potential to provide a large economic impact to Berks County and to offer numerous opportunities for students and faculty - not only in the Social Sciences but in other arenas as research and deployment are conducted. The target demographic is rural Pennsylvania: farmers, and associations of farmers.

One of the concerns in committing capital, in addition to the usual technical and financial risk, is the level of participation expected from the other farmers i.e. the major raw material suppliers. An assessment is needed to gauge levels of interest by local farmers. This study would likely also involve agriculture cooperatives and other organizations, like the Grange, which are major linkages for farmers. In addition to gauging the levels of interest, a sense of the constraints, bottlenecks, and conditions for participation will be needed.

We envision, at this time, a modest survey of farmers and farm organizations; which may transition into a larger study later on. This can be a class project, capstone for seniors or graduates, an individual consulting assignment, or any combination.

If you are interested in conducting a survey, please call:

Jim Kurtz, General Manager
Reading Electric Renewables 

Office of the Director of National Intelligence
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) invites proposals that address research on the Smart Collection of Intelligence Information that will dramatically improve the value of collected data from all sources. Research areas of particular interest include, but are not limited to:
• Innovative methods or tools for identifying and/or creating novel sources of new information;
• New ways of identifying and assessing collection systems for dramatically improved performance;
• Agile architectures that intelligently distill useful information at the collector; and,
• Innovative means and methods to ensure the veracity of data collected from a variety of sources.
Multiple awards are anticipated. Eligibility is unrestricted domestically. Proposals are due Nov 30, 2012. Click here for more information regarding IARPA-BAA-12-02.

IARPA invites proposals that propose research on Technologies and Methods for Safe and Secure Intelligence Operations that will counter new capabilities implemented by U.S. adversaries that threaten the effectiveness of U.S intelligence operations. Multiple awards are anticipated. Eligibility is unrestricted domestically. Proposals are due Nov 30, 2012. Click here for more information regarding IARPA-BAA-12-03.

IARPA invites proposals that propose research that will lead to Incisive Analysis of Intelligence Information that will maximize insight from the information we collect, in a timely fashion. Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Analysis of social, cultural and linguistic data;
• Methods for measuring and improving human judgment and human reasoning;
• Estimation and communication of uncertainty and risk; and,
• Augmented reality applied to analysis.
Multiple awards are anticipated. Eligibility is unrestricted domestically. Proposals are due Nov 30, 2012. Click here for more information regarding IARPA-BAA-12-01.

Other Grants of Potential Interest:

National Science Foundation

Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI)  Read More

11-590   Sustainable Energy Pathways  Read More

11-589   Software Infrastructure for Sustained Innovation Grant  Read More

11-587  Cyberlearning: Transforming Education  Read More

11-588  Discovery Research K-12  Read More

PD-11-8069  Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences  Read More

11-584  Interface between Computer Science and Economics & Social Sciences Grant  Read More

Department of Health and Human Services

RFA-MH-12-130  Basic Research on Decision Making: Cognitive, Affective, and Developmental Perspectives  Read More

PAR-12-001  Collaborations with National Centers for Biomedical Computing  Read More

PAR-08-269  Agency for Health Care Research and Quality Exploratory and Developmental Grant to Improve Health Care Quality through Health Information Technology (IT)  Read More

Agency for Health Care Research and Quality
PAR-08-268  Small Research Grant to Improve Health Care Quality through Health Information Technology (IT)  Read More

For more information regarding SBIR and STTR grant opportunities, click here to visit the Innovation Partnership website.