linkstream2 microblog

fellowships, grants, space
QT:{{”
“DOMINICI: Because of the new advances in technology, almost every field right now has data, and more data than ever. Clearly, there’s the explosion of genetics and genomics data in the life sciences, in molecular data, as well as astronomy and economics. Even in the humanities, you can scan documents and turn it into data that you can analyze.
…
PARKES: To add some numbers to this, IBM has estimated that we’re generating more than one quintillion bytes of data a day. (A quintillion is a 10 to the 18th.)
…
DOMINICI: One of the reasons we are so excited that Harvard is launching the Data Science Initiative is because of all the advances our faculty have made in recent years. We can now describe the entire genome, define the exposome (the environmental analogue to the genome), characterize social interactions and mood via cellphone data, and can digitize historical data relevant for the humanities. ….

DOMINICI: We have launched the Harvard Data Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, which is among the largest programs of its kind, and we want to recruit talented individuals in a highly interdisciplinary ways. We’re looking for people who can lead their own research but will want to work collaboratively with other people around the University. In fact, we’ve asked them to identify faculty they’d be excited to work with. In addition to passsion for computer science and statistics, we are are looking for talented individuals who want to advance knowledge in astronomy, psychology, business, health, and are excited to work with us to builld data science at Harvard. We have a committee that will be making decisions about this very soon.

We have also launched a competitive research fund that will catalyze small research projects around the University. Through our friends in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Medical School, we’ve identified some spaces in the near term where people can get together. …

PARKES: We are launching the initiative because we want to get to a point where we have a Harvard Data Science Institute. The aspiration is that the Data Science Institute will have some physical space associated with it,
…
Then the third one I wanted to mention is privacy.
“}}
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/03/co-directors-of-newly-launched-harvard-data-science-initiative-discuss-new-era/

QT:{{”

“This shift has been having profound impacts on mental-health research in the United States, but the magnitude of the transformation is only now coming to light. An analysis by Nature suggests that the number of clinical trials funded by the NIMH dropped by 45% between 2009 and 2015 (see ‘’). This coincides with the agency’s launch, in 2011, of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) — a framework for research on the mechanisms of mental illness. The NIMH’s roll-out of RDoC included asking researchers to focus more on the biological bases of behaviour — such as brain circuitry and genetics — than on the broader symptoms that clinicians typically use to define and classify mental illness.

The NIMH’s embrace of fundamental research has infuriated many clinical researchers, who see it as an attempt to invalidate their methods — and say that there is scant evidence to support the idea that using RDoC will lead to greater insight or better treatments for mental illness.”
“}}

US mental-health agency’s push for basic research has slashed support for clinical trials
http://www.nature.com/news/us-mental-health-agency-s-push-for-basic-research-has-slashed-support-for-clinical-trials-1.22145

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/multi_pi/sample_leadership_plans.pdf

https://allofus.nih.gov/about/about-all-us-research-program

https://www.genome.gov/27566612/2016-news-feature-nih-supports-new-approaches-to-discovering—dna-differences-in-the-genomes-regulatory-regions-that-affect-disease-/

https://www.genome.gov/27566794/

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/4/158/158rv11.short

Q: Why Aren’t There More Scientists? A: Money
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/29/why-we-dont-produce-more-scientists-a-one-word-explanation/ Breakdown of how a field’s $6M in NSF #funding is apportioned HT @gnat

QT:{{”
“Every year Congress gives the National Science Foundation roughly 7.3 billion dollars. That sum hasn’t changed much (in real terms) for decades. The Defense Department gets $573 billion. But $7.3 billion isn’t bad. “It sounds like a lot of money,” says Jahren, even if it’s spread across biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, psychology, sociology, and some computer science.
Divided 50 times—assuming one paleobiologist in every state—that works out to $120,000 per grant. In fact, Jahren counted between 30 and 40 grants per year, for an average of $165,000. Assuming some of those scientists hire assistants, she figures there are “about 100 [government] funded paleobiologists in America.””
“}}

Yet more thoughts on squeezing in stuff:

Margins: 0.5 inches all around
Normal: Arial 11 pt
Spacing:
– 12 pt spacing exactly & 0 before & after + 4 pt before major heads (except for in-line figures, then automatic ‘single spacing’) such as INNOVATION

– no widow/orphan control

– no spaces before paragraphs, just indents

– bullet (*) lists (eg for people)

Hyphenate! (Menu: Page Layout, Page Setup, Hyphenation, Automatic) ****

Legends: Arial 8.5 pt, Spacing exactly 8.4 pt. Hyphenated. ****

Titles: Cambria 12 pt looks nice, but flexible.

References: NIH Style EndNote. [1]

QT:{{”
NIH instructions write: “Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.). Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch (1 inch = 72 points, six lines/inch = 12 pt exact spacing). Use standard paper size (8 ½” x 11) . Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins.”
“}}

QT:{{”

11. Descriptive Title of Applicant’s Project

Enter a brief descriptive title of the project. This field is required.

A “new” application must have a different title from any other PHS project with the same PD/PI. A “resubmission” or “renewal” application should normally have the same title as the previous grant or application. If the specific aims of the project have significantly changed, choose a new title.

A “revision” application must have the same title as the currently funded grant.

NIH and other PHS agencies limit title character length to 81 characters, including the spaces between words and punctuation. Titles in excess of 81 characters will be truncated. Be sure to only use standard characters in the descriptive title: A through Z, a through z, 0 through 9, space ( ), and underscore (_).

“}}

The above is OLD. Now you can go above 81 characters.

QT:{{”
Font

Prepare the application using Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface in black font color. After text attachments are converted to PDF, font size in each final PDF document must be at least 11 points (or larger). (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.) Since some PDF converters may reduce font sizes, it is important to confirm that type density in each final PDF document, including both characters and spaces, is no more than 15
characters+spaces per linear inch and no more than six lines per vertical inch.
“}}

Note: 72 points/inch so 6 lines/inch at 11pt type translates into a line spacing of 11 pts + 1pt per line.

QT:{{”
Paper Size and Page Margins

Final PDF documents should be formatted to be no larger than standard paper size (8 ½” x 11). The final PDF document should have at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins, including the PI’s name and page numbers.

….
Figures, Graphs, Diagrams, Charts, Tables, Figure Legends, and Footnotes You may use a smaller type size but it must be in a black font color, readily legible, and follow the font typeface requirement. Color can be used in figures; however, all text must be in a black font color, clear and legible.
“}}

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424

More thoughts on this. One person’s condensed summary of this for Word:

QT:{{
Margins: 0.5 inches all around
Normal: Arial 11 pt
Spacing: 12 pt exactly (except for in-line figures, then automatic ‘single spacing’)
Hyphenate! (Menu: Page Layout, Page Setup, Hyphenation, Automatic) **** Legends: Arial 8.5 pt, Spacing exactly 8.4 pt. Hyphenated. **** Titles: Cambria 12 pt looks nice, but flexible.
References: NIH Style EndNote. [1]

NIH instructions write: “Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.). Type density, including characters and spaces, must be no more than 15 characters per inch. Type may be no more than six lines per inch (1 inch = 72 points, six lines/inch = 12 pt exact spacing). Use standard paper size (8 ½” x 11) . Use at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins.”
“}}

QT:{{”

11. Descriptive Title of Applicant’s Project

Enter a brief descriptive title of the project. This field is required.

A “new” application must have a different title from any other PHS project with the same PD/PI. A “resubmission” or “renewal” application should normally have the same title as the previous grant or application. If the specific aims of the project have significantly changed, choose a new title.

A “revision” application must have the same title as the currently funded grant.

NIH and other PHS agencies limit title character length to 81 characters, including the spaces between words and punctuation. Titles in excess of 81 characters will be truncated. Be sure to only use standard characters in the descriptive title: A through Z, a through z, 0 through 9, space ( ), and underscore (_).

“}}

The above is OLD. Now you can go above 81 characters.

QT:{{”
Font

Prepare the application using Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface in black font color. After text attachments are converted to PDF, font size in each final PDF document must be at least 11 points (or larger). (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.) Since some PDF converters may reduce font sizes, it is important to confirm that type density in each final PDF document, including both characters and spaces, is no more than 15
characters+spaces per linear inch and no more than six lines per vertical inch.
“}}

Note: 72 points/inch so 6 lines/inch at 11pt type translates into a line spacing of 11 pts + 1pt per line.

QT:{{”
Paper Size and Page Margins

Final PDF documents should be formatted to be no larger than standard paper size (8 ½” x 11). The final PDF document should have at least one-half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins, including the PI’s name and page numbers.

….
Figures, Graphs, Diagrams, Charts, Tables, Figure Legends, and Footnotes You may use a smaller type size but it must be in a black font color, readily legible, and follow the font typeface requirement. Color can be used in figures; however, all text must be in a black font color, clear and legible.
“}}

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424