Ah, springtime in Washington, D.C.! As nature awakens and its dull browns turn to vibrant shades of green, many of us find ourselves at pharmacy counters in pursuit of relief from seasonal sniffles. If you’re among the ranks of my fellow allergy sufferers, you are not alone in navigating the challenges of the changing season.
Amidst the blooms and sneeze-inducing pollen, there’s also a season of fiscal renewal underway. With new federal budget figures trickling in, we feel good about our capacity for ASR science this year.
Before it drops further in my column, I encourage your thoughtful review of the Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) and Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) funding opportunity announcements. These create opportunities to build collaborations with excellent researchers at historically underrepresented academic institutions.
Now is not just a time for allergies; it is time—if in the final year of your project—to request a no-cost extension (if needed). Please remember that we must review your annual progress reports and approve them for the next year of funding to be released. A project already in a no-cost extension does not require a progress report.
Please learn more about reporting and no-cost extensions (and much more) on our Resources for ASR Scientists page.
Finally, my co-program manager, Shaima Nasiri, and I are gearing up for the upcoming Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee (BERAC) meeting. This meeting serves as a forum for addressing a myriad of complex scientific issues within the DOE’s Office of Science, and it helps shape our research agenda. For example, these meetings grew our current emphasis on urban and coastal research.
In this edition of ASR News, we profile Kara Lamb of Columbia University. And we touch upon important work during the Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) in La Jolla, California. That work is now entering a critical phase of data analysis.
I hope you enjoy our news and information. In the meantime, praise the antihistamines and pass the tissue boxes!
# # #Author: Jeff Stehr, ASR Program Manager, U.S. Department of Energy
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, through the Biological and Environmental Research program as part of the Atmospheric System Research program.