A sound idea and something that we have been batting around as well. Another would be to continue to program but make it more competitive. They were giving out 260/year the last 2 years, and that’s awarded
so the number of reviewers, panels, and paperwork for the total is undoubtedly tremendous.
Floyd
---------------------------------------------------------
Floyd W. Shockley, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
Collections Manager
Department of Entomology
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012, MRC 165
Washington, DC 20013-7012
Tel (office): 202-633-0982
Fax (office): 202-786-2894
Email: [log in to unmask]
Staff Website:
http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/ShockleyF.html
From: Michael A. Ivie [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2017 5:56 PM
To: Shockley, Floyd <[log in to unmask]>; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: DDIG Discontinuation
One solution that may be proposed is that a single large grant is made to an institution that would be administer the awarding of individual DDIG sized grants. USDA does this, and I think NSF has done it. Then NSF personnel manage a single large grant
for the total amount, and there are still DDIGs. Of course, the prestige factor might be less, and less total money would be available because of the expenses at the host institution, but half a loaf is better than none?
Mike
On 6/9/2017 3:47 PM, Shockley, Floyd wrote:
The responses have begun.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/ecologists-protest-sudden-end-nsf-dissertation-grants
ESA is figuring out how they will respond (there WILL be a response), and SysEB and ECN are looking at a smaller but cooperative statement as well. Just keeping everyone aware. Thanks to Sydney for making me aware that the article was posted. It came up at yesterday’s ESA Science Policy Committee meeting so I was aware it was being written, but not aware that it was out. As I’ve mentioned to several of you that have reached out to me off-list…arguing the importance of the program is not an issue. They understand the importance. It’s the workload required to process them relative to the value of the grants themselves (high number, low $ value) so any response we give needs to focus not on convincing them that they are important but on providing cost-effective and low-staff solutions to help with the review and processing side of the equation.
Have a good weekend, all!
Floyd
---------------------------------------------------------
Floyd W. Shockley, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
Collections Manager
Department of Entomology
National Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012, MRC 165
Washington, DC 20013-7012Tel (office): 202-633-0982
Fax (office): 202-786-2894
Email: [log in to unmask]Staff Website: http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/ShockleyF.html
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