US-SCAR News

NSF-funded Next Generation Polar Research Symposium May 5-11, 2019. Venue: USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island. The Next Generation Polar Research Conference (NGRP-3) is designed to train and network early career polar researchers for interdisciplinary research careers. Travel funding priority will be given to applications received by January 11, 2019. The deadline for all applicants is January 18, 2019. Continue Reading

Alexandra Isern has been named as the new head the Office of Polar Programs' (OPP) Antarctic Sciences Section. She is currently acting section head and will make the transition to the federal Senior Executive Service as she takes on the section head duties permanently. She has served at NSF for seventeen years, nine of which have been in OPP. Continue Reading

Office of Polar Programs' Arctic Sciences Section program directors will provide an overview of staffing changes, program updates, upcoming NSF opportunities of interest to Arctic scientists, and other topics from 11AM to noon on Dec. 10 at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in Washington D.C. Continue Reading

Today, 16 November 2018, the Special Observing Period in the Antarctic started. For the next three months, weather services and international scientists will increase the number of atmospheric and sea-ice observations from different Antarctic land stations, during terrestrial field expeditions and aboard research vessels in the Southern Ocean. The goal of the international Year of Polar Prediction is to improve weather and sea-ice forecasts in the polar regions. Continue Reading

A long-range plan to modernize McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundation's logistics hub in Antarctica, to better support cutting-edge science in the coming decades cleared a major hurdle in the last week of October when a Final Design Review (FDR) of what is envisioned as a 10-year undertaking was conducted. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation has issued a new solicitation for research proposals under the rubric of Navigating the New Arctic, one of the agency’s 10 Big Ideas. The solicitation estimates that--pending the availability of the anticipated funding amount of $30 million--25 awards will be made. The deadline for proposals to this solicitation is 5PM (submitter’s local time) on Feb. 14, 2019. Continue Reading

Erin Heard has joined the Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics Section in the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs as NSF’s Station Manager, Antarctica. In this role, during the Southern Hemisphere winter, he will provide day-to-day oversight of infrastructure and facilities operations in support of science in and around McMurdo Station, NSF’s logistics hub on the continent. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (OPP) welcomes three new program directors to the Section for Arctic Sciences: Gregory J. Anderson, Program Director, Arctic System Sciences; Roberto Delgado, Program Director, Arctic Observing Network; and Colleen Strawhacker, Program Director, Arctic Social Sciences. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (OPP) is seeking input from the arctic research community for its Arctic Science Section (ARC) Portfolio Review Committee, which is reviewing ARC’s successes as well as potential future changes in the scope and structure of its programs, and the balance of its funding. Survey responses will be anonymous, as the results are identified only by a computer-generated ID number. The survey should take roughly 1-15 minutes to complete. Continue Reading

The Research on Learning (DRL) and Undergraduate Education (DUE) divisions of NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate and the Office of Polar Programs have jointly issued a Dear Colleague Letter to encourage proposals that will leverage NSF’s investment in polar sciences and infrastructure and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education research and development. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation will make a major upgrade to the pier at the U.S. Antarctic Program’s Palmer Station, located on Anvers Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. NSF’s Office of Polar Programs (OPP) is currently in the process of finalizing the plans and designs needed to prepare for construction in the coming months. Continue Reading

Prospective participants are encouraged to apply to attend scoping sessions that will identify priorities for NSF’s Coastlines and People research initiative. Applications are due by Aug. 12 (11:59 pm local time). The workshops will be held Sept. 26-28. Four, simultaneous, three-day scoping sessions will be hosted by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and facilitated by Knowinnovation on NSF’s behalf. Workshop will be held in San Diego, Chicago, and Atlanta. A fourth “virtual” workshop will be scheduled on mountain time. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (OPP) this month issued an updated Code of Conduct that restates important principles and expectations of professional conduct and acceptable behavior for all personnel who deploy to the Arctic or the Antarctic under OPP’s auspices. The code is a “shared statement of commitment to uphold ethical, professional, and legal standards.” Continue Reading

You are encouraged to apply to attend Coastlines and People (CoPe) Scoping Sessions to identify priorities for a research initiative focused on coastal regions. Applications are due by August 12, 2018 (11:59pm local time) and the workshops will be held September 26-28, 2018. Continue Reading

An ad hoc subcommittee of the Office of Polar Programs’ Advisory Committee, dealing with the U.S. Antarctic Program’s (USAP) Research Vessel Procurement, is seeking the participation of the research community in reviewing and assessing the science-mission requirements and operational capabilities of replacement Antarctic research vessels. The subcommittee wishes to have all surveys submitted by Aug. 6. Continue Reading

The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), a specialist institute of the University of Tasmania, is seeking a new Executive Director. The Executive Director will lead the next chapter of the institute’s development to be one of the top three marine research institutes globally with pre-eminence in its fields of expertise. Continue Reading

The Office of Polar Programs in NSF’s Directorate for Geosciences is accepting applications for the position of manager at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, the largest U.S. Antarctic research station and the logistics hub for the NSF-managed U.S. Antarctic Program. The station manager provides on-site, day-to-day oversight of the operation of supporting infrastructure and facilities at McMurdo for the execution of the annual program plan and oversee logistics and operations decisions that affect the execution of programs at South Pole and inland field camps. Continue Reading

On May 24th at 1:00-2:30 pm edt, the Polar Research Board will hold a webinar hosted by some leading U.S. representatives to SCAR (Terry Wilson, Deneb Karentz, David Bromwich) to discuss this program development opportunity and the ways that you can best contribute to this process. Continue Reading

Each year the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) of the U.S. Ice Drilling Program works with its Science Advisory Board and with the research community to update the IDPO Long Range Science Plan. This Plan identifies the science in the coming decade that will require the use of ice drilling technology and expertise for the community. Please read through the draft Long Range Science Plan and send corrections, updates, or additions to Icedrill at Dartmouth.edu ASAP or not later than May 30, 2018. Continue Reading

There is a planned Microbial Antarctic Resource System (mARS) Hands-On training workshop June 17-18 in Davos Switzerland held prior to the Polar18 Meeting. This is a great opportunity to bring both Arctic and Antarctic researchers together to discuss approaches to ecosystem and molecular data sharing. The workshop is open to polar microbial scientists, particularly those generating molecular genomic data sets that they are interested in sharing with the polar research community. Continue Reading