skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: The PI launchpad: Expanding the base of potential principal investigators across space sciences
The PI Launchpad attempts to provide an entry level explanation of the process of space mission development for new Principal Investigators (PIs). In particular, PI launchpad has a focus on building teams, making partnerships, and science concept maturity for a space mission concept, not necessarily technical or engineering practices. Here we briefly summarize the goals of the PI Launchpad workshops and present some results from the workshops held in 2019 and 2021. The workshop attempts to describe the current process of space mission development (i.e. space-based telescopes and instrument platforms, planetary missions of all types,etc.), covering a wide range of topics that a new PI may need to successfully develop a team and write a proposal. It is not designed to replace real experience but to provide an easily accessible resource for potential PIs who seek to learn more about what it takes to submit a space mission proposal, and what the first steps to take can be. The PI Launchpad was created in response to the high barrier to entry for early career or any scientist who is unfamiliar with mission design. These barriers have been outlined in several recent papers and reports, and are called out in recent space science Decadal reports.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1663770
PAR ID:
10480359
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;  ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Frontiers
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Volume:
9
ISSN:
2296-987X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; (, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)
    With the help of the National Science Foundation (NSF), many Principal Investigators (PIs) have been able to mentor undergraduates through Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site awards. These REU sites are critical to the development of future graduate students, but can be challenging to run due to several required skills outside the scope of most faculty members' expertise, e.g., recruiting applicants, navigating the logistics of housing visiting undergraduate students, and tracking student outcomes after their REU experiences. In recent years, REU PIs in NSF's Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) Directorate have come together through PI meetings to share best practices for running a successful REU site. While PIs inevitably take different approaches to running their sites based on their research projects, there is still a need to provide new PIs with guidance on the different aspects of an REU site such as identifying resources that can assist in recruiting women and underrepresented minority applicants, providing training for graduate students acting as mentors, and strategies for keeping a mentoring connection to undergraduate researchers after they return to their home institutions. Currently, REU site preparation and orientation for new PIs is a face-to-face process that requires careful planning and significant travel costs. The REU PI Guide, a set of web-based resources at https://www.vrac.iastate.edu/cise-reu-pi-resources/, was developed to share best practices of experienced PIs and build capacity within the REU PI community in a more scalable and cost-effective way. The REU PI Guide allows PIs to look up advice and guidance when needed and share their own best practices. This paper describes our approach to designing the REU PI Guide. The Guide is a database of documents, examples, and overviews of the different aspects of running an REU site. The Guide was developed by assessing new PIs' needs at an NSF workshop for new PIs, gathering existing resources from experienced PIs, creating and refining a website, and evaluation with new PIs. The website’s content and design will be refined through on-going feedback from PIs and other REU site stakeholders. This site has the potential broader impact to share best practices with REU PIs outside the CISE directorate and significantly ease the process of engaging future scientists via REU sites. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, ASEE annual conference proceedings)
    Rice University received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to host workshops designed to help faculty members at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs) develop competitive proposals to the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. S-STEM projects provide scholarships and other support to low-income students who demonstrate the academic potential to succeed in STEM disciplines with the aim of increasing their presence in the U.S. STEM workforce and/or graduate programs. Our recruitment efforts focused primarily on PUIs located in Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) jurisdictions. An initial search of NSF’s awards database showed that despite enrolling the majority of students, PUIs – associate’s colleges in particular – received a disproportionately small fraction of S-STEM awards. Additionally, at the time of our search, Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) awards had been made to institutions in only 50% of EPSCoR jurisdictions. By increasing the capacity of faculty members at PUIs in EPSCoR jurisdictions to successfully compete for funding, we can help improve the number and diversity of the institutions students S-STEM supports. Analyses are not yet available on the status of all proposals submitted by workshop participants; however, we are using project summaries as one preliminary, indirect indicator of likely proposal quality. In this paper, we present the rubric and describe the results of the project summary evaluations as preliminary findings to address the question: To what degree and in what ways do participants’ project summaries change from pre- to post-workshop? The results have implications for prospective PIs who are seeking guidance on strengthening areas of S-STEM proposals. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, EPJ Quantum Technology)
    The Deep Space Quantum Link (DSQL) is a space-mission concept that aims to explore the interplay between general relativity and quantum mechanics using quantum optical interferometry. This mission concept was formally presented to the United States National Academy of Science Decadal Survey as a research campaign for Fundamental Physics in 2022. Since then, advances have been made in the space-based quantum optical technologies required to conduct a DSQL-type mission. In addition, other research efforts have defined alternative measurement concepts to explore the same scientific questions motivating the DSQL mission. This paper serves as an update to the community on the status of the DSQL mission concept and related research and technology development efforts. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)
    Engineering Futures (EF) is a professional development program developed by Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, in the 1980s to provide undergraduate engineering students with the “soft skills” necessary for professional success. Originally, the EF program included a series of day-long, interactive workshops led by volunteer facilitators and hosted on-site at college campuses. The original sessions included People Skills (interpersonal problem communication and resolution); Team Chartering (understanding team dynamics); Group Process (tools for effective meetings); and Analytical Problem Solving (brainstorming, list reduction and evaluation criteria). Over the decades, the EF program adapted to meet the changing needs of undergraduate students, with options for shorter sessions and the addition of a module on Effective Presentation Skills in the early 2000s. In the 2010s, the EF program directors began to explore opportunities to expand the curriculum to address new challenges. A new partnership in 2015 led to the addition of two new modules: Equity, Inclusion & Engineering Ethics; and Research Mentoring. In 2017, Tau Beta Pi partnered with several other organizations in a successful proposal to the National Science Foundation to develop updated training materials focusing on communications, teamwork and leadership skills. These materials are being designed in a modular fashion that allows them to be adjusted for different audiences (undergraduates, graduate students, professionals) and the project includes funding for a “train the trainers” program that will enable the EF materials to be deployed nationally at little or no cost to hosting organizations. This paper provides a historical context for the EF program, describes the recent efforts to update and expand the curriculum, and provides insights from several years of participation and program evaluation data. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; (, Internet2 Global Summit - San Diego, CA)
    The arrival of undersea cables along the coasts of Africa over the last decade, combined with increased investment in national fiber backbones, has expedited the development of NRENs across the African continent. According to a World Bank report, there are now more than 15 NRENs operating in Africa and a dozen more in an advanced planning stage. In addition, recent investments have been made by governments and NGOs to use this new infrastructure to help connect researchers around the world to their colleagues in Africa. As part of its International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program, the US National Science Foundation is funding transatlantic bandwidth, targeted training, and pro-active application engagement in support of science collaborations in Africa. Similarly, the European Commission, via GEANT¹s AfricaConnect2 project, is providing support for the development of high-capacity internet networks and services for research and education across Africa. This increased support is helping improve connectivity for existing science collaborations while also enabling new collaborations to take advantage of the growing Research and Education infrastructure. This session will highlight how the global R & E networking community is working together to strengthen and support NRENs and research in Africa. Speakers will include IRNC PIs, representatives from GEANT, and African REN partners (Ubuntunet Alliance, WACREN, ASREN). Speakers will provide infrastructure updates, lessons learned from human capacity building workshops, reports on researcher engagement, and answer questions about current and future efforts. We will also highlight some of the challenges African NRENs and researchers working in Africa face and lead a discussion on how we can work together to begin addressing some of these challenges. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email