CEDAR email: NASA Living With a Star Institute

[Susanne Demaree]

Announcing the NASA Living With a Star Institute

*Call for Proposals*

*Application deadline:  1 March 2018*



*Purpose*



The goal of the NASA Living With a Star program is to “Develop the
scientific understanding necessary to enable the U.S. to effectively
address those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly
affects life and society.” Thus, the LWS program with its focus on the
basic science underlying all aspects of space weather and climate, acts as
a catalyst to bring the many research disciplines and applications
communities together to deepen the understanding of the system of systems
created by the Sun Earth connection. To that end, the LWS Institute Working
Groups will provide an opportunity for research and engineering community
from academia and industry from all over the world to contribute to the
evolution of Heliophysics.


The LWS Institutes are designed to facilitate a bridge between cutting-edge
heliophysics research and a societally relevant technology area that is
affected by space weather. They are small working-group style meetings that
focus on well-defined problems that demand intense, direct interactions
between colleagues in neighboring disciplines to encourage and facilitate a
deeper understanding of the variety of processes that link the Sun’s
magnetic variability (radiation, solar wind, energetic particles) to
Earth’s environment and atmosphere. Competitively selected working groups
will define cooperative new research that will make a critical difference
to this technology.



*An LWS Institute Working Group (WG) proposal will:*


   - *Focus* on a particular technology area that will be positively
   affected by space weather research advances,


   - *Identify* a team that is composed of members who perform heliophysics
   research that is relevant to the affected technology, who forecast or model
   space weather for this technology, and who use (or who will use) this
   technology (when it is successfully improved),


   - *Describe* how the team will quantify and parameterize the magnitude
   and pathways of the impacts on the affected technology and will scope the
   new ranges of targeted research that accordingly will be needed, and


   - *Articulate* the impacts of this targeted research by envisioning the
   resulting, improved operational capability that will make a positive
   difference to society.

Each LWS Institute WG is required – as a final report – to jointly submit a
peer-reviewed study that provides an integrated view of the space weather
impacts on the selected technology area, a quantification of the magnitude
of the impact for space weather of different magnitudes, a description of
the impact pathways and of the scientific understanding achieved during the
course of the WG, either a method to positively impact the technology or a
research plan by which positive impact to the technology could be
quantifiably achieved through space weather research advances, and a
high-level graphical and textual vision of the resulting operational
technology solution. The team will also provide a Working Group Report for
the benefit of the LWS community.



*Proposals should focus on:*

·      *Improving* understanding of the process and/or magnitude of the
impacts of space weather on the selected system,

·      *Identifying* the science needed to enable our forecast ability for
that system, and

·      *Outlining,* if not executing, research that may develop abilities
to reduce the impacts of space weather on that system.



*2018 Working Group topics area:*

We are seeking proposals that develop these principles in relation to one
or other of the following two topics:




   - *TEC and ionospheric scintillation for GPS applications*


   - *Prediction and specification of >10 MeV proton flux*



Proposals should focus on reviewing the current state of the art models and
observations, evaluate how leading predictive models agree with in situ
measurements and identify paths forward for addressing the key science and
application gaps that need to be solved for improvements in models and
predictions. This could include new and/or underutilized data sources that
could be used to check predictive models, or identifying new methods for
gathering in situ data that could be used to *drive* predictive models.



*How the program works: *

Up to twice a year, a call for applications will be released for
international teams of scientists to address specific topic areas related
to the broad theme of Living With a Star, including pure and applied
research into the nature of space weather and space climate phenomena and
their impacts on society and its infrastructure. Teams may be made up of
approximately 8 to 15 scientists from different research labs,
universities, and industry, from different countries and with complimentary
expertise. The teams will meet approximately twice in a 12-month period for
about a one-week duration each time.  Meeting locations may vary depending
upon cost and home institution locations of the participating scientists.

The team leader will be responsible for submission of the proposal and for
organizing the execution of the project. The team leader should also
identify a co-team lead that would provide complimentary expertise from the
engineering/user community. The primary goal of the projects is to result
in a comprehensive report of the outcome of the study and, at least one
refereed team publication. One or two postdoctoral or early career
scientists may be included in the proposal to work alongside the team.

A science committee selected by the LWS Program Scientist and appointed by
UCAR evaluates proposals and makes recommendations for support to LWS
Institutes’ sponsors.  The UCAR Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of
Earth System Science (CPAESS) administers these Working Groups and provides
support for travel expenses, per diem, lodging and local area
transportation costs during the weeklong meetings.   A typical award may
include:



   - Two 5-day meetings for up to 15 team members including:  travel,
   catering, meeting room and audiovisual costs (Please note that UCAR cannot
   support travel for federal employees).


   - A ½ day team meeting at either AGU or AMS including meeting room
   rental and audiovisual.

Teleconferencing using  *Go-to-Meeting* or *Ready Talk*.

Publication costs



*How to Apply:*

Required proposal materials:


   - Cover letter from team leader


   - 1-page abstract of project


   - 5-page proposal including timeline, with one page of references (page
   6)


   - Vitae for all project participants



Submit proposals electronically to:

CPAESS-APPLY at UCAR.EDU

Or, mail a hard copy to:

            UCAR/CPAESS

            P.O. Box 3000
            Boulder, CO 80307-3000


*Program sponsorship:*

NASA Living With a Star

Scientific fields of research tend to split into parallel subdisciplines as
our understanding deepens.  The successful increase in knowledge of the
workings of the Sun’s magnetic activity, the recognition of the many
physical processes that couple throughout the heliosphere, and the insights
into the interaction of the solar wind and radiation with the Earth’s
magnetic field and climate system, have tended to differentiate and
insularize the solar, heliospheric, and geospace subdisciplines of the
physics of the local cosmos. Technical jargon, publication channels, and
meeting venues have also been subject to this tendency, hampering
communication between the various subdisciplines.

The NASA Living With a Star program aims to reverse this trend.  The
recognition that the many connections within the Sun-Earth system require a
systems approach, led to the development of an integrated strategic mission
plan and a comprehensive research program encompassing all branches of
solar, heliospheric, and space physics.  This has raised awareness and
appreciation of the research priorities and difficulties among LWS
scientists, and has led to observational and modeling capabilities that
span traditional discipline boundaries, and increased cross-publication in
technical journals as well as the number of multi-disciplinary meetings.



*Program administration:*

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a consortium
of more than 100 member colleges and universities focused on research and
training in the atmospheric and related Earth system sciences.  The
Cooperatie Programs for the Advancement of Earth Systems Science (CPAESS)
office partners with federal agencies and universities across the nation to
recruit, hire, and provide administrative management to scientists who are
working on cutting-edge research of benefit to society.







----



*Susanne Demaree* | Web Developer

Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS)
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
P.O. Box 3000  |  Boulder, Colorado 80307
303.497.8627 <(303)-497-8684>  |  sdemaree at ucar.edu |  cpaess.uc
<http://cpaess.ucar.edu/>ar.edu <http://cpaess.ucar.edu/>
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