New U.S. NSF microbial biology initiative

[Rodman, James E]

To: Microbially inclined TAXACOMERS and their colleagues
About: A U.S. National Science Foundation competition, to support research
in microbial diversity

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has just announced the next
competition for "Microbial Observatories" (NSF 00-21, available from the NSF
website at www.nsf.gov), with a March 6, 2000 proposal deadline (click on
'Documents' and enter the announcement number NSF 00-21). The goal is to
support research at a variety of sites (freshwater, marine, terrestrial,
whatever) dedicated to studies of microbial communities over time and across
environmental gradients. This goal includes discovery of previously unknown
microbes (prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, that is, eubacteria,
archaea, algae, protists, and fungi) and description and characterization of
phylogenetic relationships, ecological interactions, and other novel
properties, with the development of web-accessible databases and a network
of sites, "microbial observatories."



Dr. James E. Rodman
Program Director, Systematic Biology
Division of Environmental Biology, Rm 635
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
703-306-1481, x6436 (voice)
703-306-0367 (fax)
jrodman at nsf.gov (e-mail)