 | |  | | Visitor Manny Gabet at work at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory |
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The NCED Visitor Program is a competitive small grants program that provides funding for researchers to conduct research at one of NCED’s many unique facilities. The program has facilitated sixteen visitor groups that have produced exciting results and spawned integrative exchanges.
Program Goals
The visitor program has two simple goals. The first is to provide experimental opportunities to researchers and the second is to provide opportunities for community development and collaboration. The small grants that are awarded provide groups the possibility to do experiments or field work that may not otherwise happen. Research conducted under the VP ends up in refereed journals and conference proceedings. As important as the research, the visitor experience and the collaboration that occurs during a visit is a critical aspect of the program. Many of the visitors that participate in the program are graduate students or faculty. The relationships that develop during a research visit in many cases lead to future collaborations.
Program Structure
Visitor Program funds are be divided up into two research areas: NCED Critical Research Area (CRA) or General Research Area (GRA). The NCED Critical Research Area will be chosen annually and will be focused on a designated topic that is critical to the general earth-science community as well as supports a research priority of NCED. The General Research Area is designed for proposals on any Earth-surface dynamics topic and is only limited in that it must support NCED’s research goals. As a rough guide, 80% of the allocated annual VP funds will be directed towards the NCED Critical Research Area. The remaining 20% of funds will be allocated to the General Research Area.
Aug 2007- July 2008 Critical Research Area
(Note: We are always seeking collaborators for this CRA research, however this years visitor funds have been allocated)
The Critical Research Area for 2007-2008 is focused on research in the Outdoor StreamLab facility at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. The research will involve study of a field-scale sand-bed meandering stream, which will be constructed in OSL’s Riparian Basin. A collaborative, multi-disciplinary research team will study linkages between hydrologic, ecologic, hydraulic, and geomorphic characteristics of this system. A full description of the various projects and participants for this research can be found here. The summer 08 research season is the debut of this new outdoor facility. The results of this summer’s research will greatly inform the potential of this facility. OSL is a facility that is ideal for cross-discipline collaboration and we invite any interested researchers to contact us about ongoing or future research in this facility.
How to Participate
To participate in the NCED Visitor Program, researchers are required to submit a proposal and budget for the proposed work. The 2007-2008 CRA funding is fully subscribed. The 2008-2009a CRA has not been identified yet, but will likely involve the indoor or outdoor StreamLab facilities at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. A proposal for the GRA can be submitted at any time. For further information contact:
Jeff Marr
Knowledge Transfer Director
Phone: (612) 624-3931
E-mail: marrx003@umn.edu
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