Grantopedia

Researchers and social networking

There seems to be an online social network out there for just about everyone these days, making it easier than ever to connect to people and share information. We're glad to see the research community also in the mix, since collaboration has always been an important part of research.

One site, Academia.edu, shows the web of researchers by university affiliation and research interest in a visually appealing tree formation.

Researchgate.net is another networking and collaboration site that supports the concept of Science 2.0:

The vision of Science 2.0 is promising: Communication between scientists will accelerate the distribution of new knowledge. Without anonymous review processes, the concept of open-access journals will assure research quality. Science is collaboration, so scientific social networks will facilitate and improve the way scientists collaborate. Cooperation on scientific publications can be facilitated through Wiki-like concepts.

These two sites help researchers find one another and collaborate on ideas. Subawards.com, created by Cayuse, assists with the next step - receiving the funding necessary for the project. We invite Science 2.0 (and Science 1.0) to check it out - it is free and guaranteed to simplify collaboration between researchers preparing federal grant proposals together.

More details on research funding in stimulus package

It appears the NSF will focus on making the new funding from the economic stimulus package available quickly by funding qualified research proposals that have already been reviewed, according to EE TImes:

...an estimated $2 billion—will go to a combination of what the NSF calls "highly rated research proposals which could not otherwise be funded because of budget constraints...

The NIH is taking a similar approach. The NIH will also be issuing some new "Challenge Grants":

NIH will issue a Request for Applications for new, two-year grants describing cross-cutting, highly innovative projects.  These will be large grants.

In the meantime, Cayuse has recently added capacity and server infrastructure to accommodate potential growth on our network. More info on our News page.

Stimulus Plan means more grant activity

Though the details are not yet final, it's clear the Stimulus Plan will pump a lot of money into science and education. For an overview of the proposed spending, take a look at the concise table at ProPublica.org.

ScienceInsider at AAAS has also identified some big ticket spending for the NSF, DOE, NASA and other agencies doing science research.

They've got more background on the huge $10 Billion destined for the NIH. That's billion with a "B"!

The bill's total represents a major increase over the earlier House version of the bill, which set aside $3.5 billion for NIH.

Presumably, much of this funding will be distributed through existing federal grant mechanisms. That means: Grants.gov. It also means lots of increased traffic over the Cayuse platform. We're designed for this. We're ready.