The Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP) provides eight to twelve week research residencies in the basic sciences and engineering as well as such areas as human performance, team performance/team skills and auditory perception and speech communication at participating Air Force facilities. The program offers the opportunity to build professional relationships among SFFP participants as well as the scientists and engineers at the facilities and to enhance one's research interests and capabilities by working with equipment and in facilities not available at the home institution. Faculty work under the mentorship of Air Force researchers. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and hold a full-time appointment at a U.S. college or university. Participants receive a weekly stipend (assistant professor, $1,250/week; associate professor, $1,450/week, and professor, $1,650/week). A round trip moving allowance is available for fellows to relocate for the summer. No leave will be granted during the SFFP tenure. A listing of the research sites with their areas of specialization is available at the website, as are detailed information about the program and an on-line application form.

URL: http://www.asee.org/sffp

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is soliciting concept papers for research on situations and events that contribute to or present opportunities for criminal behavior. NIJ seeks research that provides a clear understanding of the situational aspects of criminal events and that has implications for prevention and intervention. Although situational aspects of crime are expected to be the primary foci of the research, NIJ will also consider proposals that examine the interaction between situational characteristics and individual offender and/or victim characteristics. Under this solicitation, research should focus on changing situations to reduce the likelihood of offenses, rather than on changing an individual's propensity to engage in criminal behavior.

Research topics for this solicitation may include violent crimes and nonviolent crimes. Research on violent crime might be designed to answer one or more of the following questions:

• How do bystanders and third parties influence the outcome of a combative encounter?
• In what ways are the event characteristics of combative encounters in which violence is used different from those in which violence is avoided?
• In what ways are situational characteristics of planned violent events different from those events in which the violence is more spontaneous?
• How can a clearer understanding of what occurs during the time period between a precipitating event and a violent encounter help to guide prevention efforts?

Research on nonviolent crime might be designed to answer one or more of the following questions:

• Can crime prevention efforts be improved by combining situational crime prevention approaches with motivational, social, and/or development approaches?
• Are new methods and/or technologies effective in preventing violent crimes?
• What conclusions can be made from past research regarding the efficacy of situational crime prevention methods?

For research on both violent and nonviolent crime, relevant methodologies might include (but are not limited to) in-depth interviews with victims, offenders, and/or third parties; crime mapping; and incident or fatality reviews.

Peer reviewers will evaluate each concept paper submitted; based on their recommendations, NIJ will invite authors of selected concept papers to submit full applications.

As the corporate research laboratory of the Navy, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) conducts a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research in advanced technological development, techniques, systems, and related operational procedures. Current research interests focus on such areas as computer science, artificial intelligence, plasma physics, acoustics, radar, fluid dynamics, chemistry, materials science, optical sciences, condensed matter and radiation sciences, electronics science, environmental sciences, marine geosciences, remote sensing, oceanography, marine meteorology, space technology, and space sciences.

To significantly increase the involvement of creative and highly trained scientists and engineers from academia and industry to scientific and technical areas of interest and relevance to the Navy, NRL sponsors a Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at a number of Naval R&D centers and laboratories. The NRL Postdoctoral Fellowship Program provides approximately 40 new postdoctoral appointments per year. Fellows are competitively selected on the basis of their overall qualifications and technical proposals addressing specific areas defined by the host Navy laboratories. The selected participants will work in a unique Navy laboratory environment, while interacting with senior laboratory scientists and engineers.

The NRL Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is open to United States citizens or nationals and to legal permanent residents. Some restrictions may apply to permanent residents regarding eligibility for a Department of Defense security clearance. Competitive stipends are offered depending on the research field and the host laboratory. Candidates judged to have truly exceptional qualifications and experience will be considered for higher stipends up to a maximum of $65,000. Awards are for one year, and are renewable for a second and third year, given satisfactory performance and availability of funds.

This National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellowship Program is intended for graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in enhancing the environment. Applicants do not have to be environmental studies majors. Awardees receive a grant of up to $1,200, which can be used for direct project expenses. Grant funds are intended to serve as seed money, not to cover the full cost of a project. Fellows participate in the design and implementation of projects related to campus greening or civic engagement that will help to reduce consumption and pollution, as well as other environmental initiatives. Project activities may include educating the campus and broader community about the project's purpose; conducting outreach to local and campus newspapers through press releases; incorporating hands-on, action-oriented activities; and engaging staff, faculty administrators, and students. Fellows must work with an Advisor (a member of the staff, faculty or administration) and a Verifier (a staff member in charge of the department most closely related to the fellowship who can validate that the project is one that is supported by the department and/or campus; for example, the director of dining services for a composting project). Projects funded for 2004 fellows include using food waste from campus dining halls for a composting system that produces fertilizer for campus gardening; producing and distributing paper and digital Green Maps of a campus and surrounding area; and removing invasive species and reintroducing native plant species.

A representative of the Office of University Research Services attended the November 12 Maryland Higher Education Commission technical assistance meeting for the "Improving Teacher Quality State Grants: Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund Partnership Grant Program" ("ITQ"). The MHEC PowerPoint presentation (including contact information for the four high need school systems with which institutions of higher education must work as part of the requirements of this program) and notes are available; please contact the Office of University Research Services for a copy.

At the technical assistance meeting, MHEC stressed the importance of early planning, with school system partners, for projects to be proposed under this program. School systems have strict requirements regarding securing approvals for proposals prior to submission to the funding agency. A representative of the Baltimore City Public School System provided a handout covering its guidelines for collaborative grant proposals; copies of that document are also available from the Office of University Research Services.