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NIFA Announces $5 Million
in Funding for Food, Energy, and Water Systems Research
Media Contact: Sally Gifford, 202-720-2047
WASHINGTON,
Dec. 13, 2016 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of
Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced the availability of up to $5
million in funding for research to better understand how food, energy and water
systems interact, and how they can be sustained.
This funding is made available through Innovations at the
Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS), a federal research partnership between
NIFA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
“Our
food, energy and water systems are taxed by numerous challenges, from climate
change to food waste, to disconnected policies on food management, water
planning and energy production,” said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. “The
solution to these problems starts with research partnerships that will lead to
better technologies, policies and public education.”
INFEWS
grants fund scientific investigation into these complex systems and how society
can better prepare for the future. NSF and NIFA encourage international
collaborative research involving scientists and engineers from a range of
disciplines and organizations to solve the significant global challenges at the
nexus of these complex and interdependent systems.
The INFEWS
initiative seeks to:
- Advance
our understanding of the food-energy-water system through quantitative,
predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant
cyberinfrastructure,
- Develop
real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior
of food-energy-water systems and increase decision support capability, and
- Enable
research that will lead to innovative solutions to critical food-energy-water
systems problems.
The
deadline for INFEWS applications is March 6, 2017.
Eligible
applicants for the NIFA contribution to the program include State agricultural
experiment stations; colleges, universities and university research
foundations, federal agencies, national laboratories, and other research organizations.
See the request for
applications
for details.
Since 2009, USDA has invested $19 billion in research
both intramural and extramural. During that time, research conducted by USDA
scientists has resulted in 883 patent applications filed, 405 patents issued
and 1,151 new inventions disclosures covering a wide range of topics and
discoveries. To learn more about how USDA supports cutting edge science and
innovation, visit the USDA Medium chapter Food and Ag Science Will Shape Our Future.
NIFA invests in
and advances innovative and transformative research, education and extension to
solve societal challenges and ensure the long-term viability of agriculture.
NIFA support for the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel have
resulted in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that are combating
childhood obesity, improving and sustaining rural economic growth, addressing
water availability issues, increasing food production, finding new sources of
energy, mitigating climate variability and ensuring food safety.
To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural
science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or
follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.
#
USDA is an equal
opportunity provider, employer and lender.
NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education,
and extension, and seeks to make transformative discoveries that solve societal
challenges.
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