PacBio announced preliminary earnings yesterday, and the nearly immediate result was a 50% plunge in their share price. Along with the earnings, the company announced significant cost cutting. The details of those cuts were not made available, but some clever tea leave parsers noted a significant omission from what the company said it would continue. The ASeq Discord channel on PacBio absolutely blew up, with opinions ranging from PacBio is in a death spiral to PacBio must be for sale, with significant numbers of "Christian Henry won't be CEO by year's end".
Read more » 4/8/24 Virtual Office Hours Recap – Opportunities for Broadening the STEM Community
The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) held its latest Virtual Office Hour on April 8th. DEB Program Officers discussed different programs as well as other insights on broadening the research community. See below for the slides.
We host these office hours from 1-2pm ET on the 2nd Monday of every month. There is a designated theme each time, but attendees are welcome to ask about other NSF-related topics. We host Program Officers from different programs at each Virtual Office Hour, so a wide range of scientific perspectives are represented.
The presentation and other documents are available here:
PAPPG 23-1 – Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide
PAPPG 24-1 – Effective for proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024
Broadening Participation Funding Page
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If you were unable to attend, here are some of the questions asked during the Q & A section:
Can you talk about how PIs in non-EPSCoR states can partner with those in them?
You can submit a proposal that is collaborative, where both institutions have their own budgets or have a proposal led by an EPSCoR PI. Funds must be spent by institution that is in EPSCoR jurisdiction if applying for EPSCoR funding.
Do you have any advice on Mid-Career Advancement proposals regarding the length of time the PI should spend with their mentor? Mid-career folks often can’t relocate for longer lengths of time.
PIs can propose spending a varied amount of time with mentors. Mentors are asked to support the PIs plan with a letter of support, so there is flexibility here.
Can you elaborate a little on the INTERN supplement? Is it for industry experience for students?
INTERN supplements are very popular with students, and they must be submitted by a currently funded PI. We see a lot of supplements with different places to do this internship. In DEB, NGOs are very common as are students being placed in National labs (DOE, NASA). The Smithsonian Museums are another place we see interns placed so that they gain museum experience. There are also a few DCLs where there are partnerships to support a bunch of INTERN supplements at one time such as the Air Force DCL, which is open now.
Does engaging with citizen science count towards broadening STEM participation?
Citizen science definitely could count as broadening STEM participation, but most successful proposals have an assessment or evaluation component.
Please reach out to a Program Officer if you have any questions about the proposal submission and review process in DEB programs. NSF has suggested 5 tips on working with Program Officers as part of the NSF 101 series on our Science Matters blog.
Check out the upcoming office hour topics below and be sure to check back here or on the NSF Events Page for information on how to register. Our next Virtual Office Hour, on May 13th from 1pm-2pm Eastern Time, will focus on the CAREER Solicitation (NSF 22-586).
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Upcoming Office Hours and Topics:
April 8: Opportunities for broadening the STEM community
May 13: CAREER Solicitation
June 10: Merit Review and How to Get Involved with NSF
Posted by in Uncategorized
What happened to Japantown in San Francisco when residents were forced out by executive order
In 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt mandated that those of Japanese descent be sent to prison camps. Through the lens of recently released Census records, the San Francisco Chronicle examined the impact of forcing thousands of residents out of their homes.
Over nearly a year, the Chronicle collected and analyzed this data, seeking to understand just how Executive Order 9066 reshaped Japantown. For the first time, we can count the number of Japanese American residents in the neighborhood in 1940 and 1950 — an unequivocal measure of the order’s disastrous effect on the community.
Tags: census, Japantown, racism, San Francisco Chronicle
Getting to the APHL 2024 Annual Conference Early? Take Advantage of These Preconference Workshops
By Donna Campisano, specialist, Communications, APHL
The APHL 2024 Annual Conference officially kicks off midday Monday, May 6, but there’s plenty to take in before the meeting gears up (and we’re not talking a Brewer’s game—they’re out of town).
Preconference workshops will cover important topics ranging from attracting and retaining a talented public health workforce to effective communication strategies to improving biosafety.
Take a deep dive into these and other topics from leaders in the field and gain not just hands-on knowledge, but competencies and continuing education credits. Here, some highlights of what’s planned:
Laboratory Design Matters: Improving Biosafety and Biosecurity Through Efficient Facility Design, Maintenance and Risk Assessment Practices
Part 1: May 5, 2024, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm CDT
Part 2: May 6, 2024, 8:00 am – 11:30 am CDT
Flyer •Registration • $499 fee • 9 hours credit
Ebola. Bird flu. Anthrax. Laboratory personnel deal with dangerous and potentially deadly pathogens as a matter of course. And that makes protecting those workers tantamount. This two-day, two-part, interactive workshop will highlight lab design, procedures and maintenance to optimize biosafety and biosecurity, helping to ensure that your lab, the people who work within it and the community that surrounds it are as safe as possible.
Making a Difference: A Workshop for Prospective APHL Global Health Consultants
May 5, 2024, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm CDT
Flyer •Registration • no fee • no credits
Public Health doesn’t just happen at home–it happens around the world. Learn more about APHL global health programs and how you can support them through consultancy. You’ll hear from consultants in the field and get an opportunity to engage in interactive exercises surrounding cultural sensitivity, safe travel and diplomacy.
Nonverbal Essentials for Success: Helpful Strategies for Scientific and Technical Communicators
May 6, 2024, 8:00–11:15 am CDT
Flyer •Registration • $149 fee • 3 hours credit
Nonverbal communication can tell as much of a story as the spoken or written word. Make sure you’re getting the right message across. This workshop will help public health laboratorians recognize, engage in and practice the use of effective nonverbal communication to help build stronger relationships with lab personnel, management and public health partners.
Communication Essentials: An Experiential Workshop on Messaging to Meet Your Laboratory’s Needs
May 6, 2024, 8:00–11:15 am CDT
Flyer •Registration • $149 fee • 3 hours credit
Lab work can be highly technical, but breaking down that important science into plain language is essential if you want to get those outside the lab—for example, legislators, funders and the public—behind your vision. This interactive workshop will not only teach you how to craft an effective message, but it will also give you experience presenting it.
Strategies and Model Practices for Hiring and Retaining the Best PHL Workforce Talent
May 6, 2024, 8:00–11:30 am CDT
Flyer •Registration • $149 fee • 3 hours credit
Hiring and retaining qualified public health laboratorians has long been a problem–and one that’s only been exacerbated by post-pandemic burnout, decreased funding and increasing work complexity. Building a robust public health workforce is essential for your current and future operations. How can you word job postings so they elicit response from top-tier applicants? How do you craft interview questions that lend themselves to insightful responses? What professional development offerings can you offer to staff to encourage them to stay? This workshop, intended for anyone who hires or onboards lab personnel, covers all that and more.
The post Getting to the APHL 2024 Annual Conference Early? Take Advantage of These Preconference Workshops appeared first on APHL Blog.
Posted by in All Posts, annual conference, Annual Meeting, conferences, General
New RefSeq Annotations Now Available!
In February and March, the NCBI Eukaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline released forty-six new annotations in RefSeq! New Annotations Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) Anolis carolinensis (green anole) Armigeres subalbatus (mosquito) Bacillus rossius redtenbacheri (walking stick) Bolinopsis microptera (comb jelly) Bombyx mori (domestic silkworm) Bubalus kerabau (carabao) Candoia aspera (snake) Cavia porcellus (domestic guinea pig) Chroicocephalus ridibundus (black-headed … Continue reading New RefSeq Annotations Now Available!
Scented products with potentially harmful ingredients
For Bloomberg, Daniela Sirtori, Madeline Campbell, and Marie Patino do some product counting:
Data collected by the California Department of Public Health showed 108 potentially harmful substances listed as fragrance ingredients in everyday products ranging from face wash to conditioner, a Bloomberg analysis of database entries as of Feb. 6 found. Some of the compounds are identified as potential carcinogens by authorities such as the World Health Organization.
Scaled jars of cream are used to show ingredient categories. I like it.
Tags: Bloomberg, ingredient, safety
Posted by in Bloomberg, Infographics, ingredient, safety
Chartr was acquired by Sherwood Media
I missed this announcement at the end of last year:
Sherwood Media, LLC has added U.K.-based Chartr Limited, a data-driven media company and newsletter publisher, to its portfolio through an acquisition by Robinhood Markets, Inc. Chartr’s visual storytelling turns complex data into easy-to-understand narratives, and will now give the tens of millions of readers of Sherwood Media the ability to better understand the finer details of important trends and the news of the day.
Offering clear and thoughtful insights into complex data is a natural extension of Sherwood’s mission to empower its readers to have the information they need to control their financial future. The acquisition of Chartr gives audiences new ways to understand and see news and market-moving trends. Readers can expect to find Chartr stories across Sherwood content, including Snacks, a daily markets and business newsletter that has one of the largest audiences in the country.
Sherwood Media is a subsidiary of Robinhood. They recently launched Sherwood News, and I saw a chart that looked familiar in format but with a different logo. It’ll be interesting to watch where this publication and relatively straightforward chart machine goes.
Tags: acquisition, Chartr, Sherwood
Posted by in acquisition, Chartr, news, Sherwood
Teenage adversity that carries into adulthood
The National Longitudinal Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are unique in that they run long-term to survey the lives of individuals for decades. For The Pudding, Alvin Chang visualized survey responses to show how adversity as a teenager carries into adulthood.
Each person icon represents a respondent and the collective bar chart stacks track through the years. The icons run across the screen on each time segment and demographic shift.
There’s a video version, shown below, and while I enjoy Alvin’s dulcet voice, I prefer the scrolling version.
Tags: Alvin Chang, development, Pudding, teenager
Posted by in Alvin Chang, development, Infographics, Pudding, teenager
