Paleoclimate Research Center for Quaternary Paleoclimate Research Budget Hearing April 30, 2010

A strategic investment to increase external funding by building a community of scholars pursuing research focused on the climates and environments of the Quaternary period

Plan for Presentation Background Objectives People Goals for FY 11 Budget

Q A ERNARY

Ice extent 18,000 years ago http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/sosdian2009/sosdian2009.html

Evolution and spread of humans across the globe National Geographic

The Climate of the Conquest

Future Climates http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futuretc.html

Natural Archives

Henri Grissino-Mayer

http://z.about.com/d/gosoutheast/1/0/s/5/-/-/formations_4.jpg

Coring lake sediments

Proxy Indicators C3 C4

Vegetation History Fire History Climate History

7 CQPR Objectives Build a community of scholars pursuing Quaternary paleoclimate research Increase external grant funding for Quaternary paleoclimate research Broaden the participation of UT faculty and graduate students in paleoclimate research Increase involvement of undergraduate students in paleoclimate research

7 CQPR Objectives Raise the profile of paleoclimate work at UT through increased research output and publicity Share paleoclimate research with K-12 teachers and students Encourage, through the success of the CQPR, new faculty hires in paleoclimate research

People: CQPR Founding Group Geography Sally Horn Henri Grissino-Mayer Yingkui Li Anthropology David Anderson EPS Larry McKay David Finkelstein Zheng-Hua Li EEB Darrin Hulsey Plus >25 Ph.D., M.S., and Undergrad Students

Excellent Research Infrastructure Zheng-Hua Li

Strong Collaborative Linkages Co-advisors and co-committee members Co-PIs on grants and pending proposals Co-authors on publications Geography-EPS Collaboration on GK-12 Earth Project (PIs Horn, Grissino-Mayer, Champion)

Grant Track Records and Experience NSF Research Grants NSF doctoral dissertation grants (12 for 12) National Geographic USDA Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Foundations (A.W. Mellon) Related work currently funded by National Institute of Justice, US Army

Many Samples in Hand

Existing Projects with Room for Growth

Exciting IDEAS! New research we can do together – new people we can pull into our Center DNA in ancient sediments as a proxy of past biotic distributions and climate Geochemistry of tree-ring records Fish scales as paleoclimate proxies Novel approaches with stable isotopes and biomarkers Need initial datasets for proposals

CQPR FY11 Goals Hold regular meetings to share research, make plans for best use of center resources, and brainstorm funding opportunities. Identify and reach out to faculty with expertise that can strengthen research by CQPR members and proposals for external funding (incl. across colleges) Support the development of initial datasets for 3–4 seed projects by providing GRA time and support for sample analyses and travel. Support proposal development by CQPR faculty and students. Increase proposal submission 50%.

CQPR FY11 Goals Involve 4–6 undergraduate students in CQPR research. Develop a CQPR web site Co-sponsor two colloquia (in Geography, EPS, Anthropology, or EEB) featuring paleoclimate researchers. Involve two K-12 teachers in summer field and laboratory research on Quaternary paleoclimates, and make 4 classroom visits to area schools to share paleoclimate research.

Funds for Seed Projects Graduate Research Assistant: tuition, health insurance, and stipend for 50% GRA who will work with CQPR faculty to develop initial data sets for seed projects, participate in outreach, and coordinate undergraduates participating in CQPR research $32K Supplies, analyses, and travel for seed projects $12K Partial salary for Research Associate Professor and CQPR member Dr. Z.-H. Li, who will work on seed projects involving isotope geochemistry and biomarkers, including supervising students $6K

Other Funding Requested Center Director: 1 course/yr teaching release to provide time for developing, promoting, and coordinating research and outreach activities and grant proposals, supervising GRA, administering funds, and seeking additional funding $7K Web Site Development and Maintenance $2K Visiting Speakers: Funds to co-sponsor paleoclimate speakers $1K Outreach: Supplies and travel for K-12 outreach; stipends and travel for teachers to participate in paleoclimate research $10K Request from ORA $60K Funds from Other Sources Total Budget $70K

CQPR Investment Outlook CQPR members have already brought in large (>$150K) to very large (>$1M) grants to support work in paleoclimate We see enormous opportunity for collaborative funding, much of it making use of tree-ring and sediment-core samples in hand Federal and private interest in paleoclimate research is high CQPR members are receiving excellent training in grant writing FY11 initiatives will show returns on investment* of at least 1:1 by FY13 and ≥3:1 in FY14 and beyond; could easily do much better * direct and indirect charges of external grants, compared to ORA investment

Agencies to Target NSF regular research grants (several programs fund paleoclimate research) NSF DDRI grants for our graduate students NOAA, National Geographic, others Bigger grants? Possibly an IGERT in the area of Paleoclimate (fits our emphasis on graduate education in paleoclimate)

Increased Publications

Increased Undergrad Involvement in Research

Center Director (teaching release) $7K FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 Center Director (teaching release) $7K Graduate Research Assistant $32K $33K $34K $35K Seed Projects: Supplies, analyses, and travel for seed projects $12K $10K Seed Projects: Partial salary Z.-H. Li $6K $11K Web Site $2K $1K Visiting Speakers Outreach $5K Request from ORA $60K Funds from Other Sources** $8K $9K Total Budget $70K $67K $68K $69K