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PSA Newsletter: Volume 14 : Number 1: January 2008
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Edited for the Philosophy of Science Association by Malcolm Forster
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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. LETTER from Fred Kronz, Director of
the STS Program at NSF.
2. JOB: PSA Webmaster.
3. Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Science In Human Culture
Program, Northwestern University.
Due date for all materials is January 15, 2008.
4. CALL for Applications: summer course
in History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences,
Vienna, June 30 – July 11, 2008.
www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU
Application deadline: January 30, 2008.
5. CALL for Applications: Budapest summer
course on PROBABILISTIC CAUSALITY.
http://www.sun.ceu.hu/causality Deadline for scholarship places:
February 14, 2008.
6. CONFERENCE: Theoretical Frameworks and Empirical Underdetermination
Workshop,
April 10-12 2008, University of Düsseldorf.
7. CALL for Papers: 150th anniversary of Darwin's On the Origin of
Species.
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rudged/darwin.html Deadline: 31 Dec 2008.
8. CALL for Applications: Visiting Fellows at the Pittsburgh
Center for Philosophy of Science.
http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr/VFInfo
9. REMINDER: PSA election ballots must arrive at the PSA
Business Office by January 28, 2008.
10. REMINDER: PSA 2008: Call for Contributed Papers,
Symposia and Workshops.
http://philsci.org/conferences/psa2008/ Deadline: February 1, 2008.
The twenty-first PSA biennial meeting will take place
November 6-9, 2008, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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PSA LINKS:
PSA website: http://philsci.org/
PhilSci Archives: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/
Philosophy of Science journal:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/PHILSCI/home.html
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FURTHER DETAILS:
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1. LETTER from Fred Kronz, Director of
the Science, Technology and Society Program at NSF.
THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION:
FUNDING FOR PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECTS
The STS program is the primary
supporter of research in philosophy of science and related areas (history of
science and sociology of science) at NSF. Useful information about the program,
proposal writing and submission, and the review process are provided below.
Information about other NSF initiatives that may be of special interest to
philosophers of science is also included.
Modes of Support
The STS program provides a number of distinct modes of support including
doctoral dissertation research improvement grants, post-doctoral fellowships,
professional development awards, scholar awards, standard grants, collaborative
grants, small grants for training and research, and grants for workshops and
conferences. For details, please see the Science and Society program
solicitation:
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05588
The solicitation characterizes each mode of funding with regards to the activity
supported (mainly research, though some have an education component and others
allow for infrastructure development), eligibility requirements (some only
require affiliation with a US institution and others permanent residency
status), and budgetary guidelines.
It is worth noting that a collaborative projects may have a substantial
international component. In the proposal, the collaborator associated with a US
academic institution must be designated as the PI (principle investigators) and
the collaborator associated with a non-US academic institution may then be tied
to a sub-award. For details, see the PAPPG (Proposal and Award Polices and
Procedures Guide):
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf08_1/index.jsp
The PAPPG is new. It has updated
guidance on fonts that may be used when preparing an NSF proposal and it
includes revised language to the intellectual merit review criterion; the
criterion now specifically includes evaluation of proposals for potentially
transformative concepts. The term "transformative" is notoriously difficult to
characterize—a philosophical analysis of it would be most welcome. In the
meantime, here is the key question that will be addressed in evaluating
proposals as expressed in the PAPPG: To what
extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original, or
potentially transformative concepts?
New Program Solicitation
A new program solicitation is
under review and should be published in February 2008. New caps have been
proposed (subject to approval). The program hopes to increase many budgetary
caps by at least 20% for most funding modes. If approved, the higher levels will
be available for proposals submitted for the 1 August 2008 target date and
beyond. The current caps have been fixed for several years; whereas, the STS
budget has increased about 6% per year during that time, and the program's
annual budget for 2007-2008 is $9.2 million and it is projected to double over
the next ten years. Also, if approved, it will no longer be necessary to submit
proposals to one of four component areas, though those areas will continue to be
core areas of the program.
Crafting the Proposal
Prospective PIs should pay
particular attention to putting together the project description and project
summary of their proposals. An effective strategy for doing so is to use a
successful proposal in your research area as a model. NSF cannot release
proposals upon request since they are the intellectual property of the
associated PIs, but you are welcome to contact a PI to request a copy of his or
her proposal. To obtain information about STS awards, you may search NSF’s
Awards Web site:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch
There are several search modes. A particularly effective mode is by program
element. The program element code is 1353 for history and philosophy of science,
and it is 8815 for ethics and values in science. Each award entry includes the
PI’s name, the project title, and an abstract.
Prospective PIs should us special care in addressing the two key criteria that
NSF uses to evaluate proposals: intellectual merit and broader impact. These
criteria are characterized in the program solicitation. The following
supplementary document on broader impacts is also useful:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf
Finally, there are a number of common mistakes made in project descriptions that
should be avoided. They include the following: failure to engage some key
relevant literature, failure to map out a detailed plan of research, misplaced
emphasis on background information over the proposed project, failure to explain
how the results of the project will substantially contribute to the current
literature or to the field, failure to explain how the results of the research
will be disseminated, failure to characterize the intended audience or how the
results of the research might impact teaching or the views of researchers in
other areas.
Proposal Submission
All proposals for the STS
program must be submitted via FastLane:
http://www.fastlane.gov
Prospective PIs, meaning those planning
to submit a proposal to the STS program, are strongly encouraged to request the
assistance of his or her academic institution’s Sponsored Research Office. The
SRO’s grant experts are especially helpful in formulating budgets as well as in
uploading proposal components via FastLane. It is best to contact the SRO for
assistance at least several months prior to the target date for proposal
submission.
The Review Process
For those not familiar with
the review process at NSF, the following description of the STS program’s review
process should serve to dispel some of the mystery (though NSF does allow for
substantial variation in the review process from one program to another). What
follows is a sketch. A more detailed presentation is provided at the following
Web site:
http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/meritreview/
The STS program cycles twice a year, and each cycle centers on one of two annual
target dates, 1 February and 1 August. The bulk of proposals submitted for a
specified target date arrive at NSF during the two-week period immediately
preceding that date, although proposals may be submitted up to six months prior.
The “hard” deadline for proposals is understood to mean the target date, unless
the PI requests an extension prior to the target date in which case the deadline
is extended by one week.
Over a three-day period about three months after the target date, the proposals
are carefully discussed and then ranked by a panel of experts. Four categories
are used: Must Fund, Should Fund, Could Fund, and Do Not Fund. Sub-rankings
occur within each category except for the last. Prior to the panel meeting, a
minimum of three reviewers evaluates each proposal. Two of those reviewers are
panelists, and every effort made to match proposal topic with panelist
expertise. The program also solicits a number of reviews from other experts on
the proposal topic. The program sends out a minimum of three review
solicitations for each proposal.
Typically, the program recommends all Must Fund proposals and about half Should
Fund proposals for funding. Within a month following the panel meeting, the
program notifies most PIs by email about its recommendation intent, either to
award or decline. The proposal reviews and panel summary are attached to the
notification. If the intent is to decline, the PI may wish to revise and
resubmit the proposal for the next target date. The panel summary rarely
encourages a PI in the summary to revise and resubmit; when it does, that should
be taken seriously.
It takes the program about six months to put forth all award recommendations.
After that recommendation is made, it takes another six weeks for it to make its
way through the bureaucracy to the Division of Grants and Agreements, which
makes the final decision and then issues funds. There is no guarantee implicit
or otherwise that an award will be issued until the DGA makes that decision.
However, once the program makes an award recommendation, it is quite rare for
the DGA not to concur with that decision. Given the timeline indicated above, a
reasonable start date for a grant submitted for seven months following the
target date, though earlier target dates may be proposed since any research
expenses covered by the grant that are incurred up to ninety days prior to
receiving the grant may be charged to that grant.
Other Funding Opportunities
Finally, it is worth noting
that there are some funding opportunities for philosophers of science at NSF
outside of the STS program. The program SciSIP (Science of Science and
Innovation Policy) funds research that aims to create new explanatory models and
analytic tools designed to inform the nation’s public and private sectors about
the processes through which investments in science and engineering research are
transformed into social and economic outcomes. Both disciplinary and
interdisciplinary contributions are needed to meet the goals of the program and
collaborative projects are encouraged. Although the SciSIP may seem to be
targeted more towards social and economic sciences, some philosophical work
would be pertinent. See the following Web site for more information:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=501084&org=NSF
The program EESE (Ethics
Education in Science and Engineering) is primarily oriented towards proposals in
graduate ethics education in science and engineering, but is also particularly
interested in proposals addressing issues involving the international/global
context and those addressing intellectual property issues, including scientific
publishing. EESE supports three kinds of projects: Research projects, education
projects, and combined research and education projects. For more information
about this project, please contact Laurel Smith-Doerr at
Lsmithdo@nsf.gov or at
(703) 292-8543. Also, it would be very beneficial for institutions to involve
their HPS and STS experts in the ADVANCE grants, which serve to advance the
hiring, retention and promotion of women in Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Here is link:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383&from=fund
NSF also encourages broadening
participation in science by under-represented groups. These include
Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE), Faculty
Early Career Development Awards (CAREER), Minority Postdoctoral Research
Fellowships, and Career Advancement Awards for Minority Scientists and
Engineers. Other initiatives are focused on specific research topics of
potentially great importance. Information about all cross-cutting programs of
NSF can be accessed at
http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/
The International Program encourages
collaboration in all fields of science between American scholars and other
scholars throughout the world. Funding is often available for travel aimed at
developing such connections at all levels, from graduate students to senior
scholars. INT is especially interested in supporting postdoctoral exchanges,
and support exists for organizing conferences to open exchange. Research
collaborations also are supported. INT is especially eager to expand
connections to the less developed nations, particularly in Africa. STS scholars
can obtain INT funding to supplement a regular award, or can apply directly to
INT. For more information, see the INT web page, especially the announcement
International Opportunities for Scientists and Engineers, NSF 00-138:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/int/start.htm
Peer Review
The STS Program (and NSF more
generally) depends on its community of scholars to serve as reviewers. The
program cannot make solid, responsible funding decisions without the guidance of
experts in its core fields of research. If you are asked to serve as a reviewer
on a proposal, please help us out by agreeing to do so and please be sure to
submit your review in a timely manner. Less than half the scholars who are asked
serve as reviewers agree to do so. The process may seem rather impersonal,
nevertheless please realize that your efforts are truly appreciated. I surely do
appreciate it, as do my fellow program officers, Laurel Smith-Doerr and Steve
Zehr.
Closing Remarks
Members of the philosophy of
science community are strongly encourage to submit proposals to the STS program.
Now is a really good time to do so. The number of submissions has been rather
low during the last three cycles, the STS budget is growing and will continue to
do so for the foreseeable future, and funding levels will soon be going up.
If you are uncertain as to whether your project is suitable for the STS program,
you are welcome to send a query to
fkronz@nsf.gov that includes a project summary as an attachment. The summary
should be no more than one page—single spacing is okay as long as a reasonable
font is used. It should provide pertinent background and a concise description
of the research activity that would be supported by the grant, and please
include your name on the one-pager.
Finally, if you have any ideas as to how the STS program could better serve the
philosophy of science community, then please send your suggestions to
fkronz@nsf.gov. STS program officers will discuss it and then one of us will
get back to you.
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2. JOB: PSA Webmaster.
The Philosophy of Science Association is developing a new, compensated,
position of Webmaster for the Philosophy of Science Association. The PSA
Webmaster will be responsible for managing the webpage for the PSA, including
but not limited to securing a host for the web site, maintaining content for the
page (via, e.g., a content management system), and supervising coding of the PSA
webpage. Compensation for this position will be negotiated, and may include
course reduction or summer salary. Experience and familiarity with website
maintenance and philosophy of science desired. Interested individuals are
invited to become familiar with the current instantiation of the PSA Website (www.philsci.org)
and contact Gary Hardcastle, PSA Executive Secretary, at
ghardcas@bloomu.edu.
Comment added by the newsletter editor:
The use of new web technology, such as the content
management system made famous by Wikipedia, could allow news
and information to be posted directly on the PSA website by those in possession
of the information. This would make the dissemination of information more
comprehensive, fairer, and more timely, than has ever been achieved by PSA
newsletters. Then the newsletter could be redesigned to complement the
service provided by the new PSA website.
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3.
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Science In Human Culture Program, Northwestern
University.
Due date for all materials is January 15,
2008.
The Science in Human Culture Program (SHC) at Northwestern University
invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the contextual
study of science, technology, and medicine to run September 2008 - August 2010.
We seek applicants in the history of science, the philosophy of science, and the
sociology/anthropology of science. Each fellow will be affiliated with both the
SHC program and an appropriate disciplinary department (History, Sociology,
Philosophy, etc). Fellows will pursue a program of independent scholarship and
teach two one-quarter courses each year: a seminar and a lecture course. They
will also help organize the SHC faculty seminar series. Applicants must have
completed all the requirements for the Ph.D. before beginning their fellowship.
The annual stipend is $42,000, with an allowance for moving expenses, plus
$3,100 per year to fund research and conference travel.
Applicants should send the following materials directly to the SHC office in
both paper and electronic form:
1) a cover letter and full curriculum vitae
2) a four-page fellowship proposal
3) a writing sample consisting of either a dissertation chapter or published
paper
4) graduate school transcripts.
They should also arrange to have three letters of recommendation, at least one
commenting on teaching qualifications, sent directly to the office in paper
form.
Office address: Ken Alder, Science in Human Culture Program, 20 University Hall,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208-2245. The due date for all
materials is January 15, 2008. The SHC website is
http://www.shc.northwestern.edu/. Administrative questions and electronic
materials should be sent to:
shc-program@northwestern.edu. Other questions may be addressed to Ken
Alder, program director, at
k-alder@northwestern.edu. AA/EOE: applications from women and minorities
are especially encouraged.
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4. CALL for Applications: summer course in History and Philosophy of the
Biomedical Sciences,
Vienna, June 30 – July 11, 2008.
www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU
Call for Applications: VISU 2008.
History and Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences Vienna, June 30 – July 11,
2008.
A two-week high-level summer course, for graduate students and junior faculty,
on questions related to fundamental philosophical problems of biomedical
sciences, spanning a wide range of topics in biomedicine, biotechnology and
medical practices, and addressing normative, historical and topical issues from
an international perspective.
Main Lecturers:
Rachel A. Ankeny (University of Adelaide, Australia)
Bernardino Fantini (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
David Wootton (University of York, United Kingdom)
Guest Lecturer
Keith Wailoo (Rutgers University, USA)
Applications should be sent to
Professor Friedrich Stadler, Institute Vienna Circle
University Campus, Spitalgasse 2–4, Court 1, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Fax: +43-1-4277 41297
For further inquiries, please send email to
friedrich.stadler@univie.ac.at
or consult the IVC's Web site
www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU
Application deadline: January 30, 2008.
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5. CALL for Applications: Budapest summer course on PROBABILISTIC
CAUSALITY.
Deadline for scholarship places: February 14, 2008.
Course Dates: JULY 21 - AUGUST 1, 2008
Location: Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary,
Detailed course description:
http://www.sun.ceu.hu/causality
Faculty: Miklos Redei, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method,
London School of Economics, UK; Nancy Cartwright, London School of Economics and
Political Science, UK; Damian Fennell, London School of Economics and Political
Science, UK; Gabor Hofer-Szabo, King Sigismund College, Budapest, Hungary;
Ferenc Huoranszki, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary Laszlo E.
Szabo, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary; Richard E. Neapolitan, Northeastern
Illinois University
Target group: advanced graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty
and researchers in philosophy, physics, economics and computer science.
Language of instruction: English
Tuition fee: EUR 500, financial aid is available.
The application deadline: February 14, 2008 (for scholarship places), April 30,
2008 (for fee-paying applications)
Online application:
http://www.sun.ceu.hu/apply (attachments to be sent by email to
causality@ceu.hu).
For further information queries can be directed to the SUN office by email (summeru@ceu.hu),
via skype (ceu-sun) or telephone (00-36-1-327-3811).
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6. CONFERENCE: Theoretical Frameworks and Empirical Underdetermination Workshop,
April 10-12 2008, University of Düsseldorf.
The aim of the workshop is to explore new and fruitful avenues concerning the
empirical limits of scientific knowledge. It brings together some of the world’s
leading experts in the scientific realism debate to discuss the latest
developments in the field. Topics to be discussed include structural realism,
underdetermination, empirical equivalence, the pessimistic meta-induction
argument, the reference of scientific terms and inference to the best
explanation.
The programme will commence with a eulogy to the late Peter Lipton, who was
originally scheduled to give a talk at the workshop. David Papineau who had
known Peter for over twenty years will give the eulogy.
Attendance is open to all but please RSVP Ioannis Votsis -
votsis@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de
Date: April 10-12, 2008.
Place: Lecture Room 02.26, Building 23.31, University of Düsseldorf.
Workshop organisers: Gerhard Schurz and Ioannis Votsis.
Website:
http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/theoretical-frameworks-and-empirical-underdetermination/
The workshop is financed by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - German
Research Foundation) as part of the research unit FOR600.
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7. Call for Papers: 150th anniversary of Darwin's On the Origin of
Species.
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rudged/darwin.html Deadline: 31 Dec 2008.
The journal Science & Education will be publishing a special anniversary issue(s)
to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the original publication of On the Origin
of Species in 1859 and, coincidently, the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth.
Researchers working on areas related to Darwinism and evolution education are
invited to contribute. See the announcement at
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~rudged/darwin.html . A science education
perspective is welcome but not necessary.
The due date for submissions has been set for over a year from now on 31 Dec
2008 so as to encourage high quality contributions from as many scholars as
possible. (As with other special issues, notification of intent to submit and
subject matter are greatly appreciated as it assists with the coordination and
planning of the issue.)
David Rudge (david.rudge@wmich.edu) & Kostas Kampourakis (kkamp@ath.forthnet.gr)
Guest editors, Special Journal Issue: Darwinian Anniversary Year, 2009, Science
& Education.
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8. CALL for Applications: Visiting Fellows at the Pittsburgh Center for
Philosophy of Science.
Center for Philosophy of Science is accepting applications for its Visiting
Fellows Program.
Through its Visiting Fellows Program the Center for Philosophy of Science
invites philosophers of science
to work in the Center for a term or a year. For more, visit:
http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr/VFInfo
or write to pittcntr@pitt.edu
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END OF PSA NEWSLETTER
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ENDNOTES:
-------------
A. The purpose of this newsletter
The PSA Newsletter is published electronically on an "as needed" basis by the
Philosophy of Science Association to disseminate information. The newsletter is
moderated and is restricted to information pertinent to members of the
Association (e.g., official business of the Association, information about
upcoming meetings or other information likely to be of interest to a broad range
of membership).
B. INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSIONS
Send information for possible inclusion in a future issue of the newsletter to
the editor (mforster@wisc.edu). It is best to send the information directly to
the editor 4 months in advance of any deadline because publication dates are
usually unpredictable. Please include PSA somewhere in the subject line (so that the
message is automatically filed).
C. DIRECTIONS FOR SUBSCRIBING OR UNSUBSCRIBING
Send an email message to listserv@listserv.umkc.edu with your command as the
ONLY body text (leave the subject line blank).
To subscribe, type as the only body text:
subscribe psa
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<http://listserv.umkc.edu/listserv/wa.exe?SUBED1=PSA&A=1>
or send an email message to the address listserv@listserv.umkc.edu, with the
text SIGNOFF PSA in the body of the message.
Problems or questions should be directed to
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