BIOCOMPLEXITY FOR CHEMISTS

Abstract

In its third year, the National Science Foundation's Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative appears to be hitting its stride. By the measure of funding alone, the growth rate of the activity has been impressive—a 50% increase from $50 million in fiscal 2000 to $75 million this year. By another measure of success, scientists from a variety of disciplines have eagerly sought funding through the initiative. The program has generated intense competition for awards that fund a variety of path-breaking environmental research projects. For chemists—particularly those who are willing to work in teams that might include colleagues in other physical sciences, biology, and social sciences—the program now offers more clearly defined opportunities than in its first two years, NSF staff say. Chemists who are interested in such research topics as industrial ecology, environmental chemistry, and instrumentation development, they say, should find clear areas of opportunity in the biocomplexity initiative. We ...