Message from Carol
Dear Colleagues:
Spring is a season for renewal and growth. It is a great time to rethink and refresh our approaches, from our work to our skills to our collaborations. It is an opportunity for us as a Lab, and for you personally, to think strategically about our research and how to fund that research, for each of us to review our PEMP goals and to have informal conversations about these goals.
Along these lines, Lab leadership has been thinking about how to keep and strengthen our leadership position in the scientific enterprise. Following many conversations with associate Lab directors, division directors, and domain experts, we have developed a set of five broad research themes to describe how we seek to strengthen our science beyond the confines of specific programs, and to help guide the Lab in making the right investments and steps. You can read more below about these research themes.
We are also looking for ways to refresh our relationships and partnerships. To this end we have recently convened a Partner Advisory Board to provide input as we work to build better and stronger collaborations with industry, academic, and community partners.
Congratulations to those who are receiving funding from the Lab Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program in the FY 2024 cycle. The LDRD represents an important growth opportunity during the formative stages of many projects at the Lab; some examples are the development of concepts and approaches that became next-generation accelerator technology, the Superfacility, the Agile BioFoundry, the Thermal Energy Group, and the Materials Project. Many of you are in the midst of applying for LDRD; the deadline is the end of March. I encourage those applying to talk to their colleagues and peers as they prepare their submissions; it is one of the great strengths of our Lab, that there are so many talented people who are happy to offer their perspectives and ideas.
The Lab continues to work to support you as you progress in your career: in this issue you will read about the different programs offered by the Career Pathways Office and tips that some researchers at the Lab have gleaned from these programs.
I hope that this year will indeed be a deeply rewarding one for you, one that opens new doors and opportunities.
Sincerely,
Carol Burns
Deputy Laboratory Director for Research
Chief Research Officer
Introducing Research Themes: Preparing Berkeley Lab for Continued Leadership
For a national laboratory the size, scope, and profile of Berkeley Lab to continue to lead the scientific enterprise requires strategic planning. This means investing in the remarkable people of Berkeley Lab, our most important strategic asset, and expanding our capabilities, infrastructure, tools, and methods.
To help guide the Lab in making the right kinds of investments and steps, the Lab’s leadership, with input from the Lab’s domain experts, has chosen to use a set of five broad research themes to describe how we seek to strengthen our science beyond the confines of specific programs.
Career Pathways Office Programs: Something for Everyone
The Career Pathways Office (CPO) organizes a variety of career development programs that help early career researchers build skills that will be valuable in their careers—whether in academia, industry, government, or at Berkeley Lab. Examples include the annual research SLAM science communication competition, the Postdoc Career Fair, the Scientific Leadership and Management Skills Course, and the Early Career Enrichment Program (ECEP). Research News asked past participants in CPO programs to describe their experiences in these learning and growth opportunities and to share some tips they gleaned.
Partner Advisory Board: Supporting Berkeley Lab’s Strategic Collaborations with Industry and Others
Industry, academic, and community relationships are critically important to Berkeley Lab and to the Department of Energy. These partners can collaborate with Lab researchers, provide additional funding for research and development projects, and offer input on Lab programs.
To help facilitate stronger collaboration with these stakeholders and organizations, Berkeley Lab has launched a Partner Advisory Board (PAB).
Read about the Partner Advisory Board, which launched in late 2023.
NEED TO KNOW
Reminders from the Strategic Partnerships Office
The Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) Contracts Officers (COs) are the authorized officials of the Lab with delegated authority to submit proposals to non-DOE sponsors. They also process No-Cost Extensions (NCEs), which are extensions of the period of performance beyond the expiration or end date of the award, permitting a principal investigator to complete a project.
Read these important reminders from the Strategic Partnerships Office about proposal submission rush requests and no-cost extensions.
Strategic Partnerships Office Dashboards for Non-DOE Proposals at the Lab
The Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) recently launched their new dashboards located on the SPO internal website. The dashboards were created to provide useful detailed information about non-DOE proposals and awards. The data is sortable by fiscal year, Area, and Division and includes sponsors, funding, PI’s, and type of proposals and awards. It also lists awarded projects that are active or expired and awards in preparation.
IPO Reminder about Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) Requirements for Proposals
If you intend to submit a proposal for a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in the next six months, check to see if there is a requirement for a non-disclosure agreement to be submitted with the proposal.
If there is, please contact ndas-and-mtas@lbl.gov as soon as possible to ensure that the NDA can be completed in time to meet your deadline. Many negotiations (particularly for multiparty proposals) take time and some proposal sponsors are getting more strict about this requirement.
Restricted Party Screening Annual Training – Save the Date, April 11
The Export Compliance Office is announcing the upcoming annual Restricted Party Screening (RPS) training, scheduled for Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 10 a.m. This important training session is highly recommended for Export Control Liaisons and Visual Compliance users, who will automatically receive an exclusive invitation to this event. It is also open to those who are eager to learn more about RPS and how it pertains to their role at Berkeley Lab.
R&D 100 2024 Awards: Open for Submissions on March 6
The 2024 R&D 100 Awards will be open for submissions on March 6, 2024. These awards recognize 100 technologies of the past year deemed most innovative and disruptive by an independent panel of judges. Technologies first made available for sale, license, or use outside the Lab (as in the case of open-source software) between January 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, are eligible for the 2024 awards.
The early deadline for submissions is May 3, 2024, ($450 per entry), while the late deadline is June 3, 2024, ($550 per entry). View the call for submissions. If you are interested in submitting your technology/software for an R&D 100 Award, please contact your Division or Area leaders.
