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September 21, 2023 – The NSF program will help community-university partnerships combat climate change and improve access to essential resources and services. When a natural catastrophe strikes, how effectively are communities able to marshal access to resources and services? Across the nation, 19 teams of civic leaders and university scholars are working together to improve community effectiveness in responding to these challenges, supported by $19 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate and the Department of Energy. …
September 21, 2023 – MetroLab Network is pleased to share that the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE), US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), has announced the stage 2 awardees for the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC), a national research and action competition focused on rapidly transitioning emerging technologies and concepts into local community to address their long-standing challenges. …
A utilidor is a ‘system of systems’ infrastructural solution to the ‘subsurface spaghetti’ problem resulting from direct burial of utility transmission infrastructure beneath the public right of way (PROW). The transition from direct burial to utilidors in older, dense American cities has generally not occurred…
December 19, 2022 – On September 22, 2022, seventeen teams of community and academic partners presented at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC to present the culmination of their work over the last twelve months of bringing fast-paced civic research concepts to local communities. In addition to the teams, seven federal…
November 23, 2022 – Dear Colleagues: The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) announce their intention to jointly fund Stage 2 proposals submitted to the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC). CIVIC is a federal research and action competition…
October 17, 2022 – MetroLab Network is honored to continue supporting the National Science Foundation’s Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC), which, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), launched a new cohort of community partners across the U.S. on October 17th.
February 8, 2022 – We at the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) are investing in science-driven solutions to address the climate crisis and better understand how disparities in access to goods and services are impacting national resilience and the ability of the country to keep moving forward.
September 29, 2021 – The devastating impacts of natural disasters, from floods, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires are increasingly testing the resolve of governments worldwide to generate solutions that protect our way of life and safe lives. Recent disruptions to power grids, transportation, water and …
February 17, 2021 – Across the country, communities have needs ripe for innovative solutions — from rethinking transit and housing affordability to operating safe schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Civic Innovation Challenge, led by the U.S. National Science Foundation in partnership with the U.S…
June 26, 2020 – What do smartphones, GPS, and Internet search algorithms have in common? If you’re like us, then each has fundamentally transformed how you live, work, and play. Beyond that, they have something else in common: each relies on technology developed with research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent federal agency that supports foundational research in all areas…
June 22, 2020 – Dear Colleagues: With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation (NSF) wishes to notify the community that research projects focused on pandemics are considered appropriate for the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIVIC; NSF 20-562), a research and action competition in…
April 8, 2020 – Today, the National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced the launch of the Civic Innovation Challenge, a national research and action competition in the smart and connected…
September 8, 2022 – This August, the Ohkay Owingeh board of Governors, and law enforcement and emergency officers from the Ohkay Owingeh pueblo, a team of UNM researchers, and engineers and scientists from High Water Mark LLC met to discuss effective ways to measure and communicate the flooding that occurs during emergencies…
August 23, 2022 – On paper, Los Angeles looks like bike commuter country: The sprawling LA basin boasts glorious year-round riding weather and generous expanses of largely flat streetscape. But only about 1% of LA commuters get to work by bicycle, according to the US Census Bureau, a figure that reflects the challenges…
August 19, 2022 – Over the past year, the University of New Mexico was awarded $1 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation to explore community resilience to natural disasters. So, scientists, PhD candidates, professors, and high school students decided to take this money and develop low-cost sensors to monitor post-wildfire flooding on pueblo land…
July 25, 2022 – Things I do not miss about living in New York City: the summertime scent of eau de trash; the sky-high rent; loud Wall Street guys hogging all the bar stools. One thing I definitely do miss: affordable, accessible public transportation…
July 11, 2022 – Students at the University of New Mexico are designing and deploying flood sensors to improve flood prediction models. This work helps improve the prediction and response to flooding from monsoon rains in the summer months …
July 1, 2022 – What do you get when you mix over 30 team members representing engineering faculty and students, ROTC cadets, aspiring lawyers, educational psychology instructors, and experts in flooding …
March 10, 2022 – An on-demand, job-ride program between the northwest side of Milwaukee and two Waukesha County suburbs has officially launched. The FlexRide Milwaukee program uses vans to …
March 2, 2022 – Georgia Tech and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) partnered to launch MARTA Reach, a six-month pilot rideshare service designed to connect riders to-and-from MARTA bus and rail.
February 25, 2022 – Where barriers to civic participation include time and money, gift cards and other incentives can create greater equity, city officials say. But you risk creating transactional relationships.
February 23, 2022 – Fabian Wagmister, an Argentinian-born artist and associate professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), didn’t consider himself much of a bicyclist until he turned 50. It was then that his wife, in an attempt to facilitate a healthier lifestyle, bought him a bike.
February 14, 2022 – Because natural disasters disproportionately affect underserved communities, middle school students in Savannah, Ga., are learning to use mapping tools to design infrastructure changes that could protect their neighborhoods …
January 31, 2022 – New Mexico’s water-management agencies are having trouble keeping their rivers wet, and the problem will only get worse, according to a 50-year climate change and water study that was completed last year. So the agencies have begun planning for a future of dwindling …
January 29, 2022 – Students in Bryan high schools are part of a pilot program that will teach high school students in Bryan, Galveston and Houston school districts how to collect and analyze real data that will help in pre-disaster mitigation. “The purpose of the program is to transfer great research …
January 27, 2022 – Based on data that underrepresented youth have better education and employment outcomes when they have reliable access to “out of school time” activities, a project in Kansas City seeks to address transit barriers.
January 19, 2022 – In cooperation with city officials and community-based organizations, Fort Smith academics are creating a bike share system that serves low-income residents and establishes best practices for equity.
December 26, 2021 -A new community-based effort to bring more transportation options to low-income residents is set to begin early next year. Stakeholders in the University of Arkansas and Fort Smith want seven stations equipped with electric and non-electric bicycles in the city as part of …
December 16, 2021 – While flood mitigation and resilience studies often focus on urban areas, researchers in Michigan are using sensors, machine learning and crowdsourcing to create disaster response tools for rural communities.
November 29, 2021 – A New York City project seeks to improve the post-flood financial resiliency of low-income households with parametric insurance programs so disaster victims are paid quickly and can spend money where it’s needed most.
November 23, 2021 – Part of the National Science Foundation’s Civic Innovation Challenge, the Community Hub for Smart Mobility in Austin, Texas, aims to improve public transit options to underserved areas, broadening economic opportunity.
October 27, 2021 – The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded the Georgia Tech Research Corporation a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge grant to pilot an On-Demand Multimodal Transit System Solution (ODMTS) in Atlanta. The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and MARTA…
October 22, 2021 – A team led by researchers at the University of Kansas has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help underrepresented Kansas City youths access enriching out-of-school opportunities. Internships, part-time jobs and other learning experiences are …
October 20, 2021 – UCI was one of 11 disaster resiliency teams across the U.S. to receive funding recently as part of the Civic Innovation Challenge, a program led by the National Science Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security.
October 14, 2021 – Early next year, an engineering researcher and community partners will deploy seven stations equipped with electric bikes and e-scooters in low-income Fort Smith neighborhoods where 65% of residents don’t have a vehicle or access to reliable public transportation.
October 13, 2021 – The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC) grant to the Georgia Tech-led project “Visualizing Resilience: BIPOC Youth advocacy through Mapmaking.” The interdisciplinary team of researchers previously received a …
October 6, 2021 – Recent storm-related flooding in New York City from Ida and Henri demonstrates the need for comprehensive, quickly accessible data about the spatial relationships between utility conduits, water and waste systems, fuel transit pipelines, transportation tunnels, and other infrastructure …
October 6, 2021 – Low- and moderate-income homeowners in waterside areas like Sea Gate, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, Gerristen Beach, Mill Basin, Red Hook and elsewhere who need flood insurance but find its cost prohibitive may soon be getting a break…
October 1, 2021 – The Austin Transportation Department’s Smart Mobility Office, UT-Austin, and local nonprofit Jail to Jobs are joining forces to build a transit hub in the Georgian Acres neighborhood in North Austin, with the goal of bringing more transportation services to one of the city’s transit deserts…
September 27, 2021 – Today, Representative Sharice Davids announced the National Science Foundation awarded $1 million to the University of Kansas Center for Research (KU) through the Civic Innovation Challenge, a national research competition. The winning project, led by KU and …
September 24, 2021 – The “CaReDeX: Enabling Disaster Resilience in Aging Communities via a Secure Data Exchange” project, led by UC Irvine Professor Nalini Venkatasubramanian, aims to enhance and transform the resilience of older adults in our communities during disasters – this population …
September 23, 2021 – In the United States, flooding is a leading cause of natural disasters, with annual loss estimates of $54 billion. And while both urban and rural areas are vulnerable to flood hazards, most natural disaster resilience studies have focused on urban areas. One such overlooked area is …
September 23, 2021 – Researchers at Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) were recently awarded a $1 million Civic Innovation Challenge grant. This money is for the development of a platform that will help communities plan for recovery efforts…
September 22, 2021 – Six mobility focused pilot programs have been granted up to $1 million through the Civic Innovation Challenge. The challenge is a partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
September 22, 2021 – Researchers from Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) and School of Public Service have been awarded a $1 million Civic Innovation Challenge grant for their coastal resiliency initiative that will create a platform…
September 21, 2021 – A $1 million grant will help the University of Texas at Austin, Austin Transportation Department and local nonprofit Jail to Jobs build and evaluate a community mobility hub to address community-identified challenges in north Austin’s Georgian Acres neighborhood…
September 21, 2021 – The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $1 million Stage 2 Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC) grant to the Georgia Tech-led project “Visualizing Resilience: BIPOC Youth advocacy through Mapmaking.”
September 21, 2021 – The University of New Mexico is the recipient of one of $15.9 million in awards given by the National Science Foundation as part of the Civic Innovation Challenge Program. UNM’s one-year, $1 million project is called “Low-Cost Efficient Wireless Intelligent Sensors (LEWIS)…
September 21, 2021 – The City of Austin has received a $1 million grant to address community-identified transportation challenges in North Austin’s Georgian Acres neighborhood. The Austin Transportation Department, the University of Texas at Austin, and local nonprofit Jail to Jobs will work together …
September 21, 2021 – The Wharton Risk Center’s Policy Incubator is honored to have received a Stage 2 Civic Innovations Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security.