Newsletter Fall 2022

It might start with a simple search in GRANTS.GOV for computation where you find yourself lost in 86 matching results from a dozen agencies and even more programs; a nudge from your chair to go after a funding mechanism that you thought was out of your reach; or an excited email from a long-time collaborator sharing the perfect opportunity. However you find yourself in the process of planning and development for larger grants, you will find many challenges along the way. I-DISC is here to help you build your capacity for successfully addressing these challenges. 
As leadership of an institute whose mission is to support the development of interdisciplinary teams and equip those teams to compete for funding, we have several goals in areas related to addressing the challenges of preparing large team proposals. First, many faculty, even those with significant grant-writing experience for single-PI proposals, find that the process of applying for larger mechanisms seems daunting. From pulling together the right team to developing coordination and management plans, the demands for larger-scale proposals are often new ones. I-DISC wants to demystify the process. Second, barriers to large grant preparation should be anticipated through the sharing of knowledge and experience about the process and the path smoothed where possible. Finally, I-DISC is tasked with providing support for our research teams and affiliated faculty. Our goal is to meet teams with the resources that they need at the right time in their development process.  
This fall we will provide a half-day workshop on “Funding Your Research: How to Develop and Write Successful Team Proposals.” This workshop will be geared at demystifying the process for those individuals and teams looking forward to a specific call or just wanting to have a roadmap for how to move forward when your team is ready. For teams looking to bolster a great idea with a little preliminary data, the I-DISC Fellows are available to put some extra person-power into your project on a short-term basis. We continue to offer I-DISC support for proposal development through arranging the services of, and footing the bill for, our experienced external consultants. These professionals can help teams in many stages of the proposal-preparation process, so ask early and we can guide you through the process. Finally, I-DISC is excited to introduce our “friendly reviewer” program. With the help of our Faculty and External Advisory Councils, we are launching a new service in which faculty who are preparing grant proposals can submit drafts and I-DISC will solicit "friendly" feedback from colleagues. Members interested in taking advantage of this service will also be asked to “pay it forward” by joining our team of reviewers. 
Wherever your team may be in the proposal timeline, from the big vision, ideation stage to the final push to polish your proposal, I-DISC is here to support your efforts. 

Internet search. Your email and social media. The navigation, shopping, and news apps on your phone. They all run on algorithms—sets of rules for solving a problem or completing a task—that are incredibly powerful in analyzing data when paired with machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence. While most of us mindlessly click through the latest software update or privacy agreement, I-DISC researchers are raising questions—and working toward answers—as to why algorithms make certain decisions, what impact they have on privacy, and how to improve our digital literacy.
Read full article > "In algorithms we trust?" Story by Steve Neumann, Christine Fennessy, and Emily Collins) 

Led by Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) Professors Daniel P. Robinson and Frank E. Curtis, Lehigh University hosted the jointly organized 2022 International Conference on Continuous Optimization (ICCOPT) and the Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications (MOPTA) conference from July 23–28, 2022. The conference, which had 537 in-person participants from more than 30 countries, was immensely successful! It allowed PhD students, postdocs, industrialists, and academics from around the world to form exciting research collaborations, meet new people, and create lasting memories. This all happened while gaining a greater appreciation of Lehigh University and its rich history that is inseparable from that of the Bethlehem region.