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Williams Receives NSF Ethical and Responsible Research Grant

 CSDE Affiliate Nathalie Williams recently received an Ethical and Responsible Research Grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). There is much research and data collection on population health in areas and territories that are affected by conflict. Different countries and institutions have different practices and guidelines when it comes to conducting this research, which can cause challenges like data quality and access, risks of re-traumatizing research subjects, and the politicization of data and research findings. This project aims to compare and contrast the various practices of population and health research in conflict-affected areas to generate standardized guidelines and best practices for all those who work in this area.

 

Mathematica study seeking volunteers for project on reporting metrics for usage of federal assets: Data Usage Platform usability testing (9/9/24-9/16/24)

About the project: We are working on a project for the National Center on Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), a principal statistical agency within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Our project aims to investigate how—and to what extent— various federal data assets like data files, tables, and tools are created and used in academic research, state program evaluations, data journalism, and other contexts. As part of this effort, we will be developing a prototype Data Usage Platform (DUP) to better understand the uses of federal data. The overall goal of the DUP project is to build a robust and sustainable shared service framework to enable the federal data ecosystem to better understand the uses of its federal data. The DUP will (1) search for references to federal datasets used in published research, articles, and other reports, (2) calculate usage statistics to help us better understand how—and to what extent—agency datasets are currently being leveraged, and (3) display this information through an interactive dashboard and other tools.

 

Request for input: The usability testing will be conducted by videoconference. The input you provide in this meeting will inform our decisions on a new Data Usage Platform solution. Participating in the usability testing will not require any preparation and we will ask you questions about the DUP platform wireframes that we will display. Your participation is voluntary, and you can decline to participate or to answer any questions. All information you provide will be kept confidential.  We will record the usability testing for note-taking purposes, if given your permission. These recordings will be deleted once the session has been fully transcribed. The usability testing would happen within the next few weeks, at a time convenient for your schedule.

 

Interested parties can  contact Aivo Kivi at AKivi@mathematica-mpr.com.

Bourassa Quoted in Tacoma News Tribune on Real Estate Trends

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which tracks real estate trends in 26 of the 39 Washington counties, recently released data that states that there are more homes on the market this month than there were a year ago. While new listings are up, interest rates may come down. On August 1st, the rates were 6.73%, which is the lowest since February, but that interest rate is still a significant difference from the average of 3.94% that it was five years ago. However, this may change in the future. CSDE Affiliate Steven Bourassa, Director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at UW, says that the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank will lower rates next month. Visit the Tacoma News Tribune article to learn more about real estate trends in Washington State.

*New* Webinar: Revision of NSF Award Terms and Conditions Implementing Revised 2 CFR (9/12/24)

The NSF Award Terms and Conditions have been updated to implement the revised 2 CFR published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024, by the Office of Management and Budget.  As part of its implementation strategy, NSF has archived the Research Terms and Conditions (RTC), and the NSF Agency Specific RequirementsUnless otherwise specified, the Grant General Conditions (GC-1) apply to all recipients of NSF grant awards, including Institutions of Higher Education, non-profit, non-academic organizations, for-profit organizations (other than Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer recipients), State and local governments, and Tribal Nations.

Join the NSF Policy Office in the Division of Institution and Award Support (DIAS) on September 12 at 2:00 PM EST for a webinar which will provide the framework for these revisions and how they affect NSF proposals and awards.  Webinar registration is now available.