Jefferson Sciences Associates (JSA) announced the award of projects totaling $450,000 that will be supported by the FY12 JSA Initiatives Fund. JSA owners, SURA and CSC/ATG, established the Initiatives Fund to support programs, initiatives, and activities that further the scientific outreach, and promote the science, education and technology missions of Jefferson Lab in ways that complement its basic and applied research focus. Since mid-2006, JSA has made over 125 awards totaling $2.5 million. The program is managed and administered by SURA for the JSA Programs Committee.
The 2012 evaluation committee, chaired by JSA Programs Committee Chair June Matthews of MIT, included Elizabeth Beise, University of Maryland; Edward Brash, Christopher Newport University; Robert McKeown, Jefferson Lab; Zein-Eddine Meziani, Temple University; Zisis Papandreou, University of Regina; Daniel Sober, The Catholic University of America; and Elizabeth Lawson, SURA/JSA. The owners approved the award recommendations.
The FY12 Initiatives Fund Program includes new awards for 27 projects with total contributing, matching funds of over $380,000. Over 40% of the $450,000 in new awards supports the education and outreach programs at the Jefferson Lab. The remaining awards support post doc career development, other JLab programs, JLab users initiatives and activities, and several topical science meetings. A complete listing of the FY2012 awards can be found at http://www.jsallc.org/IF/IFProjects.html.
JSA President and Jefferson Lab Director, Hugh Montgomery acknowledged that, "These diverse projects and initiatives, many of which leverage the commitments of others, add value to the lab's programs and help to cultivate the support of the science and user communities." JSA Programs Committee Chair June Matthews commended the owners for their continued monetary support for the Initiatives Fund Program and noted, "In addition to seed funding projects, the Initiatives Fund Program has proven to be a valuable resource for important on-going initiatives such as the K-12 education program and graduate fellowships."
In accepting the recommendations of the evaluation committee, JSA co-owner, SURA President & CEO Jerry Draayer noted that, "Our CSC co-owners and I believe that our investment in the Initiatives Fund Program has been beneficial in providing the means that enable the lab and its users to engage in educational, scientific, technical, and outreach activities that may otherwise not have been accomplished."