The Foundation believes that a carefully reasoned and systematic understanding of the forces of nature and society, when applied inventively and wisely, can lead to a better world for all. With its Basic Research program area, the Foundation expands that understanding by funding original, high-quality research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Grants in the Basic Research program area promise to substantively benefit society or significantly add to the body of scientific knowledge. By funding basic research, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has created a digital survey of the sky, is advancing species identification and discovery worldwide, and is crafting a better understanding of the built environment in which we live.
Basic Research Prior to the start of the Workplace, Work Force and Working Families program in 1994, social science research was bifurcated into the study of work or family. Little, if any research examined the intersection of work and family. Through its basic research grants, the Foundation aims to create a problem-focused, interdisciplinary field of work-family scholarship that exists beyond the work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Foundation funds innovative, high-quality research on the work-family conflicts faced by American families and the efficacy of various solutions to these conflicts. It also promotes the early work of scholars who focus on work-family issues. Grants through this program have helped to build a community of work-life scholars where none existed, to develop a body of quality research on work family issues, and to train the next generation of scholars in issues related to the intersection of work and life. This emerging community and the scholarship it is generating are tied together largely through the efforts of the Sloan Work and Family Research Network . Program Director: Kathleen Christensen Bio Grants History Apply Books & Publications Spotlight View a complete list of the grants in the Workplace, Work Force and Working Families Program more Spotlight more Headlines Why Do So Few Mothers Want to Work Full-Time Slate Links Basic Research The Sloan Centers on Working Families Faculty Career Flexibility in the Academy National Workplace Flexibility Initiative Aging and Flexible Work
The University of Oregon's Biology and the Built Environment Center just published a short video introduction to the Built Environment Microbiome. Program Director: Paula Olsiewski Bio
Since our Biosecurity program began in 2000, the Foundation has provided $44.1 million in support. Our original focus was on preparedness, both for individual citizens and for organizations. We have supported a number of important projects, including the development of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov initiative. Since 2000, we have underwritten the influential Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, whose mission is to strengthen national security by reducing the risks posed by biological attacks, epidemics, and other destabilizing events, and to improve the nation’s preparedness and response in the face of such events. Our Biosecurity program has also addressed issues surrounding dangerous research and the potential misuse of scientific knowledge, methods and materials in the life sciences. In this arena, we funded a number of significant projects, including the landmark Fink committee report: “Biotechnology Research in an Age of Terrorism,” the U.S. National Academies’ International Biosecurity Project and the World Health Organization’s program to raise awareness of the potential for misuse of biotechnology research. Sloan’s Biosecurity Program has been very successful in bringing attention to the issues and challenges posed by biological threats. When our program began in 2000, the US government funding for strictly biodefense was approximately $50 million. The FY2010 budget is $1.09 billion. Grantmaking in the Biosecurity program concluded in 2010. Program Director: Paula Olsiewski Bio Grants Apply Headlines VIDEO: What You Need to Know About Infectious Disease The National Academies Links Center for Biosecurity Charting the Future of Biosecurity: Ten Years After the Anthrax Attacks REPORT: A Framework for Voluntary Preparedness What is Your Readiness Quotient? Ready.gov Biotechnology Research in an Age of Terrorism (The Fink Report)
Cynthia Barnhart Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Dean of Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Richard Bernstein Chief Executive Officer Richard Bernstein Capital Management Kevin Burke Chairman, President, and CEO Consolidated Edison, Inc. Mary Schmidt Campbell Dean Tisch School of the Arts New York University Frederick A. Henderson Chairman and CEO SunCoke Energy Former President and Chief Executive Officer General Motors Corporation Freeman A. Hrabowski, III President University of Maryland, Baltimore County Paul L. Joskow President Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Peter S. Kim President Merck Research Laboratories Robert Litterman Partner Kepos Capital, LP Sandra O. Moose (Chair) President Strategic Advisory Services Former Senior Vice President The Boston Consulting Group James Poterba President and Chief Executive Officer National Bureau of Economic Research Mitsui Professor of Economics Massachusetts Institute of Technology Michael Purugganan Dorothy Schiff Professor of Genomics Professor of Biology Dean for Science New York University Marta Tienda Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs Office of Population Research Princeton University
The Foundation supports a wide range of books aimed at public understanding of science and technology. Popular categories include books that elucidate the scientific basis of issues that are often confusing or controversial or unnecessarily obscure. The Foundation also supports books that profile scientific and technological figures from varying angles, but with an emphasis on the human story. Books about the relevance of technology to daily life and about the relationship between women and technology also find occasional support. Inventing America: A History of the United States , a popular college textbook supported by the Foundation, explores the central role of science, technology and business in the nation’s development. The Foundation’s Book program aims to reach a wide, lay audience. Program Director: Doron Weber Bio Supported Books Apply Spotlight The Fractalist is Benoit Mandelbrot's fascinating memoir about the man who changed the way we look at both the natural and financial world. more Spotlight Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, by W. Bernard Carlson, is a major new biography about the inventor Nikola Tesla, one of the major contributors to the electrical revolution. more Program Updates March 2013 June 2013 Public Understanding Sub Programs Film Radio Television Theater New Media
Program Director: Kathleen Christensen Bio Grants History Apply
The goal of this program is to advance a major international observational program to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life. Beginning in 2000, Foundation grants now total about $78 million. Together with more than $550 million from non-Sloan sources around the world, including national governments, international organizations, and maritime industries, Foundation funds have helped fund 14 field projects, build the History of Marine Animal Populations to benchmark current populations, create a network to predict the future of marine animal populations, develop the Ocean Biogeographical Information System (now containing over 22 million records of more than 112,000 marine species), and support the International Scientific Steering Committee and Secretariat, the U.S. National Committee, and an Education and Outreach Network to lift the project’s visibility and engage other nations and organizations and to develop the capacity for further discovery and application of accumulated knowledge once the Census is completed. Thousands of scientists from more than 80 nations are participating. Foundation support will culminate with the release of the first ever Census of Marine Life in October, 2010. Program Director: Gail M. Pesyna Bio Grants Visit the Census Apply Spotlight Read the highlights report of the first Census of Marine Life more Links Ocean Biogeographical Information System National Geographic Map of CoML Findings Watch Videos of the Census Events in London
Since its founding in 1934, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has been proud to call New York City home. With its Civic Initiatives Program, the Foundation responds to unique opportunities to benefit the New York City metro area with an eye toward advancing the Foundation's other interests in science, technology and economic performance. Ongoing initiatives in the Civic Program include the Sloan Public Service Awards , which recognize outstanding public service to New York City, and the Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics , which recognize remarkable science and math teaching in New York City's public high schools. Program Director: Paula Olsiewski Bio Grants Apply Links Sloan Public Service Awards Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics
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