Call for Letters of Intent

AWS Impact Computing Project at the Harvard Data Science Initiative 

This opportunity is closed

Other important dates:
April 29 – Informational webinar (see below)
April 24, April 26, May 1, May 3, May, May 10 – Research Computing Office Hours (see below)

The AWS Impact Computing Project at the Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI) is an alliance with Amazon Web Services (AWS) aimed at reimagining data science and high-performance computing to identify potential solutions for society’s most complex challenges. 

This collaboration supports faculty-led research projects across Harvard. Awards to faculty are made under a master sponsored research agreement facilitated by the HDSI and Harvard’s Office for Technology Development. 

Request for Letters of Intent

The HDSI seeks Letters of Intent (LOIs) from faculty interested in pursuing research that leverages data science tools and high-performance computing for achieving actionable insights into the causes of and solutions to food security, climate change mitigation, and/or social determinants of health. Funding of up to $380,000 total direct costs (maximum two-year term) will be made available for each of a small number of faculty-led projects. HDSI encourages research proposals having smaller budgets and shorter duration and will look to fund a mixture of project sizes. The deadline to submit is Wednesday, May 15^th, 2024 AT 11:59 PM Eastern. 

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAREFULLY AND SUBMIT YOUR LOI ONLINE BY COMPLETING THIS FORM : https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_39LLQwyiktue7qK

Eligibility

This program is open to individuals who (i) hold a faculty appointment at a Harvard school; and (ii) have principal investigator rights at that school. (Please note: Harvard Medical School faculty must hold a faculty appointment with PI rights in one of HMS’s Quad-based, preclinical departments). Please note that other personnel (e.g., co-PIs; co-investigators; postdocs, etc.) who are not affiliated with Harvard may require additional subcontracting between Harvard and their respective organization to comply with the AWS/Harvard Master Research Agreement that governs this alliance.  

Faculty may submit multiple Letters of Intent.

Application Process and Requirements

We offer two important opportunities to  help you (i) determine if this funding mechanism is a good fit with your research objectives; (ii) clarify the computational and/or high performance cloud computing services you will require; and (iii) learn more about the AWS Impact Computing Project at the HDSI, including contractual obligations for PIs and the AWS perspective on research project plans/outputs that they seek. 

1. Informational webinar (April 29^th at 11 AM EST): We strongly encourage all interested applicants to attend this webinar at which AWS will provide an overview of the goals of the AWS Impact Computing Project and their criteria for evaluation of LOIs. The Harvard staff also will be available to answer questions about the Alliance.
   • Recording (Harvard Zoom Account Required)
     
2. Research Computing consultations: Applicants should consult with staff from the Research Computing office to assess project needs for data science tools and high-performance computing, i.e., evaluate data science services and computational capacity deemed essential for performing the proposed studies. Research Computing office hours are:
   • 10-noon 4/24
   • 1-3pm 4/26
   • 10-noon 5/1
   • 1-3pm 5/3
   • 10-noon 5/8
   • 1-3pm 5/10

The Zoom link is: 
https://harvard.zoom.us/j/93359635007?pwd=Nm9FWTkyNmIwZXZTQStnam01QlROQT09
Password: 222015

Please email lawrence_weissbach@harvard.edu for questions before then.

Please submit Letters of Intent by completing the online application form BY May 15^th, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern. The HDSI and AWS will review Letters of Intent and invite successful applicants to submit a full proposal. We expect to send invitations by early June; full proposals will be due by early July (dates to be provided later). 

Evaluation of Letters of Intent 

AWS is aiming to advance the foundational infrastructure and methodologies that can support open-access software and applications in the topic areas of food security, climate change, and social determinants of health (described below). LOIs will be evaluated on (i) the questions being asked in terms of potential innovation; (ii) scientific merit; (iii) potential feasibility of translating expected research findings and insights into real world applications and societal impact; and (iv)the complexity and scale of novel computing or analysis needs. Proposed research is expected to:

• align with the research priorities of food security, climate change mitigation, and/or social determinants of health
• lead to new methodological approaches, algorithms, analyses, predictions, databases, solutions, etc.
• identify complex, large-scale, or novel computing or analysis needs

Note: AWS will make available a finite amount of AWS Cloud Compute Credits to offset computational costs anticipated for your proposed research.

A key attribute that AWS will expect within the LOIs is a description of the anticipated output/artifact. This could include, for example, software, data cube, dashboard, database, workflow, platform, web portal, foundational models, algorithms, and/or large language models (LLMs). 

RESEARCH AREAS OF INTEREST

Food Security 

Achieving food security – especially at a global scale – is a particularly complex challenge influenced by interconnected factors including but not limited to poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, climate change, conflict, and inadequate infrastructure. Data science and innovative technologies can provide valuable insights into these factors and can offer solutions to mitigate their impact. Leveraging data science, we have an opportunity to integrate and examine datasets from multiple sources, such as satellite imagery, household surveys, sensor data, and government records to generate insights into crop yields, nutrition, the effects of conflict and social unrest, and the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.

Projects are encouraged that focus on  FAO hot-spots and Global Food Security Index weak performers. Please provide a description of implications for real-world solutions that may arise from the research, for example scalable policy solutions, food supply chain improvement, improved climate resilience of crops, better irrigation systems, improved processing and storage solutions, or development of early warning systems for farmers, researchers, and policy makers. These examples are illustrative, and we encourage novel and ambitious proposals on additional topics. 

Climate Change

The adverse impact of climate change is escalating in rapid fashion, and every facet of society and the environment is being impacted. The cascading effect, triggered by the warming of our planet, has become a global crisis with far-reaching consequences for our health and survival.

We seek LOIs that propose research that will contribute to our understanding and/or mitigation of climate change. Examples include developing data, data science methodologies, and their tailored applications for: 1) identifying key drivers of climate change, 2) developing effective climate change mitigation strategies; 3) addressing inequities, vulnerabilities; 4) informing adaptation efforts; and 5) quantifying current and future impacts,   

The following are examples of research questions that are of interest. These are illustrative only and we welcome LOIs that propose areas of inquiry that fall outside those described below: 

Social Determinants of Health

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are defined as societal and environmental conditions encompassing where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risk. Social determinants of health can be grouped into the following general categories: Economic Stability, Education Access and Quality, Neighborhood and Built Environment, and Social and Community Context. 

AWS/HDSI looks to support faculty-led research projects that contribute to our understanding of SDOH by examining social and environmental drivers of adverse health outcomes and health inequities using population level data. Study designs can include but are not limited to observational studies, panel studies, intervention studies, cohort studies, etc. Researchers might leverage different types of data (e.g., electronic medical records, claims data, etc.) and can include environmental factors such as toxicant exposure and the physical built environment as well as social factors such as living conditions, socioeconomic status, and social inequalities. Funding is also available for studies that examine factors of health equity within and across populations. 

Please email lawrence_weissbach@harvard.edu with any questions.