Amendment 38: B.13 DRIVE Science Centers Final Text Release

Amendment 38 releases final text for program element B.13 Heliophysics DRIVE Science Centers.

DRIVE Science Centers (DSCs), implemented as a NASA-NSF partnership, are part of an integrated multi-agency initiative, DRIVE (Diversity, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate), put forward as a high priority recommendation of the 2013 Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey. DSCs, are focused on grand challenge goals that are both ambitious and focused enough to be achievable within the lifetime of the center. In other words, they should address problems poised for major advances. This program is intended to support science that cannot be effectively done by individual investigators or small teams, but requires the synergistic, coordinated efforts of a research center. In order to maximize the potential for these science centers to deliver on innovative and breakthrough science, they are expected to include aspects in their design that support collaboration and deep knowledge integration across the full range of expertise (scientific, computational, educational) within them, as recommended in a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science.

As described in the Decadal Survey, the emerging view of the interactions within and between elements in the solar and space physics domains (Sun, Heliosphere, Geospace, the Earth’s upper atmosphere, and other planetary space environments) is that of a complex and nonlinear pattern of multiple causes feeding into large-scale responses. Some of the most challenging problems are centered on aspects of these interconnections. Progress requires "a deep understanding of multiple connected physical systems" motivating "a sea change in the way breakthrough science is done.

This amendment releases final text for program element B.13 Heliophysics DRIVE Science Centers. Step-1 proposals are due January 15, 2019, and Step-2 proposals are due March 5, 2019.

Comments and/or questions regarding this program element may be directed to Janet Kozyra at janet.kozyra@nasa.gov and Jim Spann at jim.spann@nasa.gov.