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From page 434... ... 434 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE tenure-track faculty, and 8.9 percent of tenured faculty. Similarly, women accounted for 35 percent of planetary scientists, 52 percent of tenure-track faculty, and 24 percent of tenured faculty. Read the entire page →
From page 435... ... STATE OF THE PROFESSION 435 but as they are few, they also tend to receive many more requests from students as well as committees (Schmidt et al. Read the entire page →
From page 436... ... 436 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Winter School to participants located at GSFC. Such programs help bridge opportunity gaps by increasing access to information about mission concept development, design, and proposal. Read the entire page →
From page 437... ... STATE OF THE PROFESSION 437 Finding: Engagement of Native communities require thoughtful engagement and the creation of genuine relation ships that are respectful of traditions and gratitude for their contribution to the scientific process (Kaluna et al. Read the entire page →
From page 438... ... 438 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE stressful periods such as the present pandemic. Climate surveys are now routine in many organizations. Read the entire page →
From page 439... ... STATE OF THE PROFESSION 439 each person can also be the propagator as well as the target of bias. Moreover, bias does not lie just in the minds of the human perceiver. Read the entire page →
From page 440... ... 440 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE are involved in their planning, development, and operations. Succession plans offer an opportunity to grow the diversity of the community as part of a long term and sustained effort. Read the entire page →
From page 441... ... STATE OF THE PROFESSION 441 REFERENCES AAS (American Astronomical Society) Read the entire page →
From page 442... ... 442 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Diniega, S., J Castillo-Rogez, I Read the entire page →
From page 443... ... STATE OF THE PROFESSION 443 Rathbun, J., E.G. Rivera-Valentín, J.T. Read the entire page →
From page 444... ... 17 Research and Analysis The stated goal of NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) is to advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system,1 the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space. Read the entire page →
From page 445... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 445 innovation and allow for flexible response to changing scientific priorities. Maintaining an appropriate balance of support across both missions and R&A is thus needed to ensure the future success of PSD programs. Read the entire page →
From page 446... ... 446 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE BOX 17-1 Organizing Theme for Issues in Research and Analysis The committee's ASPIRE concept encapsulates key factors crucial for R&A: Augment the R&A budget to ensure that NASA PSD gets the science it needs Survey the community to identify existing expertise, capability and knowledge gaps, and research trends Promote cross-cutting research that tackles systems-level science questions Integrate multiple disciplines such as: data analysis, theory, laboratory studies, field work, and ground-based observations to enable the best systems-level science Revise the review and proposal process to make it more accurate and efficient Equalize access and opportunity to ensure no pockets of excellence are left untapped Together, these factors provide a framework for NASA's PSD to enact necessary changes to its R&A investments to support and enhance its overall mission. The ASPIRE concept addresses the key current issues facing the PSD R&A landscape: very low proposal selection rates, a portfolio of programs that may not be fully responsive to NASA's needs, and ensuring an efficient and fair proposal review process that maximizes open access and innovation. Read the entire page →
From page 447... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 447 WHAT IS R&A? Because R&A is a vital component of the PSD portfolio, assessing the health and productivity of the R&A programs, individually and collectively, is of central importance. Read the entire page →
From page 448... ... 448 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE BOX 17-2 Definition of the Research and Analysis Budget Line The PSD Research and Analysis budgetary wedge in Figure 17-1 is the sum of five budgetary compo nents: (1) Planetary Science Research and Analysis (the main budgetary line within the Planetary Science Research category) Read the entire page →
From page 449... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 449 and leading large, complex collaborations with the broader scientific community. An internal study conducted in 2015 by the Agency Competition Team (created by then-Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot) Read the entire page →
From page 450... ... 450 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Recommendation: For greater transparency, NASA should document and communicate to its civil servants and the broader community how the ISFM is managed, and the processes by which proposals are solicited and evaluated to ensure the most meritorious civil servant science is supported. VIRTUAL INSTITUTES AND RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORKS The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Read the entire page →
From page 451... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 451 science goals into both the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program in general, and into the Artemis program in particular (see Recommended Program and Human Exploration chapters) , is viewed by the committee as an essential priority for the next decade. Read the entire page →
From page 452... ... 452 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE requires metrics, data, and assessment of the output of R&A programs beyond that currently available or that could reasonably be obtained within the confines of the decadal process. Therefore, this section largely offers observations related to a subset of issues important for NASA to consider as it determines how best to assess and optimize its PSD R&A programs. Read the entire page →
From page 453... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 453 Exploration Research, Outer Planets Research, and Mars Fundamental Research largely combined into a new, omnibus program, Solar System Workings (SSW) Read the entire page →
From page 454... ... 454 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE studies (outside the scope of PSTAR for which several successive field seasons may be beneficial) Read the entire page →
From page 455... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 455 Agency to compile such information and to assess the health and productivity of its component R&A programs.6 Entry of research products produced after final reports are submitted would also be important to include. PSD would then have better insight into whether its R&A portfolio is optimally constructed, as well as ready information to quantify the impact of R&A to all stakeholders. Read the entire page →
From page 456... ... 456 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Enabling proposers who are resubmitting a previously declined proposal to directly address, either within the proposal itself or as separate information entered into NSPIRES, the weakness(es) identified during the predecessor proposal review would allow them to respond to or refute critiques in a manner like that applied to the review of manuscripts submitted to scientific journals. Read the entire page →
From page 457... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 457 BOX 17-3 The COVID-19 Pandemic and NASA's R&A Response The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has upended the world. The myriad disruptions to familiar ways of life of course impacted the planetary science and astrobiology community, especially those with children, who are caregivers, who are early in their career, or who are in temporary, soft-money, or untenured positions -- with many of them in more than one of these categories. Read the entire page →
From page 458... ... 458 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE Last, there is longstanding awareness that some categories of proposals -- namely those that are riskier but that would have high impact if successful -- may be disadvantaged by the standard R&A proposal review process (NASEM 2017) Read the entire page →
From page 459... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 459 notes that NSF's planetary R&A program utilized a NoDD structure for a time, before deciding to return to a standard annual due date. An independent assessment of the success of both DAPR and NoDD several years hence would help quantify the extent both to which they meet their stated goals, and to which they should be extended to the rest of the PSD R&A portfolio. Read the entire page →
From page 460... ... 460 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE to all stakeholders. The director of Planetary Research Programs at NASA stated to the committee that R&A (defined to include openly competed programs as well as other programs and activities) Read the entire page →
From page 461... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 461 FIGURE 17-3 Selection rates for several program types, including DAPs, sample science, and participating scientist programs (yellow) , core programs (green) Read the entire page →
From page 462... ... 462 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE FIGURE 17-4 The number of unique PIs submitting proposals has increased by almost 20 percent (grey) from 2010 to 2020. Read the entire page →
From page 463... ... RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 463 Finding: Although the committee could not isolate the reason(s) why proposal budgets have increased so substan tially (e.g., increased overhead rates, increased salaries, growth in the proportion of soft money researchers) Read the entire page →

From page 434...

... 434 ORIGINS, WORLDS, AND LIFE tenure-track faculty, and 8.9 percent of tenured faculty. Similarly, women accounted for 35 percent of planetary scientists, 52 percent of tenure-track faculty, and 24 percent of tenured faculty.