Project Grant 2543854
- The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) received a $327,228 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences on December 1, 2021 to develop a paired kerogen-pyrite sulfur isotope proxy for organic remineralization. The award is being used to fund research under the Geosciences program (CFDA #47.050) through November 30, 2023. The Geosciences program supports basic research to expand understanding of the integrated Earth system, including the oceans....
- Federal Project Grant Summary The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences awarded $500,000 to the California Institute of Technology under the Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) on May 15, 2025, for a collaborative research initiative extending through April 30, 2028. This project merges metabolomics and isotope biogeochemistry methodologies to develop and validate a novel algorithm for quantifying metabolic carbon fluxes in environmental...
- The National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences awarded $112,297 to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego on September 1, 2026, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to study Early Eocene fossil plant assemblages from 12 sites across Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. The project will establish precise chronologies for the fossil sites, develop a comprehensive taxonomic dataset of fossil plants including leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, and...
- Federal Grant Award Summary The California Institute of Technology received a $406,857 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Division of Earth Sciences (Geosciences program, CFDA 47.050) effective August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2028. This collaborative research initiative delivers a comprehensive suite of software development, enhancement, and user support services centered on ALPHAMELTS, a petrological modeling tool used by thousands of earth scientists globally. The...
- This Project Grant award of $569,967 from the National Science Foundation's Geosciences Program (CFDA 47.050) supports collaborative research at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the University of Miami. The key objective is to use new tools to measure hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen isotopes in marine particles in order to better understand the mechanisms and processes governing the formation, composition, and sinking of particulate organic matter (POM) into the deep ocean....
- The National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences awarded Texas A&M University $427,960 on August 1, 2026, under the Geosciences program to conduct laboratory heating experiments and computational modeling that advance clumped-isotope thermometry of carbonate minerals. Clumped-isotope thermometry reconstructs ancient ocean temperatures and tracks thermal evolution in petroleum reservoirs and ore deposits, but accuracy is limited by incomplete understanding of how heat during...
- The National Science Foundation awarded a $174,000 Project Grant to researchers at the California Institute of Technology to develop a high-resolution record of mantle-derived rocks. The two-year award, made under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), will support efforts to constrain mantle stirring rates and tectonic regimes through analysis of neodymium and samarium isotope ratios in rocks. The Geosciences program aims to expand fundamental earth science knowledge and understanding of the...
- The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) was awarded a two-year, $482,262 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050). The grant will fund research to quantify the biological, diagenetic, and global redox effects on uranium stable isotopes in deep-sea corals across glacial-interglacial cycles. The research aims to expand fundamental knowledge of the integrated Earth system through basic research in atmospheric,...
- The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) received a $193,590 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences on December 15, 2021 to support research efforts concluding on November 30, 2022. The grant funding will support Caltech's project "Probing the Mechanical Properties of the Crust and Upper Mantle Using Geodetic, Remote Sensing and Seismological Observations" under the Geosciences program (CFDA #47.050). The Geosciences program aims...
- The National Science Foundation awarded a $999,999 Project Grant to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to acquire a field emission electron microprobe for Caltech's Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. The two-year award, made under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), will support the purchase of instrumentation to strengthen basic research capabilities in integrated Earth system science through September 2023. Specifically, the electron microprobe will expand...
The National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences awarded the California Institute of Technology $664,670 on August 1, 2026, under the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050) to develop and apply isotope analysis methods for detecting dietary signals in biological tissues, with specific focus on nitrogen isotopic composition of the amino acid threonine as a biosignature of herbivory in insects, and to reconstruct Amazonian vegetation dynamics during a Pleistocene glacial cycle using multi-proxy geochemical and paleontological approaches. The project establishes a baseline for threonine isotopic analysis in herbivorous insects by examining species across feeding specializations and testing hypotheses about isotopic fractionation mechanisms and dietary nitrogen metabolism. In parallel, the work reconstructs past Amazonian forest response to climate extremes by integrating stable isotope geochemistry, macrofossil anatomy, fossil leaf taxonomy, mummified wood analysis, palynology, and sediment records. The research develops new chemical proxy methods to interpret biogeochemical signals across time, scale, and taxa, with applications to biotechnology. An integrated education component engages undergraduate students in field and laboratory research, training scientists at the intersection of paleoecology, geochemistry, and Earth history. Performance occurs at Caltech in Pasadena, California, with a period of performance from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2031. The award is classified as a Project Grant under NSF's basic research mission to strengthen fundamental knowledge of the integrated Earth system.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $664.7k | 7/27/26 |