Announcing the Data-Driven Discovery Investigator Competition

We are pleased to announce that the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Data-Driven Discovery Investigator Competition has now launched. This competition is open to researchers in any PhD-granting institution or private research organization in the United States. The pre-application process runs through 24 February 2014. If you or your colleagues are interested in learning more, please see the full solicitation linked below as a PDF.

We hope to spread the word far and wide among qualified applicants, and to that end we'd like to ask your help. Please share this news through your institutional networks, social media, mailing lists, etc.

In brief:

• Our Data-Driven Discovery (DDD) Initiative seeks to advance the people and practices of data-intensive science to take advantage of the increasing volume, velocity, and variety of scientific data to make new discoveries. Data-intensive science is inherently multidisciplinary, combining natural sciences with methods from statistics and computer science.
• The goal of the DDD Investigator awards is to fund individuals who exemplify this new kind of data-driven discovery. These innovators are striking out in new directions and are willing to take risks with the potential of huge payoffs in some aspect of data-intensive science. Successful applicants must make a strong case for developments in the natural sciences (biology, physics, astronomy, etc.), or science-enabling methodologies (statistics, machine learning, scalable algorithms, etc.), and applicants who credibly combine the two are especially encouraged. It is anticipated that the DDD initiative will make about 15 awards at ~$1,500,000 each ($200K to $300K per year for five years).
• Pre-applications are due Monday, 24 February 2014 by 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. They must be submitted online at http://www.moore.org/DDDInvestigator. A list of frequently-asked questions is posted on the site. If your question is not answered, please contact us by email. Pre-applications will be reviewed by Foundation staff and external experts.
• The Moore Foundation anticipates extending invitations for full applications in April 2014.

Please feel free to send questions our way, and thanks in advance for helping us share this news.

— Data-Driven Discovery Initiative (Vicki Chandler, Mark Stalzer, Chris Mentzel, Jasan Zimmerman)