Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G21AS00599

Opportunity Information: Apply for G21AS00599

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G21AS00599) is a discretionary USGS cooperative agreement aimed at supporting applied research and related work on emerging tick-borne zoonotic diseases. It is issued through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically tied to the North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. In practical terms, the funding is meant to help a CESU-affiliated partner generate science and tools that improve understanding of tick ecology and environmental management options for pathogens that are increasingly relevant to public health and natural resource management in the northern United States.

The scientific focus centers on the blacklegged tick (also called the deer tick), Ixodes scapularis, which is already well known as the primary vector of Lyme disease in North America. The opportunity highlights that this same tick has recently been found carrying additional emerging zoonotic pathogens that are already causing illness in parts of the northern U.S. and may expand in geographic range and overall incidence. The three pathogens specifically called out are Borrelia miyamotoi, a relapsing-fever group spirochete reported from the Northeast and northern Midwest; Borrelia mayonii, another spirochete associated with a Lyme-like syndrome and currently known from the northern Midwest; and Powassan virus, a pathogen of particular concern because it can lead to severe, sometimes fatal, encephalitis in humans. The overall intent is to support research that clarifies the ecological drivers of these pathogens in tick populations and helps inform management strategies that could reduce risk.

Because this is a CESU-based cooperative agreement, eligibility is restricted: applicants must be participating partners of the North Atlantic Coast CESU. The opportunity also signals the kinds of expertise USGS is looking for in the selected partner, emphasizing tick ecology, vector management, and decision science. That framing suggests projects may go beyond basic surveillance and include work that connects ecological findings to practical management choices, such as evaluating interventions, designing decision-support approaches, or producing guidance that resource managers and public health partners can use.

Key administrative details include an award ceiling of $238,505 and a listed CFDA number of 15.808. The funding instrument is explicitly a cooperative agreement, which typically implies substantial involvement and collaboration with the federal agency during the project compared with a standard grant. The original closing date shown is 2021-08-30, and the opportunity was created on 2021-07-30. Overall, the announcement is narrowly targeted: it is not a general open competition to all institutions, but a focused request to leverage the CESU partnership network to advance research and management-relevant science on emerging tick-borne pathogens associated with Ixodes scapularis.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-07-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-08-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $238,505.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G21AS00599

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