08/14/12

Free Webinars

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs is offering several free Webinars:

Monday, August 20, 2012

*2:10-3:00pm – NSF Science of Broadening Participation: This session will provide details and strategies for developing proposals using cognitive, social and economic approaches and strengthening U.S. STEM capabilities.

*3:15-4:10pm – NIH Support for Non-Research Intensive Institutions: Supporting small scale faculty projects involving undergraduate and graduate students.

*4:15-5:10pm – NEA: Research Grants and Interdisciplinary Work: This session will involve health and economics, and include an update on NEA-led Arts and Human Development Task Force.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

*1:00-1:50pm – NSF Discovery Research K-12: This session will provide a program update and give details on framing competitive proposals to solve STEM education challenges.

*2:00-2:50pm – HRSA’s Grants Technical Outreach Program: Writing a strong proposal, understand the review process and overview of the new resource.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

*10:00-11:00am – NSF Undergraduate Education Funding: Provide advice for members preparing proposals for any of the division’s three dozen competitions.

**Each webinar will take place in the ORSP conference room, 530 French Hall

12/21/10

Application Submission Changes for NSF

Effective for all new applications submitted to NSF on and after January 18th, 2011:

Data Management Plan: The PAPPG contains a clarification of NSF’s long standing data policy. All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing of the products of research, or assert the absence of the need for such plans. FastLane will not permit submission of a proposal that is missing a Data Management Plan. The Data Management Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts of the proposal, or both, as appropriate. Links to data management requirements and plans relevant to specific Directorates, Offices, Divisions, Programs, or other NSF units are available on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp. See Chapter II.C.2.j of the GPG for further information about the implementation of this requirement.

Cost Sharing has been revised to implement the National Science Board’s recommendations regarding cost sharing. Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited, Awardees are informed, however, that they remain subject to the OMB A-21 Clarification memo regarding committing and tracking faculty effort (see footnote 22). In order to assess the scope of the project, all organizational resources necessary for the project must be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section (II.C.2.i). The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. Mandatory cost sharing will only be required when explicitly authorized by the NSF Director.

10/26/10

Changes in NSF Proposal and Award Policies & Procedures

NSF has instituted significant changes to the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, including a requirement for Special Information and Supplementary Documentation.  NSF 11-1 January 2011 is effective for proposals submitted on or after January 18, 2011.  Some of these changes are listed below in Item # 15.   Proposals due before this date should follow the guidelines in NSF 10-1  http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf101

09/13/10

New NSF Program Aims to Accelerate Innovation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships has issued a new solicitation “to strengthen the U.S. innovation ecosystem.” Accelerating Innovation Research offers two options for applicants:

  • The Technology Transition Plan competition will encourage the translation of the numerous, technologically-promising, fundamental discoveries made by NSF researchers, while drawing upon and building the entrepreneurial spirit of the researchers and students. Proposals will include a Preliminary Technology Translation Plan, which will be reviewed by a panel of academic and business experts. Awards of up to $300,000 (with a third-party, one-to-one match required for awards over $150,000) will be made based on merit and the achievement of defined milestones. Awardees will later deliver a Final Technology Translation Plan that requests up to $50,000 and includes a technology demonstration suitable to attract subsequent funding for further development and commercialization.
  • Research Alliance awards of up to $1 million each over two years will accelerate the innovation of a product, a process, or system. This activity will foster connections between an existing NSF innovation research alliance (including consortia such as Engineering Research Centers, Industry University Cooperative Research Centers, Partnerships for Innovation, Science and Technology Centers, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers, Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers grantees) and other institutions, whose complementary focus will spur the development of discoveries into innovative technologies through synergistic collaboration.

 Letters of intent for either type or proposal are required by December 1, 2010. Full proposals should be submitted between January 1 and February 1, 2011. A webinar for potential applicants will be held September 13, 2010, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Contact Rathindra DasGupta at 703/292-8353 or [email protected] for additional information.

09/7/10

National Science Foundation Proposal Preparation Basics, Part 1 and 2

The Office of Research will be hosting free National Science Foundation webinars, themed “Proposal Preparation Basics 1 & 2” on Tuesday, September 14, 2010.  The schedule for the day is below.  All sessions will be held in the Office of Research Seminar Room, 530 French Hall, and are free to all interested faculty and staff. 

NSF Proposal Preparation Basics, Part 1 (90 minutes)  11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

This first session will provide an introduction to the National Science Foundation, its mission, organization and overarching policy requirements.  We will also delve into the proposal preparation process as outlined in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) including the types of funding opportunities used by NSF, components of an NSF proposal, budgetary guidelines and more.

Break (90 minutes)       12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

NSF Proposal Preparation Basics, Part 2 (90 minutes)     2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

This second session will cover the merit review process at NSF which ensures that proposals are submitted and reviewed in a fair, competitive, transparent and in-depth manner.  This session will also cover much of what you need to know when it comes to managing NSF awards including situations that require NSF approval, reporting requirements as well as other administrative, statutory and regulatory requirements.

Instructors: Jean Feldman, Head, Policy Office, Division of Institutional and Award Support; Office of Budget, Finance and Award Management

Content Geared Towards: Anyone in research administration wanting to learn the basics of preparing a proposal for the NSF.

08/30/10

National Science Foundation Funding Opportunities and Grant-writing Tips for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Scientists

October 14, 2010 – 2 to 4pm
Wayne State University, Welcome Center Auditorium

Dr. Mark Weiss, Director for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) invites social, behavioral, and economic scientists from local universities to attend a session on the structure of NSF, funding opportunities offered by NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Division, and tips on writing grants for NSF.

Click here for more information and to register (required). This event is free.

08/17/10

Free External Funding Webinars: Grants Resource Center

On August 23, 24, and 25, the Office of Research will host a series of webinars with live feeds from the Grants Resource Center’s External Funding Conference in Washington, D.C.  There will be several sessions each day, listed below.  Please give us a call to let us know you’d like to attend –   810-762-3147 or [email protected].  These sessions are FREE of charge!

The sessions included:

Monday, August 23rd
9:15  am  –  10:15 am     Education Policy Overview
10:30 am  –  11:45 am    Science Policy and Funding
2:30 pm  –  3:30 pm       NSF Faculty Rotator Perspective
3:45 pm  –  4:45 pm       NIH Peer Review and Application Process

Tuesday, August 24th
8:15 am  –  9:15 am        Support for Nursing Programs
9:30 am – 10:30 am        Workforce Development Initiative
10:45 am  –  11:45 am    NIH  and NSF Social and Behavioral Sciences
1:30 pm  –  2:30 pm       Department of Energy – Office of Science:  Past and Future
2:45 pm  –  3:45 pm       National Endowment for the Arts:  Grants and Goals

Wednesday, August 25th
8:00 am  –  9:00 am        What’s New with the Department of Education’s TRIO:  member led Q & A

07/22/10

Senate Committee to Act on Undergraduate Research Policy

As recently as last week, observers thought it unlikely that the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee would act before the Congressional recess on legislation that would reauthorize the America COMPETES Act.  In May, the House passed legislation (HR 5116) to reauthorize the 2007 law and has been waiting for the Senate to follow suit, and CUR recently joined other groups in writing to Senate lawmakers urging them to act on the bill.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is scheduled to mark up a number of bills on Thursday, July 22, including S 3605, the American COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010.  This bill, which was introduced by Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV), would maintain funding for programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but is a proposal that differs a bit from the House-approved legislation.  That bill included a National Nanotechnology Initiative and other programs absent from the Senate legislation.

Supporters of the many programs authorized by the America COMPETES Act have long lamented the disappointing lack of federal funding for them.  While this bill does not represent a commitment to funding, there are proposed changes to certain programs that would benefit undergraduate research.  Undergraduate research and courses of study are paid more attention at the NSF and other agencies in the proposed changes, as are primarily undergraduate institutions of higher education.  There is a new provision of the research experiences for undergraduate students (REU) program that directs the Director of NSF to require that every recipient of a research grant from the NSF proposing to include one or more students enrolled in certificate, associate, or baccalaureate degree programs in carrying out the research proposed under the grant shall request support, including stipend support, for those students as part of the research proposal itself versus in a supplement to the proposal (unless participation of the undergraduate student was not foreseeable at the time of the original proposal).  The House-passed bill includes a similar provision.

More broadly, both the House and Senate bills propose changes to programs that recognize the important contributions primarily undergraduate institutions, two-year institutions and undergraduates can and do play in the research enterprise, and there are proposals to diversify collaborative research applications that embrace this notion.

The Council on Undergraduate Research supports this legislation and is hopeful that House and Senate lawmakers will work together to enact the measure before year’s end.  In coming weeks, CUR and Washington Partners, LLC will continue to monitor Congressional action and weigh in with lawmakers on the proposed changes that will benefit undergraduate research.

03/1/10

NSF Issues Urgent Request for Chemistry Peer Reviewers

The National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry has issued an urgent request for peer reviewers. Division director Luis Echegoyen ([email protected]) writes, “Unfortunately, there is now a very low response rate to Division of Chemistry proposal review requests. If we are to maintain the effectiveness of the peer review process, the Division of Chemistry needs your active participation in the process.”

Participation in the competitive peer review process not only contributes to the funding of high-quality research and sponsored programs, but also gives important insight into the characteristics of excellent proposals. GRC members are encouraged to consider serving as reviewers and panelists themselves, and to forward Echegoyen’s request to faculty in chemistry and related departments.