Author Archives: emily

New NSF Opportunities

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New NSF funding opportunities in social, behavioral, economic and biological sciences.

  1. Resource Implementations for Data Intensive Research in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (RIDIR) NSF 18-517
    1. Due 2/28/18
    2. Program webpage – RIDIR
    3. Synopsis: As part of NSF’s Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR), the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) seeks to develop user-friendly large-scale next-generation data resources and relevant analytic techniques to advance fundamental research in SBE areas of study. Successful proposals will, within the financial resources provided by the award, construct such databases and/or relevant analytic techniques and produce a finished product that will enable new types of data-intensive research. The databases or techniques should have significant impacts, either across multiple fields or within broad disciplinary areas, by enabling new types of data-intensive research in the SBE sciences.
  2. SOCIOLOGY PROGRAM – Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (Soc-DDRI) NSF 14-604
    1. Due 2/28/18
    2. Program webpage – Soc-DDRI
    3. Synopsis: The Sociology Program supports basic research on all forms of human social organization — societies, institutions, groups and demography — and processes of individual and institutional change. The Program encourages theoretically focused empirical investigations aimed at improving the explanation of fundamental social processes. Included is research on organizations and organizational behavior, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender roles, and the sociology of science and technology. The Program supports both original data collections and secondary data analysis that use the full range of quantitative and qualitative methodological tools. Theoretically grounded projects that offer methodological innovations and improvements for data collection and analysis are also welcomed…
  3. Dimensions of Biodiversity FY2018 NSF 18-512
    1. Due 2/28/18
    2. Program webpage – Dimensions of Biodiversity
    3. Synopsis: Despite centuries of discovery, most of our planet’s biodiversity remains unknown. The scale of the unknown diversity on Earth is especially troubling given the rapid and permanent loss of biodiversity across the globe. The goal of the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is to transform, by 2020, how we describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth.  This campaign promotes novel integrative approaches to fill the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. It takes a broad view of biodiversity, and focuses on the intersection of genetic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Successful proposals must integrate these three dimensions to understand interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core programs in BIO, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, in novel ways, to understand their synergistic roles in critical ecological and evolutionary processes, especially pertaining to the mechanisms driving the origin, maintenance, and functional roles of biodiversity.

Having Challenges Tracking Down Students and Postdocs at the Time of the RPPR? Here is a Tip to Make It Easier…

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Having challenges tracking down students and postdocs at the time of reporting? Establishing a process where you have students and postdocs establish an eRA Commons account at the time they start working on an NIH grant award can save you a lot of time and energy trying to track down people who may no longer be at your institution at the time of your Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) submission. You may even want to have them create an ORCID ID as well! (In case you missed it, read the November 2017 Open Mike blog post to learn more about eRA Commons and ORCID integration.) (From NIH ExtramuralNexus, 1/30/2018)

The NIH and Other PHS Agency Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) Instruction Guide states that information must be provided or updated for all PIs/PDs and each person who has worked at least one person month per year on the project during the reporting period, including graduate students, undergraduate students, and high school students (p.82-83).

Additional information about ORCID can be found in a NIH ExtramuralNexus post from November 15, 2017 titled “Teaming with ORCID to Reduce Burden and Improve Transparency.”

To register individuals in the NIH eRA Commons, please contact your Sr. Grant Coordinator in the Office of Research Administration with the individual’s name and UA email address.

Recent Changes to NSF Budget Justification – Senior Personnel Salary Support

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As a general policy, NSF limits the salary compensation requested in the proposal budget for senior personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year. (See Exhibit II-7 for the definitions of Senior Personnel.) It is the organization’s responsibility to define and consistently apply the term “year”, and to specify this definition in the budget justification. This limit includes salary compensation received from all NSF-funded grants. (NSF 18-1)

To comply with this requirement, the following language should be included in all NSF budget justifications:  “The PIs are cognizant of the NSF policy that restricts NSF support to two months in any year.  For purposes of this restriction, The University of Akron defines a year as January-December.”

Information about all recent NSF changes to proposals can be found in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG, publication number NSF 18-1) or in the ORA document outlining the most significant NSF Changes-Effective Jan. 29 2018-rev.020218.

 

New NSF Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Effective 1/29/2018

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Effective January 29, 2018, NSF will implement changes in FastLane and Research.gov to support the following policy updates in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 18-1).

Some of the NSF PAPPG changes are:

  • Standard Collaborators and Other Affiliations Template Implementation – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the COA template are available at https://nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/coa.jsp.
  • Budget Justification Page Limitation Increase – Page limitation increased from 3 pages to 5 pages.
  • Project Description – The Project Description must now contain a separate section specifically identified as “Intellectual Merit”.

A list of NSF Changes effective January 29 2018 has been compiled by ORA and details the most common significant changes affecting proposals.

For additional information please see the Research.gov announcement or the new NSF PAPPG (NSF 18-1).

NSF – Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES)

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Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Friday, February 16, 2018 at 5pm.

NSF Deadline: April 4, 2018

Solicitation: 18-529

NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations by focusing on broadening participation in these fields at scale. The vision of NSF INCLUDES is to catalyze the STEM enterprise to collaboratively work for inclusive change, which will result in a STEM workforce that reflects the population of the Nation. The initiative is developing a National Network composed of NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots, NSF INCLUDES Alliances, an NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub, NSF-funded broadening participation projects, other relevant NSF-funded projects, scholars engaged in broadening participation research, and other organizations that support the development of talent from all sectors of society to build an inclusive STEM workforce. The successful implementation of NSF INCLUDES will result in substantial advances toward a diverse, innovative, and well-prepared STEM workforce to support our Nation’s economy and continued U.S. leadership in the global STEM enterprise. It is anticipated that NSF’s investment will contribute to new and improved STEM career pathways, policies, opportunities to learn, and practices for equity and inclusion. The initiative will be supported by the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub (NSF 17-591) that will provide a framework for communication and networking, network assistance and reinforcement, and visibility and expansion for the NSF INCLUDES National Network as a whole.  This solicitation offers opportunities for NSF INCLUDES Alliances.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 proposal (as a lead institution on an Alliance proposal)

For full program details visit the NSF INCLUDES webpage.

For details regarding The University of Akron’s limited submission process, visit the ORA Limited Submission webpage.