Category Archives: Agency Specific

Limited Submission Opportunity – NINDS Neuroscience Development for Advancing the Careers of a Diverse Research Workforce (R25)

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NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Neuroscience Development for Advancing the Careers of a Diverse Workforce (R25): Limited Submission Opportunity

 

Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Wednesday, July 17, 2019

NIH Proposal Due Date: September 25, 2019

Funding Opportunity Description

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research educational activities that complement other formal training programs in the mission areas of the NIH Institutes and Centers. The over-arching goals of the NIH R25 program are to: (1) complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs; (2) enhance the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce; (3) help recruit individuals with specific specialty or disciplinary backgrounds to research careers in biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences; and (4) foster a better understanding of biomedical, behavioral and clinical research and its implications.

The over-arching goal of this  NINDS Neuroscience Development for Advancing the Careers of a Diverse Research Workforce R25 program is to support educational activities that    enhance the pool of neuroscience researchers from underrepresented backgrounds who are available to participate in NIH-supported neuroscience research. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. The NINDS is committed to the development of a biomedical research workforce that is representative of the diversity in American society. NINDS seeks to promote diversity in all of its training and research programs and to increase the participation of underrepresented groups. As the US population becomes increasingly diverse, reflection of that diversity among the biomedical research workforce is vital to our science enterprise and the NIH research mission. Evidence from several reports demonstrates that an intervention designed to facilitate successful transitions along this pathway would benefit the research community (Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine 2011 and Advancing the Nation’s Health Needs: NIH Research Training Programs). Specifically for neuroscience early career researchers, there is a decrease in the proportion of underrepresented trainees from predoctoral (12%) to tenure-stream neuroscience faculty (5%); 2011 Survey Report of Neuroscience Departments and Programs. Active interventions are necessary to prevent the loss of talent at each level of educational advancement (PCAST, 2012).

This NINDS Neuroscience Development for Advancing the Careers of a Diverse Research Workforce (R25) is a flexible and specialized program designed to foster the development of neuroscience researchers from underrepresented backgrounds across career stages. Thus, it encourages applications from applicant organizations that propose innovative mentoring and professional development activities in the mission area(s) of the NINDS. The NINDS Diversity R25 initiative will focus on factors that have been shown to affect retention of underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty in neuroscience research such as mentoring, scientific networks and professional development (http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/Reports; http://acd.od.nih.gov/dbr.htm). The NINDS expects applicant institutions to propose programs that will lead to an improvement in the professional development, mentoring and technical expertise of individuals who are nationally underrepresented in neuroscience research.

Programs that target transitions and/or more than one career stage for neuroscience career advancement and progression are strongly encouraged. This initiative will support the development of collaborative research education partnerships that will increase participants’ awareness and interest in the neurosciences, develop participants’ scientific knowledge and research skills that will allow them to progress and transition to more advanced neuroscience-related research education and training activities. Proposed program interventions to increase workforce diversity in response to this FOA should also focus on asset models and leadership opportunities, rather than solely deficit models and remediation (recommendations from 2017 NINDS Activating a Neural Network and 2016 NINDS Forming a Neural Network Workshops).

Investigators with creative, innovative ideas for new programs are encouraged to discuss these with NINDS program officials.     To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

  • Courses for Skills Development
  • Research Experiences
  • Mentoring Activities

 

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

Only one application per institution is allowed.

 

For full program details visit NINDS’s funding webpage or the solicitation PAR-17-312.

 

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

NSF – Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding

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NSF is pleased to provide you with information about funding support to enhance professional development opportunities for graduate students that is available to Graduate Research Fellows and Honorable Mentions, through supplements to current NSF grants.  These supplements provide graduate students with the opportunity to augment their research assistantships with additional non-academic research internship activities and training that will complement their academic research experiences.

INTERN (Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students Supplemental Funding) provides graduate students with an opportunity to gain knowledge, skills and experiences that will augment his/her preparation for a successful long-term career through an internship in a non-academic setting, including the following:

  • Industry laboratories or industry research and development groups;
  • Start-ups, such as (but not limited to) those funded through the NSF’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program;
  • Government agencies and National Laboratories;
  • Policy think-tanks; and
  • Non-profit organizations.

The period of support is up to six months for an internship, and there can be two supplemental requests, for a maximum of 12 months per student.  The supplement can provide up to $50,000 per student per six month period.  Funds may be used to support travel, tuition and fees, health insurance, additional stipend and temporary relocation costs for the graduate student.

More information on INTERN (Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students Supplemental Funding) can be found here: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2017/nsf17091/nsf17091.jsp.

Ohio Federal Research Network Announcement – Air Force SBIR (18.2) Special Topics

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Ohio Federal Research Network (OFRN) announces the Air Force SBIR (18.2) Special Topics

The 18.2 round of SBIR includes a new Air Force pilot called “Special Topics”.  Unlike traditional Phase I topics, which allow $150,000 budgets over 6 months, these special topics are faster and have a smaller budget, $50,000 over 2 months.  Unlike the traditional 20-page technical volume, these require only a 5-page proposal and a 15-slide pitch deck.

This new program is exciting – the faster speed could be more friendly to businesses that wouldn’t traditionally contract with the government, and the shorter proposal and pitch deck format may be more familiar and comfortable for small/startup businesses.

The topics are VERY OFRN-relevant.  In particular, AF182-005 is an open call for dual-purpose technologies. DoD is increasingly interested in repurposing non-defense technologies as a way to reduce development costs and risks.

We recommend interested small business review the topics below, and contact OFRN if you would like help finding partners, conceiving topics, or simply to find out more information.

18.2 Air Force Special Topics

  • AF182-001 – Commercial Solutions for Weather Forecasting
  • AF182-002 – Innovative Position Navigation and Timing
  • AF182-003 – Future Counter UAS Technology Options
  • AF182-004 – Future Logistics and Supply Chain Options
  • AF182-005 – Open Call for Innovative Defense-Related Dual-Purpose Technologies/Solutions
  • AF182-006 – Human-Machine Timing in Data Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination – a Technology Accelerator

Defense SBIR 18.2 submissions are due June 20, 2018.

Additional information about DoD SBIR 18.2 can be found on the Broad Agency Announcement Instructions webpage and on the DoD SBIR/STTR Portal.

OFRN provides technical assistance to its members and stakeholders in finding partners and pursuing funding opportunities. If you would like support from OFRN in pursuing a funding opportunity, email Becky Mescher at becky.mescher@wright.edu.

 

 

I-Corps @ DoD Pilot Program

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The I-Corps @ DoD pilot program is an entrepreneurial education program that teaches DoD-funded researchers how to commercialize the results of their work. The program is a partnership between the Defense Department and the National Science Foundation and funded teams will attend the NSF program. Teams in the program must conduct 100 customer discovery interviews. Quite often, teams learn through interviews that their idea has unanticipated flaws, and the I-Corps instructors – who are usually experienced entrepreneurs themselves – help guide them in how they might change or pivot to more successful applications. At the end of the program, teams make a go/no-go decision on whether to move forward with the commercial idea based on the feedback they have received from the interviews as well as the instructors.

  • The I-Corps @ DoD course is a 7 week intensive course that requires a roughly 20 hour per week commitment from team members.
  • Grants are for $45,000 (plus indirect costs) for travel support to program events and interviews as well as follow on commercialization work.
  • PI must have prior 6.1 account basic research support within the last five years.
  • Teams are composed of 3-4 members
    • The PI is considered the Technical Lead for the proposal.
    • One or two Entrepreneurial leads, usually a graduate student of post-doc affiliated with the project.
    • The Industry Mentor will typically be an experienced entrepreneur in an area relevant to the technology being explored.
  • Up to 14 awards are anticipated for the FY18 solicitation.
  • Proposal deadline is July 6; awards will be made on a continuous basis as proposals are received.

Contact: For more information on the program please reach out to Jason Day or Jim Harvey before June 9 at jason.o.day.ctr@mail.mil or James.f.harvey.civ@mail.mil

Solicitation: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=W911NF-18-S-0004