Category Archives: Announcements

NIH Regional Seminar – What You Need to Know About NIH Grants, Straight from the Source

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What better way to learn about NIH grants policy and processes than straight from the source? The NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration provides an array of pre-seminar workshops and sessions over the course of three days, all presented by 70 NIH & HHS review, program, grants and policy experts! Check out some of these topics designed to help you understand the NIH grants process, such as:

  • Application preparation and submission
  • Understanding NIH funding mechanisms
  • Human subjects and animals in research
  • Peer review mock study session
  • Research integrity
  • Grants policy and compliance
  • Budget basics for administrators and investigators
  • Navigating NIH programs to advance your career
  • Inventions, patents, copyrights and data sharing
  • RePORT and online resources
  • And so much more!

In addition to approximately 45 different session and workshop topics to choose from, you also have the opportunity to meet with our experts 1:1 to address your specific questions. Make plans to join your peers from all over the world and register today for the Fall 2019 NIH Regional Seminar in Phoenix, Arizona, November 6-8, 2019. See the tentative agenda, hotel/travel details, and more on the NIH Regional Seminar site.

Limited Submission Opportunity: NSF Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program

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Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Friday, August 30, 2019 at 5pm.

NSF Deadline: September 27, 2019

Synopsis of the Program:

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.

IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformativeapproaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for theircustomization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities withhigh potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches.

The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacitybuilding needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers,informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.

Goals of the IGE Program are to:

  • Catalyze rapid advances in STEM graduate education broadly as well as those responsive to the needs of particular disciplinary and interdisciplinary STEM fields, and
  • Generate the knowledge base needed to inform the development of models as well as their implementation and adaptability.

The IGE Program calls for proposals to:

  • Design, pilot, and test new, innovative and transformative approaches for inclusive STEM graduate education;
  • Examine the potential to extend a successful approach developed in one discipline or context to other disciplines, or transfer an evidence-based approach to a new context; and,
  • Develop projects that are informed by learning science and the existing body of knowledge about STEM graduate education.

Limit on the Number of Proposals per Organization: Institutions are restricted to submitting two (2) proposals to this solicitation.

For full details on this opportunity please visit the NSF IGE webpage or the solicitation (NSF 17-585).

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

Supplemental Funding Opportunity to Support Student Design Projects Directly Related to NSF Research

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The mission of NSF is to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare of the US. Fostering the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce and advancing the scientific and innovation skills of the Nation are strategic objectives of NSF. To support its mission and this objective, NSF continues to invest in programs that directly advance the nation’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce. As part of this effort, a supplemental funding opportunity is being made available starting in FY 2019 to provide support for mentored, student-led design projects that are directly related to currently funded NSF awards from the Engineering Directorate. This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) describes a new opportunity for principal investigators to expand the Broader Impact of their awards through a Design Supplement.

Background

Engineering, by its very nature, involves design – creating solutions to real world problems. While the design process can take place based on existing technologies and well-established science, engineering innovation often requires a connection to cutting-edge science. One way to prepare future engineering professionals to interact with researchers and push the frontiers of engineering innovation is to introduce this connection to engineering students. While Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supplements allow individual students to be integrated into a research laboratory experience, the research and design processes are very different.

As defined by ABET, the accrediting organization for engineering programs in the US, engineering design is a process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs and specifications within constraints1. It is an iterative process that involves identifying opportunities, developing requirements, performing analysis, generating multiple solutions, evaluating those solutions against the requirements, considering risks, and making trade-offs – all for the purpose of obtaining a high-quality solution under the given circumstances. All students in an accredited engineering program must complete a culminating design experience. Providing a mechanism to connect students’ design education to the research conducted in NSF-funded laboratories will create a bridge between the discovery of research and the translational potential of design.

Supplemental Funding Opportunity

NSF will consider supplemental funding requests to support student design projects connected to active NSF grants. The goals of these supplements are the following:

  • To connect student design projects to innovative, NSF-supported research and the latest advances in engineering science.
  • To expose students to the discovery process of research while preparing them for their roles in the engineering workforce.
  • To provide a team of students with the funds necessary to pursue the design process, from need finding, industry and customer discovery, through prototyping and validation.

Description of Activities Supported

The PI of an active NSF award (see below for the participating Divisions) may request supplemental funding to support a mentored, student-led design project that is connected to their NSF award. To be eligible, the design-research connection should meet one of the following two criteria:

  • A project that builds on scientific advances from the research by applying that knowledge to solve a current challenge.
  • A project that challenges students to design a technology, device, or system to complement or augment the methods or aims of the research project.

In addition, eligible projects are expected to meet the following requirements:

  • Projects must be conducted by students, preferably as a team
  • The solution to the challenge should not be pre-determined (i.e. the students are not simply implementing a design developed by the PI), so that the students go through the complete engineering design process – including development of a prototype or system simulation, as appropriate.
  • The project should require students to consider relevant standards and realistic constraints.
  • Project support from the supplement must be used to support the design process, including need finding, industry and customer discovery, prototyping, and validation/verification, not student time.

Requirements

PIs must describe how the design project will be mentored and assessed. The project may be part of a capstone design course or an independent project course, both of which have mentoring and assessment frameworks. Please see the list below for the participating divisions that will consider these supplemental funding requests.

Participating Divisions – Directorate for Engineering

Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET)

Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)

Electrical, Communications, and Cyber Systems (ECCS)

Additional information including preparation instructions, funding amount, allowable costs, due dates and period of support can be found in the NSF Dear Colleague letter NSF 19-078.

National Science Foundation (NSF) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Collaborative Research Opportunity in Smart and Connected Communities

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The US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Research Cooperation. The MOC provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between the US and Japanese research communities. NSF and JST are pleased to announce a collaborative research opportunity aligned with the goals of the NSF Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) Program.

Complementary expertise and resources in the US and Japan enable research in areas which are fundamental to smart and connected community solutions. Specific areas include, but are not limited to, disaster response and emergency management, precision agriculture, cybersecurity of the electric grid and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, and wired and wireless networking.

Proposals are expected to adhere to the solicitation guidelines for the NSF and JST programs from which the funding is sought and must represent an integrated, well-coordinated collaborative effort. This document provides guidelines for the preparation, submission, review, and award of NSF-JST collaborative proposals. Proposers are advised that all documents submitted to NSF or JST may be shared with the other agency in order to implement the two-way agency activities

NSF Solicitation – Smart and Connected Communities, NSF 19-564. Eligible award category: Planning Grants.

NSF Deadline: September 6, 2019

JST Solicitation – Japan (JST) – US (NSF) Joint Research 2019. Deadline: September 8, 2019.

Additional information can be found in the NSF Dear Colleague letter about the joint NSF – JST Collaborative Research Opportunity. 

Diversity Program Consortium Dissemination and Translation Awards (DPC DaTA) (U01)

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The Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) Dissemination and Translation Awards (DaTA) initiative is designed to broaden the consortium’s national impact. The DPC DaTA initiative provides an opportunity for institutions not currently part of the DPC to apply for funding to take a rigorous scientific approach to understanding the effectiveness of a biomedical research training, mentoring, or research capacity building intervention by employing DPC experimental methods (see DPC data elements/survey instruments and hallmarks of success).

Funded programs must:

  • Conduct hypothesis-driven research;
  • use rigorous DPC methods for evaluation (e.g., the use of matched controls and/or comparison groups); and,
  • disseminate the results to inform the biomedical community on what factors enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce and why those factors have an influence.

Research results are expected to move beyond participation satisfaction, self-reporting of perceived skills gained, or self-reporting of effectiveness. Accordingly, the interventions are to be centered not only on psychosocial factors but also on outcomes.

The interventions should:

  • Inform the field about the effectiveness of the duration, frequency, and intensity of the intervention and whether those effects can be enhanced by reinforcement sessions;
  • provide the scientific community with sound evidence of short-, medium-, and long-term effects of the efficacy of the interventions; and,
  • be cost-effective, practical, realistic, scalable, and sustainable at a broad range of institutions.

NIH intends to fund primarily undergraduate institutions with a commitment to providing educational opportunities to research-oriented students from diverse backgrounds (see NIH’s Interest in Diversity). Eligible institutions are expected to be:

  • Domestic associate’s degree-granting and/or baccalaureate degree-granting colleges/universities that received an average of NIH research project grant funding of less than $7.5 million total costs per year over the past 3 fiscal years; and,
  • have at least 25 percent of undergraduate students supported by Pell grants.

These awards will be cooperative agreements, which means that there will be substantial federal scientific or programmatic involvement. NIH scientific and/or program staff will assist, guide, coordinate, or participate in the project activities.

The scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum project period is 3 years. The DPC DaTA program is not intended for professional schools or Phase I awardees of the DPC. Application budgets are limited to $250K with no funds allowable for alterations and renovations, large equipment, and student financial support.

For more information about the DPC DaTA program, see the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, RFA-RM-19-003, or contact Dr. Anissa J. Brown at anissa.brown@nih.gov.

Additional information can be found in the RFA available at RFA-RM-19-003.

On July 17, NIGMS staff will offer a webinar to provide an overview of the program and explain application expectations and requirements for the upcoming Oct. 8, 2019 receipt date.