Category Archives: Limited Submissions

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.

Limited Submission Opportunity – Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers

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NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers: Limited Submission Opportunity

 

Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Friday, April 19, 2019

NSF Preliminary Proposal Due Date (required): June 24, 2019

Funding Opportunity Description

The nature of materials research demands mechanisms to support interdisciplinary collaboration for the conception and execution of ideas, and for developing the capabilities to sustain our nation’s competitiveness in the production of new technology and products based on advances in materials research. Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs) are expected to contribute to the development of a diverse and globally competitive scientific workforce for increased economic competitiveness of the United States.

MRSECs support multidisciplinary materials research and education of the highest quality while addressing fundamental problems in materials science of a scope and complexity requiring the scale and synergy provided by a campus-based research center. MRSECs require outstanding research quality, intellectual breadth, multidisciplinarity, flexibility in responding to new research opportunities, support for research infrastructure, and foster the integration of research and education in the materials field. They are expected to have strong links to industry and other sectors, as appropriate, and to contribute to the development of a national network of university-based centers in materials research.

The NSF’s mission is to promote and facilitate the progress of science, engineering, and related education in the United States. Its role in supporting research and education is particularly important in creating physical and human resources infrastructure in both traditional and emerging areas. NSF also promotes partnerships, including collaboration with other US IHEs, agencies, industry, national and government laboratories, for projects of mutual interest. International collaborations are also strongly encouraged.

The MRSEC program reinforces NSF’s commitment to excellence in research and education; it is national in scope and significance, requiring coordination of the overall effort among Centers. The MRSEC program complements, but does not substitute for, NSF support for individual investigators, small groups, national user facilities, and instrumentation in materials research.

 

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

Only one MRSEC preliminary proposal may be submitted by any one organization as the lead institution in this competition.

 

For full program details visit NSF’s webpage or the solicitation NSF-19-517.

 

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

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 – 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.

NSF – Partnerships for Innovation (PFI)

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Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 5pm.

NSF Deadline: February 1, 2018

The NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) offers researchers the opportunity to transform new knowledge into societal benefits through translational research and technology development efforts which catalyze partnerships to accelerate innovations that address significant societal needs.

This solicitation offers two broad tracks for proposals in pursuit of the six goals: 1. The Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track supporting proof-of-concept, prototype, or technology development and scale-up for broader collaborative activities and partnerships, technology licensing, technology spin-outs, and expanded entrepreneurial activity.  2. The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track provides an opportunity to support technology development activities through a multi-organization collaboration.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 2

An organization may submit no more than two (2) proposals to this solicitation. This eligibility constraint will be strictly enforced. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the first two proposals received will be accepted, and the remainder will be returned without review. An organization will not receive more than one (1) award from this solicitation.

For full program details visit NSF’s PFI webpage.

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