Tag Archives: NSF

NSF Demographic Information Site has Moved from Fastlane to Research.gov

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Please be advised that effective May 20, 2019, the Demographic Information site has moved from FastLane to the Research.gov Account Management site, so you can manage your profile data in one location.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Demographic information previously entered on the FastLane site was migrated to “My Profile” in Research.gov. 
  • To view or edit your demographic information:
    • Sign in to Research.gov and click on “My Profile” located at the top of the screen.
    • Demographic information is located on your “View/Edit Profile” page. 
    • Scroll down to the Demographic Information section at the bottom of your profile to view the demographic information you previously provided in FastLane or to update your demographic information.
  • Submission of the requested demographic information is voluntary. NSF asks for demographic data relating to gender, ethnicity/race, and disability status to gauge whether our programs and other opportunities in science and technology are fairly reaching and benefiting everyone regardless of demographic category; and to ensure that those in underrepresented groups have the same knowledge of and access to programs, meetings, vacancies, and other research and educational opportunities as everyone else.

Screenshots of the new Research.gov Demographic Information section are available in the Account Management Guide, and new questions have been added to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Additional Account Management resources are accessible from the Research.gov About Account Management page.

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.

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

Limited Submission Opportunity – Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM)

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Internal Limited Submission Deadline to the Office of Research Administration: Monday, January 1, 2019 at 5pm.

NSF Deadline: February 22, 2019

Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) funds research projects that identify (1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical STEM researchers and (2) approaches to developing those factors in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits proposals for research that explores the following: ‘What constitutes responsible conduct for research (RCR), and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why?’  Factors one might consider include:  honor codes,  professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements,  curricula or memberships in organizations (e.g. Engineers without Borders) that stress responsible conduct for research,  institutions that  serve  under-represented groups,  institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple levels,  institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that promote group work, or do not grade.  Do certain labs have a ‘culture of academic integrity’? What practices contribute to the establishment and maintenance of ethical cultures and how can these practices be transferred, extended to, and integrated into other research and learning settings?

Successful proposals typically have a comparative dimension, either between or within institutional settings that differ along these or among other factors, and they specify plans for developing interventions that promote the effectiveness of identified factors.

CCE STEM research projects will use basic research to produce knowledge about what constitutes or promotes responsible or irresponsible conduct of research, and how to best instill students with this knowledge. In some cases, projects will include the development of interventions to ensure responsible research conduct.

Proposals for awards from minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions), women’s colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged. Proposals including international collaborations are encouraged when those efforts enhance the merit of the proposed work by incorporating unique resources, expertise, facilities or sites of international partners. The U.S. team’s international counterparts generally should have support or obtain funding through other sources.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

Only one proposal may be submitted by an eligible organization.

For full program details visit NSF’s CCE STEM webpage or the solicitation 18-532.

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

NSF to Launch New Proposal Preparation and Submission Site on Research.gov April 30, 2018

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Beginning on April 30, 2018, proposers will be able to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research.gov system. The initial release of this new Research.gov capability will run in parallel with existing FastLane proposal preparation and submission capabilities. As a result, proposers can choose to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov or in FastLane starting on April 30, 2018.  Other proposal types will be added to Research.gov in the future. Please note, proposals initiated in the new system will not be available in FastLane and proposals prepared in FastLane will not be available in the new system. This new system is being developed incrementally and as capabilities are migrated from FastLane to Research.gov, the system features will expand until it eventually replaces FastLane for proposal preparation and submission. There will be no impact to Grants.gov and Application Submission Web Services (ASWS), and NSF will continue to fully support these proposal submission methods.

The Research.gov proposal site modernizes proposal preparation and submission capabilities and focuses on enhancing the user experience and reducing administrative burden with an intuitive interface and real-time compliance checking. The new functionality provides the ability to create, submit, track, and update proposals associated with active NSF funding opportunities and furthers NSF’s goal to provide quick access to proposal information and grants management services in one location.

Research.gov Proposal Preparation Site Preview

On February 26, 2018, NSF began previewing the new Research.gov proposal preparation site to the research community to collect preliminary feedback and to provide the community an opportunity to become familiar with the new interface before the official site launch on April 30, 2018. The preview will continue until 8:00PM EDT on April 27, 2018, and allows any research community user with a FastLane or Research.gov account to test the new Research.gov proposal preparation features.

We encourage you to check out the preview site before April 27, 2018. Please keep in mind that all test data entered on the Research.gov proposal preparation site during the preview period (February 26, 2018 through April 27, 2018) will be deleted before the full site is launched on April 30, 2018.

Feedback on Proposal Preparation Site Preview

Feedback from the research community and NSF staff about proposal preparation in Research.gov during the preview period is critical to NSF and will be used to enhance and expand Research.gov incrementally. Feedback on the Research.gov preview site may be submitted via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ProposalPreparation.

Additional Information

Resources including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a system capabilities release timeline are available on the Research.gov About Proposal Preparation and Submission page. A series of short instructional videos is currently in development and will be posted on the About Proposal Preparation and Submission page. 

We hope that you are as excited as we are about the official launch of the Research.gov proposal preparation and submission site for full, research non-collaborative proposals on April 30, 2018!

For IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or rgov@nsf.gov. Policy-related questions should be directed to policy@nsf.gov.

Regards,

The Research.gov Team at the National Science Foundation