Research Development & Grant Writing News

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Volume 8, Issue 8: April 15, 2018 Table of Contents       

Topics of Interest URLs Why Is Your Research in the National Interest Silent Partner Flaw in Team Proposals NSF’s Vision for Future Research Centers How to Formulate Hypotheses for NSF and NIH Navigating International Grants - Horizon 2020 Grants Are Awarded Not Anointed (Reprinted from April 2015 ) Research Grant Writing Web Resources Educational Grant Writing Web Resources Agency Research News Agency Reports, Workshops & Roadmaps New Funding Opportunities About Academic Research Funding Strategies

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!! Heads up to Subscribers !! ALL current subscriptions to RD&GWN expire with the June 15 th issue. We will begin the 2018-19 resubscription notification process in May. SERVICES: Grant Workshops for Faculty; Grant Strategy Workshops for Research Offices; Proposal Narrative Support.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News © Published monthly since 2010 for faculty and research professionals by Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC

Mike Cronan & Lucy Deckard, co-Publishers Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

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©Please do not post to open websites© About the co-publishers MIKE CRONAN, PE (Texas 063512, inactive) has 23 years of experience developing and writing successful team proposals at Texas A&M University. He was named a Texas A&M University System Regents Fellow (20012010) for developing and writing A&M System-wide grants funded at over $100 million by NSF and other funding agencies. He developed and directed two research development and grant writing offices, one for Texas A&M’s VPR and the other for the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (15 research divisions state-wide), including the Texas A&M College of Engineering. LUCY DECKARD (BS/MS Materials) worked in research development and grant writing at Texas A&M University and across the A&M System for nine years. She directed A&M’s New Faculty Research Initiative (2004-09), helping junior faculty System-wide jumpstart their research careers with federal agency funding. She served as associate director of two research development and grant writing offices. She founded ARFS in 2010. About the Editor

KATHERINE E. KELLY, Ph.D., is a retired

Katherine E. Kelly, PhD: Editing in the Humanities (See About the Editor) Our Large Team Grant eBook! Strategies for Planning, Developing, and Writing Large Team Grants Order Here

English professor from Texas A&M University. She is the author of several books and numerous articles and served as a contributing editor for an academic journal for five years. She provides editorial services to RD&GW News and to ARFS clients on proposals, journal articles, and manuscripts.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Topics of Interest URLs (Back to Page 1) Reporter's notebook: House budget hearing shows science chairman's impact on NSF peer review Statement by NAS, NAE, and NAM Presidents on Effort to Counter Online Misinformation Secretary of Energy Rick Perry Announces $1.8 Billion Initiative for New Supercomputers Impact of Teams Receiving NIH Funding NSF Seeking to Take Risks Despite Flat Budget Proposal Department of Energy Partners with NASA to Call for Transformative Energy Ideas NSF introducing a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) NSF/USDA/NIFA Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) May 15, 2018 NSF CAREER Program Webinar NSF CAREER Program Webinar Presentation Slides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program for Submission in Years 2017 - 2019 (NSF 17-050) Keck Foundation Research Program NIH will examine whether director of alcoholism institute improperly stopped funding policy studies Many Scientific Studies Are Bogus, but Blockchain Can Help Can soil science research dig itself out from a citation stacking scandal? What if we could scan for image duplication the way we check for plagiarism? Updated: U.S. spending deal contains largest research spending increase in a decade Barriers to Scientific Research Are Holding Back Innovation NSF FY 2019 Budget Request to Congress FY19 Budget Request: DOE Applied R&D Slashed Again Dear Colleague Letter: Growing Convergence Research Final FY18 Appropriations: NASA Final FY18 Appropriations: National Science Foundation Final FY18 Appropriations: DOE Office of Science Final FY18 Appropriations: DOE Applied Energy R&D Final FY18 Appropriations: Department of Defense Final FY18 Appropriations: National Institute of Standards and Technology Final FY18 Appropriations: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Final FY18 Appropriations: National Nuclear Security Administration Final FY18 Appropriations: STEM Education Final FY18 Appropriations: National Institutes of Health Congressional and Research Community Leaders Praise Science Spending Surge Make Your Voice Heard! We want Your Ideas to Reduce Administrative Burden in Research with Lab Animals NSF Grants Conference - Detroit, MI - June 2018 Mosquito spit can bust blood clots in mice NIH moves to punish researchers who violate confidentiality in proposal reviews Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2016 Report FY 2019 Budget Summary Brochure NIH moves to punish researchers who violate confidentiality in proposal reviews US Confronting Threat of Chinese Exploitation of Intellectual Property NSF Freedom Of Information Act Report FY 2017 Call for Experts on Soil Organic Carbon Monitoring Secretary Perdue Issues USDA Statement on Plant Breeding Innovation Science Committee Examines National Labs’ Role in Technology Development Building EPSCoR-State/DOE-National Laboratory Partnerships

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Research Development & Grant Writing News David Spiegelhalter on Communicating Statistics Reforms Needed to Help Launch Careers of Young Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists Got data? Survey of 2017 March for Science doesn't make the grade Mozilla is currently seeking proposals for research Dear Colleague Letter: Improving Graduate Student Preparedness for the Chemistry Workforce A Look at Preparation and Supports for Early-Career Teachers in the U.S. Dear Colleague Letter: Towards a New Approach for the Provision of Marine Seismic Capabilities to the U.S. Research Community New Report Examines Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Congress orders USDA to restore transparency, completeness, to animal welfare reports Accelerating Discovery: Educating the Future STEM Workforce Dear Colleague Letter: Research Opportunities in Europe for NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellows Dear Colleague Letter: Research Opportunities in Europe for NSF CAREER Awardees Can a new study tell you how to avoid getting sick on a plane-or just the best bathroom to use? Commissioned Papers Assessment of Informal and Afterschool Science Learning Women’s History Month: The science of broadening participation of women in STEM Number of doctorates awarded by US institutions in 2016 close to all-time high Definitions of Research and Development: An Annotated Compilation of Official Sources Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACU) Certification Process Small Business Technology Transfer Program Phase I (STTR) June 2018 Submission Scientists decry lack of science in 'forensic science' How often do scientists who commit misconduct do it again? Update: After Congress complains, USDA restores animal welfare reports Dear Colleague Letter: Catalyzing Rapid Creation of New Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) with a Direct Submission Option for Phase I Centers Theft of US R&D by Other Nations Grabs Attention of Science Committee New Report Provides Projections of Education Statistics to 2026 Panel calls for a postdoc tax and other measures to help biomedical scientists find jobs

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Help NSF Explain Why Your Research Is in the National Interest Copyright 2018 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved. By Mike Cronan, co-publisher (Back to Page 1)

Claims that federal agencies waste taxpayers’ dollars on research that fails to meet the national interest are not new. Representative Lamar Smith (R–TX) is one current critic calling out NSF for wasteful funding and a flawed peer review system. But this critical political narrative goes all the way back to Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) who famously and very publicly gave out the annual Golden Fleece Award from 1975 to 1988, the first of which went to NSF for spending $84,000 on a research study on love. (See Full Committee Hearing An Overview of the National Science Foundation Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2019; Testimony of Dr. Frances Córdova, director, National Science Foundation; Testimony of Dr. Maria T. Zuber, chair, National Science Board; and the Consortium of Social Science Associations’ recent postings on this topic.) Whether or not Representative Smith is channeling the late Senator Proxmire is best left to political historians to argue. But for faculty and the research offices that support their proposal submissions to NSF, it is becoming increasingly important to explain the national significance of the proposed research. According to Córdova’s testimony before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, chaired by Smith, (March 15), the online description of every NSF award will now include a specific sentence noting that the research “reflects NSF’s statutory mission.” The intent of this language she explained “is meant to be a pause for every division director to ask whether the research fulfills national needs.” Faculty and research offices that seek funding from NSF need to take Córdova’s statement to heart. Rest assured that, in the coming months, anyone submitting a proposal to NSF would be wise to address up front in the project description and the project summary exactly why and how their proposed research fulfills a national need(s). While there may be a long-standing economic policy debate about the outcomes of “trickle down economics” and whether or not it carries long-term social benefits, you can be confident there will not be a similar ambiguity when it comes to the importance of your proposal fulfilling a national need if you hope to have it funded by NSF. Moreover, Representative Smith’s views on this topic will impact the writing of proposals to NSF in the coming years in a much more dramatic way than a mere “trickle.” Expect instead an impact more like a flash flood. Fortunately, the most important takeaway from this March 15 meeting is that Córdova’s statement will clarify to division directors, who will then clarify to program officers, who in turn will clarify to reviewers, an expectation of what is required to be competitive for NSF funding. This also signals to research offices and faculty an important criterion NSF will use in making a funding decision. However, the good news here is that this criterion--that future research proposed to NSF must fulfill national needs--is not, in most cases, new or onerous or difficult to address in the research narrative. In fact, those who have been successfully funded at NSF in the past have already been addressing this when they explain the significance of their proposed

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Research Development & Grant Writing News research to the agency’s mission, or to the scientific field. So this is not so much something new under the sun but a more specific rephrasing of what has always been a pillar of successful grant writing with respect to addressing significance. The important point here is that research offices pass this valuable information on to faculty when they review their proposals or when they give workshops on writing proposals to NSF. Writing about the importance of your proposed research to the national interest is easily done, or should be in most cases. However, faculty must understand that this demonstration of importance must meet the expectations of NSF. The national interest discussion “is meant to be a pause for every division director to ask whether the research fulfills national needs.” So the most important part of this discussion is that faculty become aware of this expectation. Finally, it is important that this criterion be addressed clearly and upfront in the research narrative so that program officers and reviewers can use your language to justify recommending your proposal for funding. Make this task of justifying your research easy on them by writing an easily understood explanation of why your research advances critical national needs.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Avoid the Silent Partner Flaw in Team Proposals Copyright 2018 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved. By Mike Cronan, co-publisher (Back to Page 1)

The new tax law offers some financial benefits to a designated “silent partner” in a Limited Liability Corporation. But make no mistake, absolutely no benefits follow from serving as a “silent partner” on a team proposal. In practice, including a “silent partner” on a team proposal waves a red flag in the faces of reviewers and program officers as they go about making a funding decision. In the world of grant writing, a “silent partner” is typically a person(s) or an institution(s) mentioned in the research narrative and listed in the budget as important to the program objectives and review guidelines. But the role played by this person or institution receives little or no explanation, leaving reviewers to conclude that the silent partner is simply a passive bystander. For instance, in many cases, a proposal’s silent partner(s) may be brought into a project to meet the program solicitation’s specific review criteria, but are seemingly forgotten in the narrative description, essentially becoming a programmatic step child. Silent partners can originate from several sources: from a funding agency’s requirement that minority or predominately undergraduate institutions participate in large research grants; from a requirement for faculty from the social and behavioral sciences who can address the societal impacts of the proposed research; from a situation in which women and minority faculty are underrepresented in the proposal’s research disciplines; in cases requiring project evaluators for educational components of a grant; when outreach partners from K-12 schools and community colleges, or various alliance partnerships, such as the NSF AGEP, are needed among multiple institutions to create graduate pipelines, institutional culture change, workforce development, regional centers of excellence, etc. In these examples, the red flag being waved is the near absence of explanatory detail in the project description of why a partnership or team approach is necessary . Reviewers want to know (1) how project participants will both impact and be impacted by the project; (2) how, why and in what ways the configuration of the participants advances the agency objectives and meets the agency review criteria; (3) how the project will be managed to ensure that all participants will benefit from project integration and synergy rather than remaining siloed; and (4) how all participants will play an active role in the project and be engaged in the decisionmaking process. In short, the project description must clarify that participants listed in the budget will be engaged in the project in a substantive way, at least proportionally to their budget allocation. At all costs, avoid the appearance, as well as the reality, that the participants on the project were not engaged in its development; that they played little or no role in project decision-making processes; and that they are entirely overshadowed by a dominant partner who appears to be the single voice of the project narrative. When this situation appears to be the case, reviewers and program officers alike wonder whether the other participants are mere pawns on a chess board. For example, one frequent telltale sign of silent partners may occur in a section of the proposal that gives brief profiles of the institutional partner(s). When these

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Research Development & Grant Writing News descriptions read as if they have been copied and pasted from an institutional partner’s website, with little or no attention to becoming integrated into the narrative, alarm bells sound. The good news here is that “silent partner syndrome” is usually the unintended consequence of insufficient thought being given to the organization of the proposal narrative and not one of purposeful exclusion. Hence, it is fairly easy to correct this narrati ve deficiency in subsequent drafts demonstrating the engagement of all participants in the project.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News NSF’s Vision for Future Research Centers Copyright 2018 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved. By Mike Cronan, co-publisher (Back to Page 1)

Whether or not you plan to submit a proposal to NSF’s next Engineering Research Centers solicitation, you can now find a roadmap for preparing successful center-scale proposals for NSF and other federal research agencies as well. Over the past several months, a series of publications have appeared which, when taken together, offer valuable guidance for future center proposals. One of these reports, a 102-page study (2017) by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, entitled A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research (free pdf download here), identifies the foundational underpinnings motivating large-center research at federal agencies, as quoted below (emphasis added). “The future security, economic growth, and competitiveness of the United States depend on its capacity to innovate. Major sources of innovative capacity are the new knowledge and trained students generated by U.S. research universities. However, many of the complex technical and societal problems the United States faces cannot be addressed by the traditional model of individual university research groups headed by a single principal investigator. Instead, they can only be solved if researchers from multiple institutions and with diverse expertise combine their efforts.” Those with experience on NSF center proposals, most notably the ERCs and STCs going back to the late 1980s, will recognize a single striking characteristic of their evolution over the past 30 years. This quality also predicts where they are likely to go in the future—they have continuously evolved through multiple generations. That planned generational evolution, to paraphrase the iconic Star Trek mission, is to “boldly go where no one has gone before,” or, as the evolutionary biologist might characterize it, to undergo a “punctuated equilibrium.” With this is mind, NSF has envisioned a fourth generation ERC. Moreover, an important preview of what this next generation ERC will look like can be gleaned from the recent NSF solicitation, Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers (ERC) and the accompanying Engineering Research Center Planning Grants Webinar scheduled for April 16. (If you miss the webinar, the webinar materials are usually downloadable within a week of the live streaming date.) NSF’s direction for future centers programs emerges clearly in the synopsis of the ERC planning grant solicitation (emphasis added): “The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. . . . The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacity-building within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community’s thinking about how to form convergent research collaborations.” If you are thinking of attempting to “grab the brass ring” of an ERC, or similar center, this language should give you pause, and if it doesn’t, you are likely already competitively hobbled in the ability to clearly and compellingly characterizing your research in terms of its societal benefits, underlying convergent approaches, and reasons for your proposed team

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Research Development & Grant Writing News configuration. It would be a reasonable assumption that those who do not fare well in the upcoming ERC competitions will be those who do not take the time to review these NSF and NSF-referenced documents to fully understand the expectations of those who are successfully funded under the ERC program. You cannot possibly give NSF the answers it’s looking for in a proposal if you do not clearly understand the questions you are being asked and the context in which those questions are being asked as they reflect what NSF sees as the characteristics of the convergent research enterprise of the future. With this in mind, another document important to understanding how NSF will likely characterize future centers is the March 23 Dear Colleague Letter: Growing Convergence Research. In this document, NSF identifies Convergence Research as having two primary characteristics:  “Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Research requiring a convergence paradigm is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs.  Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or disciplines can form from sustained interactions across multiple communities.” Based on the above, NSF notes (emphasis added) that these planning grants are intended to “build capacity in the engineering community for center-scale, convergent engineering research. . . . Prospective Principal Investigators are encouraged to read this solicitation carefully for planning grant proposal submission requirements and the ERC program priorities. The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacity-building within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community’s thinking about how to form convergent research collaborations.” The most important takeaway from these documents is that, if you are even considering submitting a center-scale proposal to NSF or other federal research agency, now is the time for your team to start doing its homework to determine whether you are prepared, willing, and able to do what it takes to create a competitive proposal in this new funding environment. It is telling that these documents were published during the 2018 March Madness where 64 women’s and 68 men’s college basketball teams played for their respective national championships, with Notre Dame and Villanova emerging as the final winners. In the case of both the ERC and of March Madness, a grueling elimination process determined the few winners, one during the month of March and the other over an 18+-month selection process. Importantly, in both cases, an integrated team that plays exceptionally well “in all aspects of the game” is paramount to success.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News As NSF notes, “To support convergence research, NSF will need to address the key technical, organizational and logistical challenges that currently hinder truly transdisciplinary research. This involves a critical look at criteria and metrics, and adapting the merit review process to represent the broad expertise needed to review and identify the best ideas.” In any successful proposal in this context, it will be important to describe how you are addressing the “key technical, organizational and logistical challenges” in a way that makes convergence research in a transdisciplinary environment possible and successful. This is not a trivial criterion to meet. Moreover, it will require a very convincing management plan to be assembled and described in the proposal. NSF goes on to note “NSF recognizes that the convergence of disciplines is a process. The Foundation seeks to promote convergent approaches among teams having varying degrees of integration among their disciplines, and at varying stages of readiness to adopt a convergence strategy. The key considerations are the potential for advancing a compelling research challenge that requires a novel and deep integration of expertise, and evidence that the proposed activities will develop convergence.” Some of the key characteristics of convergence research projects are outlined below by NSF (emphasis added) and represent key information that should inform your research narrative if you are to be successful.  “Need for a convergent approach: A convergence project should make a compelling argument for why it is essential to bring together substantially different science and engineering disciplines to address a specific scientific challenge or social problem. The extent of disciplinary diversity may be assessed by the history of intellectual traditions; the development of different tools, techniques, and approaches; and the various venues for publication.  Readiness to engage in convergence research: In order to make significant progress, the research team would need to provide evidence of readiness to engage in the proposed convergence research, while simultaneously also representing different disciplines. Evidence for readiness might include previous interdisciplinary projects, joint publications of the PIs and co-PIs, specialized knowledge residing in the research team that is pertinent to the problem, and/or co-development of research infrastructure. Planning grants may be given to help teams engage in convergence research.  Integration of knowledge, tools, and modes of thinking: A convergence project should make a compelling case for the depth of integration of knowledge bases in the contributing disciplines; it should demonstrate strong coupling, high leveraging, and/or co-development of integrated and/or beneficially complementary tools and techniques from the contributing disciplines; and it should demonstrate novelty of the integrated research approach resulting from combinations of modes of thinking that are characteristic of the contributing disciplines.  Involvement of the next generation of convergence researchers: Convergence projects are encouraged to provide new learning and experiences to undergraduate students, graduate students, and/or postdocs that would help prepare them to become the next generation of convergence researchers. What roles will they play in learning to use new tools, instruments, and techniques that are central to convergence research? What concepts will they need to learn outside of their own disciplinary specialties, and how?

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Will the project provide new model learning environments that can be adapted in other convergence research projects?” In conclusion, the wise team will spend time as a team understanding these and related NSF documents in order to write a successful proposal. It will be time well spent!

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Research Development & Grant Writing News How to Formulate Hypotheses for NSF and NIH Copyright 2018 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved. By Lucy Deckard, co-publisher (Back to Page 1)

It’s often emphasized that many types of fundamental research proposals to NSF and NIH should be framed in terms of hypothesis-based research; however, researchers who typically conduct application-inspired research may struggle to formulate hypotheses. Below is short description of how to formulate hypotheses for such proposals.

What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis is a testable statement that helps explain a phenomenon or event. For proposals, it often makes predictions that the PI proposes to test as part of the proposed research. Remember, however, that for proposals to NSF and NIH, these predictions usually should be tied to an understanding of the underlying mechanism or theoretical framework. Hypotheses may be very focused, or they may be relatively broad, providing the rationale for specific strategies or approaches. Some projects also include a “working hypothesis” that motivates the proposed experiments and may or may not be true but is expected to provide important information either way. Below are some example hypotheses:  Broad central hypothesis (NIH proposal): “Targets of the HopU1 ADP-RT type III effector will be components of innate immunity.” This is a very broad hypothesis that inspires the rationale of the project and is supported by more focused hypotheses or research questions.  Focused (working) hypothesis related to the broad hypothesis above: “AtGRP7 binds to immunity-related RNAs to enhance the innate immune response and ADP-ribosylation of HopU1 disrupts its function.”  Hypothesis (NSF proposal): “The anti/de-icing efficiency of hydro-phobic surfaces should be determined by the wetting and adhesion states of super-cooled water or ice droplets on the structured surfaces, and denser structures with lower contact angle hysteresis and greater de-wetting stability should result in more efficient and durable anti/de-icing properties.”  Hypothesis (NSF proposal): “Stresses produced by external loads on a rock are distributed throughout the rock according to a pattern that resembles the pattern created by water flowing through otherwise dry sand.”  Central hypothesis for a more applied project (NSF proposal): “Nanoscale disordered metal oxides can serve as a host with a fairly open framework that can be electrochemically altered to form optimal structures for enhanced electrochemical charge storage.”

Formulating your hypothesis Remember that when you’re proposing a project to conduct fundamental research, one of the key criteria that reviewers will use to judge your proposal is the new knowledge you will generate. Hypotheses and research questions are the best way you can concisely articulate what that new knowledge will be. For NSF proposals, they are the central argument for the

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Research Development & Grant Writing News intellectual merit of your project. By making your hypotheses clear, specific and testable, you will help your reviewers understand how your proposed research will advance knowledge on the topic of your project. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will need to provide some evidence in your proposal that your hypothesis is likely to be true. This evidence can be from the literature, your prior work, or your preliminary results. The more unorthodox the hypothesis, the more evidence you will need to provide. Alternatively, you may be able to structure your hypothesis so that important information will result from the proposed research whether the hypothesis is supported or disproven. In some disciplines, researchers are expected to also specify the null hypothesis. This hypothesis describes the other possible outcomes should your hypothesis be untrue. For example, your hypothesis might be that X is related to Y. The null hypothesis would be that X and Y are not related. The proposed experiments should then be able to determine whether the hypothesis or the null hypothesis is true.

Research that does not have a hypothesis Early-stage research may not have a hypothesis but may instead be focused on gathering information that might inspire a hypothesis. For example, you might be interested in finding out what happens to A if you do B. Based on the results, you might then be able to formulate a hypothesis. In that case, you are conducting exploratory research. Such projects are more suitable for use as preliminary data, or you might be able to secure a grant from a program that is specifically designated to support exploratory research such as an NIH R21 or an NSF EAGER. Many research projects funded by NSF are framed in terms of research questions instead of hypotheses, although hypotheses are often implied. There are also disciplines and topics that do not lend themselves to hypothesis-based research. This is particularly true for tool development and application-focused research. Much of computer science research is focused more on overcoming specific challenges than on testing hypotheses. However, if you are pursuing funding from NSF or NIH, it’s important to determine if the program to which you’re applying expects to see a hypothesis-based proposal.

Other Resources Social Research Methods: Hypotheses Research Questions, Hypotheses and Objectives (NIH) Hypothesis:Wikipedia Introduction to Research: Understanding Hypotheses

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Navigating International Grants - Horizon 2020 Copyright 2018 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved.

By Rick Nader, Global Proposal Solutions, Consultant, Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC (Back to Page 1)

What is Horizon 2020 (H2020)? With approximately a quarter of all research expenditures worldwide, the EU is a natural partner with the U.S. for conducting joint research and in addressing global challenges. The EU also has made a bold commitment to invest 3% of GDP in R&D by 2020 (currently 2.03% according to Eurostat). The EU has been pooling R&D funding for EU-wide priorities since 1986, and the current framework program is called Horizon 2020 (in effect from 2014-2020). H2020 dedicated 77B Euros to address three areas: Excellent Science (24.4B), Industrial Leadership (17B) and Societal Challenges (31B). That’s quite a sizable investment considering NSF’s total annual budget is $7B, which equates to ~5.8B Euros/year. At a recent meeting in Washington, DC the two communities came together to discuss priority areas for EU-US Cooperation. So, can U.S. PI’s get some of this funding for their research? The answer is yes, across all three domains, but certain conditions must be met, and there are specific ways U.S. PI’s can participate. One key resource for U.S. PI’s is Bilat 4.0 www.EuUsScienceTechnology.eu which produces a “Guide for U.S. participation in the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation (2014-2020),” a must read for U.S. participants aspiring to partner with EU colleagues via H2020.

How can U.S. PI’s participate? Luckily, each solicitation has information about international collaboration possibilities and, PIs from other than EU countries will have to carefully review the rules for participation, and become familiar with the terminology specific to H2020 and EU funding processes. First, U.S. PI’s will need to register and follow the instructions on the portal. Second, U.S. PI’s need to establish a clear sense of the types of funding and work programs matching their research interests. Tip # 1: the H2020 calls for proposals are called “work programs”. Before taking this step, let’s look at 4 typical ways in which U.S. PI’s can participate, and determine which is appropriate for your participation. Basically, there are four ways U.S. PI’s can be involved: 1. As “beneficiary” which means the U.S. PI is directly included in the standard agreement. This is typical when a U.S. entity has established eligibility to receive H2020 funding, usually by having a “permanent presence” (another legal term) or some other legally eligible organizational structure. Pros include the fact that U.S. PI’s can receive up to 5 years’ funding for themselves and team and may reside outside Europe up to 50% of their time. Cons include the obvious fact that most universities do not have the eligibility to receive funding directly, except through establishment of a qualified European presence.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News 2. As an “international partner under article 14a” which means the PI participates without direct EU funding. This is typical when EU PI’s include U.S. colleagues in their proposal. Pros this provides flexibility and more ease in terms of reporting. Cons include the requirement for U.S. partners to sign the H2020 Grant Agreement which require adjustments to standard U.S. grant agreement terms and the burden to follow EU stipulations which test research administration’s familiarity levels. 3. As a “3rd party” which means the PI participates via subcontract or another legal means. Like a subcontract in the U.S., 3rd party is typically used when tasks are clear and distinguishable and U.S. contribution is critical but separate from the overall success of the research project. Pros include the specificity of a subcontract’s deliverables; cons include the fact that U.S. universities’ research administration still need to follow the H2020 grant award regulations and processes. 4. Finally, U.S. researchers may participate as a “Research partner” whereby the EU partners operate under EU rules and the U.S. PI operates under U.S. funding rules. This is typical where the U.S. PI has secured funding from U.S. federal sources or could obtain an award within the period of funding covered by H2020. Pros include a clear separation for U.S. participants from less familiar EU reporting, administrative and legal obligations. Another Pro is that US funding agencies, such as the NSF, may have authority to obligate funding toward EU collaboration up to $250,000. However, proposals still need to be peer reviewed via “normal” proposal solicitation processes. Cons include the requirement to have U.S. federal funding, which may take as much effort as submitting a regular proposal to a U.S. agency in addition to the responsibility for two sides to separately negotiate intellectual property rights, data management and dissemination processes. See http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm?pg=usa. Plan early for this option. As may be evident to the reader, the four ways progressively move the U.S. PI further away from EU regulations, compliance and obligations for award management and reporting. However, engaging with any international partner will require adjustments! The details of which mechanism is optimal depend on the institution’s ability to “agree/comply” with the terms of the H2020 MOUs. I say plural agreements, because there are multiple agreements in most cases governing these collaborations. TIP # 2: Interested PI’s at U.S. institutions should check early with their sponsored projects office to see what the level of familiarity is with H2020 funding. U.S. PI’s are not automatically eligible for the three major domains of H2020: Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges except through the above. One notable exception is that U.S. PI’s are automatically eligible to receive EU funding for U.S. participation for all topics in work programs listed under the Societal Challenge ‘Health, demographic change and well-being.’

What are critical issues for H2020 compared to U.S. funding? We all know that international cooperation is riskier, and likely the biggest risk to working with the EU is the new set of rules with which U.S. PI’s (and their institutions) must understand and be prepared to comply. Here are what some experts say about it:

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Research Development & Grant Writing News According to Claire Chen, director of Global Initiatives at NCURA – “one key drawback is the cap on Indirect Costs which is 25% for H2020 awards.” Another requirement is the necessity of the U.S. being one of two additional partners with the primary being an eligible EU entity. According to Mohammed Cherkaoui, Executive Director of Mississippi State’s EU Office, and formerly of Georgia Tech and CNRS (French funding agency) program officer, “Universities must have a global vision and be willing to find ways to work within or around domestically-focused research infrastructure. The EU is an “easy” partner once US collaborators have experience.” Finally, typical referents to research, such as PI, Co-PI etc., while largely the same, do not account for additional roles in EU H2020 funded proposals, such as the coordinator, who is the key individual that represents the ability to act on behalf of the grantee and has the responsibility for research management and, therefore should be carefully selected. The Coordinator is like a “super PI” in this context with both a requirement to understand the intellectual as well as the programmatic, administrative and reporting necessities of the research being conducted. TIP #3: the term “Coordinator” is highly relevant for H2020 proposals, awards and closeout.

Is it worth it? OK, if not yet convinced that a U.S. PI should pursue joint research collaborations via H2020, note that several forward thinking (typically private) universities such as Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and one public, University of South Florida (through USF World) have designed and implemented research support infrastructures geared to the special circumstances required when dealing with global and international research and collaboration. See if your institution has an international research plan in place or knows of a set of individuals in the research support office who are up-to-speed on H2020 necessities. What about the payoff? How much funding (or publications, reputational value, access to unique research resources) can come to the U.S. PI or institution? One answer comes from the Bilat 4.0 guide: “Most Horizon 2020 funding instruments cover support for direct costs including actual personnel costs (for eligible researchers, innovators and staff) and other direct costs (for travel, subsistence, equipment and materials) as well as a contribution towards indirect costs calculated as 25 per cent of all direct costs (personnel and other).” From: “Guide for U.S. Researchers” Bilat 4.0 Further, if you are wishing to develop new collaborations with European partners or would like to participate without the strictures of an implementing agreement, one of the best (most flexible) ways for U.S. faculty and graduate students to participate in H2020 Excellent Science is through Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA). MSCA calls to look for are European Fellowships, which offer U.S. researchers who have a PhD or four years of full time research experience with full funding for advanced research training in Europe for up to two years (including travel, accommodation and salary. Faculty interested in more information about fellowships should check out EURAXESS North America. According to Viktoria BODNAROVA, Regional Representative, EURAXESS North America “EURAXESS North America offers free information to the research community in the US and

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Canada about individual European fellowships and grants. Furthermore, we provide a networking platform for European as well as non-European researchers wishing to go back to Europe or stay connected to it." Still unsure whether or with whom you want to work in the EU? U.S. PI’s can look to CORDIS to find grant details, funding, participants, publications and summaries, as well as potential collaborators seeking U.S. partners. As must be clear by now, the road diverges “into the [EU] wood” in multiple ways and has many branches full of complexities. Therefore, rely heavily on your EU partner to help you ferret out the optimal ways, and reach out to those with experience mentioned in this article. --------------------------Special thanks to Viktoria BODNAROVA Claire Chen Mohammed Cherkaoui The author may be reached at [email protected] If your institution would like to take a look at its Global Research and Education capacity, Academic Funding Research Strategies, LLC as well as Global Proposal Solutions may be able to help.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Grants Are Awarded Not Anointed Copyright 2015 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved. Reprinted from April 2014

By Mike Cronan, co-publisher (Back to Page 1)

One challenging expectation that comes up in grant writing workshops, as well as in support of faculty writing proposals, is the not infrequent notion that there exists “insider information” available to only a few “in the know” that guarantees funding success at an agency, but is otherwise unavailable to the vast majority of applicants submitting a proposal. This belief, perhaps better characterized as an urban legend, is somewhat mindful of pop singer Dobie Gray’s 1964 hit “The ‘In’ Crowd” (“…I'm in with the in crowd, And I know what the in crowd knows…”). The way this assumption often plays out is the belief that any research development professional, grant writer, or grant mentor worth his or her salt should be a treasure trove of “insider information” easily transferred to the uninitiated through a form of Vulcan Mind Meld. This is wishful thinking, of course, particularly the assumption that it is possible to escape all the hard work and difficult intervening steps (planning well, writing well, revising well) required to write a successful grant—which all presupposes an idea of significant value to the funding agency exists in the first place to warrant support. But the idea that success is somehow bestowed rather than earned is a common human dream that extends well beyond grant writing. Most often this belief in insider information assumes there is some mysterious person within an agency channeling “Deep Throat” of Watergate fame and giving out privileged information to a privileged few. It is one of the more curious and stubbornly persistent myths of grant writing—that all that is needed for funding success is to get the inside scoop that is sprinkled on a proposal like magical pixie dust by someone claiming to channel Tinker Bell. That kind of insider information may work briefly to a person’s advantage in the stock market, although it did not end well for the likes of Martha Stewart and Michael Milken, but it is a fool’s errant in grant writing. Bottom line: Grants are awarded not anointed. Once that fundamental rule is accepted and understood, the real hard work of planning, developing, and writing a successful proposal can begin. This is not to say that information about a particular agency or program outside the scope of the specific details addressed in a solicitation is not important. An understanding of the broader agency vision, mission, culture, strategic plan, funding priorities, role of program officers, merit review process, etc. are always important dimensions to keep in mind when writing the research narrative and defining the value and impact of your research to the agency and the field. For example, if you are advising faculty on writing proposals to NSF, it is important that they understand NSF’s decades-long mantra calling for the “integration of research and education,” and “diversity of the scientific workforce,” among others, particularly including “intellectual merit” and “broader impacts.” These are critical pieces of information for anyone seeking NSF funding. NSF has repeated these terms publicly in an endless drumbeat, and yet

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Research Development & Grant Writing News they are too often ignored as an obvious declaration of key criteria for evaluating proposals during the review process. Fact: The most important “insider information” needed for success at a federal research agency is often “hidden in plain sight”: agency websites. Moreover, the most common reasons proposals are not funded stem not from the lack of so-called “insider information” but from a failure to sift through and think about an enormous amount of available information, starting with the solicitation and referenced documents that define the goals and objectives of any proposed research. Perhaps the most common shortcoming of proposals declined for funding is that they fail to respond fully to the solicitation, followed by proposals that are poorly written and organized, proposals that do not clarify the significance and value-added benefits of the research in the context of the agency mission or the field, and proposals that do not advance the research field in some clear and convincing way, among many other reasons. Proposals are declined for these reasons—not because the proposer failed to discover mysterious insider information. Proposals are declined because the proposed ideas are not fundable for various reasons, perhaps the ideas offer only modest impact to the field or on the agency mission, or the ideas do not fit the agency agenda, or perhaps the research team has no history of collaboration, or the rationale for the research is poorly stated, or a convincing case is not made for the capacity to perform the research, or the research plan is flawed, or the research narrative itself is flawed and obscures the value of the proposed research, and on and on. Regardless, the finger of blame for a declined proposal always points back to those who planned, developed, and wrote it—it is never the fault of the agency, the reviewers, or the lack of insider information. All information needed for writing a successful proposal is always available to be known if you do your due diligence—seek it out, find it, think about it, and use it to your advantage in writing the research narrative. What too often is thought of as “insider information” is really just information that someone has been astute and strategic and persistent enough to garner over time and then to apply to writing a funded proposal. Moreover, while the wellspring of important information on grant success comes from understanding the vision, mission, culture, strategic directions, solicitations, funding priorities, etc. of research agencies through websites, agency grant conferences, workshops, reports, etc., an important complementary source of information about an agency comes from colleagues. Seek out those who have been successful at the agency, who have served as reviewers at the agency, and those who have served as agency program officers. Don’t overlook research office staff with a robust corporate memory of specific factors that lead to success at specific agencies and programs and those who have a robust corporate memory of specific factors that led to failure at specific agencies and programs. Read funded proposals, declined proposals, and their reviews; join research affinity groups who are writing proposals; and offer to serve as a reviewer at an agency. As Thomas Edison once observed, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration.” This is good advice in grant writing as well. Writing successful grants is really hard work. Don’t be distracted by the belief in secret insider information like the misfit gold

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Research Development & Grant Writing News prospectors in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Just remember that grants are awarded to you and not anointed on you.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Research Grant Writing Web Resources (Back to Page 1)

Funding Update For FY 2018, the Congress appropriated $11.5 billion to HRSA programs. In the coming weeks and months HRSA will be issuing Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) for Health Center, Workforce, Rural Health, Maternal and Child Health and other programs. Please watch this space, the HRSA website – www.hrsa.gov, and www.grants.gov for these funding opportunity notices. HRSA encourages all eligible entities to apply. 2018 NSF CMMI CAREER Proposal Writing Workshop  NSF CMMI CAREER Workshop Agenda  Research 101 for Engineers  NSF Merit Review Criteria  Notes for Reviewers (17 – 537)  Mock Template of Panel Summary  NSF Presentation  2018 Workshop Participants  2018 Workshop Facilitator Information  2018 Pre-Workshop Ratings by Panel  Notes to Panel Leaders for this workshop  Panel Role Assignment Template  Mock Proposal Ranking Form  Panel Ranking Summary  Presentation by recent CAREER awardee #1  Presentation by recent CAREER awardee #2 Workshop Resources Links  National Science Foundation  Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)  NSF CAREER Website  Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program (Document Number: NSF 17-537)  Frequently Asked Questions about Faculty Career Development (CAREER FAQ) Program  NSF PAPPG - Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide, January 2018  Notes for Reviewers (17 – 537)  Conflict-of-Interests and Confidentiality Statement for NSF Panelists  NSF Merit Review Criteria  NSF Publication: A Guide for Proposal Writing  Twelve steps to a winning research proposal by George A. Hazelrigg  Book: NSF CAREER Proposal Writing Tips (click here to download the book)

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Educational Grant Writing Web Resources (Back to Page 1)

Design, Selection, and Implementation of Instructional Materials for the Next Generation Science Standards Proceedings of a Workshop (2018) Instructional materials are a key means to achieving the goals of science education—an enterprise that yields unique and worthwhile benefits to individuals and society. As states and districts move forward with adoption and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or work on improving their instruction to align with A Framework for K–12 Science Education (the Framework), instructional materials that align with this new vision for science education have emerged as one of the key mechanisms for creating high-quality learning experiences for students. In response to the need for more coordination across the ongoing efforts to support the design and implementation of instructional materials for science education, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a public workshop in June 2017. The workshop focused on the development of instructional materials that reflect the principles of the Framework and the NGSS. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. The Nation's Report Card: 2017 Mathematics and Reading at Grades 4 and 8 A Look at Preparation and Supports for Early-Career Teachers in the U.S. Making and Mentors: What It Takes to Make Them Better Together Making and mentoring are both at a crossroads. Both are scaling at a record pace, aspiring to reach considerably more youth and mentors than ever before. Each has potential for good; together, they can create a revolution in STEM learning. Mentors can be especially helpful in bringing Making opportunities to groups underrepresented in STEM, including girls, youth of color, and students in underresourced communities. Even when these young people choose not to pursue STEM careers, putting Making and mentors together has significant benefits. We've seen girls persevere through challenges in their design-and-build projects, learn to collaborate, and engage in critical problem solving--all with the support of mentors. These are essential educational and career skills in all fields, not just STEM. As afterschool STEM and Making programs recruit more mentors, they need to devote adequate resources to mentor and staff training. Being an effective mentor is complicated. So is supporting Making projects. Put together, they can be challenging to do well. Both staff and mentors need training to work together while supporting youth to drive their own Making projects. This investment will empower mentors to feel more confident and to effectively engage and inspire youth." Elements of Making: A Framework to Support Making in the Science Classroom The elements of making and the accompanying matrix are intended to provide scaffolding to support making in the science classroom. Making is built on a foundation of collaboration, shared resources, and community. In that spirit, we are sharing our experiences with making in

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Research Development & Grant Writing News STEM classrooms in the hopes of empowering other science teachers and their students with these practices." STEMucation Academy: An Online Professional Development Workshop for Teachers STEMucation Academy helps teachers meet their academic standards and provides 25 contact hours upon completion of a unit of instruction for their classroom. The engineering design process is a simple concept to understand, but it is challenging to implement well. Like many skills, it takes practice. That is what a majority of STEMucation Academy is dedicated to: designing and implementing your own unit using challenge-based learning and the engineering design process to enhance any unit of study, not just math and science.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Agency Research News (Back to Page 1)

Dear Colleague Letter: Real-Time Learning and Decision-Making in Engineered Systems Real-time learning and decision-making in engineering systems will play an increasingly critical role in modern engineering systems and infrastructures, including the smart grid, transportation and mobility, water distribution systems, healthcare logistics and delivery systems, advanced manufacturing, chemical and biological process systems, sensor networks, sustainable buildings, smart and connected communities, and dynamic control of transport processes. While complex engineering systems incorporate first principles based on physical models, they may not make full use of relevant information from real-time data. Exclusively data-driven approaches to complex engineering systems may lead to incorrect and uninformed decisions as they do not incorporate useful information from the engineering and physical models. A hybrid approach that uses real-time data, in conjunction with basic physical and engineering constraints, has the promise to overcome these limitations and can lead to significantly improved decision capabilities. With this Dear Colleague letter (DCL), the Directorate for Engineering of the National Science Foundation announces its interest in receiving EArly-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals to support research in fundamental theory, algorithms, engineering principles, and applications for real-time learning and decision-making that may lead the way toward safe, reliable, and efficient data-enabled engineering systems. To encourage convergence research, proposals are expected to have (PI)s that (has)have complementary expertise and significant research background in: the domain of the specific engineering infrastructure systems under consideration; and in machine learning, optimization, systems modeling and control and/or data science. Examples of research topics include but are not limited to: 1. Theory, methods, and implementation of distributed real-time learning and decisionmaking with substantial improvement compared to other distributed real-time learning algorithms and traditional centralized processing. 2. Theory, development, and implementation of real-time learning of unlabeled data which could then be used together with a model-based approach, supervised learning algorithms, and/or anomaly detection methods. 3. Innovations in theory and methods that can exploit availability of data -- historical and real-time - to achieve higher fidelity dynamic models of complex high-order interconnected systems and to formulate advanced control strategies for such systems. NSF introducing a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov On March 26, 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) introduced a new centralized and streamlined account registration process in Research.gov for the research community that will provide each new user with a single profile and unique identifier (i.e., NSF ID) for signing in to FastLane and Research.gov for proposal and award activities. New Functionality

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Research Development & Grant Writing News The new account management functionality will:  Allow users to create and self-manage accounts, including personal information and role requests;  Eliminate the need for organizational Administrators to create accounts and maintain profile information for their users, allowing Administrators to focus on managing roles for their organizations through a dashboard with functions to approve, disapprove, assign, and remove roles; and  Replace the existing FastLane and Research.gov account management functions. Existing NSF Accounts Existing NSF account holders, including Grants.gov and Application Submission Web Service (ASWS) users, will be migrated to the new account management system through a simple, onetime operation when initially signing in to FastLane or Research.gov after the new functionality is released. Account holders will be required to verify information to transfer it to the new system. Each user will have one NSF ID per the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 18-1), Chapter I.G.4. Helpful Links  Users with existing NSF accounts can access the NSF ID Lookup page for their NSF ID. Forgotten passwords for established NSF accounts may be retrieved here.  New users will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration. Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018. Notes About Grants.gov and ASWS  Beginning on March 26, 2018, the Principal Investigator (PI), all co-PIs, and the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) listed on a Grants.gov proposal must all be registered with NSF prior to proposal submission. NSF IDs for the PI, all co-PIs, and the AOR listed will need to be included in the proposal submission.  When a proposal is submitted to NSF on or after March 26, 2018, through Grants.gov and ASWS, the NSF system will cross-check the DUNS number and organization name with NSF records.  If there is no match to the DUNS number and/or organization name, the proposal will be rejected and the PI/AOR listed on the proposal submission will receive an email notifying that the proposal submission was not accepted by NSF.  Currently, for proposals submitted via Grants.gov or ASWS, the NSF system registers organizations and will allow proposal submission in cases where there is a mismatch of the DUNS number and/or organization name with NSF records; however, this will no longer be possible effective March 26, 2018. New NSF Registration Requirements for Organizations  Organizations new to NSF will also register via the account management system in Research.gov.  New organizations will be able to register directly with NSF through Research.gov on or after March 26, 2018, via this link: https://www.research.gov/accountmgmt/#/registration. Note that this link will not work until March 26, 2018.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News 

Beginning on March 26, 2018, before a new organization can register with NSF, it must first be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM; https://www.sam.gov) and have a data universal numbering system (DUNS) number.  Organizations not already registered with NSF should be aware that completion of the SAM registration process could take up to two weeks.  Note that the vast majority of universities are already registered with NSF via FastLane. Planned Releases The new centralized account management functionality is being released first to the Administrator, PI, AOR, Sponsored Project Officer (SPO), Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Coordinating Official and Financial Official, and Award Cash Management Service (ACM$) groups. NSF plans to eventually expand the new functionality in the future to additional groups including proposal reviewers, GRFP applicants, and NSF s taff. Training Resources NSF is currently finalizing new account management training resources such as job aids, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and instructional videos. These materials will soon be available on an “About Account Management” page acces sible on the Research.gov homepage. For IT system-related questions, please contact the NSF Help Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or [email protected]. Policy-related questions should be directed to [email protected]. If you would like to stay up-to-date on upcoming events or future enhancements to Research.gov and FastLane, subscribe to our System Updates NSF listserv. This listserv is available to both the research community and to NSF staff. To subscribe, simply send an email to [email protected] and you will be automatically enrolled. Dear Colleague Letter: Advancing Long-term Reuse of Scientific Data Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) announces its intention to support initial exploratory activities toward the creation of social and technical infrastructure solutions that further NSF's commitment to public access. These solutions are a means to accelerate the dissemination and use of fundamental research results in the form of data that will advance the frontiers of knowledge and help sustain the Nation's prosperity well into the future. NSF supports fundamental research grants that result in publications, primary data, samples, physical collections and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of work performed under these grants [see NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Chapter XI.D.4, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappg18_1/pappg_11.jsp#XID4 for details]. This particular DCL is focused on exploratory solutions that advance public access by reducing the barriers to data reuse within the scientific community, as guided by NSF's public access plan, Today's Data, Tomorrow's Discoveries (see https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf15052). Specifically, this DCL encourages two types of funding requests: (1) proposals for Conferences (i.e., community workshops and other events) that are designed to bring together stakeholders to explore opportunities to converge on innovative solutions to advancing public access; and (2) proposals for Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) for highrisk/high-reward innovative concepts and pilot projects that yield new fundamental research

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Research Development & Grant Writing News discoveries from existing NSF-funded data or that ultimately result in deployment of ambitious, sustainable socio-technical infrastructure resources and capabilities that enhance and accelerate new discoveries from existing NSF-funded data. Research ideas that do not advance public access as narrowly defined in this DCL may be suitable for other solicitations such as Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation (CSSI) - Data and Software (see https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf18531). Dear Colleague Letter: Growing Convergence Research Growing Convergence Research at the National Science Foundation (NSF) was identified in 2016 as one of 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investment. Research relying on convergence is needed to solve complex scientific and engineering problems that require integrating knowledge, methods, and expertise from different disciplines and forming novel frameworks to catalyze scientific discovery and innovation. NSF identifies Convergence Research as having two primary characteristics:  Research driven by a specific and compelling problem. Research requiring a convergence paradigm is generally inspired by the need to address a specific challenge or opportunity, whether it arises from deep scientific questions or pressing societal needs.  Deep integration across disciplines. As experts from different disciplines pursue common research challenges, their knowledge, theories, methods, data, research communities and languages become increasingly intermingled or integrated. New frameworks, paradigms or disciplines can form from sustained interactions across multiple communities. The convergence paradigm builds upon transdisciplinary approaches to research by intentionally bringing together intellectually diverse scientists and/or engineers at a project's inception in new collaborations that can generate multiple solutions to complex problems. Convergence has been discussed in a number of reports. The National Research Council published a series of reports between 2004 and 2014 on topics in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, culminating in the 2014 study, Convergence: Facilitating Transdisciplinary Integration of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Beyond, which included several examples of convergence in action. A comprehensive treatment of convergence in the biomedical sciences, entitled Convergence: The Future of Health, was published in 2016. More recently – in 2017 – the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report entitled A New Vision for Center-Based Engineering Research envisioned convergence becoming the essence of center-based research in the 21st century. This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) seeks to identify potential future research areas that go beyond NSF's Big Ideas, require a convergence approach, cross internal and/or external organizational and disciplinary boundaries, and advance the progress of science as articulated in NSF's mission. NSF encourages the submission of prospectuses to identify these new areas and specific projects within them. NSF may invite the teams submitting the most promising prospectuses to submit proposals to further explore their research strategies. Prospectuses must outline novel approaches and research strategies that are likely to result in a clear demonstration of the potential for transformative advances. The research areas and proposed projects must reflect the characteristics of convergence outlined here.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Interested researchers who would like to compete for FY 2018 and FY 2019 funding must submit a prospectus describing a new area of research and an exploratory research project within it to the [email protected] mailbox. A prospectus may be submitted at any time to help NSF identify new areas of research that require convergence, but to be considered for FY 2018 support, the prospectus must be submitted by May 1, 2018, and for FY 2019 funding, by October 15, 2018. All prospectus submissions will be acknowledged via email. The prospectus should not exceed 1,000 words of text and be no more than two pages in length, inclusive of figures and tables. It must include: (i) a description of a potential future research area requiring a convergence approach; (ii) a list of the pertinent disciplines to be integrated; (iii) a brief description of the proposed exploratory research project within the area described in (i); (iv) a brief description of the methods and research strategies that will nurture convergence in the exploratory research project; and (v) a listing of the senior personnel who would be involved in the exploratory project. No references are required in the prospectus. Researchers describing the most promising research ideas and exploratory projects will be invited to submit a proposal within 60 days after issuance of the invitation. An invited proposal must be prepared in accordance to the guidance for Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) proposals, as specified in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG; see Chapter II.E.3). The invited researchers do not need to obtain further approval from NSF program officers to submit the invited proposal. The total proposed budget may not exceed $1 million, and the proposed project duration should not exceed 3 years. Prospective principal investigators are advised that, based on the portfolio of ideas received, NSF may choose to use internal review for these RAISE proposals or seek advice from external reviewers as to the merits of the full proposals received. Such external review may include review by ad hoc reviewers and/or a panel. This DCL remains in effect for twelve months from the date of issue, unless superseded by another DCL or a new solicitation. Dear Colleague Letter: EQuIP: Engineering Quantum Integrated Platforms for Quantum Communication In 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) identified 10 Big Ideas for Future Investment. The opportunity described in this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) overlaps with two of those Big Ideas: Quantum Leap, which is a multipronged effort to advance the fundamental understanding of quantum phenomena, materials, and systems, toward revolutionary advances in quantum information science, and Convergence Research, which fosters the merging of ideas and approaches from widely diverse fields through individual research projects as well as partnerships and collaborative research. This DCL aims at pushing the frontiers of engineering in quantum information sci ence and technology by exploring integrated approaches that go beyond the individual devices and components to demonstrate a proof of concept that encompasses novel device integration and circuits in a quantum communication system. Future performance improvements in communication, computing, and sensing rely on the availability of new concepts and disruptive technologies that are based on quantum principles. The last decade has seen tremendous progress in both basic research and in

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Research Development & Grant Writing News technological advances in devices for generation, storage, manipulation, propagation, and detection of quantum information. However, many technical challenges remain in the development and realization of large-scale systems. There is a need to move beyond single components — such as the transmitter, channel, and receiver in a communication system — to pursue new approaches that integrate the various components and optimize system performance. To address these challenges, it is necessary to establish strong collaboration among researchers with different expertise from materials and devices to functional circuits motivated by the performance needs of integrated systems. This DCL also aims at developing the future science and engineering workforce in this domain. Educating and training researchers in quantum science and engineering is an important objective of this program. Dear Colleague Letter: Addition of IBM as a Cloud Resource Provider to the FY 2018 BIGDATA Solicitation Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) wishes to notify the community that IBM has joined as one of the cloud resource providers for the fiscal year (FY) 2018 Critical Techniques, Technologies, and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA) program solicitation (see https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504767 for more information about the program). As background, NSF announced last year the availability of a cloud option as part of the FY 2017 BIGDATA solicitation, with participation by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. The cloud option enabled projects to request cloud resources in support of their big data research and education activities, especially focusing on large-scale experimentation and scalability studies. This option remains in place for the FY 2018 BIGDATA solicitation, with AWS, GCP, and Microsoft Azure continuing their participation. Additionally, IBM has now joined the BIGDATA program as one of the cloud resource providers, under the same terms and conditions as applicable to all the other cloud providers. The corresponding terms and conditions are described in the FY 2018 BIGDATA program solicitation, available at https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf18539. Proposers may use the following IBM resources to develop Proposers may use the following IBM resources to develop the total cost of cloud resources along with an annual usage plan over the duration of the projects:  The website for calculating IBM compute, storage, and networking costs is: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/pricing; and  The IBM technical point of contact is: Lee B Wilson, IBM Atlanta, [email protected]. As described in the solicitation, the request for cloud resources will be reviewed along with the rest of the proposal. Credits will be allocated either for the cloud provider requested in the proposal, or for equivalent resources from an alternative cloud provider. Please read the entire solicitation carefully before preparing your proposal.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Please note that the submission deadline for the FY 2018 BIGDATA solicitation is May 7-14, 2018. As noted in the program solicitation, the NSF BIGDATA program webpage located at https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504767 will continue to be updated to list all cloud providers currently participating in the program. As of the date of this DCL, these are Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and now IBM. Questions about the BIGDATA program solicitation, including the cloud option, should be directed to the cognizant program directors listed in the solicitation.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Agency Reports, Workshops & Research Roadmaps (Back to Page 1)

Design, Selection, and Implementation of Instructional Materials for the Next Generation Science Standards: Proceedings of a Workshop Instructional materials are a key means to achieving the goals of science education—an enterprise that yields unique and worthwhile benefits to individuals and society. As states and districts move forward with adoption and implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or work on improving their instruction to align with A Framework for K–12 Science Education (the Framework), instructional materials that align with this new vision for science education have emerged as one of the key mechanisms for creating high-quality learning experiences for students. In response to the need for more coordination across the ongoing efforts to support the design and implementation of instructional materials for science education, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a public workshop in June 2017. The workshop focused on the development of instructional materials that reflect the principles of the Framework and the NGSS. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. The National Center for Education Statistics Released a New Annual Report NCES today (April 12, 2018), entitled Projections of Education Statistics to 2026. This report provides national-level data on enrollment, teachers, high school graduates, and expenditures at the elementary and secondary level and enrollment and degrees at the postsecondary level for the past 15 years and projections to the year 2026. Other findings include:  Postsecondary enrollment rose by 25 percent between 2001 and 2015, and is projected to increase another 13 percent by 2026;  The number of high school graduates increased by 20 percent between 2001-02 and 2012-13, and is projected to increase 3 percent by 2026-27; and,  After adjusting for inflation, current expenditures per pupil increased by 14 percent between 2001-02 and 2013-14, and a further increase of 19 percent is projected by 2026-27. EPA's IRIS Program Has Made Substantial Progress, Says New Report The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program has made “substantial progress” in implementing recommendations outlined in past reports by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, improving the program’s overall scientific and technical performance, says a new Academies report. The program, which is used to assess the hazards posed by environmental contaminants, remains a work in progress and should continue to evolve as it adapts and applies new scientific practices and knowledge, the report says. The transformation of the IRIS process began several years ago after the release of a 2011 Academies report that provided suggestions for creating a more systematic and transparent IRIS process. In a 2014 report, the Academies reviewed the changes implemented

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Research Development & Grant Writing News in the program since 2011 and concluded that the improvements were considerable. Under the program’s new leadership, EPA asked the National Academies to review again the agency’s progress toward addressing past recommendations. The Academies’ latest review finds that IRIS has made substantial progress in incorporating systematic-review methods into its process and assessments. IRIS has also established a systematic-review working group and engaged subject-matter experts. According to the new report, these groups should increase efficiency and consistency among assessments and improve the scientific rigor of the assessments. “The changes in the IRIS program over such a short period of time are impressive,” said Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “We see a substantial commitment at EPA to use systematic-review methods in conducting assessments, which are important for identifying, evaluating, and summarizing the findings from current literature and integrating the evidence available to inform decisions.” The committee also said the program has developed a number of collaborations with such groups as the World Health Organization, the National Toxicology Program Office of Health Assessment and Translation, and the European Food Safety Authority that will help position the IRIS program as a leader in advancing systematic-review methods. The report offers recommendations for some refinements and further development in different stages of its systematic-review process and risk quantification process and urges EPA to give high priority to completion, peer review, and release of its IRIS handbook, which is expected to provide critical guidance for the development of IRIS assessments. The committee noted, however, that EPA is describing its approach in IRIS protocols, and this practice provides transparency while the handbook is being completed. The study was sponsored by EPA. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org. Single Breakthrough Discovery for Citrus Greening Disease in Florida Unlikely, Says New Report; Calls for a Master Plan to Coordinate Research Efforts and Management A single breakthrough discovery for managing citrus greening in Florida in the future is unlikely, says a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The committee that wrote the report called for a systems approach to prioritize research on the disease and strategically distribute resources for research to effectively manage the disease, which is the most serious threat for citrus growers worldwide. The disease Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening — associated with bacteria that are spread by a sucking insect, the Asian citrus psyllid — was initially observed more than 100 years ago in Asia and was first detected in Florida in 2005. The infection results in blotchy mottling of leaves, stunting of shoots, gradual death of branches, and small, deformed fruits with bitter juice. Although infected trees do not die right away, they can remain in a steady state of decline for several years. Between 2010 and 2014, acreage of citrus trees in the state declined from roughly 750,000 to 476,000 acres, and production volume has declined by 58 percent

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Research Development & Grant Writing News since 2005. In Florida, citrus greening has caused a cumulative loss of $2.9 billion in grower revenues from 2007 to 2014, an average of $374 million a year. The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), a $124 million state citrusindustry initiative, has invested nearly 90 percent of its funds in HLB research. CRDF asked the Academies to review its research portfolio and determine if its efforts have followed recommendations outlined in the Academies’ 2010 report, which originally called for the organization’s creation. The committee found that CRDF was responsive to several recommendations from the previous report, and along with other funders, has advanced our knowledge about the disease. However, HLB remains a serious danger to Florida’s citrus industry, having progressed from an acute to a chronic disease throughout the state. The report notes that significant barriers to progress toward an HLB solution still exist, among them the inability to culture the bacteria in the laboratory, the lack of advanced diagnostics for early disease detection, and the absence of standardized research methodology that would improve the comparability of results across studies. Resolution of any one of these issues would constitute a significant step, according to the report. The committee recommended continuing support for both basic and applied research for short- and long-term research efforts. In the long run, HLB solutions would likely utilize new technology, such as gene modification and gene editing, focusing on targets that mediate molecular interactions among plant, bacteria, and the vector, the committee said. As interest in using genetic modification in research grows, CRDF should also consider funding research to assess stakeholder acceptance of the technology and expand efforts to educate growers, processors, and consumers to facilitate the eventual deployment of genetically modified citrus lines. In the meantime, growers in the state will need short-term solutions for the industry to remain viable. The report recommends finding the best suite of strategies to control the disease in different environmental and growing conditions, vector and pathogen pressures, tree varieties, and stages of tree health, which would help growers in Florida and other states where HLB also occurs. The report also highlights the need to better understand the economic and sociological factors that impact decision-making and behaviors of growers, which influence the adoption of HLB management strategies. CRDF should create accessible databases to support sociological and economic modeling of citrus greening-related research outcomes and application projections. The report recommends researchers communicate about the outcomes and evaluation of their efforts in a timely and systematic way. Additionally, current approaches to research prioritization and funding based within individual federal and state funding agencies have not led to development of a master plan for HLB research and subsequent management solutions. CRDF should work with other funding agencies to create an overarching advisory panel to develop a master plan for HLB research, communication, and management. The study was sponsored by CRDF. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863

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Research Development & Grant Writing News congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org. A roster follows.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News New Funding Opportunities (Back to Page 1)

Content Order New Funding Posted Since March 15 Newsletter URL Links to New & Open Funding Solicitations Solicitations Remaining Open from Prior Issues of the Newsletter Open Solicitations and BAAs

[User Note: URL links are active on date of publication, but if a URL link breaks or changes a Google search on the key words will typically take you to a working link. Also, entering a grant title and/or solicitation number in the Grants.gov search box will work as well.]

New Funding Solicitations Posted Since March 15 Newsletter Critical Techniques, Technologies and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA) The BIGDATA program seeks novel approaches in computer science, statistics, computational science, and mathematics leading towards the further development of the interdisciplinary field of data science. The program also seeks innovative applications in domain science, including social and behavioral sciences, education, physical sciences, and engineering, where data science and the availability of big data are creating new opportunities for research and insights not previously possible. Due May 7. Basic Energy Sciences Materials and Chemical Sciences Research for Quantum Information Science Due May 24. Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers (ERC) In response to a study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM study], the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program is piloting a planning grant opportunity in advance of the next ERC solicitation. These planning grants are intended to build capacity in the engineering community for center-scale, convergent engineering research. To participate in the upcoming ERC competition, one is not required to submit a planning grant proposal nor to receive a planning grant. Prospective Principal Investigators are encouraged to read this solicitation carefully for planning grant proposal submission requirements and the ERC program priorities. The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacity-building within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community’s thinking about how to form

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Research Development & Grant Writing News convergent research collaborations. To participate in the upcoming ERC competition, one is not required to submit a planning grant proposal nor to receive a planning grant. Due June 6. Quantum Testbeds for Science Due June 8. N00014-18-S-F007 FY2019 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) This announcement seeks proposals from universities to purchase equipment and instrumentation in support of research in areas of interest to the DoD. DoD interests include the areas of research supported by the Army Research Office (ARO), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), hereafter generally referred to collectively as “we, our, us, or administering agency.” We use “administering agency” to provide a generic reference to any of the administering agencies. A central purpose of the DURIP is to provide equipment and instrumentation to enhance research-related education in areas of interest and priority to the DoD. Therefore, your proposal must address the impact of the equipment or instrumentation on your institution’s ability to educate students through research in disciplines important to DoD missions. Our areas of research interest are published at the following internet locations: Army Research Office http://www.aro.army.mil Office of Naval Research http://www.onr.navy.mil/ Air Force Office of Scientific Research http://www.wpafb.af.mil/afrl/afosr/ You must refer to the websites cited above for detailed technical information and our technical goals. We encourage you to contact the Program Managers listed in the cited announcements before submitting proposals to explore research areas of mutual interest to you and us. You may submit a single DURIP proposal to more than one administering agency; however, only one administering agency will fund it, if selected. There is no limit on the total number of different proposals you can submit. There is no limit to the number of awards a single applicant organization can receive under this competition. Due July 6. Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) With the goal of encouraging research independence immediately upon obtaining one's first academic position after receipt of the PhD, the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) will award grants to initiate the course of one's independent research. Understanding the critical role of establishing that independence early in one's career, it is expected that funds will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists (or equivalent) in their first three years in a primary academic position after the PhD, but not more than a total of five years after completion of their PhD. One may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the Principal Investigator (PI) role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, regardless of the size of the grant or contract, with certain exceptions noted below. Serving as co-PI, Senior Personnel, Postdoctoral Fellow, or other Fellow does not count against this eligibility rule. Grants, contracts, or gifts from private companies or foundations; state, local, or tribal governments; or universities do not count against this eligibility rule. It is expected that these funds will allow the new CISE Research Initiation Initiative PI to support one or more graduate students for up to two years. Faculty at undergraduate and two-

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Research Development & Grant Writing News year institutions may use funds to support undergraduate students, and may use the additional RUI designation (which requires inclusion of a RUI Impact Statement) -- see https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5518 for additional information. In addition, submissions from all institutions may use funds for postdoctoral scholars, travel, and/or research equipment. Due August 8. Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program (R25) The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) R25 program is to support educational activities that enhance the diversity of the biomedical research workforce. 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, and Curriculum or Methods Development. A program application must include each activity, and describe how they will be synergized to make a comprehensive program. The Bridges to Baccalaureate Program is intended to provide these activities to community college students to increase transition to and completion of Bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences. This program requires partnerships between community colleges or other two-year post-secondary educational institutions granting the associate degree with colleges or universities that offer the baccalaureate degree. Additionally, recruitment and retention plans are required as part of the application. Due September 25. NIH: Bridges to the Doctorate (R25) The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this NIGMS R25 program is to support educational activities that enhance the diversity of the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on Courses for Skills Development and Research Experiences. The Bridges to Doctorate Program is intended to provide these activities to master's level students to increase transition to and completion of PhDs in biomedical sciences. This program requires partnerships between master's degree-granting institutions with doctorate degree-granting institutions. Applicants should directly address how the set of activities will complement and/or enhance the training of a diverse workforce that also meets the nation’s biomedical and clinical research needs by discussing 1) the rationale underlying the balance of effort and resources dedicated to each activity; 2) how the activities integrate; and 3) objective indicators that can measure the effectiveness of the program. A program application must include each activity, and describe how they will be synergized to make a comprehensive program. Additionally, recruitment and retention plans are expected as pa rt of the application. Due September 25. Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems (INFEWS) The INFEWS program seeks to support research that conceptualizes FEW systems broadly and inclusively, incorporating social and behavioral processes (such as decision making and governance), physical processes (such as built infrastructure and new technologies for more efficient resource utilization), natural processes (such as biogeochemical and hydrologic cycles),

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Research Development & Grant Writing News biological processes (such as agroecosystem structure and productivity), and cyber-components (such as sensing, networking, computation and visualization for decision-making and assessment). Investigations of these complex systems may produce discoveries that cannot emerge from research on food or energy or water systems alone. It is the synergy among these components in the context of sustainability that will open innovative science and engineering pathways to produce new knowledge, novel technologies, and innovative predictive capabilities. The overarching goal of the INFEWS program is to catalyze well-integrated, convergent research to transform understanding of the FEW Nexus as integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems in order to improve system function and management, address system stress, increase resilience, and ensure sustainability. The NSF INFEWS activity is designed specifically to attain the following goals: 1. Significantly advance our understanding of the food-energy-water system of systems through quantitative, predictive and computational modeling, including support for relevant cyberinfrastructure; 2. Develop real-time, cyber-enabled interfaces that improve understanding of the behavior of FEW systems and increase decision support capability; 3. Enable research that will lead to innovative and integrated social, engineering, physical, and natural systems solutions to critical FEW systems problems; 4. Grow the scientific workforce capable of studying and managing the FEW system of systems, through education and other professional development opportunities. This initiative enables interagency cooperation on one of the most pressing problems of the millennium - understanding interactions across the FEW nexus - how dynamics of the FEW Nexus are likely to affect our world, and how we can proactively plan for consequences. This solicitation allows the partner agencies - National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) - to combine resources to identify and fund the most meritorious and highest-impact projects that support their respective missions, while eliminating duplication of effort and fostering collaboration between agencies and the investigators they support. Due September 26. Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative The MURI program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education (hereafter referred to as "universities") that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. As defined in the DoD Financial Management Regulation: Basic research is systematic study directed toward greater knowledge or understanding of the fundamental aspects of phenomena and of observable facts without specific applications towards processes or products in mind. It includes all scientific study and experimentation directed toward increasing fundamental knowledge and understanding in those fields of the physical, engineering, environmental, and life sciences related to long-term national security needs. It is farsighted high payoff research that provides the basis for technological progress (DoD 7000.14-R, vol. 2B, chap. 5, para. 050201.B). DoD’s basic research program invests broadly in many fields to ensure

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Research Development & Grant Writing News that it has early cognizance of new scientific knowledge. The FY 2019 MURI competition is for the topics listed below. Detailed descriptions of the topics and the Topic Chief for each can be found in Section II. I, entitled, “SPECIFIC MURI TOPICS,” The detailed descriptions are intended to provide the applicant a frame of reference and are not meant to be restrictive to the possible approaches to achieving the goals of the topic and the program. Innovative ideas addressing these research topics are highly encouraged. Proposals from a team of university investigators are warranted when the necessary expertise in addressing the multiple facets of the topics may reside in different universities, or in different departments in the same university. By supporting multidisciplinary teams, the program is complementary to other DoD basic research programs that support university research through single-investigator awards. Proposals shall name one Principal Investigator (PI) as the responsible technical point of contact. Similarly, one institution shall be the primary awardee for the purpose of award execution. The PI shall come from the primary institution. The relationship among participating institutions and their respective roles, as well as the apportionment of funds including sub-awards, if any, shall be described in both the proposal text and the budget. Due October 16. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Academic Research Program (NARP) NGA welcomes all innovative ideas for path-breaking research that may advance the GEOINT mission. The NGA mission is to provide timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national security objectives. GEOINT is the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. GEOINT consists of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information. NGA offers a variety of critical GEOINT products in support of U.S. national security objectives and Federal disaster relief, including aeronautical, geodesy, hydrographic, imagery, geospatial and topographical information. The NGA Academic Research Program (NARP) is focused on innovative, far-reaching basic and applied research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics having the potential to advance the GEOINT mission. The objective of the NARP is to support innovative, high-payoff research that provides the basis for revolutionary progress in areas of science and technology affecting the needs and mission of NGA. This research also supports the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG), which is the combination of technology, systems and organizations that gather, produce, distribute and consume geospatial data and information. This research is aimed at advancing GEOINT capabilities by improving analytical methods, enhancing and expanding systems capabilities, and leveraging resources for common NSG goals. The NARP also seeks to improve education in scientific, mathematics, and engineering skills necessary to advance GEOINT capabilities. It is NGA’s intent to solicit fundamental research under this BAA. Fundamental research means basic and applied research in science and engineering, the results of which ordinarily are published and shared broadly within the scientific community, as di stinguished from proprietary research and from Industrial development, design, production, and product utilization, the results of which ordinarily are restricted for proprietary or national security reason. (National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 189, National Policy on the Transfer of Scientific, Technical, and Engineering Information).NGA seeks proposals from eligible U.S. institutions for path-breaking GEOINT research in areas of potential interest to NGA, the DoD, and the Intelligence Community (IC). Open to Dec. 31, 2018.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News URL Links to New & Open Funding Solicitations Links verified Tuesday, May 23, 2017

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SAMHSA FY 2017 Grant Announcements and Awards Open Solicitations from IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity) Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Open Solicitations, DOS ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Exchange DOE Funding Opportunity Exchange NPS Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) NIJ Current Funding Opportunities NIJ Forthcoming Funding Opportunities Engineering Information Foundation Grant Program Comprehensive List of Collaborative Funding Mechanisms, NORDP ARL Funding Opportunities — Open Broad Agency Announcements (BAA)  HHS Grants Forecast  American Psychological Association, Scholarships, Grants and Awards  EPA 2017 Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Research Grants  NASA Open Solicitations  CDMRP FY 2017 Funding Announcements  Office of Minority Health  DOE/EERE Funding Opportunity Exchange  New Funding Opportunities at NIEHS (NIH)  National Human Genome Research Institute Funding Opportunities  Army Research Laboratory Open Broad Agency Announcements (BAA)  Office of Naval Research Currently Active BAAs  HRSA Health Professions Open Opportunities  Foundation Center RFP Weekly Funding Bulletin

Solicitations Remaining Open from Prior Issues of the Newsletter Critical Techniques, Technologies and Methodologies for Advancing Foundations and Applications of Big Data Sciences and Engineering (BIGDATA) The BIGDATA program seeks novel approaches in computer science, statistics, computational science, and mathematics leading towards the further development of the interdisciplinary field of data science. The program also seeks innovative applications in domain science, including social and behavioral sciences, education, physical sciences, and engineering, where data science and the availability of big data are creating new opportunities for research and insights not previously possible. Due May 7. DE-FOA-0001826 Developing Technologies to Advance the Understanding of State of Stress and Geomechanical Impacts Within the Subsurface Department of Energy

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Research Development & Grant Writing News The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to solicit and competitively seek applications for the development of tools and methods needed to improve the measurement and reduce the uncertainty in the measurement of in-situ maximum principal stress in the deep surface and understand and predict the geomechanical impact of pressure migration due to injection on the storage complex including the underburden and basement formations. The Areas of Interest of this Announcement are Tools and Methods for Determining Maximum Principal Stress in the Deep Surface and Methods for Understanding Impact of Vertical Pressure Migration due to Injection on State of Subsurface Stress. Due May 7. USDA-NIFA-CPPM-006536 Crop Protection and Pest Management Competitive Grants Program The purpose of the Crop Protection and Pest Management program is to address high priority issues related to pests and their management using IPM approaches at the state, regional and national levels. The CPPM program supports projects that will ensure food security and respond effectively to other major societal pest management challenges with comprehensive IPM approaches that are economically viable, ecologically prudent, and safe for human health. The CPPM program addresses IPM challenges for emerging issues and existing priority pest concerns that can be addressed more effectively with new and emerging technologies. The outcomes of the CPPM program are effective, affordable, and environmentally sound IPM practices and strategies needed to maintain agricultural productivity and healthy communities. Due May 8. Smart and Connected Health (SCH): Connecting Data, People and Systems The goal of the interagency Smart and Connected Health (SCH): Connecting Data, People and Systems program is to accelerate the development and integration of innovative computer and information science and engineering approaches to support the transformation of health and medicine. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biomedical and biobehavioral research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next-generation multidisciplinary science that encourages existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as networking, pervasive computing, advanced analytics, sensor integration, privacy and security, modeling of socio-behavioral and cognitive processes and system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, barriers to change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems and an aging population. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address issues ranging from fundamental science and engineering to medical and public health practice. Due May 22. NSF/VMware Partnership on Edge Computing Data Infrastructure (ECDI) This solicitation seeks to advance the state of the art in end-to-end networked systems architecture that includes edge infrastructures. The central challenge is to design and develop data-centric edge architectures, programming paradigms, runtime environments, and data sharing frameworks that will enable compelling new applications and fully realize the

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Research Development & Grant Writing News opportunity of big data in tomorrow's mobile and IoT device environments. Researchers are expected to carefully consider the implications of edge computing's multi-stakeholder context, and the need for security and privacy as first order design and operational considerations . Due May 22. Air Force Fiscal Year 2019 Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) The Fiscal Year 2019 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends support for scientists and engineers who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees 1 April 2012 or later that show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigator to recognize the Air Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering. Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, or non-profit research organizations where the principal investigator is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular position. YIP primary investigators must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center or DoD Laboratory are not eligible for this competition. Most YIP awards are funded at $150,000 per year for three years, for a total of $450,000. Exceptional proposals will be considered individually for higher funding levels and/or longer duration. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information. We anticipate approximately fifty (36) awards under this competition if funds are available. Due June 1. Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers (ERC) The ERC program is placing greater emphasis on research that leads to societal impact, including convergent approaches, engaging stakeholder communities, and strengthening team formation, in response to the NASEM study recommendations. The ERC program intends to support planning activities leading to convergent research team formation and capacitybuilding within the engineering community. This planning grant pilot initiative is designed to foster and facilitate the engineering community’s thinking about how to form convergent research collaborations. To participate in the upcoming ERC competition, one is not required to submit a planning grant proposal nor to receive a planning grant. Due June 6. Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the Office of Naval Research (ONR), N00014-18-S-F005, on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), for the Manufacturing Engineering Education Program The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017 established the “Manufacturing Engineering Education Program,” (MEEP) (10 U.S.C. § 2196) which authorizes the Department of Defense to support industry-relevant, manufacturing-focused, engineering training at United States institutions of higher education, industry, nonprofit institutions, and consortia of such institutions or industry. The purpose of this program is to establish new or to enhance existing programs (or collections of programs) to better position the current and nextgeneration manufacturing workforce to produce military systems and components that assure technological superiority for the Department of Defense (DoD). Interested parties should focus programs on manufacturing education to support one or more distinct manufacturing

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Research Development & Grant Writing News technologies; e.g. manufacturing of lightweight structures, systems and materials; robotics for manufacturing; manufacturing to exploit nanotechnology; manufacturing of components and systems for power generation, storage, or distribution; manufacturing of multi-functional electronics and/or optical devices; or other manufacturing technologies of regional or industrial sector of interest. Proposed efforts should develop and enhance curricula and progra ms to effectively develop skills sets needed for students to operate in multidisciplinary design and manufacturing environments, including those for which manufacturing schema are informed by computational tools for modeling and simulation. Students also s hould be prepared to work effectively in environments where multiple engineering disciplines are engaged during design, development and manufacturing, and where the roles of manufacturers and suppliers in businesses of various sizes, from start-ups to major systems integrators, are optimized. Open to May 16, 2018.

Open Solicitations and BAAs [BAA’s remain open for one or more years. During the open period, agency research priorities may change or other modifications are made to a published BAA. If you are submitting a proposal in response to an open solicitation, as below, check for modifications to the BAA at Grants.gov or by utilizing Modified Opportunities by Agency to receive a Grants.gov notification of recently modified opportunities by agency name.]

HR001117S0040 Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Office-wide DARPA The mission of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is to identify and pursue high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives across a broad spectrum of science and engineering disciplines and to transform these initiatives into disruptive technologies for U.S. national security. In support of this mission, the DSO Officewide BAA invites proposers to submit innovative basic or applied research concepts that explore Physical and Natural Systems, Human-Machine and Social Systems, and/or Math and Computational Systems through the lens of one or more of the following technical domains: Complexity Engineering, Science of Design, Noosphere, Fundamental Limits, and New Foundations. Proposals must investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances. DSO is explicitly not interested in approaches or technologies that primarily result in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice. Open to July 2018. PAR-16-242 Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG) (R01) Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to encourage collaborations between the life and physical sciences that: 1) apply a multidisciplinary bioengineering approach to the solution of a biomedical problem; and 2) integrate, optimize, validate, translate or otherwise accelerate the adoption of promising tools, methods and techniques for a specific research or clinical problem in basic, translational, or clinical science and practice. An application may propose design-directed, developmental, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven research and is appropriate for small teams applying an integrative approach to increase our understanding of and solve problems in biological, clinical or translational science. Open to May 9, 2019.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News BAA-RQKD-2014-0001 Open Innovation and Collaboration Department of Defense Air Force -Research Lab Open innovation is a methodology to capitalize on diverse, often non-traditional talents and insights, wherever they reside, to solve problems. Commercial industry has proven open innovation to be an effective and efficient mechanism to overcome seemingly impossible technology and/or new product barriers. AFRL has actively and successfully participated in collaborative open innovation efforts. While these experiences have demonstrated the power of open innovation in the research world, existing mechanisms do not allow AFRL to rapidly enter into contractual relationships to further refine or develop solutions that were identified. This BAA will capitalize on commercial industry experience in open innovation and the benefits already achieved by AFRL using this approach. This BAA will provide AFRL an acquisition tool with the flexibility to rapidly solicit proposals through Calls for Proposals and make awards to deliver innovative technical solutions to meet present and future compelling Air Force needs as ever-changing operational issues become known. The requirements, terms and specific deliverables of each Call for Proposals will vary depending on the nature of the challenge being addressed. It is anticipated that Call(s) for Proposals will address challenges in (or the intersection between) such as the following technology areas: Materials: - Exploiting material properties to meet unique needs - Material analysis, concept / prototype development, and scale up Manufacturing Processes that enable affordable design, production and sustainment operations Aerospace systems: - Vehicle design, control, and coordinated autonomous and/or manned operations - Power and propulsion to enable next generation systems Human Effectiveness: - Methods and techniques to enhance human performance and resiliency in challenging environments - Man – Machine teaming and coordinated activities Sensors and Sensing Systems: - Sensor and sensing system concept development, design, integration and prototyping - Data integration and exploitation. Open to July 12, 2019. HDTRA1-14-24-FRCWMD-BAA Fundamental Research to Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction ** Fundamental Research BAA posted on 20 March 2015.** Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to review the BAA in its entirety. **Please note that ALL general correspondence for this BAA must be sent to [email protected]. Thrust Area-specific correspondence must be sent to the applicable Thrust Area e-mail address listed in Section 7: Agency Contacts.** Open to Sept. 30, 2019. BAA-RQKH-2015-0001 Methods and Technologies for Personalized Learning, Modeling and Assessment Air Force -- Research Lab The Air Force Research Laboratories and 711th Human Performance Wing are soliciting white papers (and later technical and cost proposals) on the following research effort. This is an open ended BAA. The closing date for submission of White Papers is 17 Nov 2019. This program deals with science and technology development, experimentation, and demonstration in the areas of improving and personalizing individual, team, and larger group instructional training methods for airmen. The approaches relate to competency definition and requirements analysis, training and rehearsal strategies, and models and environments that support learning and proficiency

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Research Development & Grant Writing News achievement and sustainment during non-practice of under novel contexts. This effort focuses on measuring, diagnosing, and modeling airman expertise and performance, rapid development of models of airman cognition and specifying and validating, both empirically and practically, new classes of synthetic, computer-generated agents and teammates. An Industry Day was held in November 2014. Presentation materials from the Industry Day and Q&A's are attached. If you would like a list of Industry Day attendees, send an email request to [email protected] Open until November 17, 2019. BAA-AFRL-RQKMA-2016-0007 Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Functional Materials and Applications (AFRL/RXA) Two-Step Open BAA Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate is soliciting White Papers and potentially technical and cost proposals under this two-step Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) that is open for a period of five (5) years. Functional Materials technologies that are of interest to the Air Force range from materials and scientific discovery through technology development and transition, and support the needs of the Functional Materials and Applications mission. Descriptors of Materials and Manufacturing Directorate technology interests are presented in the context of functional materials core technical competencies and applications. Applicable NAICS codes are 541711 and 541712. Open to April 20, 2021. Army Research Office Broad Agency Announcement for Basic and Applied Scientific Research This BAA sets forth research areas of interest to the ARO. This BAA is issued under FAR 6.102(d)(2), which provides for the competitive selection of basic and applied research proposals, and 10 U.S.C. 2358, 10 U.S.C. 2371, and 10 U.S.C. 2371b, which provide the authorities for issuing awards under this announcement for basic and applied research. The definitions of basic and applied research may be found at 32 CFR 22.105.Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provision of Public Law 98-369, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984" and subsequent amendments. Open to April 30, 2022.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Changes at Academic Research Funding Strategies By Lucy Deckard (Back to Page 1)

Expanded Editing Services In response to numerous requests, we are now expanding our editing services to accommodate clients working on manuscripts as well as proposals. We are also offering editing only (as opposed to intensive grantsmanship assistance) at several levels:  Technical editing: Editing for technical clarity as well as grammar, punctuation, etc.  Editing: Editing for grammar, punctuation, etc.  Editing Especially for Non-native English Speakers: Editing for grammar, punctuation, usage, etc. with special attention to mistakes commonly made by nonnative English speakers. These options will provide a more economical option for authors who don’t need our intensive review and editing services. More information will be posted on our website soon.

Former NIH branch chief, Dr. John Williamson, joining ARFS We are excited to announce that Dr. John Williamson is joining Academic Research Funding Strategies as one of our consultants. He will work with clients applying to NIH, providing one-on-one mentoring as well as reviews of NIH proposal drafts. A short bio is provided below. Dr. Williamson is an emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Mississippi, a former NIH branch chief, and currently a research initiatives coordinator at the University of Dayton. During his tenure as a full professor he garnered millions in extramural funding from: federal agencies including the NIH, NSF, CDC, and DoD; pharmaceutical companies including Merck and Schering-Plough; as well as foundations and societies including the Elsa Pardee Foundation, Sigma Xi, the American Society of Pharmacognosy, and the Bil l and Melinda Gates Foundation. At NIH he served as a Branch Chief of Basic and Mechanistic Research, maintaining a branch grants and contract portfolio of approximately $50M/yr. The portfolio included projects associated with brain neuroscience, bioengineering of opiate pathways, mechanisms associated with chronic pain, brain microbiome connection mechanisms, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics and methodologies associated with bioactive natural products, analgesic cannabinoids, various small business awards, complementary medical approaches, and training programs. While at NIH, Williamson’s portfolio contained a broad array of funding mechanisms including: DP1, DP2, F31, F32, K00, K01, K99, P01, P20, P30, P50, R01, R03, R13, R15, R21, R41, R42, R43, R44, R61, R61, R90, T32, T42, T90, and U01s. In addition, he was the named program contact on more than 75 published funding opportunity announcements (RFAs & PAs). Williamson also worked on interagency collaborative programs with the NSF, FDA, USDA, and FTC. He is currently associated with the University of Dayton where, as Research Initiatives Coordinator, he helps faculty and staff in developing and submitting competitive research proposals.

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Research Development & Grant Writing News Academic Research Funding Strategies, LLC (Page 1) http://academicresearchgrants.com/home ph: 979-693-0825 [email protected] [email protected]

What We Do-We provide consulting for colleges and universities on a wide range of topics related to research development and grant writing, including: 

Strategic Planning - Assistance in formulating research development strategies and building institutional infrastructure for research development (including special strategies for Emerging Research Institutions, Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions and Minority Serving Institutions)



Training for Faculty - Workshops, seminars and webinars on how to find and compete for research funding from NSF, NIH, DoE and other government agencies as well as foundations. Proposal development retreats for new faculty.



Large proposals - Assistance in planning, developing and writing institutional and centerlevel proposals (e.g., NSF ERC, STC, NRT, ADVANCE, IUSE, Dept of Ed GAANN, DoD MURI, etc.)



Assistance for new and junior faculty - help in identifying funding opportunities and developing competitive research proposals, particularly to NSF CAREER, DoD Young Investigator and other junior investigator programs



Assistance on your project narrative: in-depth reviews, rewrites, and edits



Editing and proof reading of journal articles, book manuscripts, proposals, etc.



Facilities and Instrumentation - Assistance in identifying and competing for grants to fund facilities and instrumentation



Training for Staff - Professional Development for research office and sponsored projects staff

Workshops by Academic Research Funding Strategies We offer workshops on research development and grant writing for faculty and research professionals based on all published articles. (View Index of Articles) Copyright 2017 Academic Research Funding Strategies. All rights reserved.

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