NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI)
Please distribute this information to your faculty to determine if they
have an interest in submitting a proposal to this program.
WHAT: Limited Submission Proposal for the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI).
WHO: Texas A&M University faculty, including Agriculture, Engineering and TTI personnel.
WHY: The MRI Program anticipates awards for instrumentation ranging from $100,000 to $2 million. Proposals requesting less than $100,000 will be considered only from non-Ph. D. granting organizations and from the disciplines of mathematical science or social, behavioral and economic science at any eligible organization. Also, proposers may request a maximum of $4 million dollars for the acquisition of a single instrument.
WHEN: Internal proposal deadline of October 5, 2009.
HOW: Faculty should submit internal proposal to osppc@tamu.edu for review by the internal selection committee.
*Please note: NSF has indicated that the new solicitation for MRI will be
published in late October. If your internal proposal is selected, please review the
NSF MRI announcement.*
THE FINE PRINT:
Details available below and online at http://researchpolicy.tamu.edu/limited-submission-proposals
The funding agency below has limited the number of preliminary proposals to two instrument acquisition proposals and one instrument development proposal per institution. If the number of faculty wishing to submit a proposal exceeds the number allowed by the agency, we will conduct an internal selection process. Below are due dates for the program, including the due date of the internal proposal for review by the internal selection committee, the date for announcement of the internal selection and the due date for submission to the agency.
AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF)
AGENCY PROGRAM TITLE: NSF 09-502 Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI)
BRIEF PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) involves instrument acquisition and instrument development. The MRI Program assists in the acquisition or development of major research instrumentation by organizations that is too costly for support through other NSF programs. Proposals may be for a single instrument, a large system of instruments or multiple instruments that share a common or specific research focus.
The primary purpose of the MRI program is to facilitate scientific and engineering research and research training through the acquisition or development of research instrumentation. Specific goals of the MRI program are to: support the acquisition of major state-of-the-art instrumentation in order to improve access to and increase use of modern research and research training instrumentation by scientists, engineers and graduate and undergraduate students; foster the development of the next generation of instrumentation in order to result in new instruments that are more widely used, and/or open up new areas of research and research training; enable academic departments, disciplinary and cross-disciplinary units, and multi-organization collaborations to create well-equipped research environments that integrate research with education; support the acquisition and development of instrumentation that contributes to, or takes advantage of existing investments in cyberinfrastructure, while avoiding duplication of services already provisioned by NSF investments; and promote substantive and meaningful partnerships for instrument development between the academic and private sectors.
Instrument acquisition proposals should be characterized by a demonstrated need for the purchase or upgrade of generally available, yet sophisticated, instruments with little or no modification for shared use among a group of researchers. Items not to be funded include: computer networks as general purpose equipment, a list of assorted instruments or general lab equipment, instrumentation for standard science and engineering courses, renovation or modernization of research facilities, fixed equipment, research vessels, airplanes, large telescopes and supercomputing centers.
Instrument development proposals may include new instruments or upgrades with enhanced performance, such as accuracy, reliability, resolving power, throughput speed, sample capacity, flexibility of operation, breadth of application, user friendliness and/or new types of measurement or information gathering. Items not to be funded include the acquisition of individual pieces of equipment simply combined in a new system, the mere purchase of an upgrade or the development of enabling technologies, devices or products to constitute instrument development.
More information can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09502/nsf09502.htm
AGENCIES ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT: The Major Research Instrumentation Program is open to Ph. D. granting organizations, non-Ph. D. granting organizations and non-degree granting organizations.
AWARD INFORMATION: The MRI Program anticipates having $115 million
dollars for 235 awards. Awards for instrumentation will range from $100,000 to $2 million. Proposals requesting less then $100,000 will be considered only from non-Ph. D. granting organizations and from the disciplines of mathematical science or social, behavioral and economic science at any eligible organization. Proposers may request a maximum of $4 million dollars for acquisition of a single instrument. In addition, proposers may request an award period up to three years for instrument acquisition proposals and up to five years for instrument development proposals.
Both of the following conditions must be met or proposal(s) will be returned without review: an organization may submit or be included as a partner or subawardee in no more than three proposals; if an organization submits or is included as a partner or subawardee in three proposals, at least one of the three proposals must be for instrument development.
NSF reserves the right to carefully examine development proposals to ensure that an institution does not exceed its proposal limit. If NSF determines that a development proposal is an acquisition proposal, and such determination results in an institution exceeding its limit, then said proposal will be returned without review. In addition, if the development proposal is found to be a standard research proposal that would be supported via normal NSF programs, the proposal will be returned without review.
If a proposal includes a subaward, the PI must include a letter from the sponsored research office at the subawardee institution noting that this counts towards the subawardee’s three-proposal limit. Also, if the institution exceeds its limit due to the subaward, the proposal with the subaward will be returned without review.
ELIGIBLE PROJECTS COSTS: Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: None. Eligible project costs for instrument acquisition proposals include instrument purchase, installation, commissioning, calibration, as well as the direct and indirect costs of operation, maintenance and other appropriate technical support during the award period. Further, salary support, including fringe benefits and indirect costs, is allowed only for personnel directly involved in the operation and maintenance of the instrument. Training costs that are directly related to proper operations and maintenance are eligible, but expenses associated with the training of users are not allowed. Conversely, support for research conducted with the instrument, outreach and publication costs are not allowed, nor is travel associated with conferences and/or collaborations.
Eligible project costs for instrument development proposals include parts and materials needed for the construction of the instrument, commissioning costs (including relevant operations and maintenance expenses), as well as the direct and indirect costs associated with support of personnel engaged strictly in the instrument development effort. Support for research to be conducted using the instrument after development, along with operations and maintenance, is not allowed. Conversely, travel costs that are integral to the development work are eligible expenses, but travel associated with conferences and training is not allowed.
COST SHARING: 30%, based on the NSF Authorization Act of 2007 as it applies directly to the MRI Program.
Internal Selection Procedures and Deadlines
October 2, 2009: Deadline for an email of intent, including the names of the PI and co-PIs, title of internal proposal, whether it is an instrument acquisition or instrument development proposal and a 1-3 sentence description of the project.
October 5, 2009: Deadline to obtain signatures of approval from your department head and college dean to submit an internal proposal to the Research Policy and Development Support Office for review by the internal selection committee. The internal proposal should include:
(1) An executive summary, up to three pages, based on the proposal description as outlined in the NSF program announcement;
(2) Summary budget;
(3) Project and Management Plans (including team members);
(4) If your proposal is a resubmission, you can include a summary of the reviews from the last submission.
The form for completing the internal proposal is at: http://researchpolicy.tamu.edu/limited-submission-proposals/internalselectionlspform.pdf
This completed form should be submitted electronically to osppc@tamu.edu for review by the internal selection committee.
*Once your internal proposal has been received with all of the necessary signatures, you will receive an email indicating it will be reviewed by the internal selection committee. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please call 5-1812.*
Please read the RFP carefully for specific requirements of the program at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09502/nsf09502.htm
Selection of a proposal will be based on NSF guidelines. Meeting the needs of the university’s reinvestment plan will also be taken into account.
During the selection process, the internal selection committee may contact departments and colleges for their opinions and commitments. They may also request additional information from PIs.
October 16, 2009: The Internal Selection Committee will notify PIs of the result of the internal competition.
January 28, 2010: Deadline for full proposal: (due by 5 p.m. proposer’s local time).
