NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) 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.
WHEN: Internal proposal deadline of October 13, 2008.
HOW: Faculty should submit internal proposal via email 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:
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 08-503 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 goals of the MRI Program are to: support the acquisition, through purchase, upgrade or development, of major state-of-the-art instrumentation for research, research training and integrated research/education activities at organizations; improve access to and increase use of modern research and research training instrumentation by scientists, engineers and graduate and undergraduate students; enable academic departments or cross-departmental units to create well-equipped learning environments that integrate research with education; foster the development of the next generation of instrumentation for research and research training; and promote partnerships between academic researchers and private sector instrument developers.
Instrument acquisition proposals may include computer clusters, clusters of advanced workstations, networks and other infrastructure components necessary for research. 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 cost of acquisition, operation and maintenance. Items not to be funded include individual pieces of equipment combined in a new system.
More information can be found here.
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 $90 million
dollars for 220 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. 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 and calibration. Eligible project costs for instrument development proposals include parts and materials needed for the construction of the instrument, commissioning costs, as well as the direct and indirect costs associated with support of personnel engaged strictly in the instrument development effort.
Prohibited costs for both instrument acquisition and instrument development proposals include instrument maintenance and operations, direct and indirect costs associated with research projects to be conducted using the requested instrumentation (including researchers’ salary and students’ stipends), publication costs and conference travel.
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 10, 2008: 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 13, 2008: 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 here.
This completed form should be submitted electronically 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 here.
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 24, 2008: The Internal Selection Committee will notify PIs of the result of the internal competition.
January 22, 2009: Deadline for full proposal: (due by 5 p.m. proposer’s local time).
