DOE EPSCoR Implementation Grant Applications Now Being Accepted

Deadline:  Preproposals must be submitted to the local OK EPSCoR office no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, May 27, 2011.  (See below for grant submission details and delivery instructions.)

OKLAHOMA EPSCoR DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE)
IMPLEMENTATION GRANT GUIDELINES FY 2011


Introduction

The Department of Energy (DOE) EPSCoR Implementation Grant program is open to all faculty and researchers at Oklahoma universities.  The FY 2011 DOE Program Notice inviting grant applications has been released and is available at the following site:

http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=vGT2NPQXTnthTwVYr3hYnSngNG82gHGvSyH93yMvChMkWklBYQlj!-797564588?oppId=94293&mode=VIEW

Full application instructions are located at:   https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/?doc=DE-FOA-0000546&agency=DOE (click on "Body" on right side of page).

The Program Notice anticipates that $4.0 million will be available in FY 2011 and that two awards will be made.  Awards can be as high as $2.5 million per year for up to three years, or as low as $1.0 million per year.  Twenty-nine EPSCoR jurisdictions including Oklahoma are eligible under this Program Notice so the competition will likely be extremely intense.  Successful awards usually consist of multiple researchers from several institutions within the jurisdiction that are focused on one energy-related research area.  No Cost-Share from the participating jurisdictions will be required. 

Oklahoma will be permitted to submit up to one application in response to this Program Notice.  This application will consist of a single “research cluster” as described in the Program Notice.  The Oklahoma State EPSCoR Advisory Committee will select the  project to be submitted by Oklahoma under this Program Notice.

Information about DOE Research Needs

The above-cited link references other sites with descriptions of research areas of interest to DOE.  The Program Notice encourages collaborative applications that provide linkages among state institutions, DOE Laboratories, other government laboratories and industry.

Project Selection

The Oklahoma EPSCoR Advisory Committee review panel will select one project for submission to DOE.  Project selection will be based on review of preproposals using the following criteria:

  1. The relevance of the proposal to DOE mission needs
  2. The scientific and/or technical merit of the proposal
  3. The relevance of the proposal to Oklahoma EPSCoR goals
  4. The likelihood of continuing support beyond the EPSCoR funding

Preproposals

The preproposals must include:

  1. PI name(s), full contact information including email address, and affiliation(s)
  2. Project Title
  3. Project Description (5 page maximum)
  4. Preliminary Budget (1 page).  Note that each application can include a budget of up to $2.5 million per year from DOE
  5. List of past, current and pending DOE research support
  6. Brief Vitae for PI and other major personnel (up to 2 pages each)
  7. Description (up to 1 page) of how well the proposal addresses current DOE research needs and the prospects for future non-EPSCoR DOE research funding

Timetable

  • First – Carefully, read the DOE Program Notice at the above-cited link.
  • Friday, May 27, 5:00 p.m. - Preproposals (20 copies) are due in the Oklahoma EPSCoR office at OSU (415 Whitehurst, Stillwater, OK 74078-1038.  Phone: 405-744-9964).
  • Tuesday, May 31 – The State EPSCoR Advisory Committee will select the one project for submission to DOE.  All PIs will be notified.
  • Letter of Intent is due June 7, 2011, 4:30 PM Eastern Time.  This should be submitted to epscor@science.doe.gov.
  • The formal proposal application must be submitted by June 23, 2011, 11:59 PM Eastern Time. This proposal must be submitted electronically through the “Apply for Grants” function at Grants.gov (www.Grants.gov).
  • DOE expects to announce awards within six months of this due date.

For more general information or discussion of specific project ideas, please contact the Oklahoma DOE EPSCoR director, Jim Wicksted, by phone at (405) 744-9964 or by email at james.wicksted@okstate.edu.