OK NASA EPSCoR Announces $250,000 Research Implementation Grants

OKLAHOMA NASA EPSCoR RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS

DEADLINES

  • Letter of Intent (LOI) Due: 1700 CST, Wednesday, 15 May, 2019
  • LOI Selection Announcement: On or about 31 May, 2019
  • Pre-Proposals Due: 17:00 CST, Friday, 13 September, 2019
  • Pre-Proposal Selection announcement: On or about Fri, 4 October, 2019
  • Selected pre-proposal team will work with NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR to submit full proposal to NASA

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

  • Grant Cycle: 2020-2023 will consist of a Letter of Intent (LOI), pre-proposal phase, and a full proposal phase. A statewide NASA EPSCoR board will select the LOI, then preproposal that will go forward for the full proposal to NASA.
  • NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR anticipates the release of a NASA EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) for the Research Implementation Competition sometime in October 2019 with a 90-day turn around for the full proposal.
  • Proposal requires research collaboration among Oklahoma researchers and their counterparts at a NASA Center or Mission Directorates. Commercial / Industrial partnerships are strongy encouraged.
  • NASA requires 50% cost share: for every $2.00 of NASA funds, $1.00 must be supplied as match.
  • $250,000 per year for three years. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will provide $50,000 per year of matching funds. 15% must be allocated to NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office.
  • Research must align with NASA priorities, and NASA is strongly emphasizing NASA Mission Alignment: NASA Missions
  • Since the new CAN will not be released until October, Researchers are strongly encouraged to consult the NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice for 2018 for guidance (special attention should be given to the evaluation criteria listed on pages 13-15)

LETTER OF INTENT AND REVIEW CRITERIA

All letters of Interest will be considered, however, researchers with previous or existing NASA Travel Grant and/or Research Initiation Grant funding are encouraged to submit a Letter of Interest to be considered for NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR sponsorship. A competitive process will be used to determine the the researchers who may move on to the Pre-Proposal phase.

Letter Content 

  • The title and description of the potential research including the NASA Mission Directorate, NASA Mission, and NASA scientist that has expressed interest in the project.
  • Goals and objectives should be included in the letter which can be up to two full pages in length.
  • A list of the primary researchers and their institutions
  • A two-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for the lead investigator,
  • A one-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for each anticipated researcher.

LOI Selection Criteria 

LOI's will be judged on the following criteria:

  • Conformity to NASA priorities and mission (Specify)
  • Identification of an interested NASA Researcher
  • Goals and Objectives
  • Qualifications of research team
  • Past interaction with NASA (including Travel Grants or RIG)

LOI Submission 

LOI must be e-mailed to the NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office at EPSCoR@oknasa.org by deadline.

PRE-PROPOSAL REVIEW CRITERIA
(Selected LOI's only) 

Proposers who have been selected from the LOI's will be eligible to submit a pre-proposal. 

Scientific and Technical Merit (35%)

Demonstrated Alignment with NASA Budget Priorities (40%)

  • Narrative should be specific demonstrating alignment with NASA priorities, mission and specify proposed collaboration with NASA. Include role of NASA personnel, and discussion of use of NASA facilities if applicable.
  • Include a letter of endorsement from relevant NASA collaborator(s)

Management and Evaluation (15%)

  • Project Management: Identify Lead Science Investigator Sc-I (include 2 pg cv ); Identify each Team Member (include 1 pg cv ); Clear description of responsibilities of all researchers
  • Specify information sharing plan and how individual tasks integrate to plan
  • Specify meeting plans and directions for ongoing research
  • Include description of metrics or milestones used to evaluate project progress

Budget and Budget Justification (10%)

  • Clearly show yearly budget alignment with proposed tasks
  • Clearly justify expenses

PRE-PROPOSAL FORMAT

Please follow the following order of documents and page count limits.

  • pdf format
  • Proposal Cover Page: 1 page
  • Proposal Summary: 4000 characters
  • Proposal Body (Including Scientific, Technical, NASA Alignment, Management and Evaluation excluding cvs): 5 pages
  • Budget and Budget Justification: As Needed
  • ​Biographical sketches (Sc-I 2pg, Co-Is 1 pg each)
  • References and Citations: As Needed
  • The pre-proposal is not a contractually binding document, therefore it is not required to obtain official university approval signatures.  It will only be reviewed by the state EPSCoR committee. 

PRE-PROPOSAL SUBMISSION 

Pre-proposal must be e-mailed to the NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office at EPSCoR@oknasa.org by deadline. 

NASA MISSION DIRECTORATES 

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This information was obtained from http://epscor.oknasa.org/implementation on 3/6/19 at 10:18AM CT. For up-to-date information and to view any changes that may have been made to the solicitation, viewers are encouraged to review the official Oklahoma NASA EPSCoR website.