NEW Seed Grant Opportunity – Convergence between Materials and Energy
Funding 2016-2017
The Materials Research Institute (MRI) and Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment
(PSIEE) have identified three themes of convergence where we are asking faculty to develop
high risk, high impact, transformative ideas that will enable Penn State faculty to obtain
preliminary data that can be used to pursue larger federal grants in the area of:
(1) CO2 Capture, Storage and Utilization
(2) Artificial Photosynthesis
(3) Reducing Energy in Manufacturing Processes
We are targeting these areas to enable our faculty to get ready for future announcements within
the government agencies that will probably expand, owing to the international treaty signed in
Paris, 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21).
Seed Grant Eligibility
All Penn State faculty members (tenured/tenure track, and fixed term research faculty) who hold
an appointment of half-time or more at any Penn State location are eligible to submit a seed grant
proposal as a Principal Investigator (PI). Researchers, students and staff from Penn State may be
included as collaborators in seed grant proposals. Please note that while most proposals are
expected to include multiple investigators, there can only be one responsible PI for each
application. In addition, investigators may only participate in a single proposal.
Funding Availability
Approximately $150,000 of funding is available through this seed grant solicitation for 20162017. To encourage establishment of new collaborations and enhancement of networks, larger
grants will require innovative partnerships of investigators from multiple colleges and/or campus
locations. Funds up to $10,000 can be awarded for a single investigator/single college project
and up to $20,000 for interdisciplinary collaborations involving multi-colleges and multicampuses. Grant funds will be available by May 1, 2016 and must be expended by June 30,
2017.
Submission Instructions
All pre-proposals must be submitted electronically to MRI via www.frapp.psu.edu no later than
5:00 pm on Wednesday March 16, 2016. Each pre-proposal is limited to a 2-page project
description and additional pages for an appendix.
The project description must include the following:
/why this is a significant opportunity
will you promote/leverage this work for significant external funding?
The appendix will include a list of all collaborators, their colleges and/or departments, and 1page resumes for the PI and all co-PI’s.
Using Funding Request web site: www.frapp.psu.edu
This is a short three-step process.
Step 1
1. Unit – pick MRI
Step 2
2. Enter required/relevant information on application page. Be sure to….
3. Enter any co-PIs
4. Brief description of project
5. Dates: Start date should be May 1, 2016 – June 30 2017
6. Funding type is seed grant
7. Ignore Agency Information
8. Deliverables will be a final report to submitted to MRI and the due date will be June 30,
2017
9. If there is other financial support that you will be leveraging please indicate
10. In step 3 put your total request amount in 2016 and $0 in 2017 and hit continue
Step 3
1. List requests
2. View your request
3. About half way down you will see Upload files. Please complete brief information and
upload your 2 page document as well as supporting information requested as either word
or pdf documents
4. Submit
You application is complete.
Review Criteria
Proposal reviews are based upon the following criteria:
1. Intellectual merit of the proposal, including relevance to the call; creativity and innovation;
significance of goals and results; soundness of research plan; and likelihood of successful project
completion.
2. A credible and clearly articulated strategy for leveraging this seed grant investment into
exceptional scholarship and/or significant external funding. Potential for additional/continued
activity beyond the seed grant phase may include plans for continued activity such as
applications for external support from federal, state or local government agencies, industry,
private foundations, etc.
3. Appropriateness of the budget request for supporting the proposed research. The intent is not
to fund faculty salaries.
Please direct any questions regarding the proposal process to Donna Lucas dzm4@psu.edu (38407).