To:
Deans
From: Jerzy T. Sawicki
Date:
November 12, 2015
Re:
NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program (Solicitation 15-504)
Due Date: January 13, 2016
The next proposal submission deadline for NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI):
Instrument Acquisition or Development competition is January 13, 2016. The Program Solicitation
Number is 15-504 and the full Solicitation is attached to this message. The program is unchanged from
last year.
The University may submit up to three (3) unique proposals. Of these, a maximum of two (2) may be for
Instrument Acquisition and one (1) for Instrument Development. Due to this limitation, we want to
identify any interested Project Directors or teams as early as possible. This is to ensure the University
submits the best possible proposal(s) and to prevent a team from investing significant effort only to
learn later that it cannot submit because of the overall submission limitation.
As you consider the attached Solicitation, please be aware that as a Ph.D. granting institution, Cleveland
State is required to provide 30% of the total project cost (not 30% of the NSF funding request). This is
considered mandatory cost-sharing. University policy requires this cost-share be documented and
approved in advance of proposal submission. If you have any questions about what is allowable as costshare, please consult with SPRS. The NSF requests proposals in the range of $100,000 to $4 Million.
However, they will accept proposals of less than $100,000 for the disciplines of mathematics, social,
behavior and economic sciences only.
A proposal in which Cleveland State University will be a subawardee may also count toward our
submission limitation. Any involvement with an Acquisition proposal would count while a development
proposal only counts if our funding request is 20% or more of the overall request to NSF. As a
subrecipient, the University would still be required to provide cost-sharing (although the lead institution
may choose to provide the complete cost-share, thereby releasing CSU from this requirement).
Subawards may be included in development proposals but not in acquisition proposals, unless the
submitting organization is a non-Ph.D. granting institution of higher education.
Please notify Teri Kocevar by Monday, November 30, 2015, 5 p.m., of your interest to submit a proposal
in any capacity (lead institution or subawardee) to the MRI program. Please do this by email to
m.kocevar@csuohio.edu. In your notification, include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Project (working) title;
Proposal Type (Acquisition or Development);
Team members (indicate which is the lead PI) with department/college affiliations;
Indicate if this is part of a consortium (subaward situation). If so, list the other organizations and
indicate if CSU is the Lead or a Partner;
5. Synopsis of purpose or need, including specific known research projects to be conducted using
the instrument; and
6. The source of the 30% mandatory cost share match with required signatures of college deans
/departments chairs, etc. committing the cost share.
Interested parties that do not contain all six (6) items listed above will not be considered for review.
Individual faculty or teams may respond to Teri Kocevar directly with the above information. Depending
upon the number of responses, we may solicit further input from your office to help decide which
proposals will go forward.
The decision of proposals selected for submission to NSF will be announced no later than December 11,
2015. The selected applicants for submission to NSF must have the completed proposal to the Office of
Sponsored Programs and Research Services no later than January 6, 2016.
Thank you,
Jerzy
--Jerzy T. Sawicki
Vice President for Research
Office of Research
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY
216-687-9364