February 13, 2015 edition
(Please follow links in the titles for original posting and further details)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
VPRGS 2015 Research Workshops
 NIH Funding for Non-Medical Projects. Main Library- North Conference
Room, 4th Floor. February 19, 2015 from 3-5pm.
 Sciences and Engineering: Funding Your Graduate Experience. 3540EB.
February 20, 2015 from 3-4:30pm.
 Export Controls on Research. Presenter: Lori Hudson, Director, Research
Facilitation and Dissemination. Main Library- North Conference Room,
4th Floor. March 19, 2015 from 3-4pm.
 Data Management Plans, Data Preservation Issues. Main Library- North
Conference Room, 4th Floor. April 02, 2015 from 3-5pm.
 Taking Your Research Abroad. Main Library, North Conference Room,
4th Floor. April 16, 2015 from 3-4pm.
GRANTS.GOV: System Enhancements & Server Maintenance Outages
The Grants.gov portal will be down over the Presidents Day weekend from
Saturday, February 14, 2015 at 12:01 AM ET to Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at
6:00 AM ET as part of the upgrade to support the use of special characters, such
as Greek symbols, in free-text fields such as project titles. NIH application dates
that fall on or between February 13 and February 18, 2015 will move to February
19, 2015.
DER Noontime Seminars Series
Our next seminar will feature new faculty Mi Zhang (ME) and Metin Aktulga (CSE).
February 24, 2015| 12:00-1:30pm | 3540EB | Pizza and pop provided.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures must be completed by February 28, 2015
NSF Automated Proposal Compliance Checks for Full Proposals Effective January
26, 2015.
Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 15-1) Automated Compliance Checks: FastLane will begin to run an additional 24
automated compliance checks on proposals to ensure they comply with (GPG).
Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) and the Office of Sponsored Programs
(OSP) announce the release of Activity Log
The Activity Log is a new web-based system tracking proposal and award activities
handled through OSP and Business-CONNECT, and it provides the following:
 Transparency for the campus community in viewing the status of a
proposal or an award negotiation.
 Better organization and tracking of activities resulting in enhanced
cross-utilization of staff and the ability to prioritize workflow in a
consistent manner.
 More detailed, complete and consistent metrics for proposals and
awards providing tools to identify areas for increased efficiency and
client support.
MSU Sponsored Projects’ Proposal Deadline Policy
College of Engineering’s Proposal Processing Timeline
The new policy requires that completed proposals must be provided to OSP at
least three full business days prior to the sponsor's deadline to be considered on
time. On-time proposals will take precedence over those considered late. Thank
you for your continued cooperation and commitment to improving the process of
proposal review, approval and timely submission. See the proposal submission
deadline policy for a more detailed description.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
NSF 15-542 Research Traineeship (NRT) Program--Traineeship Track AND
Innovations in Graduate Education Track NSF 15-542
Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) NSF 15-528
Audio Processing & Exploitation Technologies BAA RIK-2015-0004
Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) IARPA-BAA-14-06
Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation ResearchTechnology Translation (PFI: AIR-TT) NSF 14-569
Exploratory Technologies to Understand the Control of Organ Function by
the Peripheral Nervous System for SPARC (U18) RFA-RM-15-002
United States-Israel Collaboration in Computer Science (USICCS) NSF 15510
Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies for Cancer Research (R21)
RFA-CA-15-002
Innovative Technologies for Cancer-Relevant Biospecimen Science (R21)
RFA-CA-15-004
NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative Research Education: Open
Educational Resources for Sharing, Annotating and Curating Biomedical
Big Data (R25) RFA-LM-15-002
Michigan State Foundation Discretionary Funding Initiative (DFI)
Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes
(CRISP) NSF 15-531
1) NSF 15-542 Research Traineeship (NRT) Program--Traineeship Track AND
Innovations in Graduate Education Track NSF 15-542
The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program is designed to encourage the
development and implementation of bold, new, potentially transformative, and
scalable models for STEM graduate education training. The NRT program seeks
proposals that ensure that graduate students in research-based master’s and
doctoral degree programs develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies
needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. The NRT program includes two tracks:
the Traineeship Track and the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Track.
Internal Deadline: institutionally limited March 11, 2015
2) Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) NSF 15-528
Cultivating Cultures for Ethical STEM (CCE STEM) funds research projects that
identify factors that are efficacious in the formation of ethical STEM researchers
in all the fields of science and engineering that NSF supports. CCE STEM solicits
proposals for research that explores the following: ‘What constitutes ethical STEM
research and practice? Which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical
STEM research and practice and why?' Factors one might consider include: honor
codes, professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service
and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements, curricula or memberships
in organizations (e.g. Engineers without Borders) that stress social responsibility
and humanitarian goals, institutions that serve under-represented groups,
institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple
levels, institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that
promote group work, or do not grade. Do certain labs have a ‘culture of academic
integrity'? What practices contribute to the establishment and maintenance of
ethical cultures and how can these practices be transferred, extended to, and
integrated into other research and learning settings?
Deadline: March 12, 2015
3) Audio Processing & Exploitation Technologies BAA RIK-2015-0004
The scope of this effort covers a broad range of technologies not limited to:
usable speech determination, interference mitigation (noise, co-channel), channel
mitigation, speaker diarization, whispered speech detection, music or tone
detection/mitigation, background noise detection, speaker segmentation, speaker
highlighting, speaker identification, speaker verification, transmission
segmentation, language and dialect identification, accented speech identification,
optimal data selection, speaker verification, coding to preserve the characteristics
of the speaker and channel, automatic speech recognition, key word spotting,
correlation, and model adaptation. The main emphasis for this research are
techniques and methods for use in a tactical (low signal-to-noise ratio, <5 seconds
processing time, with minimal training time and data) military environment.
Deadline: white paper due March 13, 2015
4) Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS) IARPA-BAA-14-06
The MICrONS program aims to achieve a quantum leap in machine learning by
creating novel machine learning algorithms that use neurally-inspired
architectures and mathematical abstractions of the representations,
transformations, and learning rules employed by the brain. To guide the
construction of these algorithms, performers will conduct targeted neuroscience
experiments that interrogate the operation of mesoscale cortical computing
circuits, taking advantage of emerging tools for high-resolution structural and
functional brain mapping. The program is designed to facilitate iterative
refinement of algorithms based on a combination of practical, theoretical, and
experimental outcomes: performers will use their experiences with the
algorithms’ design and performance to reveal gaps in their understanding of
cortical computation, and will collect specific neuroscience data to inform new
algorithmic implementations that address these limitations.
Deadline: March 13, 2015
5) Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation ResearchTechnology Translation (PFI: AIR-TT) NSF 14-569
The NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program within the Division of Industrial
Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) is an umbrella for two complementary
subprograms, Accelerating Innovation Research (AIR) and Building Innovation
Capacity (BIC). Overall, the PFI program offers opportunities to connect new
knowledge to societal benefit through translational research efforts and/or
partnerships that encourage, enhance and accelerate innovation and
entrepreneurship. The subject of this solicitation is PFI: AIR-Technology
Translation (PFI: AIR-TT). The PFI: AIR-TT solicitation serves as an early
opportunity to move previously NSF-funded research results with promising
commercial potential along the path toward commercialization. Projects are
supported to demonstrate proof-of-concept, prototype, or scale-up while
engaging faculty and students in entrepreneurial/innovative thinking.
Deadline: letter of intent due March 13, 2015
6) Exploratory Technologies to Understand the Control of Organ Function by
the Peripheral Nervous System for SPARC (U18) RFA-RM-15-002
This NIH Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), supported by funds from the
NIH Common Fund (Common Fund) and managed by the Office of the Director
and participating NIH Institute(s) and Center(s) of the Stimulating Peripheral
Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) program, solicits U18 Research
Demonstration Cooperative Agreement applications to develop new and/or
enhance existing tools and technologies tailored to elucidate the neurobiology
and neurophysiology underlying autonomic control of internal organs in health or
disease, which will ultimately inform next generation neuromodulation therapies.
These awards will establish feasibility for further technology development in any
future SPARC initiatives. Additionally, the technologies developed through these
awards are expected to lay the groundwork for more systematic facilitation of
biological mapping activities in any future SPARC initiatives.
Deadline: letter of intent due March 14, 2015
7) United States-Israel Collaboration in Computer Science (USICCS) NSF 15510
The United States-Israel Collaboration in Computer Science (USICCS) program
supports transformative research projects that explore the foundations of
computing. The program seeks advances in theory of computing; algorithm design
and analysis; design, verification, and evaluation of software systems; and
revolutionary computing models based on emerging scientific ideas.
Deadline: March 16, 2015
8) Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies for Cancer Research (R21)
RFA-CA-15-002
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications
proposing exploratory research focused on the inception and early-stage
development of highly innovative molecular or cellular analysis technologies for
basic and clinical cancer research. The emphasis of this FOA is on supporting the
development of novel molecular and cellular analysis capabilities with a high
degree of technical innovation with the potential to significantly affect and
transform investigations exploring the molecular and cellular basis of cancer. If
successful, these technologies should accelerate and/or enhance research in the
areas of cancer biology, early detection and screening, clinical diagnosis,
treatment, epidemiology, and/or cancer health disparities. Technologies
proposed for development may be intended to have widespread applicability but
must be based on molecular and/or cellular characterizations of cancer.
Deadline: March 17, 2015
9) Innovative Technologies for Cancer-Relevant Biospecimen Science (R21)
RFA-CA-15-004
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications
proposing exploratory research projects on the inception and early-stage
development of technologies that address issues related to pre-analytical
degradation of targeted analytes during the collection, processing, handling, and
storage of cancer-relevant biospecimens. The overall goal is to support the
development of highly innovative technologies capable of interrogating and/or
maximizing the quality and utility of biospecimens or samples derived from those
biospecimens for downstream analyses. This FOA will support the development of
tools, devices, instrumentation, and associated methods to assess sample quality,
preserve/protect sample integrity, and establish verification criteria for quality
assessment/quality control and handling under diverse conditions. These
technologies are expected to potentially accelerate and/or enhance research in
cancer biology, early detection, screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment,
epidemiology, and cancer health disparities, by reducing pre-analytical variations
that affect biospecimen sample quality.
Deadline: March 17, 2015
10)
NIH Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) Initiative Research Education:
Open Educational Resources for Sharing, Annotating and Curating
Biomedical Big Data (R25) RFA-LM-15-002
The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research educational
activities that complement other formal training programs in the mission areas of
the NIH Institutes and Centers. The over-arching goals of the NIH R25 program are
to: (1) complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the
nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs; (2) enhance the
diversity of the biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce; (3) help
recruit individuals with specific specialty or disciplinary backgrounds to research
careers in biomedical, behavioral and clinical sciences; and (4) foster a better
understanding of biomedical, behavioral and clinical research and its implications.
Deadline: full proposal due March 17, 2015
11)
Michigan State Foundation Discretionary Funding Initiative (DFI)
The Discretionary Funding Initiative (DFI), funded by the Michigan State
Foundation, provides bridge funds for tenure-stream faculty for additional studies
needed for resubmission of an unsuccessful grant application. Please complete a
PPF to begin the process with DER.
Deadline: March 19, 2014
12)
Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and
Processes (CRISP) NSF 15-531
The goals of the Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and
Processes (CRISP) solicitation are to: (1) foster an interdisciplinary research
community of engineers, computer and computational scientists and social and
behavioral scientists, that creates new approaches and engineering solutions for
the design and operation of infrastructures as processes and services; (2) enhance
the understanding and design of interdependent critical infrastructure systems
(ICIs) and processes that provide essential goods and services despite disruptions
and failures from any cause, natural, technological, or malicious; (3) create the
knowledge for innovation in ICIs so that they safely, securely, and effectively
expand the range of goods and services they enable; and (4) improve the
effectiveness and efficiency with which they deliver existing goods and services.
Deadline: March 20, 2015
All deadlines listed in this announcement indicate the agency’s due date. Please
adjust your PPF submission to account for the new deadline policies.
DER Proposal Processing Form (PPF)