Funding-Limited
Submission – EPSCoR Research Infrastructure
Improvement Program: Track-2 Focused EPSCoR
Collaborations (RII Track-2 FEC) (16-511); January 11, 2016
Description: The RII Track-2 FEC supports EPSCoR state collaborative teams of investigators in one of
two scientific focus areas: 1) Understanding the Brain or 2) Sustainable Food,
Energy, and Water Systems.
This
program requires that UK researchers collaborate with a subcontracted co-PI at
an institution in another EPSCoR jurisdiction outside
of Kentucky (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas,
Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Vermont, US Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming).
Projects
with one collaborating institution can request up to $1M per year while
projects with two or more collaborating institutions can request up to $1.5M
per year. The project description must include a strong rationale for the
collaboration and demonstrate that the partnership is designed to facilitate
discovery and innovation in the focus area. RII Track-2 FEC proposals are unique
in their integration of researchers into collaborative teams, and must develop
a diverse, well-prepared, STEM-enabled workforce necessary to sustain research
competitiveness.
RII Track-2 FEC
proposals must be aligned with one of the following two focus areas:
·
Understanding the
Brain
– Projects in this area will work toward enabling scientific understanding of
the full complexity of the brain, in action and in context, through targeted,
cross-disciplinary investments in research, technology, and workforce
development. Proposals should pursue innovative and integrated solutions to
advance the ability to predict how collective interactions between brain
function and the physical and social environment enable complex behavior.
·
Sustainable Food,
Energy, and Water Systems – The interaction of water, energy, and food systems
represents a complex global challenge. For a solution within any one of these
systems to be sustainable, interactions and interdependencies among systems
must be considered.
Institutional Limit:
1 RII Track-2 FEC proposal
Investigators
cannot be PI or co-PI on more than one proposal submitted to NSF for this
program. For the internal competition process, however, UK
researchers are encouraged to work with their collaborative institutional
partners and ask them to consider submitting the same project to their local
institutions, with UK as the subcontracted collaborator. If the same project is
prioritized to be led at more than one institution, the research groups can
jointly decide which institution will submit to NSF as the lead institution,
and a different project can be prioritized by the non-lead institution.
Internal Competition:
To
participate in the University’s selection process, researchers are to submit
the following material electronically, assembled into a single PDF document, to
the Office of the Vice President for Research at limitedsubmissions@uky.edu
and a copy to their Associate Dean for Research by Tuesday, December 8, 2015:
·
Title
of the program and/or funding opportunity announcement number
·
Brief
project description (2 pages maximum).
The
Vice President for Research will appoint a committee to review the material and
make a recommendation as to the University’s applicant. Questions about the submission process may be sent to Ms. Annette Evans in
the Office of the Vice President for Research (alevan4@email.uky.edu or 257-1663).
NSF Deadline: Letter of Intent
(required) – Jan. 11, 2016; Proposal – Feb. 4, 2016