Posted August 30, 2018 by Ashley Washburn
Two distinct funding opportunities — one from the National Science Foundation and one from the Nebraska Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research — are available for Nebraska faculty interested in acquiring major research instrumentation in 2019.
NSF’s Major Research Instrumentation Program provides an opportunity to acquire or develop major shared-user instrumentation that supports an organization’s research and research training goals. NSF limits the number of applications an organization may submit to the MRI Program in any given year. Therefore, ORED is seeking notifications of intent to submit from faculty interested in submitting an NSF MRI proposal in 2019.
Applicants may apply to either: Track 1, which supports proposals that request funds greater than or equal to $100,000 and less than $1 million; or Track 2, which supports proposals that request funds greater than or equal to $1 million up to and including $4 million. The university is limited to three proposal submissions: two submissions in Track 1, and one submission in Track 2.
Notifications of intent to submit are due by 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Submit a notification of intent to submit here. Internal pre-proposals are due Tuesday, Oct. 2.
In addition to NSF’s MRI Program, Nebraska EPSCoR has issued its own call for MRI proposals that request the acquisition of a single shared-use research instrument to enhance the capabilities of state researchers. For the purpose of this program, a major research instrument costs $150,000 or more. Cost sharing is required, and the amount of any one award will be 50 percent of the total proposal request with a maximum award of $200,000.
Nebraska EPSCoR requires that all of UNL’s applications to its MRI Program be submitted together in a single package by the Office of Research and Economic Development. Proposal preparation guidelines are available here. UNL faculty must submit their proposals via email attachment to unlresearch@unl.edu by 5 p.m. CDT on Nov. 1 to be included in the application package ORED forwards to Nebraska EPSCoR for funding consideration. Applicants should include in the subject line of their email “EPSCoR MRI Program Proposal” followed by the principal investigator’s first and last name.
For questions about either program or to request additional information, contact Tisha Mullen, director of proposal development, at 402-472-2894.
