submit track-1 proposal ideas 2024-2029

1/18/23

The community is invited to the next KY NSF EPSCoR CHARGE proposal development team meeting (on Zoom)

When: Jan 31, 2023 10:00 – 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting: https://uky.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvduitrD4pG9eIp3DV-eDp1pggObJTZCEz

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

12/1/22

The theme for the next Track-1 proposal has been selected:

Strengthening Climate Change Hazard Assessment and Mitigation Technologies to Build Economic Resilience and Facilitate Geoscience Equity

Read the white paper:

Groups interested in participating are encouraged to submit one-page summaries that will be posted to this webpage (download below) to share with other research groups.  These summaries (of envisioned contributions and capabilities) can be submitted to jeff.mossey@uky.edu.  The summaries can be either a transfer of information from a previously submitted “phase-2” idea paper, or a newly envisioned contribution not previously communicated.  There is no prescriptive format for the summaries.  Please include a point-of-contact on the summaries.   

This file is updated often and renamed with the current date (of upload).  New submissions are added to the end of the file in the order received.

The next proposal development team meeting (Zoom) will be held in late Jan. 2023.  A registration link will be posted here when a specific time and date are known.  

2024-2029 KY NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 Proposal Idea Papers

On behalf of the Statewide EPSCoR Committee, KY NSF EPSCoR is seeking idea papers from the Kentucky research community to include in the next $20 million/ 5-year RII Track-1 proposal, which will be submitted to NSF in the Summer of 2023.  If funded, an awarded Track-1 proposal to Kentucky would support Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) activities from July 2024 – June 2029.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • There can be only one funded RII-Track 1 award per state at a time, so Kentucky is not eligible to submit until the summer of 2023, but we will need a year to identify a proposal topic and develop the proposal, so we are starting now.
  • The current active solicitation for this program is 22-599 https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22599/nsf22599.htm, which is not the solicitation Kentucky will be responding to, but it should be referenced to learn more about the program and how it works.
  • Below is a timeline of activities for developing the proposal.
  • We are starting the process by asking the academic community to submit Idea Papers by August 1, 2022.

May 2022: Request Idea Papers

Idea Papers include only two sections – (1) a listing of involved institutions and participants (only KY institutions and individuals can participate on a Track-1), and (2) an overview of the proposed topic including a general scope of work.

There is no page limit for section 1.  Section 2 should not be more than 5 pages.

Successful idea papers will:

  • Propose participants/activities at both the state’s research institutions (UK and UofL), as well as include the state’s regional two- and four-year colleges and universities. Inter-institutional, collaborative research that impacts the entire state is a fundamental characteristic of successful Track-1 applications.
  • Focus on areas of importance to the National Science Foundation, the program sponsor; and that are areas of interest and strength for Kentucky.

NSF Focus Areas

  • Include new faculty hires to complement existing faculty and expertise. Start-up support for the new faculty hires can be included within the Track-1 budgets.
  • Focus on activities that will make research groups more competitive for large-scale NSF center applications after five years of Track-1 financial support.
  • (For program size/scope context) Kentucky’s prior T-1 awards have typically:
    1. Included 1 to 3 major research themes. If > 1 theme is selected, the themes will have connections to each other.
    2. Supported approximately 200 participants per year (across all roles and research themes)
    3. Provided support to enable 5-10 new research faculty hires over the five years of the award

June 2022: Informational Webinar

KY NSF EPSCoR held two webinars this June. You can download the slides from that presentation here: 

Webinar Slides

August 1, 2022: Idea Papers are due

Submit Idea Papers to: jeff.mossey@uky.edu

September 1, 2022: Proposal theme(s) selection

The Statewide EPSCoR Committee members will review the Idea Papers and determine the proposal’s research theme(s) by September 1, 2022.  All groups submitting Idea Papers will be informed of this outcome and groups that proposed activities that relate to the selected theme(s) will be invited to participate in the next phases of proposal development.

The overall objective during the proposal theme selection process is to identify research areas of common and complementary interest that will have an impact on the entire state’s research infrastructure, so the greater the number of inter-institutional partnerships within the Idea Papers, the more likely the proposed theme is to be selected.

UPDATE: The theme for the next Track-1 proposal has been selected.  Strengthening Climate Change Hazard Assessment and Mitigation Technologies to Build Economic Resilience and Facilitate Geoscience Equity

Read the white paper

Research groups in Kentucky are now invited to submit new white papers that relate to and can contribute to advancing this selected theme.  Follow the first-round guidelines for white papers and submit second-round white papers to jeff.mossey@uky.edu by November 18th, 2022.  Second round white papers that relate to the theme can be submitted by any Kentucky research group regardless of if a first-round white paper was submitted or not.

November 30th, 2022: Proposal development workshop and team building via Zoom from 10a-11a (EST).  Use the link below to register to attend the event. 

Registering attendees will receive a reminder about the meeting in advance of November 30.

At this meeting, the scientific leadership of the theme/proposal will field questions and comments from the research community interested in participating.  Submitting a phase-2 idea paper (by Nov. 18th) prior to the event is encouraged but not required.

November 2022 – June 2023: Proposal Development

July 2023: Proposal Submission to NSF 

More Information from NSF