Funding Opportunity: NASA EPSCoR Research Implementation Grants

Deadlines

Letter of Intent (LOI) Due: 1700 CST, Tuesday, March 7th, 2023
LOI Selection Announcement: Tuesday, March 14th, 2023
Pre-Proposals Due: 1700 CST, Friday, July 14th, 2023
Pre-Proposal Selection announcement: Friday, July 28th, 2023
Selected pre-proposal team will work with NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR to submit full proposal to NASA

Program Description

Grant Cycle: 2021-2024 will consist of a Letter of Intent (LOI), pre-proposal phase, and a full proposal phase. A statewide NASA EPSCoR board will select projects from the LOIs which will move forward through a preproposal stage. One submitted preproposal will be selected to prepare a full proposal that will go forward to NASA.
NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR anticipates the release of a NASA EPSCoR Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Research Implementation Competition in August 2023 with a 90-day turn around for the full proposal.
Proposal requires research collaboration among Oklahoma researchers and their counterparts at a NASA Center or Mission Directorates. Commercial / Industrial partnerships are strongly encouraged.
NASA requires 50% cost share: for every $2.00 of NASA funds, $1.00 must be supplied as match. Pre-proposals must include a statement indicating that the applicant understands and agrees to all budgetary and cost share requirements should the submitted proposal be selected to move forward.
$250,000 per year for three years. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will provide $50,000 per year of matching funds. 15% of both NASA funds and Regent match funds must be allocated to NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office.
Research must align with NASA priorities.
Since the new Notice of Funding Opportunity will not be released until August, researchers are strongly encouraged to consult the 2023 Research NOFO EPSCoR_Final.pdf (nasaprs.com) for guidance. Special attention should be given to the evaluation criteria listed on pages 21-23.

Letter of Intent Content and Review Criteria

All letters of Interest will be considered, however, researchers with previous or existing NASA Travel Grant and/or Research Initiation Grant funding are encouraged to submit a Letter of Interest to be considered for NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR sponsorship. A competitive process will be used to determine the the researchers who may move on to the Pre-Proposal phase.

Letter Content

NASA Research Focus Area identifier and title
The title and description of the potential research including the NASA Mission Directorate and NASA scientist that has expressed interest in the project.
Goals and objectives should be included in the letter which can be up to two full pages in length.
A list of the primary researchers and their institutions
A two-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for the lead investigator,
A one-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for each anticipated researcher.

LOI Selection Criteria

LOI's will be judged on the following criteria:

Conformity to NASA priorities
Identification of an interested NASA Researcher
Goals and Objectives
Qualifications of research team
Past interaction with NASA (including Travel Grants or RIG)

LOI Submission

LOI must be e-mailed to the NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office at [email protected] by deadline.

Pre-Proposal Review Criteria

(Selected LOI's only)

Proposers who have been selected from the LOI's will be eligible to submit a pre-proposal.

Scientific and Technical Merit (40%)
Demonstrated Alignment with NASA Budget Priorities (40%)
- Narrative should be specific demonstrating alignment with NASA priorities and specify proposed collaboration with NASA. Include role of NASA personnel, and discussion of use of NASA facilities if applicable.
- Include a letter of intent from relevant NASA collaborator(s)
Management and Evaluation (20%)
- Project Management
  - Identify Lead Science Investigator Sc-I (include 2 pg cv )
  - Identify each Team Member (include 1 pg cv )
  - Clear description of responsibilities of all researchers
- Specify information sharing plan and how individual tasks integrate to plan
- Specify meeting plans and directions for ongoing research
- Include description of metrics or milestones used to evaluate project progress

Pre-Proposal Format

Please follow the following order of documents and page count limits.

pdf format
Proposal Cover Page: 1 page
Proposal Summary: 4000 characters
Proposal Body (Including Scientific, Technical, NASA Alignment, Management and Evaluation excluding cvs): 5 pages
Budget: Applicants must include a statement indicating agreement and understanding of the budgetary and cost share requirements should the submitted proposal be selected to move forward.
Biographical sketches (Sc-I 2pg, Co-Is 1 pg each)
References and Citations: As Needed
The pre-proposal is not a contractually binding document, therefore it is not required to obtain official university approval signatures. It will only be reviewed by the state EPSCoR committee.