Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Track-2 Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (RII Track-2 FEC) Solicitation Released
Funding Opportunity Number: 20-504
Deadline: LOI due Dec 20, 2019; Proposal due Jan 24, 2020
Eligibility: The following EPSCoR jurisdictions are RII-eligible for the FY 2020 RII Track-2 FEC competition: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, 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.
Estimated Maximum Total Value: $7,500,000
Maximum Total Value Per Award: $1,000,000
Estimated Number of Awards: 5
Summary
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is designed to fulfill the mandate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote scientific progress nationwide. A jurisdiction is eligible to participate in EPSCoR programs if its level of NSF research support is equal to or less than 0.75 percent of the total NSF research and related activities budget for the most recent three-year period. Through this program, NSF establishes partnerships with government, higher education, and industry that are designed to effect sustainable improvements in a jurisdiction's research infrastructure, Research and Development (R&D) capacity, and hence, its R&D competitiveness.
RII Track-2 FEC builds inter-jurisdictional collaborative teams of EPSCoR investigators in scientific focus areas consistent with NSF priorities. Projects are investigator-driven and must include researchers from at least two RII- eligible jurisdictions with complementary expertise and resources necessary to tackle those projects, which neither party could address as well or rapidly alone. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research and education activities should seek to broaden participation through the strategic inclusion and integration of different types of individuals, institutions, and sectors throughout the project. Proposals must describe a comprehensive and integrated vision to drive discovery and build sustainable STEM capacity that exemplifies diversity of all types (individual, institutional, geographic, and disciplinary). The development of diverse early-career faculty is a critical component of this sustainable STEM capacity. For FY 2020, RII Track-2 FEC proposals are invited on a single topic: "Harnessing the Data Revolution to solve problems of national importance."
A single proposal is submitted for a project. Support for non-lead collaborating organizations should be requested as subawards. Separately submitted collaborative proposals are not allowed. Each participating EPSCoR jurisdiction must have at least one co-PI on the project. Proposals that do not comply with these requirements will be considered not responsive, and will be returned without review.
View the full solicitation here.