Proposal Development Unit

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Proposal Development Unit

• Created June 04
• Mission
• To increase research funding through support for
  faculty producing proposals for graduate
  fellowships and multidisciplinary research.

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Proposal Development Unit Services

• Criteria
• Multidisciplinary research gt1M
• Graduate fellowships gt 500K
• Level of support from PDU depends on amount of
  advance notice.

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Since the last retreat

• Hired 2 new proposal developers
• Moved to offices in Venture II
• Brochure mailed to all faculty
• Website ncsu.edu/research/pdu
• Training program in development with URC.
• Began Mid-Atlantic Systems Biology Initiative

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PDU Proposals Submitted

• 8 preproposals (161M)
• 7 full proposals (18.1M)
• 5 full proposals (36.2M) in progress.
• Only one decision so far.
• Awaiting invitations resulting from 7
  preproposals/
• Most announcements expected in Feb/Mar 05.

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Agency Requests

• 11 NSF (70.2)
• 5 NIH (32.1M)
• 1 DOED (5M)
• 1 EPA (5M)
• 1 DOD (3M)
• 1 Alfred Mann Foundation (100M)

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Provosts Office Partnership

• Diversity-Related
• Completed
• 8 proposals 55.7M
• In progress
• 6 proposals 28.85

• International Programs
• Completed
• 3 proposals 9.2M
• In progress
• 3 proposals 4.15M

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Tough Odds

• High risk/high reward when seeking awards over
  3M.
• Programs making awards over 15M typically make
  only 1-2 awards nationally/year.
• Goal Awards of 10 of dollars proposed (20M)

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And Getting Tougher

• Limited Submission Programs
• and their increasing demands on our research
  infrastructure

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Limited Submission Programs

• Between 35 and 40 yearly
• National Science Foundation sponsors about 50 of
  them
• Private foundations sponsor about 45
• National Institutes of Health, ORNL and 1
  commercial sponsor support the rest.

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Two Portals for Limited Submission Programs
Website

• PDU
• www.ncsu.edu/research/pdu/coordinate.html
• Click on Limited Submission Programs
• SPARCS
• www.ncsu.edu/sparcs/funding/ltd/ltd.htm

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Increasing Restrictions on Limited Submission
Programs

• Website is one tool in dealing with new
  restrictions
• Most new restrictions coming from NSF
• What new restrictions mean to NC State University

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New NSF Restrictions

• NSF Partnerships for International Research
  Education
• Both lead-partner and non-lead partner proposals
  are limited per institution
• Result All partners must select that proposal in
  their internal reviews before it can be submitted
  to NSF

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NSF Restrictions, continued

• Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education
  (Informal Science Education component)
• One lead OR one non-lead proposal allowed per
  institution
• Result Both the lead the non-lead partner must
  select the same proposal in their internal
  reviews before it can be submitted to NSF.
  (Lead-partner institution with a second
  lead-partner proposal to review would have to
  prefer a non-lead proposal over its own
  lead-partner proposal.)

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NSF restrictions, third example

• Major Research Instrumentation
• Previous limit 3 lead-partner proposals 1
  consortium proposal 4
• New limit 3 lead-partner proposals
• Result One less proposal allowed from NC State

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Other NSF changes

• The end of cost-sharing requirements
• Result Risk that Deans, Associate Deans and
  research personnel may not be aware that a
  limited submission proposal is going forward from
  their colleges

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Impact on NC State University

• Risk that a guerilla proposal may be submitted
  to NSF, causing all NC State proposals, lead or
  non-lead, to be rejected without review
• Potential for causing rejection of a partner
  institutions proposals as well

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To Keep Moving Up, We Need

• To read NSF program announcements very carefully
  and analytically
• To be sure to notify Carol Ashcraft about any NC
  State co-PIs on another institutions proposal,
  lead AND non-lead
• To ask questions about limited submission program
  requirements and ask for help in coordinating
  with partner institutions, lead or non-lead.
• To remind faculty that a multi-inst. proposal
  must be chosen in each U.S. partner institutions
  internal review

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To Help Us, We Have

• A website listing current limited submission
  programs, including
• A link to internal deadlines, the sponsors
  program deadlines, internal specifications and
  the sponsors full program announcement
• A list of all NC State limited submission
  programs
• A description of the internal review process

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Additional helpful resources

• Highly professional, aware and experienced
  research staff members
• Open and effective communication to and from
  research staff about limited submission programs
• Deans, Associate Deans and faculty dedicated to a
  rigorous and fair selection process