Deadline: October 18, 2019
Early Career Investigator Research Purpose: The NASA Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC)(https://www.iaspacegrant.org/) sponsors an Early Career Investigator Research Program (ECIRP) having the goals of establishing a sustainable project that meets the documented needs of NASA and the State of Iowa. ECIRP is designed to strengthen Iowa’s NASA-related research infrastructure by providing startup funding to early career university faculty who are conducting research that is aligned with NASA research activities. The ECIRP intent is to build new collaborations with NASA centers and/or other future funding sources, and collaborations are required for this opportunity. Connections with ISGC industrial and government affiliates are especially encouraged. Involvement of students in research is highly encouraged, but not required.
Eligibility: Competition is open to faculty from Drake, Iowa, Iowa State, or Northern Iowa (ISGC core institutions), who are on tenure-track appointments or within two-years post-tenure. All direct funded participants (faculty and students) must be U.S. citizens. Faculty and/or students who are involved in the administration of this activity, but are not directly compensated, need not be U.S. citizens. The ISGC encourages proposals from females, members of underrepresented minority groups, veterans, and persons with disabilities.
Request: Proposals up to $7,000 are requested from eligible investigators for a project that will be conducted during the period beginning November 2019 through June 21, 2020. Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss their ideas with Tomas Gonzalez-Torres(isgcdirector@iastate.edu), director; Jay Staker (jstaker@iastate.edu), associate director, or Matthew Nelson (mnelson@iastate.edu), assistant director, to see if their ideas fall within the scope of this opportunity.
Proposal Content:
- Title Page: Project title, Principal Investigator name, and contact information.
- Project Description (five-page maximum, single-spaced, minimum 12 pt. font, 1” margins):
- Background
- Description of the proposed research with goals and objectives of the project
- Description of how the proposed research will build new collaboration/s with NASA and/or other partners
- Relevance of proposed research to documented needs and priorities of NASA and the State of Iowa
- How the work has a high potential for becoming self-sustaining when ISGC funding ends
- How funding will impact the investigator’s career
- Budget and Budget Narrative (two-page maximum)
- Budget and justification that explains, in itemized detail, the ISGC amount requested and non-federal match
- All direct funded participants (faculty and students) must be U.S. citizens.
- Awards of $7,000 require a non-federal match of 1:1.25 per award (i.e. $8,750)
- Cost-share can be cash and/or in-kind contributions
- Charging indirect on NASA funds is not allowable
- Waived indirects on NASA funds and cost share may be counted towards total match
- A budget template is available at: https://www.iaspacegrant.org/funding/faculty/ or by sending an e-mail request to: isgc@iastate.edu
- Equipment purchases, facility construction or renovation, and foreign travel are not permitted
- Curriculum vitae of principal investigator (two-page maximum)
- Matching fund commitment letter from authorized institution fiscal agent
Criteria for selection: An effective research project is one that: shows strong technical merit of the proposed work, builds connections to NASA Centers and NASA research activities (or other prospective future funding sources), aligns with documented NASA and State of Iowa needs and priorities, involves collaborators from multiple disciplines, involves other Space Grant affiliates (where appropriate), provides adequate matching funds, and has a high potential for becoming self-sustaining when ISGC funding ends. Effectiveness should be measured (at least in part) by the degree to which the investigator has established a meaningful interaction and has the potential to lead to longer term interactions.
Projects must be completed by June 21, 2020. A progress report will be required in February 2020. A final report that includes an evaluation of the project’s effectiveness relative to the proposed objectives and other standard ISGC and NASA requirements will be required 30 days after the project closes, or no later than June 30, 2020.
Proposal Submission Procedure: Proposals in Microsoft Word format are to be submitted to the ISGC office at isgc@iastate.edu by October 18, 2019. The budget should be submitted in Excel format with the ISGC template, see below. Proposals will be reviewed as submitted with award allocations until program funding is consumed.
Template available in Excel format from: https://www.iaspacegrant.org/funding/faculty/
Unallowable expenses include:
Indirect charges (waived indirect costs may be counted towards match)
Equipment (defined as >$5,000 per item)
Foreign travel
Facility renovations
Promotional materials (i.e. t-shirts, etc)
Non-US citizen reimbursements (i.e. travel, salary, wages, fringe)
Non-US citizens may participate, but cannot receive direct support