Tuesday, March 24, 2009

NSF receives $3.0 billion in appropriations (to supplement the FY 2009 budget). The FY 2008 total budget was $6.1 billion.

·         $2.0 billion will be distributed through NSF’s regular peer reviewed grant process (NSF’s core research account,  Research and Related Activities)

NSF is planning to use the majority of the $2 billion available in Research and Related Activities for proposals that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009.

·        $300 million to the Major Research Instrumentation Program (FY 08: $94 million) for competitively awarded instrumentation grants for university researchers. Most recent RFP  closed January 2009. A new solicitation is expected in the Spring.  The new solicitation is likely to reflect increased flexibility on NSF's part to raise the maximum award (from $4 million to $6 million) and potentially waive some cost sharing requirements (currently 30 percent). How much of this $300M funding will go to the current competition and how much to the new one is not yet known.

·        $200 million to restart the Academic Research Infrastructure program, dormant since FY 1996, for competitively awarded laboratory construction grants, primarily for universities.  Solicitation to be posted Spring, 2009. **

·         $100 million education and human resources (EHR) appropriation would provide

Ø  $60 million to the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (FY 08: $11 million),

Ø  $25 million to the Math and Science Partnerships program (FY 08: $49 million), and

Ø $15 million to a new Professional Masters Science Program authorized in the America COMPETES Act. Solicitation will be developed and is expected to be posted Spring, 2009.

·         $400 million for the Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) program (FY 08: $205 million) to accelerate the construction of major research facilities with unique capabilities at the cutting edge of science.  (see Guidelines for Planning and Managing the Major Research Equipment & Facilities Construction (MREFC) Account ) **

** Note: All facility improvement requests (regardless of the source of funds) must be coordinated with Jerry Schlatter, WSU Capital Planning & Development (335-5571).

NSFcurrently anticipates that no other solicitations will be posted that are solely in response to the Recovery Act.

The stimulus puts NSF well ahead of the $7.3 billion authorized for FY 2009 in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and thus on track to double over a decade.

1. I just sent this to my PD at NSF and she responded immediately. It looks like we're a bit premature with our requests as she hasn't a clue how the stimulus money will be spent or how much she'll be able to spend. "We have gotten no clear guidance on what the stimulus money can or cannot be used for (and we don't even know how much money will trickle down to us). However, once your award activates, you can ask for an REU supplement, which will paid out of FY 09 funds (not stimulus). Our cluster limits those to one per parent award and $6,000 total costs. Also, if you have a colleague at a non-research institution (e.g. community college) you might consider Research Opportunity Award supplement. There are also supplements for Research Experience for Teachers. Check out the NSF web site for these. If you are interested in these, let me know. But, you first have to have an active award. "

   Comment by Dan Rodgers - Thursday, February 19, 2009

2. Yes, our best information indicated that agencies would not have anything specific until Feb. 20 at the very earliest. As soon as we know what their instructions are, we will get this distributed.

   Comment by Howard Grimes - Thursday, February 19, 2009

3. The National Science Board (NSB) will hold its first meeting of the new year related to national science and engineering policy issues and oversight of the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Monday, Feb. 23 through Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. High on the meeting's agenda will be deliberations about spending and oversight of the portion of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act directed to NSF, $3 billion, to enable U.S. investment in America's scientific enterprise.

   Comment by Dan Nordquist - Monday, February 23, 2009

4. I contacted our program officer regarding proposals that were previously recommended for funding but did not get funded. The reply of the program officer: "Your proposal would have had to have been declined in FY09 to be considered. We do not know yet how the FY09 NEESR budget will be affected"

   Comment by Adrian Rodriguez-Marek - Thursday, February 26, 2009

5. Received the following reply from Program Officer regarding previously submitted proposal. "Sponsored program offices all over the country are giving this message to their PIs, and we are getting many requests like yours. Unfortunately, we here at the agency have no idea where this information originated. We have been given no directives from on high, so can't do anything. I realize that your project was well reviewed last time around, so if we are told to look into the pool of declines from the fall it will certainly be one that we look at. However, until we are given some instructions as to how the stimulus money will be spent there really isn't much I can do."

   Comment by Tobin Peever - Tuesday, March 03, 2009

6. I contacted my program officer immediately after your first memo and was informed that this retroactive awarding of funds was not being done by Sociology.

   Comment by Gene Rosa - Tuesday, March 03, 2009

7. Received this response from my Program Officer. "Program Directors have not received any information on the economic recovery plan to date. There will be a Dear Colleague letter issued by NSF when decisions on how to use the funds have been finalized. Until then, I do not have any information for you."

   Comment by Asaph Cousins - Tuesday, March 03, 2009

8. Contacts at NSF, DOE/BES, etc. have all told us that they do not intent to solicit more proposals to fund with the stimulus package, but will fund more of the proposals they currently have on hand.

   Comment by Dan Nordquist - Wednesday, March 04, 2009

9. We are hearing from NSF program officer's that the MRI will have a special solicitation out this April with a deadline of sometime in the summer. This is likely to be a limited submission, so please be sure to plan for the internal WSU pre-proposal review process - see http://informer.ogrd.wsu.edu/OpportunityList.aspx?ID=2 for more information.

   Comment by Esther Pratt - Tuesday, March 24, 2009

10. I was surprised by the fact that the new solicitation is likely to reflect increased flexibility on NSF's part to raise the maximum award and potentially waive some cost sharing requirements.

    Comment by Custom Web Design - Wednesday, November 18, 2009