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Past DER Weekly Newsletters |
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Weekly In Progress Report |
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Gift Proposals … the Gifts Worth Receiving!
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Did you know that Michigan State University receives monetary support from a variety of initiatives, donors, and sponsors? One classification is a gift proposal which typically has no strings attached. When the question, "Is this a sponsored project or a gift?" arises, you should consider the following to classify the prospective funding as a gift:
A “Gift” is, or has the following characteristics (additional guidelines may apply):
- A monetary donation or item(s) of value given to the University by a donor without a requirement for something of value in return, other than recognition.
- Funding for a general or specific purpose, within a general area of work.
- No requirement for return of unexpended funds.
- No technical reports required. Non-technical reports are recommended as a courtesy.
- No restriction on publication rights. Acknowledgement of donor support in publication is recommended as a courtesy.
If the source of the funds is a government agency, the funds are NOT a gift and may NOT be treated as such. Note that most private and corporation foundations refer to their funding as grants so use of the word is not determinative in and of itself.
A Gift proposal can be a great way of bringing funds, equipment, or materials to support your research portfolio. For gift proposals within the College of Engineering, please begin by completing your Proposal Processing Form; gift proposals are then assigned to Ziba Banafsheha Smith
(DER Research Administrator). Be sure to also be in contact with Jennifer Jennings
(Associate Director Corporate/Foundation Relations College of Engineering) email: jjenning@msu.edu or phone: (517) 432-6573. Jennifer will assist you in determining if this is a sponsored project or a gift. She will also assist in communication with the donor/sponsor offering the gift and she will help to provide any special instructions and necessary letter(s) needed for proposal development and routing.
If you have additional questions regarding Gift proposals, please send an email to proposals@egr.msu.edu. Additional information regarding Agreement Types and Routing Information can be found at the link.
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Spotlight Opportunities & Information |
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DER Presents 10/27/2021 - Tips for Writing a Persuasive Grant Proposal (grant writing to ‘sell’ a project to funders)
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Description: Writing a clear and persuasive grant proposal can be
difficult for new grant writers, even for those with experience
successfully publishing their academic work. Success in grant writing
requires different skills than writing for an academic journal, as grant
writing focuses on persuading readers and ‘selling’ a project to
funders. During this seminar, Dr. Lauren Aerni-Flessner (Grant
and Project Management Specialist in the College of Engineering) will
walk you through effective strategies for enhancing the persuasiveness
of your next grant proposal. Together you will learn proven
tips for crafting a persuasive grant proposal and increase your funding
success. All researchers are welcome and are encouraged to be prepared
with any questions.
Learn more Here.
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Improving the performance of lithium metal batteries
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Researchers determine optimum pressure to strengthen LMBs
A Spartan Engineer at Michigan State University is part of a national research team that has determined the proper stack pressure that lithium metal batteries, or LMBs, need for optimal performance during battery operation.
Chengcheng Fang, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, is the first author on the research that was published Oct. 18, 2021, in Nature Energy.
Fang said that by exploring the stack pressure effect on the electrochemical behavior of LMBs, the work achieved fully dense and reversible lithium metal anode.
“The precise manipulation of lithium deposition and dissolution is a critical step to enable practical lithium metal batteries, which doubles the energy density of today's lithium-ion technology,” she explained.
Fang and her team worked in close collaboration with …
Learn more Here.
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AWARD AMOUNT Up to $400K/18 month DEADLINES Applications due 12/14/21
OVERVIEW The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) seeks applications for projects that aim to use and gain insights into health and disease from existing single-cell datasets to help accelerate progress toward challenges associated with the compilation and exploration of large atlas-scale data. Given the growth of single-cell biology and the rapid increase in available data, CZI is looking to support projects that will advance the fields of single-cell biology and data science. Grantees will be expected to interact with a network among participating groups that builds community and accelerates progress. Applications are encouraged from computational experts outside the field of single-cell biology but with expertise relevant to overcoming current bottlenecks. Projects may include dedicated efforts to refine existing computational tools, benchmark classes of tools, improve standards, integrate available data that enables greater biological insight, develop new features that support interoperability of data or tools, and other major challenges brought forward. This request for applications is the first of three cycles planned for the coming years, with successful projects receiving 18 months of funding support.
Applications for two types of grants are welcome and will be reviewed independently. The maximum budgets for proposed projects are $400,000 total costs for Expanded Projects and $200,000 total costs for Focused Projects. All projects awards will be for an 18-month duration. The goal of this opportunity is to create a network of projects that address broad computational challenges and needs within single-cell biology at a variety of scales. If applicants wish to highlight existing or prospective collaboration among projects, that is encouraged and allowable, but all applications will be reviewed for their individual merit and impact.
Single-cell biology has undergone rapid growth over the last five years, with a recent increase in the volume of available and openly accessible data. This funding opportunity is specifically intended to motivate and incentivize the development, refinement, and implementation of tools and approaches that make it possible for greater insights to be gained from available single-cell data. With this in mind, any form of data generation is considered out of scope. Projects must propose and rely on existing data that is openly and freely available (count matrices at minimum) at the time of application via the inclusion of a link to specific datasets in the applications. Furthermore, we strongly encourage applications to utilize data generated outside of their labs to enable interoperability and advances that are extensible to a wider segment of interested researchers.
Addressing computational challenges and bottlenecks in single-cell biology will drive the field forward and make it possible for a greater number of scientists to benefit from emerging datasets and tissue atlases. This opportunity puts forward a broad scope that fundamentally aims to enable greater insight to be gleaned from single-cell data. Successful proposals are likely to incorporate some, or multiple, of the following attributes:
- Increase the robustness and performance of tools of broad interest for various tasks, such as data integration, scaling to higher dimensionalities, or mapping new data sets to a reference atlas that allow deeper insights.
- Develop benchmarking frameworks, tasks, and infrastructure that enable comparisons among a class of tools and methods to stimulate future development that increases scale, efficiency, and reproducibility and accelerates scientific discovery in the field.
- Aggregate multiple datasets that result in an integrated representation and allow for deeper biological insights and queries than would be possible from any single dataset.
- Improve existing tools, standards and/or increase interoperability among multiple tools.
It is also an explicit goal of this effort to build a community among international participants that encourages collaboration and coordination, and we envision that the overlap between funding cycles will allow continuity and learning. CZI will support the coordination of this community and promote opportunities for training, documentation, and knowledge sharing across projects and cycles.
ELIGIBILITY
- Applications may be submitted by domestic and foreign nonprofit organizations, public and private institutions, such as colleges, universities, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local government, and eligible agencies of the federal government. For-profit organizations are not eligible to receive funding but may be involved in projects as a collaborator. All grants will be awarded to institutions, not individuals.
- Organizations may be based in any country.
- There may be more than one application submitted by each organization.
- Each application should designate one Principal Investigator (PI) as the Coordinating Principal Investigator (Coordinating PI). The Coordinating PI will act as the administrative contact between CZI and all other PIs on the grant (Co-PIs). The Coordinating PI must submit the application on behalf of all PIs. The Coordinating PI must be affiliated with the institution submitting the application, and grant funds will be awarded to that institution, which will take responsibility for distributing funds to any other institutions. Note that institutions outside the U.S. may not subcontract to U.S. institutions, so please be mindful when selecting the Coordinating PI/institution.
- All key personnel must be named in the grant in the budget section along with their percent effort. This includes graduate students, postdocs, and staff scientists. Although recruiting new members to the lab is allowable, it is strongly encouraged that key personnel are in place at the outset of the grant to allow for consistent community building and project progression.
- Each application must have a minimum of one PI (Coordinating PI), but may designate up to three total PIs (one Coordinating PI and up to two Co-PIs).
- Principal Investigators may serve as Coordinating Principal Investigator on multiple applications provided that the proposed scope of work for all applications is non-overlapping.
- Principal Investigators may serve as Co-PI on multiple applications provided that the proposed scope of work for all applications is non-overlapping.
- PIs/Co-PIs on one application may be employed at the same or at different institutions.
- PIs and Co-PIs must each be permitted to receive grant support by the organization they are applying with. This criteria may be defined differently in different types of organizations. Examples of eligible positions are:
- Tenure track faculty;
- Non-tenure track faculty or staff scientists who lead a lab or are engaged in academic activities and are permitted to apply for grants by their institution;
- Researchers with expertise in the relevant areas that are affiliated with or supported by an institution and permitted to apply for grants; and
- Postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who are permitted to apply for grants by their institution and apply through the institution at which they will conduct the research.
- For graduate students or postdoctoral scholars who wish to participate in a grant but are not eligible to apply for grants through their institution, applications must be submitted through one of the eligible parties listed above.
- Co-PIs from companies are permitted as long as no funds are requested to support them or their work.
- Early-career investigators are strongly encouraged to apply as Coordinating PIs as well as Co-PIs.
- We believe that the strongest teams incorporate a wide range of voices. Those underrepresented in science and technology are strongly encouraged to apply.
Should a project be funded in an initial round of the CZI Single-Cell Data Insights RFA, an extension or elaboration of the work will be eligible for application in subsequent rounds. These applications will be evaluated alongside new applications.
https://chanzuckerberg.com/rfa/single-cell-data-insights/
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RFP - Research for Cancer Treatment
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The Elsa U. Pardee Foundation investigators in United States non-profit institutions proposing research directed toward identifying new treatments or cures for cancer. The deadline for the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation’s Winter 2022 grant round is December 31, 2021. By design, there are no limits set on the grant amount that can be requested. It must be reasonably and clearly supported by the scope of the project outlined in the application. However, most grants appear to be within the $100,000 to $180,000 range. The Pardee Foundation’s grantmaking is very competitive, and grants are made to researchers at universities throughout the United States. In the last couple of years, the Foundation has been especially interested in research being done to detect and fight highly virulent forms of cancer. Final Board review/approval will take place in May 2022. In the past, faculty in several MSU units have gotten research awards from the Pardee Foundation.
RFP: Cancer Research
https://pardeefoundation.org/h...
The Elsa U. Pardee Foundation funds research by investigators in United States non-profit institutions proposing research directed toward identifying new treatments or cures for cancer. The Foundation funds projects for a one year period which will allow establishment of capabilities of new cancer researchers, or new cancer approaches by established cancer researchers. It is anticipated that this early stage funding by the Foundation may lead to subsequent and expanded support using government agency funding. Project relevance to cancer detection, treatment, or cure should be clearly identified. Papers verifying nonprofit status and relevant human subject and experimental animal treatment approvals from the recipient institution will be requested prior to project initiation. A final report summarizing financial expenditure and research achievement is required.
Learn more Here.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced tremendously and today promises personalized healthcare; enhanced national security; improved transportation; more effective education, and precision agriculture. Development of AI technologies has the potential to improve commerce, manufacturing, logistics, medicine, and agriculture, so USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the National Science Foundation and other partner agencies are jointly sponsoring the AI Institutes program. Advancing and deploying new approaches and applications of AI is a natural extension to agricultural production and food security. There are numerous opportunities to apply transformative, user-inclusive data-driven research methods and algorithm development to the food and agricultural sector to yield meaningful insights, predictive tools, and real-time solutions for production; food processing; transportation and storage; wholesale and retail marketing; and high-quality products and information for consumers. AI Research Institutes that simultaneously advance foundational AI research and agriculture and food systems might build new multidisciplinary communities and create the workforce needed for an AI-powered revolution in agriculture. Deadline to apply is May 13, 2022. For more information, read the AI Research Institutes funding opportunity announcement.
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RFP - Climate Solutions
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Summary: The Joyce Foundation is accepting Letters of Inquiry for
its July 2022 Climate Solutions grant round. Joyce’s Climate
Solutions grants support work related to long-term power sector decarbonization
and implementation of near term clean energy policies. Their program
prioritizes support for organizations that are working in collaboration with
other groups through strategic policy advocacy campaigns. Joyce funds projects
in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota (and, to a lesser extent, Ohio &
Wisconsin). Grants can be up to approximately $500K. For
this grant program, collaboration, both internally and externally
with key stakeholders and faculty/researchers at other universities would
strengthen a concept. A complete overview and links are below. (LOI’s
are due by February 1, 2022. Proposals, if invited, are due by April 6,
2022, for Board consideration in July 2022. It is strongly urged that LOI’s be
sent to me for review and discussion prior to submission to the foundation. (My
email: wallach@msu.edu) Please
send this to any faculty in your unit that may have interest. Thanks.
Application Process & Deadlines - http://www.joycefdn.org/apply
Online submission starts with an LOI, which should be submitted at least 6-8 weeks before the proposal deadline. The Joyce Foundation’s Board meets in April, July and December of each year. However, applicants are strongly encouraged to plan their proposal submissions for consideration in either the April or July Board meetings, since most grant funds are distributed at those times. At this time, the best opportunity will be for the July 2022 Board meeting. The deadlines for that grand round are:
- LOI due by: 2/1/2022
- Proposal (if invited) due by: 4/6/2022
Note: There an April
2022 grant round, however, LOI’s would need to be ready for submission
ASAP, which may not be realistic for many.
PROJECT CONTACT: MSU NOTE: Those interested in submitting an LOI are strongly urged to connect with me first at: wallach@msu.edu. For questions related to application: applications@joycefdn.org.
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RFP - Great Lakes and Drinking Water
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Summary: The Joyce Foundation will be considering potential grant requests under it Great Lakes & Drinking Water program, for consideration at its July 2022 Board Meeting. The Great Lakes and Drinking Water program will support work to accelerate actions to protect the region’s freshwater, upgrade our water infrastructure, and improve access to safe, affordable drinking water. We will pursue two initiatives, with most efforts focused in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Grants can be up to approximately $500K. For this grant program, collaboration, both internally and externally with key stakeholders and faculty/researchers at other universities could strengthen a concept. A complete overview and links are below. (LOI’s are due by February 1, 2022. Proposals, if invited, are due by April 6, 2022, for Board consideration in July 2022. It is strongly urged that LOI’s be sent to me for review and discussion prior to submission to the foundation. (My email: wallach@msu.edu) Please send this to any faculty in your unit that may have interest. Thanks.
Application Process & Deadlines - http://www.joycefdn.org/apply
Online submission starts with an LOI, which should be submitted at least 6-8 weeks before the proposal deadline. The Joyce Foundation’s Board meets in April, July and December of each year. However, applicants are strongly encouraged to plan their proposal submissions for consideration in either the April or July Board meetings, since most grant funds are distributed at those times. At this time, the best opportunity will be for the July 2022 Board meeting. The deadlines for that grand round are:
- LOI due by: 2/1/2022
- Proposal (if invited) due by: 4/6/2022
Note: There an April 2022 grant round, however, LOI’s would need to be ready for submission ASAP, which may not be realistic for many.
PROJECT CONTACT: MSU NOTE: Those interested in submitting an LOI are strongly urged to connect with me first at: wallach@msu.edu. For questions related to application: applications@joycefdn.org.
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The chart above shows DER's Proposal Volume from 2018 to 2022 as of (10/22/2021).
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Available now on demand (this and other past seminars)
Description: For newer faculty, it is critical to understand all of the incredible resources that are available to help strengthen each of your future proposals. It is also important to understand the required steps to submit a university-endorsed proposal. For more senior faculty, awareness of new resources may help to streamline your proposal development processes and possibly open new streams of funding. Join the DER team as we present DER is Here to Help. This seminar will focus on services offered within the Division of Engineering Research, and the various ways we can help you increase your sponsored research expenditures. Feel free to share any questions during the session. Watch it now on demand!!!
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Internal Funding Notifications & News |
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October 21st, 2021 Newsletter |
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OIRC becomes Global IDEAS
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External Sponsor Notifications & News |
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Ongoing Updates and Posts |
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NSF News Releases |
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Ongoing Updates and Posts |
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NAMC Opportunities |
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Ongoing Updates and Posts |
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Press Releases and Funding Opportunities |
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U.S. Department of Defense |
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
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National Institutes of Health |
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National Science Foundation |
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Office of Naval Research |
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Research in Germany - Land of Ideas |
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U.S. Department of Energy |
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United States Department of Agriculture |
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