Completed

• G. Sutphin (Molecular and Cellular Biology)  - Medical Research Track
• The physical Sciences and Engineering slot is available

UA may submit one concept paper in Physical Sciences and Engineering and one concept paper in Medical Sciences in this cycle.
The selected projects must participate in the concept counseling session with the W.M. Keck Foundation between July 1 and August 15 to determine if they can proceed to the Phase I submission.

The W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program uses a three-step process for this opportunity. The first step is a Concept paper. The Undergraduate Education program is currently not accepting concept papers. The next steps are by the foundation’s invitation. UArizona review criteria reflect previous interactions with the W.M. Keck Foundation. Proposals should focus on basic, fundamental science with broad applications.

The proposed work should show a significant leap forward rather than an extension of existing work.  

To be considered by Keck, applicants must have a statement from a federal program officer expressing that the project is not a good fit due to risk (rather than technical or theoretical fit) or a decline from a federal program where the summary statement or individual reviews highlight the incredible novelty, but the high-risk nature that makes it difficult to fund at the federal level.

Limit: 4*  // PIs selected: 

Track 1:

• J. Pyun (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
• D. Sand  (Astronomy)

Track 2:

• J. Schaibley ( Physics)
   

Track 3:

• J. Dai (Chemistry and Biochemistry)

*Number of proposals allowed per organization: Four.

• No more than two submissions in Track 1 (Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000 and less than $1,400,000).
• No more than one submission in Track 2 (Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,400,000 up to and including $4,000,000). 
• Track 3: Track 3 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,0001 and less than or equal to $4,000,000 that include the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to conserve or reduce the consumption of helium. Institutions may submit no more than one Track 3 proposal. Submission of a Track 3 proposal does not impact limits that apply for Track 1 and Track 2 proposals.

The Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program (MRI Program Website) serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education and not-for-profit scientific/engineering research organizations. An MRI award supports the acquisition of a multi-user research instrument that is commercially available through direct purchase from a vendor, or for the personnel costs and equipment that are required for the development of an instrument with new capabilities, thereby advancing instrumentation capabilities and enhancing expertise for instrument design and fabrication at academic institutions. MRI instruments are, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs.

MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur. MRI also provides support to obtain next-generation research instruments by developing instruments with new capabilities that open new opportunities to advance the frontiers in science and engineering research. Additionally, an MRI award is expected to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers and builders.

An MRI proposal may request from NSF up to $4 million for either acquisition or development of a research instrument. Each performing organization may submit in revised "Tracks" as defined below, with no more than two (2) submissions in Track 1 and no more than one (1) submission in Track 2. For the newly defined Track 3, no more than one (1) submission per competition is permitted.  As a result, it is now possible for an institution to submit up to four MRI proposals within the Track limits as described above.

• Track 1: Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than $100,000[1] and less than $1,400,000.
• Track 2: Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,400,000 up to and including $4,000,000.
• Track 3: Track 3 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000[1] and less than or equal to $4,000,000 that include the purchase, installation, operation, and maintenance of equipment and instrumentation to conserve or reduce the consumption of helium. Track 3 is an institutionally coordinated submission and won't be part of the internal competition.

  Institutions may submit no more than one Track 3 proposal. Submission of a Track 3 proposal does not impact limits that apply for Track 1 and Track 2 proposals.

Cost sharing requirements for new awards in the MRI Program are waived for a period of 5 years beginning with the FY 2023 MRI competition. Institutional submission limits for Track 1, Track 2 and Track 3 proposals remain.

The MRI Program especially seeks broad representation of groups, institutions, and geographic regions that are underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Proposals from women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities and early-career PIs are encouraged, as are proposals that benefit early-career researchers and proposals with PIs from geographically underserved regions, including EPSCoR jurisdictions. Additionally, proposals are encouraged from under-resourced institutions, including from emerging research institutions, where MRI can significantly build capacity for research

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The CCDC ARL invites applications/proposals from covered educational institutions for research and education programs that will meet the following objectives:

a. Enhance research and engineering capabilities in areas important to national defense;
b. Increase the number of graduates in STEM disciplines; and
c. Encourage research and education collaborations with other institutions of higher education and with defense organizations.

Support for research, development, testing, evaluation, or educational enhancements will be through the competitive awarding of grants or cooperative agreements.

The Department of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E) Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) Program will establish four new Centers of Excellence (COE) in critical technology areas.  

COE critical technology focus areas ( UofA may submit under one of these topics):

• Advanced Computing and Software
• Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG)
• Integrated Sensing and Cyber 
•  Renewable Energy Generation and Storage

Funding and Performance Period: $2 million per year, over 5 years
DoD will host a webinar to overview the RFPs and to address any questions that arise

Please find the registration link for the webinar below. Please also note the date/time for the webinar is 12 April 2023 at 1:30 pm ET.

Webinar Registration - Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dVnGm8cHTCCpc2E03aIPHg

A. Mostafa (Maricopa County Cooperative Extension)

The purpose of Equity in Conservation Outreach Cooperative Agreements is to leverage NRCS and partner resources by developing community-led conservation projectsso that historically underserved producers and underserved communities will be able to access NRCS programs and services and learn of potential career opportunities in agriculture, natural resources, and related sciences. Through this NFO, eligible applicants may propose projects that engage historically underserved producers and underserved communities equitably and offer access to opportunities through outreach activities that: 

• promote NRCS programs through education or demonstration of conservation practices;
• develop community conservation partnerships that encourage historically underserved producers to plan and protect farmland ecosystems, watersheds, and wildlife habitat in geographical areas of underserved communities;
• inform small-scale or urban agriculture producers about participation in conservation programs; and
• support education on, planning for, and adoption of conservation practicesthat are climate smart.

Applicants are encouraged to showcase the local environmental and economic value of adopting conservation measures through various methods, such as training and demonstrations. Eligible applicants should consider outreach that is mutually beneficial to both the communities and NRCS,such as partnershipsthat incorporate local needs and prioritize conservation investments. Such outreach should increase awareness of NRCS programs, services, and career opportunities in agriculture and natural resources conservation within historically underserved producers and underserved communities.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations who are willing to serve as resource providers within the NSF Advanced Computing Systems and Services (ACSS) program. Resource providers would (1) provide advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources in production operations to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of science and engineering (S&E), and (2) ensure democratized and equitable access to the proposed resources.

To increase the Nation's capacity for transformative S&E discoveries, NSF is interested in continuing to diversify and evolve its portfolio to take advantage of new technologies and services that include capabilities addressing emerging computational- and data-intensive S&E research topics, workflows, and communities, while expanding opportunities for participation by a broader range of potential RPs.

This competition emphasizes the provisioning of an ecosystem of advanced computational resources and services that is responsive to the dramatic increase in the number and nature of applications using NSF-funded resources. Proposals are requested for advanced CI that will acquire and deploy capabilities and services, including composable services, to address the increase in demand for computation and data analytics resources in the S&E research community, as well as explore novel paradigms for enabling transformative S&E discoveries.

The current solicitation is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure by provisioning resources, broadly defined in this solicitation to include systems and/or services, in two categories:

• Category I, Capacity Resources: production computational resources maximizing the capacity provided to support the broad range of computation and data analytics needs in S&E research; and
• Category II, Innovative Prototypes/Testbeds: innovative forward-looking capabilities deploying novel technologies, architectures, usage modes, etc., and exploring new target applications, methods, and paradigms for S&E discoveries.

Resource Providers supported via this solicitation will be incorporated into NSF’s ACSS program portfolio. This program complements investments in leadership-class computing and funds a federation of nationally available HPC resources that are technically diverse and intended to enable discoveries at a computational scale beyond the research of individual or regional academic institutions. NSF anticipates that at least 90% of the provisioned resource will be available to the S&E community through an open peer-reviewed national allocation process and have resource users be supported by community and other support services. Such allocation and support services are expected to be coordinated through the NSF-funded “Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support” (ACCESS) suite of services, or an NSF-approved alternative as may emerge. If this is not feasible for the proposed resource, proposers must clearly explain in detail why this is the case and how they intend to make the proposed resource available to the national S&E community.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The purpose of this program is to prepare new Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to effectively provide primary care by supporting the establishment, expansion and/or enhancement of existing community-based Nurse Practitioner (NP) residency and fellowship training programs that are accredited or in the accreditation process. The program also focuses on the integration of behavioral health and/or maternal health into primary care by training new primary care providers (adult, family, adult gerontology, pediatric and women’s health NPs), behavioral health providers (psychiatric/mental health NPs) and/or Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) to transition from education completion to practice, in community-based settings. The applicant must train these postgraduate APRNs who will serve in primary care settings with a focus on improving access to quality healthcare for rural, urban, and tribal underserved populations.

Program Goals

1. Support expansion or enhancement of primary care NP residency programs.

2. Increase the number of new primary care, behavioral health and maternal health NPs serving in rural, urban, and tribal underserved community-based settings.

3. Integrate behavioral health and maternal health care into community-based primary care NP residency programs.

Program Objectives

• Support new primary care providers through the establishment, expansion, or enhancement of NP residency programs in community-based settings.

• Strengthen the clinical competency and readiness for practice of new primary care NPs through didactic and clinical training that equips participants with the skills and knowledge to provide care for the complex co-morbidities and multi-level chronic health and social needs of communities. • Increase access to quality primary care providers through the placement of residency completers in rural, urban, and tribal underserved community-based settings.

• Expand academic practice partnerships to provide learning opportunities which integrate primary care, behavioral health and maternal health domains of practice. These partnerships should promote health equity, improve diversity of the workforce to address the needs of the populations they serve, and address workforce wellness and resiliency. For more details, see Program Requirements and Expectations.

1. E. Gornish (Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration)
2. T.  Hodges ( Regional Academic Programs - Yuma Distance Campus)
    

UArizona can submit two proposals to this funding program. 

The purpose of this program is to support research, education/teaching, and extension projects that increase participation by women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in STEM. NIFA intends this program to address educational needs within broadly defined areas of food and agricultural sciences. Applications recommended for funding must highlight and emphasize the development of a competent and qualified workforce in the food and agricultural sciences. WAMS-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities by developing research and extension initiatives that focus on new and emerging employment opportunities in STEM occupations. Projects that contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.

The submission for this funding program is coordinated by the University of Arizona Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives (HSI), for more information don't hesitate to get in touch with Riley McIssac, Associate Director of Grants Development.

D. Kuhlmman (College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture) - ASU Subaward.

UA may submit one proposal. HSI Initiatives will provide proposal support and institutional coordination for this funding program.

The purpose of this grant is to conduct research projects on multiple topics of strategic interest to the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD’s 2022-26 Learning Agenda identifies HUD’s priority learning and research questions, consistent with the Departmental objectives and goals described in the 2022-26 Strategic Plan.

In addition to the topics listed in the Learning Agenda, applicants are invited to submit research proposals on other topics that address issues or challenges that impact housing, community and economic development, and the built environment in and for underserved communities. The following list of topics is not intended to be exhaustive: equity issues in local housing markets, broadly defined to include production and preservation, rental and homeownership, tenant protections, zoning and land use, property appraisals, property taxation, and other topics; building codes, standards, and construction technologies (including offsite/factory-built housing); “green” or energy-efficient practices in housing and carbon reduction strategies; disaster preparedness, and climate resilient planning and construction, and disaster recovery; innovative solutions that allow residents of HUD-assisted rental housing and other low-income renters to access economic opportunities, quality education, affordable transportation, health care, essential services, green-space and cultural amenities; and, housing and community planning that addresses the needs of and engages underserved communities.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

UArizona can submit one proposal as a lead organization and can serve on no more than two proposals as a collaborator. Both, collaboration and leading projects should participate in the internal competition in other to determine the projects that will be selected to represent UofA.

All IHEs can participate in ART in some form, either as lead or partner/mentor.  It’s up to the institution to make the case of where they seem themselves fitting in.  There are different metrics that can be used to determine research translation and entrepreneurship that reflect the current capacity and status of infrastructure for translational research at an IHE.  We are asking IHEs to self-determine and provide data as justification.  

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) announced a new foundation-wide solicitation for the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program, which was authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.  The ART program aims to support projects that will increase the role of U.S. institutions of higher education in their region’s innovation ecosystems through building their capacity and strengthening their infrastructure for translational research and supporting translational research training for graduate students and postdocs.  For this competition, NSF recognizes “translational research” as converting research into practical applications that can be deployed at scale, including knowledge/technology transfer, commercialization, or transition to practice, resulting in tangible economic and/or societal benefits.

This solicitation seeks proposals that enable IHE-based teams to propose a blend of: (1) activities that will help build and/or strengthen the institutional infrastructure to sustainably grow the institutional capacity for research translation in the short and long terms; (2) educational/training opportunities, especially for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, to become entrepreneurs and/or seek use-inspired and/or translational research-oriented careers in the public and/or private sectors; and (3) specific, translational research activities that offer immediate opportunities for transition to practice to create economic and/or societal impact. The funded teams will form a nationwide network of 'ART Ambassadors' who will champion the cause of translational research.

Submissions to the ART solicitation must address how an institution would:

1. “Develop institutional capacity and infrastructure for translational research activities in the short term (during the four-year duration of the award) and long term (beyond the duration of the award);
2. Create and continually train new cohorts of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers versed in translational research to successfully create economic and/or societal impact through various career pathways, e.g., as entrepreneurs, in industry or public sectors; and
3. Support a nationwide network of 'ART Ambassadors' who will be the agents of change within their institutions and region to support equal importance for translational research and its ensuing impact.”

Among other activities, ART awardees will be required to identify and fund at least two Seed Translational Research Projects (STRPs) selected from research being done at the lead institution with translational potential.  Each STRP must be supported for at least two years and total funding for all STRP projects supported throughout the duration of the award cannot be more than half of the total funding for the project. 

Colleges and universities that have high levels of fundamental research activity but low translational research activity are encouraged to apply to the ART solicitation.  NSF recommends that institutions who already have high levels of translational research activity consider participating as a collaborator that can provide expertise to funded institutions working on their translational research capacity building.  Applicants must provide data to “justify their current capacity and infrastructure for translational research activities, using multiple evidence-based methods and metrics to determine their capacity.”  NSF recommends utilizing their data on research expenditures, linked below, as a starting point to determine if an institution is operating at a high fundamental research level.  Specific metrics to reflect the level of translational research activity are up to the applicant.  Some examples provided by NSF are number of invention disclosures; number of start-ups; number of patents issued; volume of industry-funded research; broad adoption of research outputs; licenses issued; and revenue from royalties.  Institutions applying to the ART program also need to clearly state why they have significant potential to build translational research capacity. Finally, the solicitation highlights that translational research activities at institutions receiving ART awards must be valued similarly to fundamental research activities, including when institutions are making decisions about faculty recruitment, promotion, and tenure.

Sources and Additional Information:

• The ART program page is available at https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/accelerating-research-translation-art.
• The full ART solicitation is available at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23558/nsf23558.htm.
• Registration information for the webinar can be found at https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_N-mFOgtjSkijCuOI7orPvw?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.

E. Sparks (4-H Youth Development)

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA announces the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) funding program to improve the quality and quantity of comprehensive community-based programs for at-risk children, youth, and families supported by the Cooperative Extension System. The CYFAR program mission is to marshal resources of the Land-Grant and Cooperative Extension Systems to develop and deliver educational programs that equip limited resource families and youth who are at-risk for not meeting basic human needs with the skills they need to lead positive, productive, contributing lives.