Vice President for Research & Economic Development
Proposal Services & Faculty Support
August Funding Focus Newsletter #1
What is a Limited Submission?
A limited submission solicitation (RFA, RFP, etc.) places a cap on the number of proposals that Auburn may submit to a sponsor. Auburn coordinates limited submissions by sending out a notification via this newsletter and creating competitions in the Auburn University Competition Space (also known as InfoReady).To apply to any limited submission posted below, click on the above link and search for your competition reflected on the page. Please refer to the Limited Submission Procedures page for a list of requirements.
Limited Submission Announcements

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master's and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.

IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for their customization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches.

The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.

As a special emphasis under this solicitation, IGE seeks proposals that will result in a single cooperative agreement for the development and implementation of an IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub. The Hub will facilitate IGE awardee communications about research activities and outcomes and provide a platform for external stakeholder engagement. Only Hub proposals submitted to the November 2020 deadline will be considered for funding.

Institutional Limit: 2 Proposals
Internal Deadline: September 4, 2020, 4:45pm
IMPORTANT UPDATES

Widespread data sharing by research communities adds significant value to research and accelerates the pace of discovery. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has established an informatics infrastructure to enable the responsible sharing and use of data collected from and about human subjects by the entire research community. Consistent with authorities under the 21st Century Cures Act, researchers who are funded by NIMH are required to deposit all raw and analyzed data (including, but not limited to, clinical, genomic, imaging, and phenotypic data) from experiments involving human subjects into this infrastructure.

Streamlyne has created a free tool that enables researchers to locate articles on SARS-CoV-2  and related viruses quickly and efficiently within the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19) created by the Allen Institute for AI, in partnership with several tech companies and the OSTP. The dataset is linked to the World Health Organization (WHO) database of publications on coronavirus disease and other resources. The website also provides a sample list of some of the most promising COVID-19 research efforts at universities and independent research institutions.

Facebook Now Accepting Requests for Non-Aggregated Data for Research Purposes

Facebook and partners now offer a portal where researchers from academic and nonprofit institutions can request access to non-aggregated symptom survey data from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Maryland. Signed data use agreements are required for this access.
 
The sharing of non-aggregated data is intended to help facilitate more advanced modeling and forecasting efforts by researchers aiding public health responses around the world. Interested academic and nonprofit researchers can submit a request here.

Researchers should contact the Office of Research Compliance regarding IRB compliance.
As information is being shared by sponsors, it is being collected/posted here so please check back often for updates.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Introducing the Johnson & Johnson Nurses Innovate QuickFire Challenge in COVID-19 Patient Care together with the American Organization for Nursing LeadershipTM (AONL) and the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, & Leaders (SONSIEL). Nurses from around the world are invited to submit ideas aiming to improve COVID-19 patient care.

The nurse innovators with the best idea(s) will receive up to $100,000 in grant funding, mentoring from experts across the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, and access to the Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS ecosystem to help bring their ideas to life. 

As innovators on the frontlines of healthcare, nurses have the power to profoundly change lives. Johnson & Johnson has the scale, resources and know-how to help move them forward. Put these two together, and that changes everything.

Proposals Due: September 29, 2020

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research on the biology of high confidence risk factors associated with complex brain disorders, with a focus on the intracellular, transcellular and circuit substrates of neural function. For the purposes of this FOA, the term “complex” can refer to a multifactorial contribution to risk (e.g., polygenic and/or environmental) and/or highly distributed functional features of the brain disorder. Studies may be either hypothesis-generating (unbiased discovery) or hypothesis-testing in design and may utilize in vivo, in situ, or in vitro experimental paradigms, e.g., model organisms or human cell-based assays. While behavioral paradigms and outcome measures can be incorporated into the research design to facilitate the characterization of intracellular, transcellular and circuit mechanisms, these are neither required nor expected. Studies should not attempt to “model” disorders but instead should aim to elucidate the neurobiological impact of individual or combined risk factor(s), such as the affected molecular and cellular components and their relationships within defined biological process(es). This can include the fundamental biology of these factors, components and processes. The resulting paradigms, component pathways and biological processes should be disseminated with sufficient detail to enrich common and/or federated data resources (e.g., those contributing to the Gene Ontology, Synaptic Gene Ontology, FAIR Data Informatics) in order to bridge the gap between disease risk factors, biological mechanism and therapeutic target identification. The present announcement (R21 activity code) can be used for applications to develop early stage, high-risk, exploratory approaches or establish proof-of-concept where there is little or no preliminary data.

Proposals Due: October 16, 2020

The International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program supports international research and research-related activities for U.S. science and engineering students. The IRES program contributes to development of a diverse, globally engaged workforce with world-class skills. IRES focuses on active research participation by undergraduate and/or graduate students in high quality international research, education and professional development experiences in NSF-funded research areas.

The overarching, long-term goal of the IRES program is to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering research and education and to strengthen economic competitiveness through training the next generation of research leaders.

This solicitation features two mechanisms; proposers are required to select one of the following tracks to submit their proposal.

Track I focuses on the development of world-class research skills in international cohort experiences. Track II is dedicated to targeted, intensive learning and training opportunities that leverage international knowledge at the frontiers of research.

Student participants supported by IRES funds must be citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States.

Students do not apply directly to NSF to participate in IRES activities. Students apply to NSF-funded investigators who receive IRES awards. To identify appropriate IRES projects, students should consult the directory of active IRES awards.

All PIs, co-PIs and Senior Personnel on IRES proposals must be from U.S. based organizations. International partners should be listed as "unfunded collaborators."

1. IRES - Track I: IRES Sites (IS) projects engage a group of undergraduate and/or graduate students in active high-quality collaborative research, in principle at an international site with mentorship from researchers at a host lab. IRES Sites must be organized around a coherent intellectual theme that may involve a single discipline or multiple disciplines funded by NSF.

2. IRES - Track II: Advanced Studies Institutes (ASI) are intensive short courses with related activities that engage advanced graduate students in active learning and research at the frontiers of knowledge. ASIs typically range in length from ten to twenty-one days and, in principle, must be held outside the United States. ASIs must have a compelling rationale for their international location and should involve distinguished active researchers in the target field from the U.S. and abroad. ASIs should enable students to develop skills and broaden professional networks, leveraging international participation and complementary resources (expertise, facilities, data, field site, etc.) for mutual benefit.

For all IRES proposals, PIs are strongly encouraged to outline virtual, hybrid or other alternative approaches to strengthen and maintain international collaboration in the event travel is not undertaken, and/or in addition to travel. It is expected that these approaches will extend collaboration beyond the actual international trip and strengthen IRES proposals overall.


Track II Proposals Due: November 9, 2020
Track I Proposals Due: November 12, 2020

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to the resource concerns they seek to address.
Using guidance contained in this notice, potential RCPP partners propose projects that generate conservation benefits by addressing specific natural resource objectives in a State/multistate area or address one or more priority resource concerns within an NRCS-designated critical conservation area (CCA). NRCS and partners collaborate to design, promote, and implement RCPP projects on agricultural and nonindustrial private forest land. Through RCPP, NRCS may provide both financial and technical assistance funds to project partners and agricultural producers to carry out projects. RCPP proposals are evaluated through a competitive proposal process based on four criteria: impact, partner contributions, innovation, and partnership and management.   
This funding announcement combines RCPP funding for FYs 2020 and 2021 and applies only to this competition. The forthcoming publication of the RCPP final rule may include program changes. 
Up to $360 million is available for RCPP projects through this announcement. Proposals are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands), and U.S. territories in the Pacific Island Areas (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).

Proposals Due: November 4, 2020

The Public Humanities Projects program supports projects that bring the ideas and insights of the humanities to life for general audiences through in-person programming. Projects must engage humanities scholarship to analyze significant themes in disciplines such as history, literature, ethics, and art history.

Public Humanities Projects supports projects in three program categories (Exhibitions, Historic Places, and Humanities Discussions), and at two funding levels (Planning and Implementation). Regardless of proposed activity, NEH encourages applicants to explore humanities ideas through multiple formats. Proposed projects may include complementary components: for example, a museum exhibition might be accompanied by a website or mobile app.

Small and mid-sized organizations are especially encouraged to apply. We likewise welcome humanities projects tailored to particular groups, such as families, youth (including K-12 students in informal educational settings), underserved communities, and veterans. Applicants are advised to consider developing partnerships with other institutions, particularly organizations such as cultural alliances, broadcast media stations, cultural heritage centers, state humanities councils, veterans’ centers, and libraries.


Applications Due: September 8, 2020
Next Due Date: January 6, 2021

Introduction
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit public comment to assist and guide the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in identifying new, and updating ongoing, efforts to implement the NLM Strategic Plan 2017-2027: A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health.
Background
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the world’s largest biomedical library. Like other NIH Institutes and Centers, NLM supports and conducts research and research training relevant to its mission; for NLM, this includes information science, informatics, data analytics, and data science to advance computational biology and computational health science. Research is conducted intramurally in the NLM National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications (LHNCBC) and is supported extramurally through the Division of Extramural Programs.
As a national library, NLM is steward of a world-renowned collection of medical materials spanning ten centuries and originating from nearly every part of the globe, and it supports, promotes, and advances open science and scholarship through development and stewardship of integrated standards, tools, platforms, practices, policies, and resources that make biomedical information (including literature, research data, software tools, etc.) findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable to the world. Library functions are conducted by the Division of Library Operations, and are also integrated with the world-class digital platforms, resources, assets, and expertise of NCBI and LHNCBC.
The current NLM Strategic Plan for 2017 – 2027: A Platform for Biomedical Discovery and Data-Powered Health, was written in 2016 with input from many diverse stakeholder communities. Since then, many dozens of initiatives, projects, and other activities have been conducted to address the objectives of the Plan. Also, since then, significant changes have taken place in NLM mission-space in terms of science, technology, public health, library functions, scholarly communication, stakeholder perspectives, policies, workforce, and more. These include an urgent focus on understanding a novel coronavirus and the disease it causes; an increased prominence of artificial intelligence in biomedical research and library functions; new policies reflecting the embrace of open science by governments, funders, publishers, scientists, and the public at large; issuance of the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science; an accelerating use of social media and preprints by researchers to disseminate their findings; and an increasing need for data-savvy scientists and a data-ready public to make the most of digital assets to improve biomedical understanding and health.


Response Date: October 19, 2020
Proposal Services & Faculty Support
844-7910/ sme0026@auburn.edu