AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF)/Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)/Division of Graduate Education PROGRAM: Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers who will pursue careers in research and education with the interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills to become, in their own careers, leaders and creative agents for change. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education for students, faculty, and institutions, by establishing innovative models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. It is also intended to facilitate diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally-engaged, science and engineering workforce. Proposals submitted must describe integrative, research-based, graduate education and training activities in emerging areas of science and engineering. The IGERT project should be organized around an interdisciplinary theme that is based on transformative interdisciplinary research in science/technology/engineering/mathematical sciences. The proposed IGERT should involve a diverse group of faculty members and other investigators with appropriate expertise in research and teaching. The interdisciplinary theme provides a framework for integrating research and education and for promoting collaborative efforts within and across departments and institutions. Students should gain the breadth of skills, strengths, and understanding to work in an interdisciplinary environment while being well grounded with depth of knowledge in a major field. As an opportunity for faculty to experiment with new approaches to graduate education, the IGERT project should provide students with experience relevant to both academic and nonacademic careers. This experience may involve such activities as internships and mentoring in industrial, national laboratory, academic, or other settings. Globalization of research and career opportunities provides students with an international perspective. This perspective may be gained through programs within the institution, or through strongly integrated, collaborative research experiences and/or fieldwork at foreign institutions and sites. The graduate experience should contribute to the professional and personal development of the students and equip them to understand and integrate scientific, technical, business, social, ethical, policy and global issues to confront the challenging problems of the future. The IGERT project may draw upon investigators from one or more academic departments within a single institution or from more than one institution. The primary emphasis should be on integrative, innovative approaches to education and training of doctoral students. While IGERT stipends are primarily for supporting doctoral students, they may also be used to support students from minority-serving masters-granting institutions for the purpose of broadening participation of groups underrepresented in science and engineering disciplines. In such cases, the minority-serving institution must be a collaborating partner in the IGERT program and the proposal must include a concrete plan for a Masters-to-PhD bridging program. ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: U.S. academic institutions in the United States, its territories or possessions that grant the Ph.D. degree in the sciences and engineering may submit proposals. Projects may involve more than one institution, but a single institution must accept overall management responsibility. Non-Ph.D. granting institutions, nonacademic, and international organizations may serve as collaborating organizations. Any given individual may participate as PI or co-PI in only one proposal submission. That restriction applies to preliminary proposals as well as full proposals. A PI or co-PI on one proposal may serve as a faculty participant on other proposals. An institution may submit no more than four (4) preliminary proposals either as a single institution or as a lead institution in a multi-institution preliminary proposal. A multi-institution proposal is defined as one that has at least one co-PI at a different academic institution than that of the PI, a sub-award to a different academic institution than that of the PI, or both. Full proposals for the program are by invitation only. There is a limit of four (4) full proposals that may be submitted by an institution either as lead institution in a multi-institution full proposal. Proposals for new IGERT projects as well as proposals for the renewal of existing projects may be submitted. However, the limit on the number of preliminary and full proposals an institution may submit applies to a combined total of new and renewal IGERT proposals. There is no limit on the number of multi-institution full proposals on which an institution may participate as a non-lead institution. For purposes of this IGERT solicitation, separate institutions are defined as those with separate Sponsored Projects Offices (SPO), even if those institutions are different campuses of the same multi-campus university. All stipend recipients supported by IGERT funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S., its territories or its possessions. However, individuals, including foreign students, who are supported by other sources of funds may participate in all IGERT activities; those who do will be considered IGERT associates. In contributing to a diverse science and engineering workforce for the future, the IGERT project must include strategies for recruitment, mentoring, and retention aimed at members of groups underrepresented in science and engineering, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities. DEADLINES: FUNDING INFORMATION:NSF plans to make approximately 18 new and renewal awards from this competition. For new projects, the first year award will be up to $400,000 and in amounts up to $600,000 for each of the next four years. For renewals, awards will be made in amounts up to $600,000 per year for five years. Projects requiring substantially lower levels of funding may also be proposed. For new IGERT projects only: Additional funds of up to $200,000 may be provided in Year 1 for purposes appropriate to the new IGERT project, including shared research equipment, special-purpose research materials, software, and databases, and faculty release time for development of new curricula. For new and renewal IGERT projects: If proposed, additional funding up to a total of $200,000 PER AWARD may also be provided for IGERT projects that include strongly integrated international training activities in Years 2 through 5. These activities should be designed to significantly enhance the research, education, and training experiences of the IGERT students. NSF plans on allocating up to $2,000,000 from this competition to support well integrated international research activities for approximately 10 of the IGERT awards. The NSF contribution to graduate student stipends is currently $30,000 per year per IGERT trainee for a 12-month appointment, and budgeting for stipends should be made on this basis for each year of the award. All IGERT-supported students are expected to be full-time IGERT trainees. IGERT support for 2 years (24 months per student) or longer is strongly recommended. NSF also provides a cost-of-education allowance for tuition, health insurance, and normal fees of $10,500 per year per student (for 12 months.) If this allowance is not fully required, then it may be used to support other IGERT student-related activities. Awards will carry an 8% allowance for indirect costs based on the total direct cost, excluding equipment and cost-of-education allowances but not excluding participant support. While the NSF does not require cost-sharing under the IGERT program, some institutional cost sharing is mandated by program limitations on the recovery of indirect costs and on the cost-of-education allowance. Additionally, because the IGERT program seeks to catalyze institutional change in graduate education, indications of institutional support for the program and its sustainability, through whatever means seem most appropriate, must be included in the proposal. AGENCY CONTACT: INTERNAL REVIEW PROCESS: To screen potential preliminary proposals and coordinate institutional cost-sharing commitments for the IGERT preliminary proposal competition, an internal deadline has been established. Principal Investigators (PIs) interested in submitting a preliminary proposal should provide the following proposal information to their Associate Dean by Friday, January 30, 2009 for internal review purposes: 1. Project description (maximum length 5 pages) should include items a – f: (a) describe the vision and goals of the proposed IGERT project; 2. Investigators planning to submit a renewal IGERT proposal must include an additional page indicating the improvements and innovations proposed for the renewal period, plans for evaluating the impact of the project and plans to sustain the essential elements of the project after NSF funding ceases. 3. Budget, budget justification and matriculation plan (3 pages). Itemize all cost-sharing commitments being requested from the University and provide a matriculation plan documenting the sources of support for cohorts of students moving through the program. PIs are strongly encouraged to consult with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for assistance with the development of the matriculation plan. 4. Biographical sketches: include 2-page NSF format biographical sketch for PI and Co-PIs. 5. Review comments from any previous IGERT submission. Following the Dean’s assessment of the internal application, it will be forwarded to Associate Provost Joan Kirkendall for review and then to the Office of the VP for Research for final selection. PIs will be informed if their proposal is selected for submission and advised of institutional cost-sharing commitments in time to complete and process their proposal for final review. REMARKS: Preliminary proposals must be submitted via FastLane, NSF's web-based system for proposal submission and review. Full proposals may be submitted either via FastLane or via Grants.gov, although collaborative proposals must be submitted via Fastlane. For more information about FastLane, or to register as a FastLane user, please contact Kathleen Foster in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at x3-4365 or kfoster@bu.edu. Information about Grants.gov for BU Investigators can be obtained on the OSP website at: http://www.bu.edu/osp/pdf/Grantsgovinfo.pdf. In addition, for investigators interested in submitting proposals via Grants.gov, NSF has published the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide which may be found online at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf. Investigators should contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to their school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through either FastLane or Grants.gov. Complete program guidelines and application material (NSF 09-519 and either NSF GPG 09-1 or the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide) may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu, or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp. |
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