Slots: The NSF MRI program is an institutionally limited funding opportunity. Eligible institutions may submit up to 3 proposals total (no more than two in Track 1 and no more than one in Track 2). USC has already received applications for Track 1; as such, we are accepting only Track 2 and Track 3 applications at this time.

Track 1: Proposals that request total funds from NSF between $100,000 and $1,000,000.
Track 2: Proposals that request total funds from NSF between $1,000,000 and $4,000,000.
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.

Deadlines

Internal Deadline: Monday, December 12, 2022, 5pm PT (for Track 2 and Track 3 only).

LOI: N/A

External Deadline: January 19, 2023

Recurring Deadlines: November 15, 2023; November 15, 2024; November 14, 2025; November 16, 2026.

Award Information

Award Type: Standard Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 150

Anticipated Award Amount: $75,000,000

Who May Serve as PI: Applicants to the NSF MRI program must be full-time faculty at USC; visiting and adjunct faculty are not eligible. The program especially seeks broad representation of PIs, including women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities. Since demographic diversity may be greater among early career researchers, the program also encourages proposals by early career PIs and those that benefit early career researchers.

As this is a limited submission competition, all proposals must be submitted for review by Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) for selection of final candidates, whether or not the PI is requesting cost share from the Office of Research.

Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23519/nsf23519.htm

Cost Sharing: 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.

Process for Limited Submissions

PIs must submit their application through the “Core Laboratory/Shared Instrumentation” link listed under “Institutionally Limited External Competitions” through https://provost.sma.usc.edu/prog/CI/.

In the application form itself: if you would still like to apply for cost share, select ‘Type B1’. If you are not, select ‘Type B2.’

Materials to submit include:

(1) Four-Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations.
(2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
See below for more material that is required, under the Core Laboratory/Shared Instrumentation heading.

Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.

Purpose

The goal of the NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program is to increase access to shared-use/multi-user instrumentation for scientific and engineering research and training. NSF MRI awards are intended to be a capacity-building program and to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers, and builders. The program supports two different types of proposals, as described here: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23519/nsf23519.htm.

Internal Proposal Review Process: The internal NSF MRI proposals will be reviewed by faculty and relevant Office of Research staff, who will provide reviews to the proposers and a prioritized list of recommendations to the Vice President of Research.

Review Criteria:

Impact: The degree to which the proposed equipment will make a substantial difference in USC’s research activities and fulfill an unmet need.
Strategic Importance: The proposal should demonstrate how the equipment meets a strategic need.
Participation: An indication of the faculty who would utilize the equipment and the degree to which the user base spans multiple schools and campuses.
Commitment: Commitment for ongoing support and maintenance from the PI, PI’s school, center, or department.

CORE LABORATORY / SHARED INSTRUMENTATION GRANT

PURPOSE
The Core Laboratory / Shared Instrumentation Fund supports acquisition of shared instrumentation – including equipment, datasets, and repositories – that enables major research endeavors in the sciences, medicine and engineering, as well as non-STEM fields, and provides USC researchers with greater access to shared equipment and key resources.
This solicitation invites proposals from core facilities for the acquisition of equipment, datasets, computing resources and repositories (Type A) or from those seeking external funding where a match/cost share may be required (Type B1/B2). While the fund is not intended for purchase of computers, unless they are integrated with other types of instrumentation, requests for funding for large computing resources (such as GPUs) are eligible.
Awards under this program are made through a competitive peer-reviewed process. All equipment supported under this announcement must be made available to the entire university community and proposals must include a list of users/user base to be competitive.

WHO SHOULD APPLY TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT
This Request for Proposals is for USC faculty members and core laboratory directors (or their designees).

Type B1 – requests of up to $200,000 made by those seeking cost share from the Office of Research for
either limited or not-limited external funding opportunities – will not be relevant again until 2027 at the earliest.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must be permanent, full-time, tenured, tenure-track or non-tenure track faculty; adjunct and visiting faculty are not eligible.

Applications seeking to establish a new core facility need pre-approval to apply. Contact the Office of Research Initiatives & Facilities at rii@usc.edu for assistance.

A “core laboratory” is defined as a shared-use facility, with (1) an established recharge center account, which offers specialized instruments, access to datasets or repositories, and/or other research-related services and (2) is open to the entire USC research community.

AWARD CONDITIONS

Applicants are permitted to submit multiple proposals to the Core Instrumentation program, which will be reviewed individually. However, the program is unlikely to fund multiple proposals originating from the same laboratory or core facility within the same grant cycle.

Awardees commit to using FBS Priority Software, which supports reservation, training, tracking, billing and payment for services, as well as core facility compliance to federal regulations. In addition to using FBS, awardees are also encouraged to create a website (or updating an existing website) providing information on instruments/services provided.

Core facilities or individual faculty awardees that do not charge for services (i.e., are supported by grants) are required to use FBS but are not required to obtain a recharge center account. For more information on FBS, go to: https://rii.usc.edu/shared-resources/fbs/.

Awardees, along with the core’s associated center, department or school (as applicable), are required to sign a Core Laboratory/Shared Instrument Agreement, committing to the ongoing operation and maintenance of the equipment, ensuring equipment is available to the entire university community and use of FBS software.

NOTIFICATION AND TERM OF AWARD

Awards may be made at different times throughout the year, depending on the outcome of externally submitted proposals. Investigators will be notified as funds become available.

PROPOSAL REVIEW PROCESS

A reviewer panel comprised of faculty and/or staff, with related expertise will review all requests and provide a prioritized list of recommendations to the Vice President of Research and the Director of Research Initiatives & Facilities. In addition, potential users may be surveyed to ascertain the actual impact of the equipment on their research programs.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Impact: Degree to which the proposed equipment will make a substantial difference in USC’s research activities.
Strategic Importance: The proposal should demonstrate how the equipment meets a strategic need.
Participation: Number of faculty who would utilize the laboratory, and the degree to which the user-base spans multiple schools and campuses. The annual research expenditure activity of existing core facilities will also be a consideration, as reflected in billing through FBS software.
Usage & Tracking: How are users instructed and reminded about citing the facility in their publications and grant proposals, and how compliance is verified. How is actual usage time tracked (i.e., actual total time in hours that the instrument is used for research)?
Leverage and Cost: Priority will be given to requests that are leveraged against other funding sources, thereby minimizing the need for Office of Research support.
Commitment/Sustainment: Commitment for ongoing support and maintenance from a university school, center or department or other sources, such as recharge costs and/or from splitting costs with all participating PIs, is required.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION

Questions about the Core Instrumentation Fund or the application submission process can be directed to Amy Wood at rii@usc.edu.

GUIDELINES

Before preparing a proposal, applicants should read closely the program description,

including the sections on eligibility and evaluation criteria.

Proposals must be submitted using the Office of Research application portal (here).

Format: use a standard font, 12 point, single-spaced, with one-inch margins.

PROPOSAL COMPONENTS

Cover page information (to be filled out on-line)

Principal Investigator contact information and 10-digit USC ID number;
Proposal title and type;
Instrument/dataset/repository name and manufacturer/provider;
Amount requested to the Office of Research (as applicable);
Amount requested to external sponsor (as applicable);
Link to external sponsor Request for Proposals (as applicable);
Core information name, URL, Core Director, and Core Manager contact information and 10-digit USC ID number (as applicable);
Co-PI information and 10-digit USC ID number (as applicable).

Sections to be uploaded: It is requested that applicants follow instructions carefully and do not submit additional materials not requested by this RFP. Information that is uploaded beyond what is requested will not be included in the proposal package provided to reviewers. Please upload each of the sections below as PDF documents.

Brief description (not to exceed 60 words) A succinct description of the proposed work.
Abstract: (not to exceed 20 lines of text) A stand-alone succinct description of the proposed work.
Proposal Narrative: (not to exceed 4 pages) Page limits are inclusive of figures and tables; headers (below) should be included in the narrative

Research Impact

Describe the nature of research that will be supported as a result of the proposed funding. Explain the relationship of the proposed funding to the research of the faculty who will utilize the laboratory. Provide evidence that the faculty have a strong track record of externally funded research, as well as publications. Describe how the funding will enable expansion of research in new directions, and, if relevant, recruitment of new faculty

Need

Describe the current state of related core laboratories at USC, as well as at other nearby institutions (as applicable). Provide information on the current condition of USC’s equipment (if any), and the degree to which USC’s equipment is being used at or near capacity. Explain how faculty are currently conducting experiments in the absence of the proposed equipment.

Acquisition

Provide details (supported by quotes) on the full cost of equipment acquisition, including installation, and taxes. Space renovation or infrastructure upgrades/refurbishment/repair to core or lab infrastructure are not supported by the Core Instrumentation/Shared Instrumentation grant. Provide a budget to show the portion of this cost that will be covered by the core instrumentation fund, and the portion that will be covered by other sources, such as federal programs. For external sources, provide details on any cost-share requirements of the sponsor, along with the program from which support will be sought. State where the equipment will be installed and how potential users will be made aware of and gain access to the equipment.

Sustainment

Describe the commitment from a school, department or center or other sources, such as recharge costs (with demonstration calculation) to support the ongoing maintenance and operation of the laboratory in a shared-use environment, available to the entire university community. Provide the proposed annual budget for the core or laboratory in a format consistent with USC’s policy on recharge centers. Demonstrate the source of funding for ongoing maintenance and operation of any newly acquired equipment and demonstrate the source of funding for technical and/or administrative staff (as applicable).

Prior Support: Describe any prior support received by the core facility under this program, and the outcomes of the prior support, in terms of the equipment acquired and the resulting research.

Usage & Tracking (not to exceed one page): Explain how users will be instructed and reminded about citing the facility in their publications, and how compliance will be verified. Explain a plan to track scientific publications citing the facility, track actual usage time (i.e., actual total time in hours that they instrument is used for research) and maintain a record of users and their hours of use.

Budget Justification (not to exceed one page): provide a brief explanation of each of the components of the budget.

Manufacturer Quote

List of Core Users: provide the name and email address of at least 5 expected users of the proposed equipment/dataset/repository.

References: (not to exceed one page)
Letter(s) of Support: Provide a letter of support from the unit(s) that has(have) committed to ongoing maintenance and operation of the requested equipment.

Curriculum Vitae: (not to exceed 5 pages): Provide a brief CV or biosketch of the PI (and Co-PI, as applicable).

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Submit your proposal application utilizing the Office of Research application submission portal. Click here to log in (or create an account for yourself), using your USC email address.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

Monday, December 12, 2022, 5pm PT for Track 2 and Track 3 proposals only.

Signatures: By submitting the online application, applicants indicate their agreement to comply with the terms and conditions of the Core/Shared Instrumentation Fund program as well as all other applicable USC policies.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION

For questions about the application submission process or the Core/Shared Instrumentation Fund Program, please contact Mike Yarsky at ORIF@usc.edu.

Good luck on your proposal application!!

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.

Questions about the NSF-MRI award or the application submission process should be directed to Mike Yarsky at orif@usc.edu.