Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, August 16th, 2024, 5pm PT TBA
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: September 26, 2025
Recurring Deadlines: September 28, 2026
Award Information
Award Type: Cooperative Agreement
Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications responsive to programmatic needs.
Anticipated Award Amount: Application budgets should reflect the actual needs of the proposed project and are limited to $500,000 per year in direct costs, excluding consortium F&A costs. The requested direct costs must be reasonable, well documented, fully justified, and commensurate with the scope of the proposed program.
Who May Serve as PI:
The contact PD/PI is expected to be a full-time employee of the applicant organization. If the full-time status of the contact PD/PI changes after the award, the organization must obtain prior program approval to appoint a new PD/PI or request a deviation from the full-time rule.
The PD(s)/PI(s) should have appropriate professional experience in biomedical research career development and be capable of providing both administrative and educational leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program. The PD(s)/PI(s) will be expected to monitor and assess the program and submit all documents and reports as required.
While NIH does not use NIH encourages multiple PDs/PIs, particularly when each brings a unique perspective and skill set that will enhance the research education program. The PD/PI team should consider including individuals with experience in areas such as biomedical research, program evaluation, mentoring, career development, advancement for early-career scientists, and activities that support a broad and inclusive biomedical research workforce (for example, activities that promote the success of scholars and faculty from underrepresented groups; see also Program Considerations in Section I).
Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-224.html
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
Program Goal
The purpose of the Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program is to support a cohort of early career, independent investigators from diverse backgrounds (for example, individuals from underrepresented groups) conducting research in NIH mission areas. The program has two components: an individual career transition award for postdoctoral scholars (K99/R00) and a research education cooperative agreement (UE5) awarded to organizations to provide these scholars with additional mentoring, networking and professional development activities to support their transition to and success in independent, tenure-track or equivalent research-intensive faculty careers. The MOSAIC program supports NIH’s efforts to develop a biomedical research workforce that will benefit from the full range of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds needed to advance discovery.
The goal of the MOSAIC Research Education Award (UE5) is to support educational activities for MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars that will equip them with the professional skills, and provide them with the appropriate mentoring opportunities and professional networks to allow them to transition into, advance, and succeed in independent, tenure-track or equivalent research-intensive faculty careers. To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on:
- Courses for Skills Development: For example, courses for cohorts of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars focused on skills related to their career transition and advancement. Support for short courses, which can be delivered or provided in person, online or a combination, designed to enhance skills needed to successfully transition into and advance within independent academic research careers, such as:
- Obtaining a Faculty Position: academic job search strategies, presenting a compelling research vision, interviewing skills, negotiation.
- Acclimating to the Faculty Role: laboratory management, budgeting, hiring, mentoring, and balancing research, teaching, and service.
- Academic Advancement: planning for tenure, managing career challenges and expectations, communication skills, funding strategies, grant proposal preparation, scientific publishing, and life-work balance.
- Mentoring Activities: One-on-one and group mentoring to further the professional and career development of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars. Activities to enhance the mentoring networks of MOSAIC scholars and prepare participants with a working knowledge of the challenges and opportunities associated with an independent, tenure-track research-intensive faculty career and to improve their ability to meet these challenges and opportunities. Activities to engage appropriate organizational leaders (for example, K99 primary research mentors or R00 department chair) on how to effectively support the scholars in the program.
Programmatic Approach
MOSAIC Research Education Awards are intended to fund organizations that can provide robust mentoring, networking, and skills development opportunities for MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars and:
- Develop cohesive and mutually supportive cohorts of MOSAIC scholars that span the K99 to R00 award phases.
- Provide opportunities for MOSAIC scholars to engage in career development activities that will foster their progression to and success in independent academic research careers (for example, courses for skills development).
- Enhance the scientific and professional networks of MOSAIC scholars beyond their local institutions.
- Identify and connect scholars with additional mentors who can facilitate appropriate career advancement.
- Engage MOSAIC scholars’ primary research mentors (K99 phase) and appropriate organizational leader (R00 phase, for example department chair) to enhance mentoring relationships and promote career development of the scholars.
- Track and publicize outcomes (e.g., publicly available websites).
Funded MOSAIC research education activities should address the career needs of scholars in both the mentored postdoctoral research phase (K99), and independent research phase (R00). Activities should synergize with and supplement, but not duplicate, career development activities MOSAIC scholars participate in as part of their K99/R00 awards. Program activities should build upon the strengths and assets of MOSAIC K99/R00 scholars and should not reflect deficit-models (that is, those that focus primarily on remediation of perceived weaknesses) of career development.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.