The CAREER award is a prestigious grant offered by the National Science Foundation for junior faculty who are engaging in exceptional research, teaching, and integrating education with research.  The goal of the program is to support junior faculty in establishing a strong basis for a lifelong career in research and education.

UMBC has a history of performing very well in the NSF CAREER awards program, with 34 grants received to date. To continue to build on this history, we are holding our annual workshop for eligible faculty this Wednesday (March 7th) from 10am-11:30am in ITE 325B. RSVPs are encouraged. 

Dr. Marie desJardins (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, COEIT, and Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, CAREER '06) will give an overview of the CAREER program and discuss expectations, review criteria, and the panel review process.  Dr. Nirmalya Roy (Assistant Professor of Information Systems) and Dr. Matt Pelton (Assistant Professor of Physics, CAREER '16) will share their experiences with navigating the CAREER proposal writing process.

This year's NSF deadlines are July 18-29 (depending on discipline) and eligibility requirements can be found on the solicitation page: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2017/nsf17537/nsf17537.htm

Starting immediately  we recommend using the following as the F&A rate budget justification when a proposal includes  on-campus research.  Previously it was suggested that F&A be budged based on the rate for the majority of the project year.  This has caused some confusion when F&A periods are set during the award process.  Also,  if using the detailed budget in Kuali the pro-rated F&A will be automatically calculated.  Therefore OSP is not recommending that for budgeting purposes if there is a change in the F&A rate during a project year F&A calculations be pro-rated based on the number of months at each rate.

All other UMBC F&A rates do not change throughout the life of the new F&A Rate Agreement and therefore do not need special explanation, so the standard wording can be used for those justifications.  Please see the new agreement at http://cga.umbc.edu/files/2016/11/FINAL-UMBC-FY2016-FY2020-FA-Rate-Agreement-and-Component-Sheet.pdf for a full listing of applicable F&A rates.

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F&A – UMBC has a Federally Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA).

The negotiated rates for on campus research applicable to this proposal are (NOTE PICK ONLY THE RATES THAT APPLY):

07/01/2015-6/30/2016   50.5%

07/01/2016-6/30/2017   52.0%

07/01/2017-6/30/2019   52.50

07/01/2019-6/30/2020   53%

If a project year incorporates more than one rate F&A recovery is calculated on a prorated basis with the rate reflecting the date of the NICRA change.

MTDC excludes tuition, equipment over $5,000 and the cost of subgrants over $25,000.

DATE: February 22, 2018

TO: Faculty and Staff

FROM: Dean Drake
Associate VP for Research

SUBJECT: OSP Deadline for Proposal Submissions

OSP requests that you deliver your full, ready to submit extramural funding proposal to the Office of Sponsored Programs at least three (3) UMBC business days prior to the submission deadline. This 3-day period should help to eliminate most errors in processing. OSP will review and submit your proposal. If any changes are needed, OSP will communicate those changes to your unit.

An “expedited review” is available to assist principal investigators in the proposal application process to allow an internal review at the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) to occur before the application is fully completed. This expedited review requires only the cover page, abstract, detailed budget and budget justification, and any necessary documentation such as IACUC or IRB approval/application letters as well as budgets, scope of work, sub-award commitment form and commitment letters for any subcontracts included in the project. A copy of the complete proposal must subsequently be submitted to OSP three UMBC business days prior to the sponsor deadline.

Kuali Proposal and Budget System now provides the opportunity for the PI and Department Administrator to work with the OSP Support Staff at any stage of proposal development process and before the proposal is submitted for signature approvals. OSP suggests everyone take advantage of collaborating early with your OSP Support Person on your project and budget.  

On-time submissions gives OSP a chance to complete a full review. Late submissions may lead to errors and omissions and can result in your proposal being rejected for funding by the sponsoring agency. 

Thank you for your assistance. We aim to provide a high-quality level service to our research community, and your cooperation is critical. If you have any questions, please contact me at ddrake@umbc.edu, or Stan Jackson, OSP Director at jacksons@umbc.edu.

Here is a quick rundown of the functionality of the extramural funding systems of some of the major Federal sponsors.  If you have any questions please contact OSP and if we don’t have the answer we will do our best to find out in this highly fluid situation.   Of course we are all hoping for a quick resolution.

NSF

Reseasrch.gov and Fastlane are down for the duration of the shutdown.  Basically you should continue to work on any funded NSF projects but other than that NSF is shutdown.  Presumably once the shutdown is over they will allow for submission of any proposals that had submit dates during the shutdown.  This is usually on extremely short turn around so we advise that you still have any proposals completed and ready to upload to Fastlane on short notice.

https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/postshutdown.jsp

NIH

So far there is very limited information out of NIH.  During the 2013 shutdown it was advised not to submit proposals during the shutdown but we have not been able to find specific information for 2018.  On the DHHS page is says that no action will be taken on extramural awards during the shutdown.  I would suggest going ahead and having any grants.gov workspace packages completed.  At this time it appears Grants.gov and NIH Commons are up and running.  Work should continue on already funded NIH awards.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy-2018-hhs-contingency-staffing-plan/index.html

NOAA

NOAA’s Grants Online system is not functioning during any shutdown.  Unfortunately NOAA has not made any statements about proposal submission. If you have a proposal due during the shutdown we would advise going ahead and completing the proposal in Grants.gov Work Space so we can attempt to submit during the deadline.  Work should continue on already funded NOAA awards.

https://rgw.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/noaa_2018_shutdown.pdf

NASA

Again, specific advice on NASA proposals is a bit hard to come by.  Best guess is that they will follow the same as the notice for government proposers which is that deadlines missed during the shutdown will be extended (see link below).  In November NASA submitted an updated plan for shutdowns but it does not include proposal submission.   That plan is also linked below. Work should continue on currently funded NASA awards. NSPIRES does appear to be functioning.

https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/sara/grant-solicitations/roses-2017/possible-government-shutdown

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/171130_revised_shutdown_plan.pdf

This is what we know as of 8:00 this morning (1/22/2018).  As we receive new information we will update this group.  For any questions please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

While we continue to hope that there will be a positive resolution to this situation it is certainly possible  we may be facing a partial shutdown of the Federal Government.  While we know what has happened in the past, we do not know if things will be the same this time. In the past Grants.gov continued to take submissions, even though some of the Federal agency systems that receive proposals from Grants.gov were not operational. However, to ensure that proposals were counted as submitted on time they still needed to be submitted to Grants.gov by the deadline.  NSF Fastlane did shutdown last time and allowed for late submissions due to the shutdown, but basically gave very little turnaround time once they were back up.  Therefore, the Office of Sponsored Programs is recommending that we continue with business as usual submitting proposals by their due dates.  If this changes we will communicate any changes.

If there is shutdown new awards and increments will undoubtably be delayed.

Below is a link to agency specific information that is available at this time, but I have checked some of the links and they do not all link to documents at this time.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/agency-contingency-plans/

I want to assure you that OSP and OVPR will continue to monitor the situation and stay in communication.

Thank you,

Stan Jackson

Director, OSP

Competed annually, UMBC's START awards provide up to $25,000 in research funding for faculty who will use these funds to better position themselves for further scholarly work that is not internally funded. To that end, priority is given to untenured, tenure track faculty still establishing themselves, to tenured faculty who are re-establishing themselves after interruptions, and to tenured faculty entering new areas dependent on interdisciplinary collaboration.

Also competed annually, the SURFF program provides $6,000 in summer salary to early-career faculty who would benefit from the opportunity to focus on establishing their scholarly independence.

The multidisciplinary Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities (Sherman Center) was established to advance George and Betsy Sherman’s vision of improving learning experiences and outcomes for young children in Baltimore City.

 

As part of this mission, I am pleased to invite proposals for the 2017-18 Sherman Center Faculty Research Award. This award seeks to expand knowledge about policies and practices that enhance the learning of young children, ages three through eight, in urban communities like Baltimore. Research topics of interest include, but are not limited to: