NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program for FY 99

M. Jack Ohanian, Interim Vice President

In FY 99 the National Science Foundation will again provide funding for the acquisition or development of major pieces of scientific instrumentation. The deadline for proposals to NSF is February 16, 1999. Awards generally range from $100K to $2M with 30%-50% cost sharing required. The University of Florida will be able to submit up to four proposals: 2 for instrumentation acquisition or development, 1 solely for instrumentation development, and 1 as part of multi-university consortium.

Because of the restriction of the number and type of submissions, the following procedures have been established:

1. Pre-proposals at due at my office, 223 Grinter Hall, by 5 p.m. Wednesday, December 9, 1998.
2. Pre-proposals should be no longer than three pages and include the following:
   • Category of application (acquisition, development or consortium);
   • Description of the instrumentation
   • Impact of the instrumentation on current/future research and research training activities
   • Demonstrated need for the instrument
   • Qualifications of the persons who will use or develop the equipment
   • Projected cost and plans for providing the required matching funds (e.g., college share; industry contribution; request to ORTGE); generally, it is expected that any requestfor ORTGE funds will include a college/department commitment as well.
   • Written endorsement of the applicant’s Department Chair and Dean.
3. Applicants should provide a list of NSF-funded research projects at UF that will benefit from the instrumentation (PI name, department, project title, budget/project period, award amount).
4. ORTGE will consider requests for matching funds from eligible colleges and departments (IFAS and Engineering proposals must have a significant interdisciplinary component). Requests for matching funds must be co-signed by the Dean, Department Chair and appropriate Vice President.

Guidelines for FY 99 NSF MRI proposals may be obtained from ORTGE’s Program Information Office, 392-4804, or downloaded in a variety of formats from the NSF website at http://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/mri/start.htm. They will also be posted on the ORTGE website along with the internal submission procedures. Please alert faculty in your area to this significant opportunity to enhance our research instrumentation infrastructure.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me by telephone at (352) 392-0946 or by e-mail at johan@eng.ufl.edu.