NSF MRI: Decreasing the Probability of Rejection

Jeanine CookKlipsch School of Electrical and Computer

EngineeringNew Mexico State University

History Very computationally intensive research, but

no infrastructure to do it! Submitted white paper to VPR

assembled team Scrambled to get into QEM Elected PI (even though most junior) Began writing, based on what I learned at

QEM If you haven’t started writing, it’s not too late!

Advice

Take good notes hereOn the trip home, rewrite them in electronic

form Do everything they tell you to do Don’t do what they tell you NOT to do!

The End!!!!

Any Questions????

Our MRI Proposal

Acquisition of computational infrastructure to support different types of modeling and simulationCardiac Computer architecture Fire Chemical (phytoremeditation)

TEAM: 2 Electrical Engineers, 1 Mechanical Engineer, 2 Physicists

Acquisition of a Large Beowulf Cluster for Research and Education in Science and Engineering Justify need for equipment

Specification of proposed equipment Intellectual merit

Research Description Results from prior NSF support Project plan

Research Education

Management plan Broader impact

Impact of infrastructure

Justify Need for Equipment - 1 Describe need based on research

objectiveDescribe specific performance requirements

in context of resource demands to perform specific research

How many FLOPS to get research done before you die???

Justify Need for Equipment - 2 Describe existing resources and limitations

Are there resources on campus or in the vicinity?

List them and their specificationsDo you have/can you get access?

What limitations on this access that hinder your research?

Also include access restrictions in equipment specification table

From this, equipment specification should easily fall out and be justified!

Justification for Equipment - 3

Justify through not only research, but also educationStudents will learn to operate and use state-

of-the-art equipment Will increase the value of their education and value

in job market

Intellectual Merit: Research Description

MRI proposals reviewed based on same old two criteria Intellectual MeritBroader Impact

Of research Of having this equipment on your campus

Each member of team wrote brief description of their research

Results from Prior NSF Support

If you are junior faculty, may not have results from prior NSF funding. Seek out another more senior faculty

member who may benefit from having same equipment and recruit them to be an investigator

Project Plan Research

Have solid plan/timeline When do you expect to order the equipment? When do you expect it to be operational? When do you expect initial research results to be generated?

Education What student population will be involved using

equipment? Undergraduates, graduates????

Will it be used for course work as well as research? What about training?

Wokshops/tutorials User meetings/research

Management Plan - 1 Have firm plan on how use of equipment

will be managedHow will time/utilization be shared among

investigators?What about investigator collaborators? Will

they have access??How will equipment be maintained? (Even

after award period??) Budget for maintenance Budget for costs to house equipment

Air conditioning Cooling

Management Plan – 2

Will equipment be available to other faculty and students after award period? Sometime during award period?For research and education?How will this be managed?

Through proposal process?? Who will review these? Will there be a fee?

Broader Impact of Infrastructure - 1

What impacts will acquiring this equipment have? Who will be impacted? Investigators will be able to perform earth-

shattering research that otherwise would go undone

Will other faculty, staff, students benefit from this equipment?

List potential users across campus List potential courses that may utilize equipment

Broader Impact of Infrastructure - 2

What diverse populations will benefit?Ethnic minoritiesWomenPersons with disabilities

Be sure to include statistics from significant minority programs on campus which may draw student/faculty participants

AGEP AAMP ADVANCE RASEM

Many of these are supported by NSF!!!

General Advice to Avoid Problems - 1

If you assemble a teamBe sure you really know who you’re working

with and that personalities and objectives don’t clash

Even though it’s not necessarily collaborative research, you will be affiliated with co-investigators at least for the duration of the award

General Advice to Avoid Problems - 2

Specifying equipment when working with teamHave everyone specify requirements and

equipmentAssimilate requirements and equipment specs

into list of optionsDefine decision-making process

Democratic vote? PI gets the last say? Unbiased stakeholder helps decide?

General Advice to Avoid Problems - 3

Start the budget earlyGet quotes from vendors that include

educational pricing Warning: If they know what your budget is, that’s

what the equipment will cost! Create a budget that is darn close to the average

award size (not possible in all cases) NSF may ask you to revise budget to close to average

award size

General Advice to Avoid Problems - 4

On final budget Make sure that vendor has addressed every detail of

options on equipment Anything that the vendor states that they’ll “throw in”,

get it in writing Save all correspondence during the quotation process Don’t forget to leave some time for sole source

justification if necessary Purchasing department can help Vendor can help

If you need more money, ask Research Center VPR Dean

If you just brought in $250K, they will likely help if reasonable amount of extra funds are needed.

Good Luck!