Deadline for Internal Limited Submission Proposals: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO APRIL 10, 2020

Limited Submissions: Internal Call for Proposals

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Calls for Ideas
UNC LOI Deadline: 11:59PM, Friday, March 13, 2020

 

*Please distribute to relevant faculty*

Key Dates

UNC LOI Deadline: Friday, March 13, 2020 by 11:59PM

UNC Internal Deadline: Wednesday, March 25, 2020 by 11:59PM

Sloan Foundation Deadline: Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Important Information

A Call for Ideas: The Foundation is asking researchers to sketch out a vision for a program that could be funded at up to $5-10M/yr for about a decade. Here ‘program’ refers to support for a community of investigators working on complementary aspects of a scientific problem.

 

• This program is for *non-biomedical* research.
• Number of Institutional Submissions Allowed: 3
• Proposals must be written using the Foundation’s proposal submission template.

To Apply

1. By Friday, March 13, please send an email to limited_submissions@unc.edu titled “SLOAN CFI LOI”, and containing:
   1. Your intent to apply for the internal competition, and a few sentences about the proposal topic area;
   2. The names of 3-5 colleagues who could speak knowledgeably about your proposal who could potentially serve as internal reviewers. Given the tight turnaround from the Foundation, this will facilitate organizing a review in a timely manner.
   3. If you have any clarifying questions about the program, please include them in this LOI so that our offices can coordinate a programmatic response to the Foundation. Please Do not contact the Sloan Foundation directly.

 

2. Internal Deadline for Proposals: Proposals must be written using the Foundation’s proposal submission template that is included in this call. Please return the attached Sloan Foundation template and submit to limited_submissions@unc.edu no later than 11:59pm, Wednesday, March 25. Proposals will be reviewed and selected for submission to the foundation by April 15.

 

Program Overview and Criteria

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation expects to start one or more new grant-making programs aimed at driving important advances in an area of science. They are asking a select group of researchers and institutions to send them their vision for either starting a new field of science or for advancing an existing area of science. Your ideas could mean near-term funding for a research project, longer-term support for a research community, or both.

 

The Foundation expects to select a handful of specific projects to support with Sloan Foundation grants of $500K-$1M/yr for up to 3 years. They are open to high-risk/high-reward science so don’t be shy about proposing new and ambitious ideas. While submissions will be organized through a single lead PI, they are encouraging researchers to self-organize into proposal submission teams whose broader scope of expertise may strengthen a proposal.

 

Biomedical & disease research will not be considered, and we seek ideas that advance basic science rather than ideas for commercial products or instruments. We’re looking for opportunities where our grant-making can make a difference, both because funds are needed to drive an important advance in science and because our scale of grant-making can have a significant impact. This may mean funding a high-risk/high-reward idea with no preliminary data but which is conceptually sound and potentially transformative. Researchers should refrain from proposing work in already well-funded areas unless they can convincingly argue that the important research they propose is not likely to be supported by other funding sources.

Eligibility

• The lead PI must be a full-time member of faculty.
• A lead PI may be lead PI on only one proposal.
• There is no limit to the number of collaborators on a proposal and collaborating researchers may or may not be from the lead PI’s institution.
• We encourage researchers to self-organize into proposal submission teams whose broader scope of expertise may strengthen a proposal.

Science Areas

Science Areas: You must decide which of the seven categories listed below best matches your proposed research. This is the primary category for your submission. We also encourage you to select a secondary submission category if appropriate.

 

1. Biology
2. Chemistry
3. Physics & Astronomy
4. Neuroscience & Cognition
5. Earth Systems Science (including Ocean Science)
6. Interdisciplinary & Other Science
7. Special Topics (Please see “Additional Information” below)

 

There are three Special Topics which are classified as research that is suspected to be transformative if compelling ideas arise. Submissions to this category must fit into (at least) one of the sub-categories listed below.

 

• ST1: Nanoscale Biophysics: Innovative ideas for using the tools of physics to advance biology or for using biology to broaden how we think about engineered nanometer-scale systems. Topics might include: nanoscale energy conversion; nanoscale design for stochastic environments; cellular biomechanics and fluid dynamics that explores how mechanical forces influence cellular self-organization, gene expression, biochemistry, and other cellular processes; compelling advances In our understanding of biological signal transduction and information processing; compelling ideas for using non-equilibrium thermodynamics and/or information theory as effective frameworks for various problems in biology.

 

• ST2: Matter-to-Life: Research at the matter-to-life nexus. Here we’re less interested in the historical question of how life arose on earth and more interested in ideas for transforming an initial ecology of inanimate chemicals into a metabolizing, self-regulating, and interactive community that approximates life. This might involve -for instance- efforts to build a synthetic cell, or systems chemistry efforts to curate the evolution of an appropriate chemical system towards efficient auto-catalysis, increased complexity, or other quantitative metrics proposed as proxies for life.

 

• ST3-Visualizing the Nanoscale (Microscopy & Movies): Technologies to visualize dynamics within a living cell with nanometer resolution (1-10 nm). This might be achieved -for instance- through innovations in various forms of microscopy (superlens, cryoEM, etc.), or by realizing damage-free imaging with energetic particles (photons/electrons). A broad vision might also include pumpprobe approaches to producing femtosecond-time-resolved images with nanometer resolution.

 

Potentially Promising Science

In addition to the areas listed under Special Topics, we here list a few other areas which may be scientifically promising. Proposals covering these areas or falling under Special Topics will compete with the other submitted ideas and we expect to select proposals making the strongest scientific case overall.

 

• Biology: theoretical biology promising significant advances in important areas of bioscience; development of bio-markers and other tools of chemistry to advance biology; extremophiles;

 

• Chemistry: systems chemistry and chemical systems far from equilibrium; fundamental chemistry research critical to important problems in other sciences;
• Physics & Astronomy: experiments that shed light on quantum gravity; experiments that require a quantum description and where gravity has measurable effects; Ideas for novel dark-energy experiments; ideas for obtaining non-electromagnetic maps of the primordial universe using primordial neutrinos or gravitational waves; novel ideas for testing the no-hair theorem for black holes; new experimental tests of foundational Issues in quantum mechanics; Computer Science: artificial intelligence likely to drive specific advances in an area of basic science; Neuroscience & Cognition: novel brain-machine interface instrumentation;  advances in proprioception-based extended-self research; Interdisciplinary & Other Science: novel ideas for biomimetic or adaptive materials; Paleontology, particularly novel ideas to significantly advance the science of archeological dating, or to identify and/or use ancient ‘remains’ (bones, DNA, etc.) more effectively, or to advance our understanding of human origins and the history of hominid and hominid-like species on earth.

 

Additional Information

Do not contact the Sloan Foundation directly. Please contact the Limited Submissions Team with questions at Limited_Submissions@unc.edu.

 

 

 

The Alfred P. Sloan Call For Ideas Proposal Submission Template 

1-Instructions for filling out & submitting this template

Filling out this template

Proposals are constructed by filling out this template. Your response to sections 5 & 6 taken together is limit to 1700 words and figures, tables, etc. are not permitted. Proposers are free to choose how to allocate the 1700 words across sections 5 & 6.

Instructions for sections 5 (Broad Vision): Cover the following topics to construct a narrative that describes your broad vision for advancing science: 5.1-The Big Picture:  Tell us the big picture of what you want to accomplish and why it’s important; 5.2-Action Plan for the Community: Specify a few research threads we might support which, collectively, would cohere and produce insights to make a significant advance in an important area of science. Briefly describe these threads by summarizing them from a high-level (non-expert) perspective and by describing the kinds of activities our grants would support (i.e. the tools -instrumentation, theory, others?- you would use and/or develop to address the science); 5.3-Outcomes: Could $5-10M/yr support a community to get something important accomplished in about a decade? Tell us what you think could be accomplished by clarifying where the field is now and where the field would stand after five and after 10 years of your plan; 5.4-Budget: Provide a brief (1-2 sentence) roughly-estimated budget for supporting this field by listing a few research threads and assigning $ amounts/yr to support those threads. The total funding should not exceed $5-10M/yr.

Instructions for sections 6 (Specific Project): Cover the following topics to construct a narrative that proposes a project which gives us a sense of the meaningful research we would support if we began a grant-making program in this area: 6.1-Project Rationale and Plan of Action:  Tell us what you want the proposed project to accomplish and why it’s important. Tell us about your plan of action by describing the kinds of activities our grant would support; 6.2-Outcomes: Describe the expected outcome at the end of the grant (maximum of 3 years). What are the specific project outcomes and what affect might this grant have on the field?; 6.3-Budget: Provide a brief (1-2 sentence), rough budget estimate for the project by specifying the total $cost/yr for each grant year and by breaking this cost down into three expense categories: People, Equipment, and Other. Project budgets should not exceed $1M/yr and can support projects for up to 3 years.

Proposal Submission

For submissions from institutions: the subject line of the email should be formatted as follows: SUBMISSION: Institution: Category: PI Last Name, PI First Initial; where Institution is an informal, compact version of your institution’s name that you construct (e.g. xx instead of xx University), and Category is a digit -1 through 7- indicating one of the seven science submission categories listed in the FAQs document.

2-Proposer & Proposal Information

Please select a primary (and optionally a secondary) science category for your submission. The Special Topics (ST1=Nanoscale Biophysics; ST2=Matter-to-Life; ST3=Visualizing the Nanoscale) are described in the Alfred P. Sloan Call For Ideas FAQs document.

-Primary Submission Category (check one): __ 1-Biology; __2-Chemistry; __3-Physics & Astronomy; __4-Neuroscience & Cognition;  __5-Earth Systems Science;  __6-Interdisciplinary & Other Science;  __7-Special Topics;

-Secondary Submission Category (optionally check one):  __ 1-Biology; __2-Chemistry; __3-Physics & Astronomy; __4-Neuroscience & Cognition;  __5-Earth Systems Science;  __6-Interdisciplinary & Other Science;  __7-Special Topics;

-Lead PI:

Name: ­­­­­­­________________________________________________________________________

Institution & Department: ________________________________________________________

Contact Information (email & phone): _______________________________________________

–List all collaborators on this application (name, email , institution & department):

Collaborating PI 1: _______________________________________________________________

Collaborating PI 2: _______________________________________________________________

Collaborating PI 3: _______________________________________________________________

Collaborating PI 4: _______________________________________________________________

Collaborating PI 5: _______________________________________________________________

(add rows as needed)

 

3-Concept Title (< 100 Chars): _________­­­­­­­­­__________________________________________________

4-Executive Summary: Provide a brief (< 200 word) summary describing both your broad vision and specific project.

 

5-Describe a Broad Vision (see Instructions above)

 

6-Describe a Specific Project (see instructions above)

 

7-References: List up to 20 references mentioned in sections 5 or 6.

 

8-Landscape Survey

 

8.1 Name 5 -and ideally up to 10- scientists (in the U.S. or abroad) who are NOT part of your proposal team and whom you consider to be impactful scientists currently doing research relevant to the broad vision you propose for an area of science. Please specify name, institution, and -if known- the academic or institutional Department / Division in which this person sits.

 

8.2 List 5 publications published in the past 5 years that, in your opinion, are the most important papers covering the science you describe in your broad vision. You may include work that you co-authored. Please use the following citation format: First initial(s) and last name of the 1st author, Journal name (standard abbreviation is OK), Volume, page No., year.

 

8.3 List 3 of the most important research methods/tools relevant to the broad vision you propose for an area of science. Indicate whether these tools are emerging or mature.

 

8.4 List any reports or other publications that reflect research community efforts to make a case for supporting the research described by your broad vision narrative.

 

8.5 Workshop support: Are you interested in applying for funds (up to $100K) to support a workshop aimed at bringing a community together to sharpen the case for supporting the research you’ve proposed? (Y/N)  _____.

 

Limited Submissions Team

Office of Research Development

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

308 Bynum Hall

Chapel Hill, NC 27599

(919) 962-7503