IN THE NEWS

Lloyd to lead UTOR in finding stimulus opportunities

As the number of short-deadline funding opportunities grows with the federal stimulus package, the UT Office of Research continues to fine-tune its limited-submissions process and increase ways of notifying faculty about proposal solicitations.

James Lloyd, professor and UTOR coordinator of electronic research administration, will lead in identifying research opportunities, especially those with short deadlines that are related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and those that limit the number of proposals that can be submitted. James Mazzouccolo, program resource specialist, will support the internal competition process.

The office has also created three new listservs that will target previous recipients of National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health awards with quick-breaking news of research opportunities.

"We're aggressively seeking ways to let faculty know about funding opportunities," said Greg Reed, associate vice chancellor of research. “If you get mailings that you don’t want, please let us know. If you're not getting information you need, tell us that, too." Faculty who often propose to solicitations that have a limited number of submissions are encouraged to sign up for the office’s new LIMITSUB listserv.

Contact James Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu, 865-974-0390) with specific questions.

Details: Limited Submissions website | Recovery Act website

Grants.gov to get added capacity in time for ARRA overload

Improvements are on the way to the performance of Grants.gov, the government software program that lets researchers submit proposals electronically to federal funding agencies.

A recent software upgrade has caused problems with the system just as federal funding agencies are gearing up to process as many as 75,000 proposals for funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The Council on Governmental Relations reports that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Management and Budget are working on short-term capacity problems with the service. A COGR mailing on 30 March quotes the DHHS and OMB: "HHS is acting quickly to accommodate the unprecedented demand...We have identified a path forward to correct the problems of Grants.gov and have begun to implement it. The Office of Management and Budget and HHS are working to ensure that the necessary funds are in place to increase storage and processing capacity and purchase new hardware and software to support Grants.gov. These improvements will be made rapidly and will help ensure Grants.gov runs in a smooth and efficient manner."

COGR official Carol Blum reported that HHS is committed to designing and implementing long-term improvements in Grants.gov.

NIH requires use of electronic conflict-of-interest module after 30 June

Beginning 1 July 2009, investigators on National Institutes of Health awards will be required to report all financial conflicts of interest using the Financial Conflicts of Interest module on the new electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons. The FCOI module provides institutional users the ability to prepare and submit FCOI reports electronically.

The reporting requirement is part of NIH efforts to ensure that work on Public Health Service grants and agreements is not biased by potential conflicting financial interests of investigators.

The electronic reporting module can be used immediately but must be used after 30 June 09.

Journals get short-term reprieve from cancellation

The UT Libraries' plans to cancel a variety of scholarly serials have been put on hold with news that federal stimulus monies will make up for the expected shortfall in state of Tennessee budgetary appropriations.

"Once we confirm details and factor in our FY10 funding situation (inflation funding and stimulus funding) we will post titles which continue to be candidates for cuts on the library website for your review and comment," said Barbara Dewey, dean of libraries. "Your subject librarian will keep you informed about any future adjustments that we need to make to the collections review timeline. These new developments also provide us with more time to make thoughtful decisions."

SHORT DEADLINE OPPORTUNITIES

Tennessee 21st Century Community Learning Centers

The state of Tennessee Office of School Safety and Learning Support is soliciting proposals for projects that will provide academic enrichment activities designed to help students meet state and local standards using methods and techniques based on rigorous scientific research. Approved project topics include remedial education, academic enrichment, math and science activities, etc. Applicants that are not local educational agencies must partner with an LEA that has a high concentration of students from low-income families. The program has been part of the federal No Child Left Behind initiative.

Deadline: May 1, 2009

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DOE Hydrogen Sensor Technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy is soliciting proposals to develop low-cost sensor technologies that can be directly integrated with hydrogen systems and are resistant to contaminants. Goal of the research is to develop a technology that will sense hydrogen presence prior to reaching flammability.

Deadline: Completed proposal to UTOR -- April 24, 2009, 8 a.m.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Gates Foundation joins NSF to make BREAD

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Science Foundation will begin funding BREAD, the Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development, at some point in FY 2009. The NSF’s Directorate for Biological Sciences announced the program in a Dear Colleague letter last week. Projects that meet the BREAD program goals would include those that develop science-based concepts, derived from basic research, for improving current agricultural crops, developing new crops, increasing crop productivity, developing efficient production practices or novel technologies.

NSF plans workshops to highlight the program, which is a continuation of the NSF’s Plant Genome Research Program.

Other developing programs to watch for:

• National Institute on Drug Abuse to solicit applications for research on substance abuse and associated problems among U.S. military personnel, veterans, and their families in spring 2009.
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to solicit applications for Nutrition Obesity Research Centers in May 2009, with a proposal due date in November 2009.

NSF Improvement to Biological Research Collections (BRC)

The Improvements to Biological Research Collections Program provides funds for improvements to network, secure, and organize established natural history collections for sustained, accurate, and efficient accessibility of the collection to the biological research community. The BRC program is encouraging collaborative proposals to network collections on regional and continental scales, especially collaborations that bring large and small collections together into networks.

Note: The budget for collaborative proposals can now range as high as $2 million.

LIMITED SUBMISSION: The University of Tennessee may submit only one proposal to this competition. Interested faculty should submit an internal statement of intent to James Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu) and Jim Mazzouccolo (jmazzouc@utk.edu).

Deadlines: Internal statement of intent -- April 24, 2009 | Proposal to UTOR -- July 20, 2009 at 8 a.m.

NIH Exploratory/Developmental Clinical Research Grants in Obesity

A number of institutes led by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases is soliciting proposals to conduct exploratory/developmental clinical studies that will accelerate the development of effective interventions for prevention or treatment of overweight or obesity in adults and/or children.

Deadline: Agency deadline -- June 16, 2009

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Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research has issued a broad agency announcement seeking unclassified fundamental research white papers and proposals not containing proprietary information in a wide array of scientific disciplines, including aerospace, chemical and material sciences; physics and electronics; mathematics, information and life sciences, among others.

Note: Contact Paul Montgomery (paul.montgomery@utk.edu), UTOR director of external relations, for help in identifying program contacts under this BAA.

Deadline: Open solicitation with no deadline requirements

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The Educational Foundation of America Grants Program

The Educational Foundation of America, established by one of the founders of Prentice-Hall educational publishers, offers project funding in any of seven areas: the arts, democracy, education, environment, health and human services, peace and security, and reproductive rights.

LIMITED SUBMISSION: The foundation limits proposals to one per year, but the definition of the proposing organization is not spelled out. Interested faculty should contact James Lloyd (jlloyd@utk.edu) to coordinate any submissions.

Deadline: Continuous

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Advancing Literacy

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is seeking proposals to encourage reading skills and increase the knowledge base for reading pedagogy serving adolescent literacy.

Deadline: Continuous submission

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News & Opportunities is published by the Office of Research at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.