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Home > Research > Research Updates > 2009 05 11

Weekly Research News Bulletin

Week of 5/11/09

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

NIH News – May 11, 2009

Notices:

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Environment, Society and the Economy: ESE Answers to Frequently Asked Questions http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09046/nsf09046.jsp?govDel=USNSF_25

NSF Releases Major Research Instrumentation Solicitation ($200 Million Available from Stimulus Funding) (Provided by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC)

The long-awaited solicitation for the special Major Research Instrumentation competition to be supported with stimulus funding was released Monday, May 11th by the National Science Foundation (NSF). (The solicitation for the stimulus-supported facilities modernization program was also released.)

  • Limits on Proposals: An institution may submit at most three proposals (two for instrument acquisition and one for instrument development). Proposals that wholly or substantially duplicate those being reviewed under the previous MRI competition (to which proposals were due in January) may not be submitted.
  • Funding, Award Size, and Number of Awards: A total of approximately $200 million is being made available for this program. Of this funding, $40 million will go to awards over $2 million. For this competition only, the maximum award size has been raised to $6 million (from $4 million in the regular MRI competition).
  • Cost-Sharing: For this competition only, cost-sharing may be waived for institutions not on the list of the top 100 of institutions receiving Federal research and development funding: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf09313/ . UH does not appear to be on this list and hence may seek a waiver from the cost-sharing requirement.
  • Cyberinfrastructure and Supercomputing: As part of MRI's ongoing support of cyberinfrastructure acquisition and development, the solicitation explicitly highlights the acquisition and development of instrumentation that contributes to advancements in supercomputing technology. This is for this competition only and is a result of Congressional direction.
  • Special Conditions: Since this program is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, special terms and conditions for reporting on project progress, spend rate, and jobs created and retained will be required.
  • Due Dates: Full proposals will be due August 10, 2009.

More details on the Major Research Instrumentation-Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2) program are below.

Program Name: Major Research Instrumentation-Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2)

Program Web Site: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5260

Purpose of the Program: The MRI-R2 program assists in the acquisition or development of major research instrumentation that is, in general, too costly or not appropriate for support through other NSF programs. Proposals to the MRI-R2 program should conform to one or more of its goals:

  • Supporting the acquisition of major state-of-the-art instrumentation, thereby improving access to, and increased use of, modern research and research training instrumentation by scientists, engineers, and graduate and undergraduate students;
  • Fostering the development of the next generation of instrumentation, resulting in new instruments that are more widely used, and/or open up new areas of research and research training;
  • Enabling academic departments, disciplinary and cross-disciplinary units, and multi-organization collaborations to create well-equipped research environments that integrate research with education;
  • Supporting the acquisition and development of instrumentation that contributes to advancements in supercomputing technology, and/or takes advantage of existing investments in cyberinfrastructure while avoiding duplication of services already provisioned by NSF investments. The NSF document, "Cyberinfrastructure Vision for the 21st Century" (http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5260) provides an evolving vision that will help guide the Foundation's future investments in cyberinfrastructure;
  • Promoting substantive and meaningful partnerships for instrument development between the academic and private sectors (i.e., small businesses). Such partnerships have the potential to build capacity for instrument development in academic settings and to create new products with wide scientific and commercial impact. Partnerships with applicability to the Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) program are encouraged. <.li>

Proposals for instrumentation will be considered for all NSF-supported fields of science, mathematics, and engineering. Researchers using this instrumentation need not be supported by NSF or the Federal government.

What MRI Will Not Support: The MRI-R2 program will NOT support proposal requests for: general purpose equipment (including general purpose computers or assorted instruments that do not share a common or specific research or research training focus); instrumentation used primarily for science and engineering education courses; or renovation or modernization of research facilities, supporting equipment, and general purpose platforms.

The program will not provide support for instrumentation to be used in medical education (such as medical school courses). Instrumentation intended for research with disease-related goals and related research on animal models and drug testing and development is not eligible for support. However, instrumentation for bioengineering research, with diagnosis- or treatment-related goals that applies engineering principles to problems in biology and medicine, while also advancing engineering knowledge, is eligible for support. Instrumentation for bioinformatics and bioengineering research to aid persons with disabilities also is eligible.

Funding, Award Size, and Number of Awards: A total of approximately $200 million is available for this program. Of this funding, $40 million will go to awards over $2 million. For this competition only, the maximum award size has been raised to $6 million (from $4 million in the regular MRI competition). The vast majority of awards will be under $2 million, with a total of 400 awards expected from this competition. Awards may be from 3 to 5 years in duration.

Cost-Sharing Waiver: For this competition only, cost-sharing may be waived for institutions not on the list of the top 100 of institutions receiving Federal research and development funding: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf09313/ . UH does not appear to be on this list and hence may seek a waiver from the cost-sharing. The waiver must include a certification from the President or Provost stating that the project will 1) make a substantial improvement in the institution's capabilities to conduct leading-edge research; 2) provide research experiences for undergraduate students using leading-edge facilities; and 3) broaden the participation in science and engineering research by women, underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities.

Proposal Limits: An organization may submit at most three proposals (two for instrument acquisition and one for instrument development). An unfunded collaboration does not count against the submission limit, nor does a proposal in which an organization is a funded subawardee at less than 20 percent of the proposal's budget.

Resubmission Not Allowed: Proposals that wholly or substantially duplicate those currently being reviewed under the previous MRI competition (to which proposals were due in January 2009) may not be submitted to this competition.

Due Dates: Full proposals will be due August 10, 2009.

Special Reporting Requirements: Since this program is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, special terms and conditions for reporting on project progress, spend rate, and jobs created and retained will be required (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/arra/arratc_509.pdf).

*Please Note: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI-R") Recovery and Reinvestment is a limited submission program. Abstracts should be submitted to the Dean, Chair and DOR by the internal due date of June 1, 2009. VP/Deans consideration period will be June 2 - 8, 2009. Notification will be sent to all candidates on June 9, 2009.

*Please Note: The Academic Research Infrastructure Program: Recovery and Reinvestment (ARI-R") is a limited submission program. Abstracts should be submitted to the Dean, Chair and DOR by the internal due date of May 21, 2009. VP/Deans consideration period will be May 22 - 28, 2009. Notification will be sent to all candidates on May 29, 2009.

United States Department of Energy (DOE)

Department of Energy Funding Opportunity for Advanced Biofuels R&D and Commercial-Scale Demonstrations (Provided by Lewis-Burke Associates LLC)

On May 5, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the Administration's plan to allocate nearly $800 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (economic stimulus bill) specifically to accelerate the development of biofuels. The Department of Energy (DOE) initiative will tap universities, industry, non-profit organizations, and the DOE national laboratories to address the key technical challenges of developing third-generation biofuels such as green gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels.

Slightly more than half of the funding - $480 million - will be provided for Integrated pilot- and demonstration-scale biorefineries. The full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is published on FedConnect.gov. The due date for applications is June 30, 2009.

DOE will allocate $176.5 million to commercial-scale biorefinery projects already selected for support by DOE. These funds will be used to increase the federal funding ceiling on two or more demonstration- or commercial-scale biorefinery projects that were selected and awarded over the past two years.

DOE has also issued notice of upcoming FOAs for two research initiatives -- $110 million for fundamental research in key areas, including the development of algal biofuels through consortiums, and $20 million for ethanol research. DOE anticipates issuing the FOAs this summer. DOE encourages potential applicants to develop partnerships and gather the necessary data for their future applications.

Additional details on these DOE funding opportunities follow.

Integrated pilot- and demonstration-scale biorefineries -- $480 million is being offered for projects that will work to validate integrated biorefinery technologies that produce advanced biofuels, bioproducts, and heat and power in an integrated system. Applications are due by June 30, 2009.

DOE anticipates making 10 to 20 awards to projects at various scales and designs that would need to be operational in three years. The DOE funding ceiling is $25 million for pilot-scale projects and $50 million for demonstration-scale projects. Cost-sharing is required with 20 percent non-federal funding for pilot-scale projects, and 50 percent non-federal funding for demonstration-scale projects. The goal of these projects is to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels and chemicals for transportation and to facilitate development of a U.S. advanced biofuels industry to help meet Renewable Fuel Standards.

A synopsis of the FOA can be found at: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=vkTmKJ1SzGWjn1nVTq1qlfSnnQTv6qWpJJnG5VMZfwznZPhQBNJL!-1908586553?oppId=47227&flag2006=false&mode=VIEW. Directions to access the full FOA through FedConnect are included in the synopsis of the FOA.

Fundamental Research - DOE has issued a notice of a future FOA and plans to award $110 million to support fundamental research in key biomass program areas to advance the development of biofuels. These key areas include developing new and effective catalysts, fuel-producing microbes, and feedstocks. DOE indicates that it will not be seeking to construct new facilities but to leverage existing capabilities and resources.

The funding will be allocated to:

  • Expand sustainability research through DOE's Bioenergy Research Centers and establish a user-facility/small-scale integrated pilot plant ($25 million).
  • Create an advanced research consortium to develop technologies and expedite development of infrastructure-compatible biofuels. $35 million will be directed to a competitive solicitation to create this consortium.
  • Create an algal biofuels consortium to accelerate demonstration of algal biofuels. $50 million will be directed to a competitive solicitation in this area.

There are two Topic Areas for the Fundamental Research FOA:

Topic Area 1: Algal Biofuels R&D - the primary focus of this topic area will be to develop cost-effective algae-based biofuels that are cost competitive with petroleum products. This initiative will address five key barriers identified in DOE's National Algal Biofuels Roadmap (which is being prepared for release this summer following a workshop held last December):

Feedstock supply - strain development and cultivation;

Feedstock logistics - harvesting and extraction;

Conversion/production - intermediate and synthesis of fuels and co-products;

Infrastructure - fuel testing and standardization; and

Sustainable practices - life-cycle and economic analyses, siting, and resources management.

Topic Area 2: Advanced Fungible Biofuels - DOE is seeking proposals to develop technology pathways leading to cost-effective conversion of biomass to advanced biofuels with an interest in bio-based hydrocarbon fuels such as green gasoline and diesel and the infrastructure to utilize them. Areas of research can include:

Chemical conversion of cellulosic sugars;

Selective thermal processing technologies;

Utilization of petroleum refining technology for conversion of biocrude;

Catalyst specificity and lifetime;

Engineering designs;

Biomass processing catalyst development; and

Biomass-to-liquids (fuels) catalyst development.

DOE is seeking partnerships for these fundamental research challenges to bring multi-disciplinary teams of experts to help accelerate the development of advanced biofuels. Cost-sharing will be required to leverage the public funding.

Ethanol Research -- $20 million will be provided to further advance the use of ethanol blends. The funding will be focused on:

  • Optimizing flex-fuel vehicles operating on high octane E-85 fuel (85 percent ethanol);
  • Evaluating the impact of higher ethanol blends in conventional vehicles; and
  • Upgrading existing refueling infrastructure to be compatible with higher ethanol blend fuels.

When announced this summer, DOE will expect proposals to be submitted within 60 days.

There are two topic areas of interest for Ethanol Research:

Topic Area 1: Refueling Infrastructure for Ethanol Blends - DOE is seeking cost-shared projects to expand the infrastructure and retail fueling locations to accommodate ethanol blends. These projects can include modifications, upgrades or expansions of existing infrastructure at retail stations, or the installation of new equipment to accommodate blends of ethanol.

Topic Area 2: Education and Outreach for Ethanol Blends - DOE is seeking projects to increase public awareness of the benefits, safety and use requirements of ethanol blends. DOE will expect detailed plans and metrics to measure the effectiveness of the education campaign.

Please note that for all programs/projects funded with Recovery Act funding, there are reporting requirements for transparency of the funding process and to estimate the economic (jobs) impact of the stimulus funding.