NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) (R25) 2019

Solicitation of UM Pre-Proposals for Limited Submission Opportunity
NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)(R25)

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number: PAR-17-339
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-17-339.html

Institutional Limitations: Only one application per institution is allowed. Institutions are also limited to a single SEPA award. UM does not currently have an SEPA award. Organizations with a contractual fee for service or consortium partnership with an active SEPA award may submit a SEPA application if the proposed new project is independent of the existing SEPA contractual, fee for service or consortium partnership.

Purpose: The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation's biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages the development of innovative educational activities for pre-kindergarten to grade 12 (P-12), pre-service and in-service teachers (Teachers) and students from underserved communities with a focus on Courses for Skills Development, Research Experiences, Mentoring Activities, Curriculum or Methods Development and Outreach.

Information on current SEPA projects can be found at: https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/crcb/sepa/Pages/default.aspx and http://nihsepa.org. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with the SEPA Scientific/Research Contact to be advised on the appropriateness of the intended P-12 STEM or ISE project for SEPA program objectives and the priorities of the NIGMS.

PI Limitations: Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to develop an application for support. The PD/PI should be an established investigator in the scientific area in which the application is targeted and capable of providing both administrative and scientific leadership to the development and implementation of the proposed program.

Budget: Direct costs are limited to $250,000 annually for a five-year project. Direct costs may include personnel costs (salary and fringes for person months devoted to program); consultant costs; equipment; supplies; travel for key persons; and other justifiable program-related expenses. A minimum of 10% of the direct costs must be devoted to project evaluation. Indirect Costs are reimbursed at 8% of modified total direct costs (exclusive of tuition and fees and equipment expenditures).

Cost Sharing: Not required.

UM Limited Submission Selection Process: To be considered as UM’s one proposal, prospective applicants should submit an internal Pre-Proposals to ORSP. ORSP will coordinate the selection of the winning pre-proposal, whose PD/PI will then be invited to develop a full proposal to NIH. Pre-proposals should be submitted via the Ole Miss InfoReady Review portal at https://olemiss.infoready4.com, by the date given below.

ORSP will convene a team of reviewers, potentially including internal faculty, researchers, and/or administrators, and/or non-conflicted external consultants, to score and provide comments on the internal pre-preproposals received. Based on these scores and recommendations, the winning internal proposal will be selected by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, and the selection announced no later than the middle of April.

In addition to the standard pre-award services offered for all UM proposals, the internally chosen PD/PI/team will be offered a choice of review services, ranging from a no-charge ORSP enhanced proposal review, to a set of ORSP-mediated external non-technical and technical review services at a cost of no more than $6,000 to the proposing investigator/unit. These enhanced reviews are subject to having draft (if rough) narratives complete by 6/1/19.

Internal Pre-Proposal Review Criteria. To the best of our ability, we will evaluate internal pre-proposals based on the scored review criteria listed in the PAR: Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment, and select for further development and submission the proposed project we judge will have the best chance for funding by NIH.

Key Dates

02/21/2019      ORSP Request for Notices of Intent issued in UM Today
03/06/2019      This announcement w/competition Instructions issued via UM Today
03/19/2019      ORSP Info Session, 4-5pm, Brevard 209. Sign up in myOleMiss Training Workshops app[1].
04/01/2019      Internal Pre-Proposals due to ORSP via InfoReady Review Portal.[2]
04/15/2019      ORSP announces which UM Pre-Proposals to move forward
06/01/2019      First draft of narrative due to ORSP if requesting enhanced review
06/10/2019      Optional, non-binding Letter of Intent due to NIH
06/27/2019      Transmittal due to ORSP for review & routing
07/09/2019      Full proposal due to NIH

Instructions for UM Internal Pre-Proposal

Pre-Proposals must include the following components, combined into one PDF for upload to the InfoReady Review Portal.

Project Narrative: Three sentences on the relevance of the project to public health, in plain, easy-to-understand language.
Specific Aims: One page.
Abbreviated Research Education Program Plan: 5 pages briefly addressing each of the following: Proposed Research Education Program, Program Director, Program Faculty, Program Participants, Institutional Environment and Commitment, Diversity Recruitment Plan, Plan for Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research, Evaluation Plan, and Dissemination Plan. Given the limited space provided in the pre-proposal, you are not expected to have each of these sections and plans fully fleshed out, but you should provide enough information to convince institutional reviewers that, if selected, you understand the requirements for, and will be able to produce a compelling Research Education Program Plan that fully and adequately addresses, each of these components.
Preliminary Letter(s) of Support from Chair and Dean of PI/PD. This does not have to be the final, complete letter that would be submitted with the proposal to NIH, but should make it clear to UM internal reviewers that the PD has the full support of their supervisors to lead this proposed project, if selected.
NIH-Style Biographical Sketch of PI/PD Should be compliant and largely complete.
Signatures Page(s) Signatures of any named co-investigators or named faculty at UM or any collaborating institutions mentioned in the proposal. These can be on separate pages or all one the same page or some combination. The signed page(s) should affirm that the signatories are aware of this pre-proposal, and intend to collaborate on the full proposal if this ideas/pre-proposal is selected to move forward as UM’s sole proposal. NOTE: You can always add additional faculty/personnel later if internally selected.

The University of Mississippi

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