Solicitation of White Papers
from researchers at any of the institutions of higher learning within the
Mississippi NASA EPSCoR Jurisdiction
issued by the
Mississippi NASA EPSCoR Office
in response to the
FY 2013 NASA EPSCoR Research Announcement/Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN)

The Mississippi jurisdiction may submit one proposal to the 2013 NASA EPSCoR program for three years of funding for a maximum of $250,000 per year, or $750,000 per award.  This announcement is to solicit a two-page “White Paper” from potential proposers at Mississippi universities.  One of these White Papers will be selected by the Mississippi Research Consortium (MRC) for development into a full proposal to this NASA program.

To be seriously considered for selection, white papers must demonstrate

• direct ties with, and responsiveness to the objectives of a NASA Center or Directorate,
• a collaboration among two or more Mississippi colleges or universities, and
• involvement of faculty/students from groups underrepresented/underserved in STEM

The most competitive white papers may also demonstrate partnerships or cooperative arrangements with one or more of the following:  other government agencies, business/industry, private research foundations, jurisdiction agencies, local agencies, and/or additional academic institutions.

All white paper submissions must be submitted to MS NASA EPSCoR Director Peter Sukanek (cmpcs@olemiss.edu) by 5 p.m. Monday, 3/4/2013. Dr. Sukanek will conduct the first-stage review to assess the white paper’s responsiveness to the CAN/solicitation. The white papers, along with the first stage review assessments, will then be provided to the MRC, who will judge and select the best paper for development into a full proposal for submission to NASA. Director Sukanek will serve as the Principal Investigator (PI) on the full proposal, providing “leadership and direction for the team from an oversight role”.  The investigator in charge of the scientific direction of the proposed work should be listed as the Science-PI. (Are the last two sentences needed at this stage of the competition? Also, this info is repeated below on page 2)

NASA EPSCoR research priorities are defined by the Mission Directorates, the Office of the Chief Technologist, and NASA’s ten Centers. Short descriptions of these, and URL links to longer descriptions, and may be viewed in the Full NASA Solicitation (Solicitation #NNH13ZHA001C).

Evaluation Criteria: Intrinsic Merit; NASA Alignment and Partnerships; Management and Evaluation; and Budget Justification.

Format for White Papers: 2 pages or less, 11 or 12 point Arial or Calibri font, single-spaced, one-inch margins, PDF.  Smaller font ok for tables/illustrations but should be easy to read.

White Paper sections: Cover Info, Project Summary and Description, and Budget Summary Justification. All together, the three sections must not exceed two pages.  

Cover Info: should include Title, Lead Institution and Science PI, Other Participating Institutions and Co-Investigators (co-Is) and Collaborating Institutional PI’s, NASA Center partners or other partners, Mission Directorates and priorities addressed, and academic disciplines/departments.

Project Summary and Description: should include the objectives, relevance of those objectives to NASA priorities and NOA objectives, description of what is novel, description of anticipated impact, and short description of technical approach.

Budget Summary and Justification: should include sufficient details that your Chief Research Officer will be able to confirm that you are requesting appropriate, reasonable, and allowable funds, and that you or your institution can meet the 50% cost share requirement by allowable cash or allowable in-kind contributions. Include personnel and work effort.

More Information:

Full NASA Solicitation: From https://nspires.nasaprs.com, Click “Solicitations”, then “Open Solicitations”, then Solicitation #NNH13ZHA001C.

Anticipated Awards: 5 to 8 awards nationwide.

Cost Sharing: Required, at least 50% of the monies requested from NASA.

Notice of Intent (NOI) to Propose: Must be submitted by MS NASA EPSCoR Director Sukanek, once the winning White Paper is chosen, no later than 10:59 a.m. CST 3/18/2013.

Full Proposal: Must be submitted by MS NASA EPSCoR Director Sukanek through University of Mississippi to NASA, no later than 10:59 a.m. April 19.

Proposers should not include confidential information that they don’t want to be seen by CRO’s and their designated white paper reviewers at the four MRC institutions.

Currently Mississippi has three NASA EPSCoR grants: one involving UM, MSU and JPL on the topic of high velocity impacts of space debris; a second with MSU, JSU and Glenn, on the topic of advanced turbulent flow prediction for nextgen air transport; and third with UM and MSU on antennas and reflectarrays for space science missions.

For questions about this call for white papers, e-mail or call Peter Sukanek cmpcs@olemiss.edu or (662) 915-7024.

PDF Version of this announcement.