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/ Space Grant Director
in anticipation of the
FY 2015 NASA EPSCoR Research Announcement/Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN)

The Mississippi jurisdiction may submit one proposal to the 2015 NASA EPSCoR program for three years of funding for a maximum $750,000 per award (roughly $250K/year).  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 EPSCoR 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
• 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:

• other government agencies
• business/industry
• private research foundations
• jurisdiction agencies
• local agencies
• additional academic institutions

All white paper submissions must be submitted to the office of the MS Space Grant Consortium (MSSGC, nmurray@olemiss.edu) by 5 p.m. Monday, 12/15/2014. The MSSGC office 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. The MSSGC Director 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.

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 last year’s Full NASA Solicitation.

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, 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:

Last year’s full NASA Solicitation can be accessed at https://nspires.nasaprs.com, Click “Solicitations”, then “Open Solicitations”, then Solicitation #NNH13ZHA001C.

Cost Sharing: Required, at least 50% of the monies requested from NASA. In-kind is ok.

Notice of Intent (NOI) to Propose: Must be submitted by MS NASA EPSCoR Director.

Full Proposal: Must be submitted by MS NASA EPSCoR Director through UM to NASA.

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.

Mississippi has had three recent NASA EPSCoR CAN awards:

EPSCoR 2014/NNX14AN38A:  $750K

UM/Dr. Lei Cao in with collaboration with JSU and JPL:  “A New Paradigm for Efficient Space Communications:  Rateless Coding with Unequal Error Control and Data Fusion.”

EPSCoR 2013/NNX09AP18A:  $750K

UM/Dr. A. Al-Ostaz in collaboration with JSU, NASA Centers Marshall, Johnson, Langley and Glenn: “Hyper Velocity Resistant Nano Materials in Space Applications.”

EPSCoR 2010/NNX10AN06A:  $750K

MSU/Dr. Keith Walters in collaboration with JSU/ Dr.  Shahrouz Aliabadi and NASA/Glenn Research Center:  “Development of Advanced Turbulent Flow Prediction Methods for the Next/Gen Transport.”

For questions about this call for white papers, e-mail nmurray@olemiss.edu or call Nathan Murray at 662-915-3190.