NSF MRI seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments.

ORSP will conduct a review process to select up to 3 pre-proposals for advancement into full proposals to NSF. Internal Notice of Intent is required and due to ORSP on November 20, 2017. Internal Pre-proposals are due to ORSP on December 13, 2017.

Key Dates (2017-18):
November 6:    Original date of this announcement
November 7:    Announcement Updated to reflect new solicitation
November 20:  Required, Non-Binding Internal Notice of Intent due via online InfoReady Review Portal: http://olemiss.infoready4.com/ 

December 8:   NSF MRI ORSP Information Session, 2-3 pm. Sign up here: http://www.research.olemiss.edu/upcoming-presentations

December 13:  Internal pre-proposals due via online InfoReady Review Portall: http://olemiss.infoready4.com/ 


December 18:  ORSP will announce which pre-proposals
to move forward.           
December 20:  Last Day before Winter Break
January 2:        University reopens
January 29:      All full proposal documents (including transmittal) tue to ORSP
February 5:      Full proposal deadline to NSF

Funding:          $100K – $4M for project periods of up to 3 years (acquisitions) or 5 years (development). Proposals of less than $100K are OK for mathematics, or social, behavioral, and economic sciences. For acquisitions: at least 70% of total project cost must fall under the Equipment category; grant funds may only be spent on equipment.

Cost Sharing:   Required at a level of (precisely) 30% of the total cost of the project (which translates to 42.86% of the requested amount).


Limitations:     UM may submit up to 3 proposals--two in the $100K to $1M range, and one in the $1M to $4M range.

Internal Notice of Intent Format:  Downloadable here.        

Internal Pre-Proposal Format: Downloadable here. Includes: Cover sheet (1 page); Project Summary (1 page); Abbreviated Project Description (3-7 pages); Budget and Justification (1 page); and Results from Previous NSF MRI Submission, if applicable (1 page).

The full NSF solicitation can be viewed at https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?org=NSF&ods_key=nsf18513.

The January 2018 release of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide apply for the NSF competition: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf18001. 

Recent UM History with NSF MRI

For 2017’s competition, ORSP received 2 acquisition pre-proposals and zero development pre-proposals. Of these, 2 acquisition pre-proposals were selected and developed into full proposals to NSF, resulting in one award.

The most recent NSF MRI awards to UM:

• 2017. Federal Award No 1726880, “MRI: Acquisition of a Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope to support multidisciplinary research and education at the University of Mississippi”, PI: Jit Majumdar; Co-PIs: Jennifer Gifford, Amal Dass, Brenda Prager, Vijay Raman. $346,641.00
• 2016. Federal Award No 1625813, “MRI:  Acquisition of a Goniometer-Based Light Scattering System for Research and Training at the University of Mississippi”, PI: Adam Smith; Co-PIs: Seongbong Jo, Susan Pedigo, Esteban Urena-Benavides. $110,314.
• 2015. Federal Award No 1532079, “MRI: Acquisition of a Raman Spectrometer for Research and Training at the University of Mississippi”, PI: Nathan Hammer; Co-PI: Charles Hussey. $201,666.
• 2013. Award No CHE-1338056, “MRI:  Acquisition of a GPU Cluster for Computational Science in Mississippi,” PI: Greg Tschumper; Co-PIs: Brian Hopkins, and Robert Doerksen.
• 2011. Award No DBI-1126379, “MRI: Acquisition of an Imaging Flow Cytometer for Multidisciplinary Organic and Inorganic Particle Research and Education,” PI: Cliff Ochs; Co-PIs: Richard Buchholz, Tamar Goulet; Jason Hoeksema.
• 2009. Award No CBET-0923080, “MRI: Acquisition of a High Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer for the Mid-South Region,” PI: Jim Czizdiel; Co-PIs: Wei-Yin Chen, Gregg Davidson, Marge Holland, Cliff Ochs.