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NSF 05-565: MARGINS Program

Program Solicitation

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THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPLACED BY NSF 07-546

MARGINS Program

Program Solicitation
NSF 05-565
Replaces Document NSF 02-110

NSF Logo

National Science Foundation
Directorate for Geosciences
      Division of Ocean Sciences
      Division of Earth Sciences



Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

    August 1, annually

Summary Of Program Requirements

General Information

Program Title:

MARGINS Program

Synopsis of Program:

The MARGINS program was initiated by the scientific community and the National Science Foundation and has been designed to elevate our present largely descriptive and qualitative knowledge of continental margins to a level where theory, modeling and simulation, together with field observation and experiment, can yield a clearer understanding of the processes that control margin genesis and evolution. Although continental margins have been traditionally assigned to three distinct tectonic settings, i.e., convergent, divergent and translational, the approach used by the MARGINS program recognizes that a range of fundamental physical and chemical processes that form and deform the surface of the Earth operate at all margins. Tectonic setting may govern the specific expression of a particular process that may vary in different environments. However, a relatively small number of processes, i.e., lithospheric deformation, magmatism, other mass/energy fluxes, sedimentation, and fluid flow, are fundamental to the evolution of the margins. Study of these basic processes, wherever they are best expressed, provides a more logical line of inquiry for understanding the complex nature of continental margins.

This process-oriented approach to understanding the entire system of margin evolution requires broadly based interdisciplinary studies and a new class of major experiments. The MARGINS science plan, developed from a series of well attended workshops over the past decade, advocates concentration on several study areas (focus sites) targeted for intensive, multidisciplinary programs of research in which interaction between field experimentalists, numerical modelers and laboratory analysts would occur. MARGINS fosters the involvement of a broad cross-section of investigators in focused, multidisciplinary experiments at these focus sites, to achieve the objectives that could not be accomplished otherwise. Thus the MARGINS Program concentrates on four scientific initiatives at these focus sites - this list will be periodically reviewed and modified.

Rupturing Continental Lithosphere (RCL) – Gulf of California and Red Sea focus sites

Subduction Factory (SubFac) – Izu-Bonin-Marianas and Nicaragua-Coast Rica focus sites

Seismogenic Zone Experiment (SEIZE) – Nankai and Nicaragua-Costa Rica focus sites

Source-to-Sink (S2S) – Fly River/Gulf of Papua New Guinea and Waipaoa River New Zealand focus sites

Information and a science plan for the program detailing each initiative can be found on the MARGINS website at http://www.margins.wustl.edu/Home.html. The expected level of funding will be approximately $6.0 million per year for the foreseeable future.

Cognizant Program Officer(s):

  • Bilal U. Haq, Program Director and MARGINS Coordinator, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Ocean Sciences, 725 N, telephone: (703) 292-8581, fax: (703) 292-9085, email: bhaq@nsf.gov

  • David M. Fountain, Program Director, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Earth Sciences, 785 S, telephone: (703) 292-8552, fax: (703) 292-9025, email: dfountai@nsf.gov

  • Rodey Batiza, Program Director, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Ocean Sciences, 725 N, telephone: (703) 292-8581, fax: (703) 292-9085, email: rbatiza@nsf.gov

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

  • 47.050 --- Geosciences

Eligibility Information

  • Organization Limit: Proposals for postdoctoral fellowships must be submitted by a US academic institution.
  • PI Eligibility Limit: None Specified.
  • Limit on Number of Proposals: None Specified.

Award Information

  • Anticipated Type of Award: Standard or Continuing Grant
  • Estimated Number of Awards: 10
  • Anticipated Funding Amount: $6,000,000 pending the availability of funds

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions
  • Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: This solicitation contains information that deviates from the standard Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) proposal preparation guidelines. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.
B. Budgetary Information
  • Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required by NSF.
  • Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Not Applicable.
  • Other Budgetary Limitations: Not Applicable.
C. Due Dates
  • Full Proposal Deadline Date(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):
      August 1, annually

Proposal Review Information

  • Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information

  • Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply.
  • Reporting Requirements: Standard NSF reporting requirements apply.

I. Introduction

The MARGINS research program has been formulated to understand the complex interplay of processes that govern continental margin evolution globally. Mechanical, chemical, biological and fluid processes act in concert to govern the initiation, evolution and eventual destruction of continental margins, as well as the accumulation of resources in these regions. The MARGINS Program is jointly supported by the Divisions of Earth and Ocean Sciences of the Directorate for Geosciences.

II. Program Description

The National Science Foundation (NSF) invites proposals directed towards the program elements listed below in the special-focus section. NSF funding will be provided by the Divisions of Earth and Ocean Sciences.

Proposals submitted to the MARGINS Program should also include a statement addressing the relevance of the proposed study to the overall goals of the MARGINS initiatives and their relationship to stated special-focus experiments at identified focus sites. Proposals will be reviewed in accordance with established Foundation procedures and the criteria described in the GPG (https://www.nsf.gov/pubsys/ods/getpub.cfm?gpg). Competition for MARGINS funding will take place once a year and proposals will be evaluated by a joint Earth and Ocean Sciences panel. The proposal deadline is August 1 of each year for funding in the following fiscal year. Proposals can be submitted to any of the three programs named below, depending on their degree of relevance to marine or onshore work. In addition, proposals submitted for support from the Ocean Drilling Program should contain a section that addresses the potential of the proposed research to enhance the effectiveness or planning of proposed drilling activities. Questions regarding proposal preparation and deadlines should be directed to the program officers listed in this solicitation for the following programs: Marine Geology and Geophysics, Ocean Drilling, and Tectonics.

SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THE MARGINS PROGRAM

The MARGINS objectives were established in the context of three basic criteria: scientific merit, societal relevance, and feasibility. MARGINS investigations must be aimed toward a comprehensive understanding of the observable system properties, together with self-consistent theory, models or experiment that relates these properties to processes that govern the evolution of the system. MARGINS projects should also enhance an understanding of the key processes relevant to societal concerns. For example, understanding fluid flow is critical to effectively managing the world's energy and water resources; sedimentary successions are permanent recorders of past history and climate change; and understanding active tectonics provides the basis for earthquake and volcanic hazard assessment. The MARGINS objectives must be achievable with existing technological capabilities or reasonable increments beyond present capabilities, even though a new class of integrative and interdisciplinary experiments will clearly be needed. Finally, broader impacts such as societal relevance, contribution within the discipline, and education and outreach are also important elements of the MARGINS program.

SPECIAL FOCUS SITES (see also http://www.margins.wustl.edu/)

Subduction Factory Experiment (SubFac)

Subduction of oceanic plates causes earthquakes, tsunamis, and explosive volcanism, and also gives rise to ore deposits, geothermal energy, and the continental crust on which we live. The Subduction Factory Initiative focuses research on two contrasting subduction zones to address fundamental questions about forcing functions for magmatism and fluid flow, volatile cycles through convergent margins, and mass balance and growth of the continents. The MARGINS approach is to implement an interdisciplinary study of these problems, using the Izu-Bonin-Marianas and Costa Rica/Nicaragua subduction systems as focus sites, where optimum characteristics of volatile cycling and crustal growth occur, and where geological and geophysical measurements will constrain ongoing processes in real time.

Seismogenic Zone Experiment (SEIZE)

Subduction zones also generate the word's largest and most destructive earthquakes and tsunamis, and host much of the world's population. The Seismogenic Zone Experiment studies the shallow subduction plate interface that is locked and accumulates elastic strain, periodically released in large or great earthquakes. Questions focus on the controls on the distribution of seismic energy release, on the heterogeneities in the locking behavior of the interface, on the rate of propagation and slip rates of earthquakes, and on the nature of temporal changes in strain, fluid pressure and stress during the seismic cycle. This experiment represents an opportunity to address primary MARGINS objectives related to mechanics of seismic and aseismic faulting. A variety of linked objectives are being studied in both of the SEIZE focus sites, the Nankai Trough and the Costa Rica/Nicaragua subduction system. In concert with field data acquisition, investigators will conduct laboratory experiments and formulate testable quantitative models of how the seismogenic zone earthquake cycle works, including the complex interactions among various chemical and mechanical processes.

Source-to-Sink Experiment (S2S)

The Source-to-Sink initiative is providing a comprehensive study of linked, terrestrial and marine dispersal systems over the range of time scales for which sedimentary processes operate. Observational, laboratory and theoretical studies are being integrated to allow the modeling of entire, linked sedimentary systems as opposed to only their components. Questions center around the role of changing tectonics, climate and sea level as forcing functions in the production, transport and storage of sediments and solutes; processes that initiate erosion and sediment transfer, and their interactions; and the interplay of sedimentary processes and forcing functions in creating the stratigraphic record. Understanding, quantifying and predicting these interactions is a major objective of the Source-to-Sink initiative, which comprises interdisciplinary studies and fully integrated field, experimental and modeling studies to unravel the convolution of sediment flux, morphodynamics and stratigraphy. The various field programs will be based in Papua-New Guinea and New Zealand, the community-selected focus sites.

Rupturing Continental Lithosphere Experiment (RCL)

The initiation, evolution, and eventual destruction of continent-ocean margin involves the coupled interaction of mechanical, fluid, chemical, and biological processes. These processes result in the accumulation of most of the Earth's valuable resources and the focusing of the principle geologic hazards at margins, which are the locus of the greatest population density. The Rupturing Continental Lithosphere (and birth of an ocean) experiment is proceeding by focused investigations of the four-dimensional style, distribution, and depth partitioning of extension within continental lithosphere to determine the spatial and temporal variations in the rheology of the lithosphere, why rifts form where they do, and the forces required to sever continental lithosphere. Currently the two focus sites for the RCL initiative are the Gulf of California and central/northern Red Sea. The MARGINS program will concentrate on a variety of linked objectives dealing with elucidating the driving forces responsible for the initiation and development of extensional margins as thermo-mechanical systems.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

In addition to funding work in the special focus experiments, MARGINS will accept proposals for a Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. One or two of the ten total awards made each year may be postdoctoral fellowships. All fellowship awards must be held at US academic institutions but there is no citizenship requirement. Fellowship proposals will be in the form of a standard proposal, submitted for the MARGINS’ proposal deadline by the fellow and a research mentor at a US institution, together with supplementary documents of letters of recommendation. Details of the program and applications procedures are available on the MARGINS web site (http://www.margins.wustl.edu).

Workshop, Theoretical Institute and Rapid Response Proposals

The MARGINS Program will also support science synthesis and planning workshops and Theoretical and Experimental Institutes, to facilitate integration within and between the initiatives. In addition, proposals that require rapid response to events that create opportunities for the study of extant processes at MARGINS focus sites and are compatible with MARGINS science plans will also be accepted. Proposals for Small Grants Exploratory Research (SGERs) may be submitted at any time.

III. Eligibility Information

Postdoctoral fellowships must be submitted by US academic institutions. For all other proposals, the categories of proposers identified in the Grant Proposal Guide are eligible to submit proposals under this program solicitation.

IV. Award Information

Under this solicitation, the program expects to make approximately 10 standard or continuing awards for up to five years at an average award size of approximately $500,000. NSF anticipates having approximately $6 million in fiscal year 2006, and annually thereafter, pending the availability of funds.

V. Proposal Preparation And Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

Full Proposal Instructions:

Proposals submitted in response to this program announcement/solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF Website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

In addition to the GPG guidelines, proposals submitted to the MARGINS program should also include a statement addressing the relevance of the proposed study to overall goals of the MARGINS initiative and their relationship to identified special-focus experiments. Proposals submitted for support from the Ocean Drilling Program should contain a section that addresses the potential of the proposed research to enhance the effectiveness or planning of proposed drilling activities.

Data Management Requirements: Proposals must include a section outlining how the project will comply with the MARGINS data management policy (see MARGINS web page for copy of the policy at http://www.margins.wustl.edu).

Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation number (05-565) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the proposal Cover Sheet. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing.

B. Budgetary Information

Cost Sharing:

Cost sharing is not required by NSF in proposals submitted under this Program Solicitation.

C. Due Dates

Proposals must be submitted by the following date(s):

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

    August 1, annually

D. FastLane Requirements

Proposers are required to prepare and submit all proposals for this announcement/solicitation through the FastLane system. Detailed instructions for proposal preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program announcement/solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this announcement/solicitation.

Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide the required electronic certifications within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal. Proposers are no longer required to provide a paper copy of the signed Proposal Cover Sheet to NSF. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov

VI. Proposal Review Information

A. NSF Proposal Review Process

Reviews of proposals submitted to NSF are solicited from peers with expertise in the substantive area of the proposed research or education project. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. NSF invites the proposer to suggest, at the time of submission, the names of appropriate or inappropriate reviewers. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts with the proposer. Special efforts are made to recruit reviewers from non-academic institutions, minority-serving institutions, or adjacent disciplines to that principally addressed in the proposal.

The National Science Board approved revised criteria for evaluating proposals at its meeting on March 28, 1997 (NSB 97-72). All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two merit review criteria. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities.

On July 8, 2002, the NSF Director issued Important Notice 127, Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion. This Important Notice reinforces the importance of addressing both criteria in the preparation and review of all proposals submitted to NSF. NSF continues to strengthen its internal processes to ensure that both of the merit review criteria are addressed when making funding decisions.

In an effort to increase compliance with these requirements, the January 2002 issuance of the GPG incorporated revised proposal preparation guidelines relating to the development of the Project Summary and Project Description. Chapter II of the GPG specifies that Principal Investigators (PIs) must address both merit review criteria in separate statements within the one-page Project Summary. This chapter also reiterates that broader impacts resulting from the proposed project must be addressed in the Project Description and described as an integral part of the narrative.

Effective October 1, 2002, NSF will return without review proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the Project Summary. It is believed that these changes to NSF proposal preparation and processing guidelines will more clearly articulate the importance of broader impacts to NSF-funded projects.

The two National Science Board approved merit review criteria are listed below (see the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter III.A for further information). The criteria include considerations that help define them. These considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria, reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are relevant to the proposal being considered and for which he/she is qualified to make judgments.

    What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
    How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of the prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?
    What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
    How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?

NSF staff will give careful consideration to the following in making funding decisions:

    Integration of Research and Education
    One of the principal strategies in support of NSF's goals is to foster integration of research and education through the programs, projects, and activities it supports at academic and research institutions. These institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the diversity of learning perspectives.
    Integrating Diversity into NSF Programs, Projects, and Activities
    Broadening opportunities and enabling the participation of all citizens -- women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities -- is essential to the health and vitality of science and engineering. NSF is committed to this principle of diversity and deems it central to the programs, projects, and activities it considers and supports.
    Additional Review Criteria:

    Proposals submitted to the MARGINS program will also be evaluated for relevance of the proposed study to overall goals of the MARGINS initiative and their relationship to identified special-focus experiments.

B. Review Protocol and Associated Customer Service Standard

All proposals are carefully reviewed by at least three other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular field represented by the proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement/solicitation will be reviewed by Ad Hoc and/or panel review.

Reviewers will be asked to formulate a recommendation to either support or decline each proposal. The Program Officer assigned to manage the proposal's review will consider the advice of reviewers and will formulate a recommendation.

A summary rating and accompanying narrative will be completed and submitted by each reviewer. In all cases, reviews are treated as confidential documents. Verbatim copies of reviews, excluding the names of the reviewers, are sent to the Principal Investigator/Project Director by the Program Director. In addition, the proposer will receive an explanation of the decision to award or decline funding.

NSF is striving to be able to tell proposers whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months. The time interval begins on the closing date of an announcement/solicitation, or the date of proposal receipt, whichever is later. The interval ends when the Division Director accepts the Program Officer's recommendation.

In all cases, after programmatic approval has been obtained, the proposals recommended for funding will be forwarded to the Division of Grants and Agreements for review of business, financial, and policy implications and the processing and issuance of a grant or other agreement. Proposers are cautioned that only a Grants and Agreements Officer may make commitments, obligations or awards on behalf of NSF or authorize the expenditure of funds. No commitment on the part of NSF should be inferred from technical or budgetary discussions with a NSF Program Officer. A Principal Investigator or organization that makes financial or personnel commitments in the absence of a grant or cooperative agreement signed by the NSF Grants and Agreements Officer does so at their own risk.

VII. Award Administration Information

A. Notification of the Award

Notification of the award is made to the submitting organization by a Grants Officer in the Division of Grants and Agreements. Organizations whose proposals are declined will be advised as promptly as possible by the cognizant NSF Program Division administering the program. Verbatim copies of reviews, not including the identity of the reviewer, will be provided automatically to the Principal Investigator. (See section VI.A. for additional information on the review process.)

B. Award Conditions

An NSF award consists of: (1) the award letter, which includes any special provisions applicable to the award and any numbered amendments thereto; (2) the budget, which indicates the amounts, by categories of expense, on which NSF has based its support (or otherwise communicates any specific approvals or disapprovals of proposed expenditures); (3) the proposal referenced in the award letter; (4) the applicable award conditions, such as Grant General Conditions (NSF-GC-1); * or Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) Terms and Conditions * and (5) any announcement or other NSF issuance that may be incorporated by reference in the award letter. Cooperative agreement awards also are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Terms and Conditions (CA-1). Electronic mail notification is the preferred way to transmit NSF awards to organizations that have electronic mail capabilities and have requested such notification from the Division of Grants and Agreements.

*These documents may be accessed electronically on NSF's Website at https://www.nsf.gov/awards/managing/. Paper copies may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from pubs@nsf.gov.

More comprehensive information on NSF Award Conditions is contained in the NSF Grant Policy Manual (GPM) Chapter II, available electronically on the NSF Website at https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpm. The GPM is also for sale through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402. The telephone number at GPO for subscription information is (202) 512-1800. The GPM may be ordered through the GPO Website at http://www.gpo.gov.

C. Reporting Requirements

For all multi-year grants (including both standard and continuing grants), the PI must submit an annual project report to the cognizant Program Officer at least 90 days before the end of the current budget period.

Within 90 days after the expiration of an award, the PI also is required to submit a final project report. Failure to provide final technical reports delays NSF review and processing of pending proposals for the PI and all Co-PIs. PIs should examine the formats of the required reports in advance to assure availability of required data.

PIs are required to use NSF's electronic project reporting system, available through FastLane, for preparation and submission of annual and final project reports. This system permits electronic submission and updating of project reports, including information on project participants (individual and organizational), activities and findings, publications, and other specific products and contributions. PIs will not be required to re-enter information previously provided, either with a proposal or in earlier updates using the electronic system.

VIII. Contacts For Additional Information

General inquiries regarding this program should be made to:

  • Bilal U. Haq, Program Director and MARGINS Coordinator, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Ocean Sciences, 725 N, telephone: (703) 292-8581, fax: (703) 292-9085, email: bhaq@nsf.gov

  • David M. Fountain, Program Director, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Earth Sciences, 785 S, telephone: (703) 292-8552, fax: (703) 292-9025, email: dfountai@nsf.gov

  • Rodey Batiza, Program Director, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Ocean Sciences, 725 N, telephone: (703) 292-8581, fax: (703) 292-9085, email: rbatiza@nsf.gov

For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact:

  • Brian Midson, Assistant Program Director, Directorate for Geosciences, Division of Ocean Sciences, 725 N, telephone: (703) 292-8580, fax: (703) 292-9085, email: bmidson@nsf.gov

IX. Other Programs Of Interest

The NSF Guide to Programs is a compilation of funding for research and education in science, mathematics, and engineering. The NSF Guide to Programs is available electronically at https://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?gp. General descriptions of NSF programs, research areas, and eligibility information for proposal submission are provided in each chapter.

Many NSF programs offer announcements or solicitations concerning specific proposal requirements. To obtain additional information about these requirements, contact the appropriate NSF program offices. Any changes in NSF's fiscal year programs occurring after press time for the Guide to Programs will be announced in the NSF E-Bulletin, which is updated daily on the NSF Website at https://www.nsf.gov/home/ebulletin, and in individual program announcements/solicitations. Subscribers can also sign up for NSF's MyNSF News Service (https://www.nsf.gov/mynsf/) to be notified of new funding opportunities that become available.

About The National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds research and education in most fields of science and engineering. Awardees are wholly responsible for conducting their project activities and preparing the results for publication. Thus, the Foundation does not assume responsibility for such findings or their interpretation.

NSF welcomes proposals from all qualified scientists, engineers and educators. The Foundation strongly encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to compete fully in its programs. In accordance with Federal statutes, regulations and NSF policies, no person on grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin or disability shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial assistance from NSF, although some programs may have special requirements that limit eligibility.

Facilitation Awards for Scientists and Engineers with Disabilities (FASED) provide funding for special assistance or equipment to enable persons with disabilities (investigators and other staff, including student research assistants) to work on NSF-supported projects. See the GPG Chapter II, Section D.2 for instructions regarding preparation of these types of proposals.

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Privacy Act And Public Burden Statements

The information requested on proposal forms and project reports is solicited under the authority of the National Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended. The information on proposal forms will be used in connection with the selection of qualified proposals; project reports submitted by awardees will be used for program evaluation and reporting within the Executive Branch and to Congress. The information requested may be disclosed to qualified reviewers and staff assistants as part of the proposal review process; to applicant institutions/grantees to provide or obtain data regarding the proposal review process, award decisions, or the administration of awards; to government contractors, experts, volunteers and researchers and educators as necessary to complete assigned work; to other government agencies needing information as part of the review process or in order to coordinate programs; and to another Federal agency, court or party in a court or Federal administrative proceeding if the government is a party. Information about Principal Investigators may be added to the Reviewer file and used to select potential candidates to serve as peer reviewers or advisory committee members. See Systems of Records, NSF-50, "Principal Investigator/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 267 (January 5, 1998), and NSF-51, "Reviewer/Proposal File and Associated Records," 63 Federal Register 268 (January 5, 1998). Submission of the information is voluntary. Failure to provide full and complete information, however, may reduce the possibility of receiving an award.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to an information collection unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 3145-0058. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions. Send comments regarding this burden estimate and any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Suzanne Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, Division of Administrative Services, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230.

OMB control number: 3145-0058.

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