NSF 05-604: Cooperative Activities in Chemistry Between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)
Program Solicitation
Document Information
Document History
- Posted: August 3, 2005
- Replaced by: NSF 07-517
This document has been archived.
Cooperative Activities in Chemistry Between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)
Program Solicitation
NSF
05-604
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National Science Foundation |
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Submission Window:
July 25, 2005 - January 13, 2006
Summary Of Program Requirements
General Information
Program Title:
Cooperative Activities in Chemistry Between U.S. and German Investigators (NSF-DFG)
Synopsis of Program:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), which are counterpart national funding organizations in the U.S. and Germany, respectively, seek to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities in chemistry between U.S. and German investigators. The NSF and DFG will accept collaborative research proposals that establish new partnerships between principal investigators from the U.S. and Germany. Projects must have clear relevance to areas supported by both NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry. There are no new funds available for support of these projects. They will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry. The NSF and DFG will utilize a common set of reviewers and make joint funding decisions. The use of cyberinfrastructure is strongly encouraged.
Cognizant Program Officer(s):
Janice M. Hicks, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4956, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: jhicks@nsf.gov
Jennifer Slimowitz, Associate Program Manager, Office of the Director, Office of International Science and Engineering, 935 N, telephone: (703) 292-4492, email: jslimowi@nsf.gov
Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, Kennedyallee 40, D53175, Bonn, Germany telephone: +49 228/885-2818, email: georg.bechtold@dfg.de
Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, Kennedyallee 40, D-53175, Bonn, Germany telephone: +49 228/885-2318, email: karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de
Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):
- 47.079 --- International Science and Engineering (OISE)
- 47.049 --- Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Eligibility Information
- Organization Limit: Proposals may only be submitted by U.S. academic institutions (for the U.S. part of the proposal) and German academic institutions (for the German part of the proposal).
- PI Eligibility Limit: Proposals must establish new partnerships between U.S.and German Principal Investigators who have not previously collaborated.
- Limit on Number of Proposals: None Specified.
Award Information
- Anticipated Type of Award: Standard or Continuing Grant
- Estimated Number of Awards: Not Specified.
- Anticipated Funding Amount: There are no separate funds available for support of these projects; they will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the DFG and NSF, respectively.
Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions
A. Proposal Preparation Instructions
- Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: Standard GPG Guidelines apply.
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
- Submission Window:
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July 25,
2005
- January 13, 2006
Proposal Review Information
- Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria apply.
Award Administration Information
- Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply.
- Reporting Requirements: Standard NSF reporting requirements apply.
I. Introduction
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), which are counterpart national funding organizations in the U.S. and Germany, respectively, seek to enhance opportunities for collaborative activities in chemistry between U.S. and German investigators.
The NSF and DFG will accept collaborative research proposals that establish new partnerships between researchers from the U.S. and Germany, i.e., Principal Investigators (PIs) from the US and Germany who have not previously collaborated. Projects must have clear relevance to areas supported by both NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry (see https://www.nsf.gov/chem and http://www.dfg.de/en/dfg_profile/structure/head_office/department_ii/chemie_-_verfahrenstechnik/index.html).
Both the NSF and the DFG encourage the use of cyberinfrastructure, which can enable our communities to address scientific problems of unprecedented complexity; leverage resources by facilitating the sharing of instrumentation, data, and expertise; and broaden participation. (The NSF Division of Chemistry has established a website to describe cyber-enabled chemistry, www.nsf.gov/chem/cyber.)
II. Program Description
Some additional details of this cooperative activity are as follows:
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The NSF will support the U.S. part of the collaboration and the DFG will support the costs associated with German participation.
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Proposals must establish new partnerships between U.S. and German Principal Investigators who have not previously collaborated.
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There are no separate funds available for support of these projects; they will compete with unsolicited proposals received by the NSF and DFG Divisions of Chemistry.
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The German and U.S. investigators submitting collaborative proposals must be eligible to apply for support from the DFG and NSF, respectively.
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Proposals to this cooperative activity comprise two parts submitted as a single proposal: the part from the U.S. partner is submitted in the usual manner to FastLane, and the part from the German partner is submitted as a supplementary document to the FastLane proposal. The NSF part of the proposal is to be prepared in accordance with standard NSF proposal preparation and submission guidelines (see below for additional information).
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The proposal part of the German partner shall be written in English in accordance with the DFG guidelines (http://www.dfg.de/english/index.html.) The German PI should notify the DFG by email that a collaborative proposal has been submitted to NSF. Contact Dr. -Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering at: georg.bechtold@dfg.de
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The proposals shall include a specific summary of the proposed interaction, including visits between the U.S. and German partners, and the anticipated scientific benefits of the interaction. This summary should also be part of the supplementary document describing the German part of the collaboration.
Although the reviewers will assess both parts of the proposal, the review criteria of the U.S. and German part differ slightly (see below for the NSF part and http://www.dfg.de/forschungsfoerderung/formulare/download/10_20e.pdf for DFG). In addition, for both parts of the proposal, the value added by the proposed international collaboration will be assessed. Preference will be given to proposals where the efforts on the U.S. and German sides are balanced and complementary. For U.S. PIs, the extent to which the proposal integrates research and education and broadens participation of under-represented groups will be considered, as well.
Representatives from NSF's Division of Chemistry in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and the Office of International Science and Engineering will manage the review of proposals on the U.S. side. The DFG will manage the review of proposals on the German side. Both sides will utilize a common set of reviewers and make joint funding decisions. The NSF and DFG will coordinate support for successful proposals.
Proposals must be submitted via FastLane in accordance with the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) as a single proposal from the U.S. institution. As noted above, the German part of the proposal must be written according to DFG standards and included as a supplementary document in the FastLane proposal.
After joint consideration of the proposals, NSF and DFG will, whenever possible, tell the proposers whether their proposals have been declined or recommended for funding within six months of the submission date.
Information for the German partner may be obtained from the DFG:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, http://www.dfg.de/english/index.html
Kennedyallee 40, D-53175 Bonn, Germany
Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, Phone: +49 228/885-2818, georg.bechtold@dfg.de
Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, Phone: +49 228/885-2318, karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de
German proposers should refer to the DFG announcement at: (http://www.dfg.de/info_wissenschaftler/nw
/aktuelles/2005/download/dfg_nsf_voraussetzungen_dfg.pdf).
Information for the U.S. partner may be obtained from the NSF:
National Science Foundation, https://www.nsf.gov
4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230
NSF Division of Chemistry, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences:
Dr. Janice Hicks, Program Director, Division of Chemistry (703) 292-4956, jhicks@nsf.gov
NSF Office of International Science and Engineering:
Dr. Jennifer Slimowitz, Associate Program Manager for Europe and Eurasia Program, (703) 292-4492, jslimowi@nsf.gov
III. Eligibility Information
IV. Award Information
Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to 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.
Proposers are reminded to identify the program announcement/solicitation number (05-604) in the program announcement/solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. 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):
Submission Window Date(s):
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July 25,
2005
- January 13, 2006
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
Note: Section VI only refers to the NSF portion of the proposal.
Information for the DFG portion can be found at http://www.dfg.de/info_wissenschaftler/nw/aktuelles/
2005/download/dfg_nsf_voraussetzungen_dfg.pdf
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.
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?
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:
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.
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.
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 are administered in accordance with NSF Cooperative Agreement Financial and Administrative Terms and Conditions (CA-FATC). 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 of these documents 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:
Janice M. Hicks, Program Director, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4956, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: jhicks@nsf.gov
Jennifer Slimowitz, Associate Program Manager, Office of the Director, Office of International Science and Engineering, 935 N, telephone: (703) 292-4492, email: jslimowi@nsf.gov
Dr.-Ing. Georg Bechtold, Program Director, Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, Kennedyallee 40, D53175, Bonn, Germany telephone: +49 228/885-2818, email: georg.bechtold@dfg.de
Dr. Karlheinz Schmidt, Head of Division of Chemistry and Process Engineering, DFG, Kennedyallee 40, D-53175, Bonn, Germany telephone: +49 228/885-2318, email: karlheinz.schmidt@dfg.de
For questions related to the use of FastLane, contact:
Paul G. Spyropoulos, Computer Specialist, Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Division of Chemistry, 1055 S, telephone: (703) 292-4968, fax: (703) 292-9037, email: pspyropo@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.
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.
