Sharma, Vishal: Hi everyone.
Sharma, Vishal: Welcome to our smart and connected communities webinar.
Sharma, Vishal: We'll get started in about a minute.
Sharma, Vishal: We'll just give folks some extra time to.
Sharma, Vishal: Sign in.
Sharma, Vishal: OK. In the interest of time, we'll go ahead and get started.
Sharma, Vishal: So thanks everyone for joining us today.
Sharma, Vishal: Today we'll be talking to you about our new solicitation for
Sharma, Vishal: the smart and Connected Communities program. We'll be
Sharma, Vishal: going over just some basic information about the program
Sharma, Vishal: itself, its main goals and where it sits within. NSF will do an
Sharma, Vishal: overview of the changes that have happened to the.
Sharma, Vishal: Program.
Sharma, Vishal: From invest solicitation compared to previous versions
Sharma, Vishal: and we'll give you just a general overview of the proposal
Sharma, Vishal: types that we are accepting.
Sharma, Vishal: And other guidance related to submitting SNCC proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: There will also be time for Q&A at the end of this
Sharma, Vishal: webinar and for Q&A.
Sharma, Vishal: Please leave your questions in the chat.
Sharma, Vishal: And we will answer them at the end of our presentation.
Sharma, Vishal: So with that being said.
Sharma, Vishal: We'll go ahead and get started.
Sharma, Vishal: So just a quick overview of the SNCC program.
Sharma, Vishal: So the goal for the SNCC program is to support transformative
Sharma, Vishal: high risk and high risk and high reward research that enables.
Sharma, Vishal: New intelligent capabilities for communities to improve quality
Sharma, Vishal: of life for people.
Sharma, Vishal: Our goal here is to foster the development of a skilled,
Sharma, Vishal: multidisciplinary research community.
Sharma, Vishal: That encompasses and integrates the perspectives of scientists
Sharma, Vishal: and engineers that are supported by the NSF directorates and
Sharma, Vishal: divisions who are participating in this program.
Sharma, Vishal: And we'll talk a little bit more about that in the coming slides.
Sharma, Vishal: The program really prioritises integrating community
Sharma, Vishal: perspectives with the research activities and making sure that
Sharma, Vishal: they are directly informed by Community needs and challenges.
Sharma, Vishal: So this is a use inspired research program.
Sharma, Vishal: And lastly, conducting robust and quantitative evaluation of
Sharma, Vishal: research to validate outcomes is also an important component of
Sharma, Vishal: this. On the right side here we have our flower diagram and I'll
Sharma, Vishal: have my colleague, Doctor David Korman talk a little bit more
Sharma, Vishal: about the programs, research focus and the APPLIC.
Sharma, Vishal: Areas in which it works.
Corman, David: My mic on OK.
Corman, David: Well, thank you.
Corman, David: So this is what we see is our our flower diagram that we use
Corman, David: in the program and around the edges you see a set of
Corman, David: application spaces that reflect what might be elements of a
Corman, David: smart and connected community, things like.
Corman, David: Health and well-being, transportation, personal
Corman, David: mobility, urban rural planning, agriculture.
Corman, David: Issues dealing with rural communities in the center, you
Corman, David: see a set of technology.
Corman, David: And social science areas that could be that represent core
Corman, David: areas of research in the program.
Corman, David: Things like AI, machine learning, IoT, civil
Corman, David: engineering, data privacy, some of the behavioural sciences
Corman, David: around those.
Corman, David: You see a band of community engagement. One of the points
Corman, David: here when we look at that center core, your proposal needs to
Corman, David: really make fundamental advances beyond the state-of-the-art.
Corman, David: In that those core research areas.
Corman, David: Thank you, Vishal.
Sharma, Vishal: And just a quick note on, I saw some folks raising their hand
Sharma, Vishal: leave your questions in the chat.
Sharma, Vishal: We will not be calling on individual attendees to ask
Sharma, Vishal: questions directly, so please leave your questions in the chat
Sharma, Vishal: for us and we'll answer them at the end of the presentation.
Sharma, Vishal: So within NS.
Sharma, Vishal: FSNCC is a multi directory program.
Sharma, Vishal: It is led by the Director for Computer and Information Science
Sharma, Vishal: and Engineering.
Sharma, Vishal: And it is Co funded by the Directorate for Engineering, the
Sharma, Vishal: Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic
Sharma, Vishal: Sciences.
Sharma, Vishal: The direct rate for geosciences and the Directorate for STEM
Sharma, Vishal: Education.
Sharma, Vishal: So how does the program define communities?
Sharma, Vishal: It's examples of where pastors and CC projects have taken
Sharma, Vishal: place.
Sharma, Vishal: This spans large cities near Seattle and Los Angeles to
Sharma, Vishal: tribal communities, to rural communities to met sized cities.
Sharma, Vishal: So it's fairly expansive and its emphasis and as the name
Sharma, Vishal: implies, this is not a smart cities program.
Sharma, Vishal: This is a smart communities program and the program is
Sharma, Vishal: all-encompassing of communities of different sizes and
Sharma, Vishal: demographics.
Sharma, Vishal: In terms of examples of what a community stakeholder could be
Sharma, Vishal: on your SNCC project, this is also fairly expansive and this
Sharma, Vishal: list is just examples. I can be broader than this.
Sharma, Vishal: You may engage with local state government offices and agencies
Sharma, Vishal: with NGOs, with utility providers, facepass
Sharma, Vishal: organizations, neighborhood associations, advocacy groups.
Sharma, Vishal: You want to engage with communities who can help you
Sharma, Vishal: understand their real needs and challenges and those needs and
Sharma, Vishal: challenges to be driving the fundamental science that you.
Sharma, Vishal: Doing.
Corman, David: Let me add one thing.
Corman, David: And this was a question we've received an e-mail previously a
Corman, David: community.
Corman, David: Is a geographic community.
Corman, David: There can be.
Corman, David: Your proposal can cover multiple communities.
Corman, David: It is not simply a virtual community.
Sharma, Vishal: So for the new solicitation of the program, which is NSF 25527,
Sharma, Vishal: there have been several changes to the program changes that
Sharma, Vishal: really do reflect essentially a new solicitation.
Sharma, Vishal: This is not the same essence if you're familiar with the
Sharma, Vishal: program.
Sharma, Vishal: The same SNCC solicitation that you might be familiar with, so
Sharma, Vishal: several of the new changes that have happened.
Sharma, Vishal: So we have a new funder within NSF who is participating in
Sharma, Vishal: this, which is the Director for Geosciences.
Sharma, Vishal: Our wonderful colleague from.
Sharma, Vishal: Ransom is here today, so if we have folks from the geosciences
Sharma, Vishal: community, we look forward to welcoming you as part of the
Sharma, Vishal: SNCC program.
Sharma, Vishal: And if you have questions, please share them with us.
Sharma, Vishal: During this webinar, or feel free to reach out to us
Sharma, Vishal: afterwards.
Sharma, Vishal: There is a change in the interdisciplinary focus of the
Sharma, Vishal: program. If you recall past solicitations, the way the
Sharma, Vishal: program defined interdisciplinary research was
Sharma, Vishal: as sociotechnical research which required an integration of
Sharma, Vishal: social sciences and technical sciences.
Sharma, Vishal: The program is being a little more expansive.
Sharma, Vishal: And its definition of interdisciplinary research.
Sharma, Vishal: Now we are now asking for integration of two or more
Sharma, Vishal: disciplines that are relevant to the primary funders for this
Sharma, Vishal: program.
Sharma, Vishal: An example would be integrating research and AI, machine
Sharma, Vishal: learning and civil engineering, and we'll talk a little bit more
Sharma, Vishal: about what that means in the context of the program and some
Sharma, Vishal: of our upcoming slides.
Sharma, Vishal: We used to have two tracks for our primary Pro proposal
Ransom, Barbara L.: Yeah.
Sharma, Vishal: category, which is integrative research grants.
Sharma, Vishal: That is now one track.
Sharma, Vishal: It's been solidified into one track.
Sharma, Vishal: These are now three to four year awards for the maximum budget of
Sharma, Vishal: one and a half million dollars.
Sharma, Vishal: There is a new proposal category called large scale research,
Sharma, Vishal: which we'll talk about in the upcoming slides as well,
Sharma, Vishal: planning grants have been renamed to development grants.
Sharma, Vishal: There is no major change in their scope. It's just a
Sharma, Vishal: renaming.
Sharma, Vishal: Irg and large scale research proposals require preliminary
Sharma, Vishal: proposals prior to full submission. We will talk about
Sharma, Vishal: that as well.
Sharma, Vishal: And the program has shifted to a target date approach which we
Sharma, Vishal: will also cover in the upcoming slides.
Sharma, Vishal: So amongst these three proposal categories for large scale
Sharma, Vishal: research, the award duration can be up to five years and up to
Sharma, Vishal: award size of up to 5 million.
Sharma, Vishal: And these are just estimates.
Sharma, Vishal: But we estimate making one or two of these awards on a yearly
Sharma, Vishal: basis for integrative research grants.
Sharma, Vishal: These can be up to four years, an award size of up to 1.5
Sharma, Vishal: million, and we estimate making 8 to 12 awards and development
Sharma, Vishal: grants are one year for up to $150,000.
Sharma, Vishal: An estimated 20 to 30 awards and but this is all very much
Sharma, Vishal: dependent on budgets that are available and the quality of
Sharma, Vishal: proposals that we receive as well.
Sharma, Vishal: So research scope and primary funders.
Sharma, Vishal: The program is is being and will be very selective about what it
Sharma, Vishal: chooses to fund. So proposed research has to make fundamental
Sharma, Vishal: contributions in two or more primary areas of interest to the
Sharma, Vishal: participating directors and divisions in the program. In the
Sharma, Vishal: context of an interdisciplinary program like this.
Sharma, Vishal: That does not mean that we welcome proposals from all
Sharma, Vishal: disciplines.
Sharma, Vishal: We welcome proposals from disciplines that are represented
Sharma, Vishal: by the offices that participate in this, so the SNCC program
Sharma, Vishal: defines primary areas of interest as being computer and
Sharma, Vishal: information sciences, civil and mechanical engineering,
Sharma, Vishal: geosciences, and the social learning and behavioral
Sharma, Vishal: sciences.
Sharma, Vishal: Example would be integrating between disciplines and computer
Sharma, Vishal: information sciences and geosciences.
Sharma, Vishal: That would be relevant to the program.
Sharma, Vishal: However, if you're integrating sub disciplines in only one
Sharma, Vishal: primary interest area of the program. So let's say you're
Sharma, Vishal: making contributions in two different social science sub
Sharma, Vishal: disciplines that would not be acceptable for the SNCC program.
Sharma, Vishal: David, is there anything you would like to add to this?
Corman, David: Only to make sure that you the areas that you are making
Corman, David: fundamental contributions are really those divisions.
Corman, David: That are participating in the program. So if you have a
Corman, David: question, look through the solicitation, which defines
Corman, David: those precisely and if you and look at the research interests
Corman, David: within those specific divisions.
Sharma, Vishal: There are many programs like NSF that have a community engaged
Sharma, Vishal: focus and that also support use inspired research, and we urge
Sharma, Vishal: you to have a look at them to see if SNCC is the right program
Sharma, Vishal: for you or other programs are perhaps more relevant. As I
Sharma, Vishal: mentioned in.
Sharma, Vishal: The previous slide proposals, with a research focus and non
Sharma, Vishal: participating NSF divisions or direct rates should not be
Sharma, Vishal: submitted to the solicitation.
Sharma, Vishal: Additionally, you are encouraged to consider other programs at
Sharma, Vishal: NSF that perhaps align more closely with your.
Sharma, Vishal: Route goals and projected impact and examples of some of those
Sharma, Vishal: programs or the civic innovation Challenge the smart and
Sharma, Vishal: Connected Health Program program on research on innovative
Sharma, Vishal: technologies for enhanced learning and confronting
Sharma, Vishal: hazards, impacts and risks for resilient planet.
Corman, David: Let me add just one point here.
Corman, David: For the updated smart and connected community program.
Corman, David: Make sure that your horizon for impact.
Corman, David: Is not as short as we would expect it in the civic
Corman, David: Innovation Challenge. We have always viewed smart and
Corman, David: connected communities as a feeder of projects, a feeder of.
Corman, David: Of ideas and projects with a level of maturity that can be
Corman, David: implemented as part of the civic Innovation Challenge.
Corman, David: Smart connected community should not be confused with civic
Corman, David: innovation.
Corman, David: Challenge on the maturity of the research ideas or?
Corman, David: The specific availability for transition.
Sharma, Vishal: So in terms of our proposal categories themselves, the
Sharma, Vishal: development grants are our proposals that are meant to
Sharma, Vishal: prepare project teams to submit a future well developed IRG or
Sharma, Vishal: large scale research proposal within a 12 month time frame
Sharma, Vishal: from the award days.
Sharma, Vishal: These proposals must describe their vision for a future IRG or
Sharma, Vishal: LSR proposal and how to propose activities. The development and
Sharma, Vishal: planning activities during during this grant will prepare
Sharma, Vishal: them for fully achieving.
Sharma, Vishal: Vision that they have.
Sharma, Vishal: There can be a range of development and planning
Sharma, Vishal: activities that are covered under a development grant.
Sharma, Vishal: This could be exploring the viability of high risk, high
Sharma, Vishal: reward research concepts.
Sharma, Vishal: It could be effectively integrating research
Sharma, Vishal: perspectives of multiple disciplines.
Sharma, Vishal: It could be examining community context and understanding
Sharma, Vishal: better, understanding the needs of your community and the
Sharma, Vishal: challenges that they're facing, and building collaborations
Sharma, Vishal: across different sectors.
Sharma, Vishal: It could also be filling gaps in research and expertise and
Sharma, Vishal: refining your research questions and hypothesis through some
Sharma, Vishal: early stage research and prototyping.
Sharma, Vishal: And a note. Yeah. Sorry, David.
Corman, David: Yes.
Sharma, Vishal: Go ahead.
Corman, David: Just two notes, one of which Michelle, was probably going to
Corman, David: mention.
Corman, David: It is not required.
Corman, David: Or submitted of an IR G.
Corman, David: That's one point.
Corman, David: And as he shows on the chart, does not require submission of
Corman, David: preliminary proposals.
Corman, David: The main issue here we changed the name to avoid confusion.
Corman, David: With whatresearch.gov talks to as planning grants.
Sharma, Vishal: Yeah. So David covered it.
Sharma, Vishal: Nope. We've been receiving a lot of questions about this.
Sharma, Vishal: You do not have to submit a preliminary proposal for a
Sharma, Vishal: development grant.
Sharma, Vishal: You can just directly submit things.
Sharma, Vishal: Integrative research plans or irks are the full awards for the
Sharma, Vishal: program and the primary full award proposal type.
Sharma, Vishal: These are really appropriate for teams who have well developed
Sharma, Vishal: concepts they're doing. Use inspired research that really is
Sharma, Vishal: focused on improving quality of life for people in community, in
Sharma, Vishal: their communities and the research goals are informed by
Sharma, Vishal: community perspectives and needs. These proposals should
Sharma, Vishal: involve multidisciplinary teams of.
Sharma, Vishal: Researchers that are really capable of driving fundamental
Sharma, Vishal: scientific.
Sharma, Vishal: Answers through the proposed research. And lastly, there
Sharma, Vishal: should be well developed plans for community engagement that
Sharma, Vishal: inform research goals and evaluation of outcomes.
Sharma, Vishal: And this could be at multiple levels, including decision
Sharma, Vishal: engagement with decision makers, advocacy groups or end users and
Sharma, Vishal: residents.
Sharma, Vishal: And preliminary proposals are required prior to the submission
Sharma, Vishal: of a full proposal.
Sharma, Vishal: Large scale research proposals are a new category for the
Sharma, Vishal: program, and these proposals must very, very clearly identify
Sharma, Vishal: and address critical SNCC, science, and engineering
Sharma, Vishal: challenges that cannot be achieved by a set of smaller
Sharma, Vishal: irreg projects.
Sharma, Vishal: The goal here is to have you know scale and a degree of
Sharma, Vishal: integration of the proposed research that really warrants a
Sharma, Vishal: major investment.
Sharma, Vishal: This simply cannot be a super sized IRG proposal.
Sharma, Vishal: It needs to be much more forward thinking.
Sharma, Vishal: And much more exploratory and visionary, and what it's
Sharma, Vishal: proposing, LSR project should look to push the boundaries of
Sharma, Vishal: smart and connected communities, research well beyond today's
Sharma, Vishal: state-of-the-art systems and capabilities.
Sharma, Vishal: And there must be a research plan that includes validation of
Sharma, Vishal: theory through empirical demonstrations by prototypes and
Sharma, Vishal: testbeds.
Sharma, Vishal: And there must also be a robust and comprehensive plan for
Sharma, Vishal: sharing results, including the test beds and artifacts of the
Sharma, Vishal: broader research community.
Sharma, Vishal: And LSR proposals also require preliminary proposals before
Sharma, Vishal: applying for a full proposal.
Sharma, Vishal: A little bit about target dates and and guide to preliminary
Sharma, Vishal: proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: Target dates are a new thing for this program.
Sharma, Vishal: Some other NSF programs are adopting them as well.
Sharma, Vishal: And you probably have questions between. Is this a no deadline
Sharma, Vishal: program?
Sharma, Vishal: Is this a due date?
Sharma, Vishal: How does how do target dates work? So first, as we've already
Sharma, Vishal: mentioned, but I'll reiterate again, you are required to
Sharma, Vishal: submit an preliminary proposal for the IRG and LSR proposal
Sharma, Vishal: types.
Sharma, Vishal: If we receive an IRG or LSR that did not have a preliminary
Sharma, Vishal: proposal, that will be returned without review.
Sharma, Vishal: So full proposal submissions.
Sharma, Vishal: And the decision.
Sharma, Vishal: Sorry for your preliminary proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: The NSF decision is advisory only.
Sharma, Vishal: It is either encourage or discourage submission. If you
Sharma, Vishal: are discouraged from submitting, you can still go ahead and
Sharma, Vishal: submit.
Sharma, Vishal: And you may receive some feedback from us on the proposed
Sharma, Vishal: activities in your preliminary proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: So what are target dates and and how do they work?
Sharma, Vishal: So SNCC is still a no deadline program as long as the
Sharma, Vishal: solicitation is open.
Sharma, Vishal: We are accepting proposals, so target dates are not deadlines,
Sharma, Vishal: but they are aligned with our internal review cycles and they
Sharma, Vishal: should give you an idea of when you should get your proposal
Sharma, Vishal: submitted to us to ensure a timely review for it and a
Sharma, Vishal: response award or decline.
Sharma, Vishal: So our preliminary proposal target dates and our full
Sharma, Vishal: proposal target date.
Sharma, Vishal: They're sort of aligned to enable this. So our first prelim
Sharma, Vishal: target date is February 20th, 2025 and our first full proposal
Sharma, Vishal: target date is April 4th, 2025.
Sharma, Vishal: So if you anticipate submitting an IRG proposal that you would
Sharma, Vishal: like to have reviewed and our FY25 budget cycle, you should
Sharma, Vishal: aim to have your full proposal submitted by April 4th.
Sharma, Vishal: We will still accept proposals after April 4th.
Sharma, Vishal: But we cannot make any guarantees about the review
Sharma, Vishal: timeline.
Sharma, Vishal: And and the speediness of the review process, we will
Sharma, Vishal: prioritize proposals that come in by the April 4th target date
Sharma, Vishal: for review and FY25.
Sharma, Vishal: You are strongly encouraged to submit your proposals, your
Sharma, Vishal: preliminaries, or your full proposals as soon as they are
Sharma, Vishal: ready for submission.
Sharma, Vishal: Please do not wait till the last day of the target date to submit
Sharma, Vishal: either proposal.
Sharma, Vishal: Type if you are ready to submit, you should submit them. Please
Sharma, Vishal: do not wait.
Sharma, Vishal: So as I already kind of touched upon this, please carefully note
Sharma, Vishal: the target dates. So if you plan to submit a full proposal by the
Sharma, Vishal: April 4th in IRG or in LSR by the April 4 target date, you
Sharma, Vishal: should get us your prelim proposal before February 20th
Sharma, Vishal: and.
Sharma, Vishal: This timing is there to help ensure that we can give you
Sharma, Vishal: feedback on whether to proceed with your full submission.
Sharma, Vishal: Within 30 days of any future target dates.
Sharma, Vishal: So general components that go into an SNCC proposal, very
Sharma, Vishal: generally, preliminary proposals are fairly short.
Sharma, Vishal: So you are required to submit a project summary.
Sharma, Vishal: This is your standard NSF one page project summary with your
Sharma, Vishal: overview.
Sharma, Vishal: Intellectual merit broader impacts.
Sharma, Vishal: A2 page limit on the project description.
Sharma, Vishal: So this is a short two page document in which you're
Sharma, Vishal: generally telling us about the vision and goals of your
Sharma, Vishal: project.
Sharma, Vishal: What your approach for integrated research is.
Sharma, Vishal: This section you should talk to us about the disciplines in
Sharma, Vishal: which you will be advancing scientific research, and you
Sharma, Vishal: should tell us about your vision for broader impacts. You should
Sharma, Vishal: include a project, personnel and partner institutions document as
Sharma, Vishal: well. However, no other documents are required. Please
Sharma, Vishal: read this.
Sharma, Vishal: Carefully on on in our solicitation on exactly what
Sharma, Vishal: goes into the proposal itself and what should not be
Sharma, Vishal: submitted.
Sharma, Vishal: Or full proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: There are more components that go into these, so again your
Sharma, Vishal: project summary. Your project description is the heart of your
Sharma, Vishal: proposals. Is the primary section with various
Sharma, Vishal: subcomponents.
Sharma, Vishal: There is a required integrative research section that is
Sharma, Vishal: required for all three proposal categories.
Sharma, Vishal: There's a community engagement section that is also required
Sharma, Vishal: for all three proposal categories.
Sharma, Vishal: There's a management plan, evaluation plan, broader
Sharma, Vishal: impacts.
Sharma, Vishal: And results from prior NSF support as well. So please pay
Sharma, Vishal: close attention to which proposal type requires which
Sharma, Vishal: subcomponents within the project description.
Sharma, Vishal: There are several supplementary documents that are also
Sharma, Vishal: required.
Sharma, Vishal: There is the facilities, equipment and other resources
Sharma, Vishal: section, project personnel, partnering institutions,
Sharma, Vishal: biographical sketches of of people who are participating in
Sharma, Vishal: in the project. Your data management and sharing plan
Sharma, Vishal: mentoring plan.
Sharma, Vishal: Letters of collaboration your current impending support
Sharma, Vishal: documents and NSF does have a new requirement.
Sharma, Vishal: This is only for proposals who are working or engaging tribal
Sharma, Vishal: nations and their research.
Sharma, Vishal: But you must show documentation that you are seeking and
Sharma, Vishal: obtaining tribal nation approval for any research activities that
Sharma, Vishal: may impact or involve them.
Sharma, Vishal: So what sections are required within the project description?
Sharma, Vishal: For the different proposal categories. So for irks and LS
Sharma, Vishal: Rs you need a section on integrated research community
Sharma, Vishal: engagement, broader impacts results from prior NSF support
Sharma, Vishal: management plan and valuation plan development. Grants are
Sharma, Vishal: shorter and require less sections, so these are seven
Sharma, Vishal: page proposals.
Sharma, Vishal: The development grants so we only require an integrated
Sharma, Vishal: research section.
Sharma, Vishal: Community engagement.
Sharma, Vishal: Broader impacts and results from prior NSF support for the irks
Sharma, Vishal: and the LS Rs.
Sharma, Vishal: There's a maximum page limit of 15 pages for the project
Sharma, Vishal: description section.
Sharma, Vishal: There are several supplementary documents that can really build
Sharma, Vishal: on the strength of the project, ideas and partnerships. I know
Sharma, Vishal: David usually has some stuff to say about this. So David, I will
Sharma, Vishal: turn this over to you.
Corman, David: OK, first of all.
Corman, David: A team you can use your facilities, equipment and other
Corman, David: resources.
Corman, David: That section in particular can clarify what are the roles, what
Corman, David: activities are going to be performed.
Corman, David: By unfunded?
Corman, David: Collaborators.
Corman, David: It's not necessarily a place where all you do is stash
Corman, David: pictures.
Corman, David: Servers, or unmanned air vehicles, or autonomous cars?
Corman, David: Letters of collaboration.
Corman, David: The SNCC program as well as the CPS and Civic programs, invite
Corman, David: you to provide letters of collaboration that go beyond
Corman, David: what is.
Corman, David: A.
Corman, David: Often the template letter of collaboration which simply
Corman, David: states.
Corman, David: I will do whatever the proposal says I will do.
Corman, David: You can use a letter of collaboration and if your SRO
Corman, David: says Oh no, I can't do that because they will return it
Corman, David: without review. You can tell them to contact us and we will
Corman, David: tell them that they are wrong.
Corman, David: These are letter of self collaboration.
Corman, David: Which should tell us what specific thing, what specific
Corman, David: activities are involved in the collaboration.
Corman, David: Please, please do not simply ghost write letters for all the
Corman, David: collaborators on your project.
Corman, David: It drives us wild to read 3 letters of collaboration for the
Corman, David: project.
Corman, David: That I'll say exactly the same thing.
Corman, David: And finally, identify project personnel and partner
Corman, David: institutions.
Corman, David: One other thing that I would add, and this would go.
Corman, David: Back to the project description, if you have collaborators which
Corman, David: may involve government, local government entities or other.
Corman, David: Other collaborators that are not receiving funds you may want to
Corman, David: put a mention that they are your collaborators and are unable to
Corman, David: receive funds in the proposal.
Corman, David: Project description because quite frequently reviewers will
Corman, David: be asking why are they?
Corman, David: How are they collaborating when they don't show up in your
Corman, David: budget?
Corman, David: So make sure you tell us who's collaborating, what they're
Corman, David: doing.
Corman, David: And if they can't get funds, it really helps to clarify for
Corman, David: reviewers why they care.
Corman, David: Thank you.
Sharma, Vishal: Your data management and sharing plan. This is required in all
Sharma, Vishal: NSF proposals. Please adhere.
Sharma, Vishal: To the guidance in the NSF proposal in preparation guide,
Sharma, Vishal: the NSF PAPPG.
Sharma, Vishal: If funding support is requested for graduate or post doctoral
Sharma, Vishal: researchers, you should include a single one page mentoring
Sharma, Vishal: plan.
Sharma, Vishal: This can be one documents if if you have both, that is still a
Sharma, Vishal: one page document.
Sharma, Vishal: Guidance on this is also in the Nsfp APPG, but this is only a
Sharma, Vishal: requirement if you have graduate or post docctorial researchers.
Sharma, Vishal: This again is only relevant to proposals that may impact the
Sharma, Vishal: resources or interests of a federally recognized American,
Sharma, Vishal: Indian or Alaska Native tribal nation.
Sharma, Vishal: You must check the box on the cover sheet entitled potential
Sharma, Vishal: impacts on tribal nations and proposals that do fall under
Sharma, Vishal: this category.
Sharma, Vishal: You have to seek guidance from the potentially impacted tribal
Sharma, Vishal: nation regarding which activity or activities require review and
Sharma, Vishal: prior approval from an authorized.
Sharma, Vishal: Designee of the tribal nation and based on the guidance
Sharma, Vishal: received, submit a written request to the relevant tribal
Sharma, Vishal: nation for approval to carry out the proposed activities that
Sharma, Vishal: requires their review and approval at the time of proposal
Sharma, Vishal: submission, you may simply submit a copy of the written
Sharma, Vishal: request.
Sharma, Vishal: To the relevant tribes to carry out any research activities.
Sharma, Vishal: And that may require approval.
Sharma, Vishal: So just a copy of the request that was sent out at the time of
Sharma, Vishal: submission is OK.
Sharma, Vishal: Approval documentation will only be required.
Sharma, Vishal: You can't submit approval documentation even at the
Sharma, Vishal: proposal stage, but prior to any award consideration, NSF would
Sharma, Vishal: need to see that approval.
Sharma, Vishal: Guidance on this is also available in the NSF PAPPG.
Sharma, Vishal: So very generally, we'll talk to you about our review criteria
Sharma, Vishal: for the program.
Sharma, Vishal: So smart connected follows the standard NSF channel review
Sharma, Vishal: process within the context of this program.
Sharma, Vishal: So intellectual merit and broader impacts are the two
Sharma, Vishal: primary review criteria.
Sharma, Vishal: Intellectual encompasses the potential to advance knowledge.
Sharma, Vishal: And broader impacts encompasses the potential to benefit
Sharma, Vishal: society.
Sharma, Vishal: So the basic questions that receivers our reviewers receive
Sharma, Vishal: with respect to both categories are and. This is standard across
Sharma, Vishal: NSF is for intellectual merit.
Sharma, Vishal: Right. What is the potential to advance knowledge and
Sharma, Vishal: understanding within its own field or across different fields
Sharma, Vishal: for broader impacts?
Sharma, Vishal: It's the potential for the proposed activities to benefit
Sharma, Vishal: society or advance desired societal outcomes.
Sharma, Vishal: To what extent are the activities suggesting and
Sharma, Vishal: exploring creative, original, or potentially transformative
Sharma, Vishal: concepts?
Sharma, Vishal: Is there a good plan to carry out the proposed activities that
Sharma, Vishal: is well reasoned, well organized and based on the sound
Sharma, Vishal: rationale?
Sharma, Vishal: Is there a plan to incorporate a mechanism to assess success?
Sharma, Vishal: How about qualified as the team and do they have adequate
Sharma, Vishal: resources available to them?
Corman, David: Let me add one one other point there.
Corman, David: We are proposals that are submitted specially IRG and
Corman, David: large scale.
Corman, David: We should have an element of risk of the hypothesis.
Corman, David: You're the ideas may may have elements of a.
Corman, David: Maybe it won't work.
Corman, David: Maybe I need risk mitigation plan, but we're not looking
Corman, David: simply for research ideas that are simply a slam dunk.
Corman, David: I just do this step this step this step.
Corman, David: And I'm baking a cake.
Corman, David: So think about what might fail.
Corman, David: What are the techniques?
Corman, David: What are the various risk categories and?
Corman, David: Make sure that it really does show that there's a research
Corman, David: plan that really describes how I will achieve that.
Sharma, Vishal: David touched on this a little bit already, so these are just
Sharma, Vishal: some general guiding principles for principles, for how SNCC
Sharma, Vishal: proposals are reviewed.
Sharma, Vishal: These are not typical NSF proposals and are reviewed
Sharma, Vishal: within the context of the program's goals, scope and award
Sharma, Vishal: sizes.
Sharma, Vishal: So one proposal should not be so narrowly focused that only
Sharma, Vishal: reviewers with very specific competence and disciplinary
Sharma, Vishal: expertise and one focus area can appreciate, understand and
Sharma, Vishal: evaluate them.
Sharma, Vishal: Sncc review panels are multidisciplinary.
Sharma, Vishal: Reflecting the multidisciplinary proposals that the program
Sharma, Vishal: receives.
Sharma, Vishal: As David said, you must undertake high risk, high reward
Sharma, Vishal: research and reviewers will be evaluating you for clearly
Sharma, Vishal: communicating what is the risk element of your research and
Sharma, Vishal: risk in the context of the program as defined as risk of
Sharma, Vishal: research, not risk to community.
Sharma, Vishal: So please be very mindful of that.
Sharma, Vishal: And we're really looking for ideas that can deliver
Sharma, Vishal: innovative solutions to major Community challenges. So you
Sharma, Vishal: must articulate how your outcomes will push beyond
Sharma, Vishal: today's state of practice and today's state-of-the-art.
Sharma, Vishal: And while the program welcomes interdisciplinary programs, our
Sharma, Vishal: proposals, technological innovation is a requirement.
Sharma, Vishal: This is a program that is let out of the size Directorate and
Sharma, Vishal: review and proposers should be Cognizant and mindful of that.
Sharma, Vishal: Research, aims and goals have to be shaped by Community
Sharma, Vishal: perspective, so this is a use inspired research program. You
Sharma, Vishal: should be able to speak to the needs of the community out
Sharma, Vishal: there.
Sharma, Vishal: What the challenges are that they're facing and why your
Sharma, Vishal: proposed solutions have a chance for making significant and major
Sharma, Vishal: impact.
Sharma, Vishal: In the long term.
Sharma, Vishal: And lastly, the proposed work and impact must be appropriated
Sharma, Vishal: for appropriate for the requested budget and size of the
Sharma, Vishal: award.
Sharma, Vishal: So please be mindful of your budgets as well.
Sharma, Vishal: So we'll wrap up with just a few slides on contacting us and some
Sharma, Vishal: upcoming events for the program.
Sharma, Vishal: So if you're signed up for our SNCC mailing list, you may have
Sharma, Vishal: already seen this, but we'll just share it again. The program
Sharma, Vishal: is starting a series of virtual symposiums on on funded
Sharma, Vishal: projects.
Sharma, Vishal: Within the program, this is both a great opportunity for you to
Sharma, Vishal: learn about.
Sharma, Vishal: Just some great science that is being done out there, but if
Sharma, Vishal: you're interested in understanding the kinds of
Sharma, Vishal: research that the program.
Sharma, Vishal: Support this is a good opportunity to hear from funded
Sharma, Vishal: researchers on what an SNCC project looks like. This is also
Sharma, Vishal: a good opportunity to understand you know, what the focus of the
Sharma, Vishal: program is and what kind of research is done within it.
Sharma, Vishal: And my colleague has shared a link to register for the
Sharma, Vishal: symposium on February 6th in the chat. So this will be on
Sharma, Vishal: February 6th from 12:00 to 1:00 PM Eastern Time.
Sharma, Vishal: And to learn more and stay engaged with us, we encourage
Sharma, Vishal: you to visit our virtual organization, which is at
Sharma, Vishal: www.secvo.org.
Sharma, Vishal: It includes guidance on signing up for our mailing list. If
Sharma, Vishal: you're not signed up yet, and it also includes the whole host of
Sharma, Vishal: the projects that have been funded by our program.
Sharma, Vishal: So you can have a look at the portfolio for the program and
Sharma, Vishal: what's been funded in previous rounds.
Sharma, Vishal: Any program related inquiries.
Sharma, Vishal: We encourage you to reach out to SCC questions at nsf.gov.
Sharma, Vishal: And we appreciate your time and we'll be taking and answering
Sharma, Vishal: questions now.
Henle, Andrea: OK, to get us started, we have a question about whether certain
Henle, Andrea: projects on topics such as environmental justice will be
Henle, Andrea: handled.
Henle, Andrea: How these will be handled given the change in administration?
Sharma, Vishal: So there have been executive orders that have been received
Sharma, Vishal: and NSF is current and NSF leadership is currently
Sharma, Vishal: evaluating how they impact NSF.
Sharma, Vishal: We don't have any guidance on that at the moment, but this
Sharma, Vishal: might be shared soon in the coming days, weeks or months.