National Science Foundation issues call for proposals for Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program

Limited Submissions: Internal Call for Proposals — National Science Foundation, Major Research Instrumentation (MRI)

The National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation's institutions of higher education, and not-for-profit museums, science centers and scientific/engineering research organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by providing organizations with opportunities to acquire instrumentation that supports the research and research training goals of the organization.

The program emphasizes shared-use instrumentation that will enhance the capabilities of researchers both within and outside the proposing organization. Development efforts that leverage the strengths of private sector partners to build instrument development capacity at MRI submission-eligible organizations are encouraged.

NSF strongly values MRI proposals that seek to develop next-generation research instruments that open new frontiers of research. As a result, the MRI program seeks to support development proposals in numbers (i.e., up to 1/3 of awards) consistent with recent competitions, depending on the numbers and quality of the proposals.

Key Dates

UNC Internal Deadline: 11:59PM, Tuesday, August 30, 2022
NSF Application Deadline: January 19, 2023

Important Information

Number of Applications per Institution: Three total.

• Two Track 1 submissions (either development or acquisition) requesting no more than $1MM Total Project Costs
• One Track 2 submission (either development or acquisition) requesting no more than $4MM Total Project Costs
• Total Project Costs are defined by total federal share (direct and indirect) and 30% institutional cost-share

The agency-mandated 30% cost-sharing requirement applies to only the portion of the total project cost budgeted to non-exempt organizations, including those participating through subawards. Cost-sharing must be precisely 30%.

To Apply

Applications to the NSF MRI Program requesting OVCR funds as part of their cost-share obligation must have completed a request through the cost-share system by June 30 (Cycle 5) 2022. Failure to do so will result in this application being administratively withdrawn.

Internal applications for the NSF MRI program have several parts. Please carefully review the following internal competition requirements.

Submit the following via LAMSeS by 11:59PM, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.

A) A technical proposal - not exceeding six pages - containing the following information:

1. (Approx 3 pages)

1. A title clearly identifying whether the proposal is Track 1 or Track 2 and whether it is for instrument acquisition or instrument development;
2. Names of the major users of the proposed instrument both inside and outside the University, along with their institutional affiliations.
3. Description of the proposed instrumentation;
4. Summary of the research and research training to be conducted with the instrumentation;
5. Justification of need, including a discussion of analogous instrumentation available at UNC-Chapel Hill or in the region.

2. (Approx 1 page): Impact on research, education and society (Broader Impacts) that would result if funded;
3. (Approx 1 page): Brief description of the management plan;
4. (Approx 1 page): Brief overview of the proposed budget including approximate total cost

If the internal pre-proposal is a resubmission of a proposal previously submitted to the MRI program, proposers may include reviews from the NSF and a response to the reviews of up to one page.

Additional required items not included in the page count:

B) Evidence of cost-share commitments. Any request for cost-sharing using the OVCR Cost Sharing Program must be discussed with a member of the Limited Submissions team, and, be fully approved in the cost-share program system by June 30. Please visit https://research.unc.edu/researchers/programs-projects-services/ for additional information.

Applications not containing fully articulated cost-share commitments at time of deadline will be returned without review.

C) NSF Biographical Sketches of project leadership

D) Names of three internal (to UNC) experts who could speak knowledgeably about your research as part of an internal review panel.

• Please do not include the names of faculty named on the project, chairs, deans, directors, or direct reports.
• Please notify potential internal reviewers before submitting the application packet to ORD

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MRI Program Scope

The MRI Program does not typically fund common, general-purpose ancillary equipment that would normally be found in a laboratory and/or is relatively easily procured by the organization. The Program does not support research, education or outreach activities that are enabled by the requested instrumentation, nor does MRI support requests for multiple independent instruments that serve to outfit a general-purpose laboratory or research environment. MRI also does not support instrumentation used primarily for science and engineering education courses and outreach or enables research that is primarily outside of NSF-supported fields of science and engineering; however, the instrument's use in those activities may occur at a secondary level and serve as broader impacts.

• Track 1: Track 1 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $100,000¹ and less than $1,000,000.

• Track 2: Track 2 MRI proposals are those that request funds from NSF greater than or equal to $1,000,000 up to and including $4,000,000.

The MRI program welcomes substantive and meaningful partnerships for instrument development, including partnerships between the academic and private sectors. MRI proposals involving partnerships with applicability to NSF-supported centers, including the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs) program, are encouraged. Such proposals are expected to create innovative ideas or products with wide scientific or commercial impact. Investigations of commercial impact should not be included in MRI proposals but support for such investigations may be sought through the NSF's Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Team program (http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/program.jsp); as MRI development projects mature, applications to this program are strongly encouraged.

An MRI research instrument need not be physically located in a conventional laboratory setting, nor does an instrument need to be "physical" at all. MRI continues to support distributed/networked instruments and cyberinstrumentation that is not appropriate for support through other NSF programs.

1. Instrument Acquisition

The science and engineering research enterprise relies on the availability of modern instrumentation, much of which can be acquired with little or no modification from existing sources, An MRI acquisition proposal is characterized by a purchase or upgrade of a generally available, yet sophisticated, instrument with little or no modification and risk. MRI does not support the lease/rental of a research instrument, but the purchase of a currently leased instrument at fair market value may be considered.

2. Instrument Development

Advancing the frontiers of science and engineering research also requires new generations of sophisticated research instrumentation with required capabilities that may not yet exist. NSF encourages individual investigators and teams of researchers to apply for instrument development support. A development proposal should demonstrate the need for a new or extensively upgraded instrument with new performance, enabling enhanced or potentially transformative research opportunities, open up new areas of research and research training and/or have potential as a commercial product. "Performance" may include, for example, accuracy, reliability, resolving power, throughput speed, sample capacity, flexibility of operation, breadth of application, user-friendliness, and/or new types of measurement or information gathering. MRI development efforts typically require longer timescales for completion than acquisition efforts, and involve design, construction, testing and commissioning such that the equipment cost may not represent the largest portion of the budget. A development proposal also tends to involve greater risk to complete, requiring a risk mitigation plan.

The MRI program does not consider the acquisition of components simply combined in a new system, the mere purchase of an upgrade, early-phase enabling technology development, or the development of devices, products or techniques/protocols to constitute instrument development. The purchase of a computer(s) and the subsequent porting of application-specific software also does not constitute instrument development. A development project should lead to a stable multi-user instrument at the end of the award period that will serve multiple researchers for an extended period of time.

A development proposal with a commercial partner(s) must be substantive, meaningful and build capacity for instrument development within MRI submission-eligible organizations; a proposal that "outsources" the development to the commercial partner will be considered to be an acquisition proposal by the MRI program. A development proposal must describe the improved performance of the new instrument over existing options and the expected impact of this new instrument on the broader research community.

Program Restrictions

The program will not provide support for instrumentation to be used in medical education (such as medical school courses). Instrumentation intended for research with disease-related goals, including work on the etiology, diagnosis or treatment of physical or mental disease, abnormality, or malfunction in human beings or animals, is normally not supported. Instrumentation for research on animal models of such conditions or the development or testing of drugs or other procedures for their treatment also is not eligible for support. However, instrumentation for bioengineering research, with diagnosis- or treatment-related goals that applies engineering principles to problems in biology and medicine, while also advancing engineering knowledge, is eligible for support. Instrumentation for research in bioinformatics and biocomputing, or for bioengineering research to aid persons with disabilities, is also eligible.

The MRI program will NOT support proposal requests that include any of the following:

• Construction, renovation or modernization of rooms, buildings or research facilities. This category refers to the space where sponsored or unsponsored research activities (including research training) occur, whether "bricks-and-mortar", mobile, or virtual;
• Large, specialized experimental facilities that are constructed with significant amounts of common building material using standard building techniques. Instruments in general can be decoupled from the structure or environment that contains them;
• General purpose and supporting equipment; this category includes (but is not limited to) general purpose ancillary computers or laboratory instruments. Supporting equipment refers to basic, durable components of a research facility that are integral to its operation (e.g., fume hoods, elevators, laboratory casework, cryogen storage systems, general-purpose computational or data storage systems). It also includes supporting facilities such as vehicle charging stations.
• Sustaining infrastructure and/or building systems. This category includes (but is not limited to) the installation of or upgrades to infrastructure related to the supply of power, ventilation, water or research gases, routine multi-purpose computer networks, standard safety features, and other general purpose systems (e.g., toxic waste removal systems and telecommunications equipment.)
• General purpose platforms or environment. This category may include (but is not limited to) general purpose fixed or non-fixed structures as well as manned or unmanned vehicles whose role is to host or transport an instrument.
• Instrumentation used primarily for science and engineering education courses. Other programs at NSF (e.g., the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program), provide funding for the development of exemplary courses and teaching practices, including instrumentation to support such projects.

Proposals seeking support for the above items or activities are subject to return without review (if noncompliance is established prior to review) or decline (if noncompliance is established as a result of the merit review).

Reviewer Information

Emphasis has been provided to indicate that the MRI Program seeks broad representation by PIs in its award portfolio, including women, underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities. Since diversity may be greater among early-career researchers, the MRI program also encourages proposals with early-career PIs and proposals that benefit early-career researchers

Additional Reviewer Criteria:

• The extent to which the proposed project will make a substantial improvement in the organization's capabilities to conduct leading-edge research, to provide research experiences for undergraduate students using leading-edge capabilities, and to broaden the participation in science and engineering research (especially as lead PIs) by women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities and/or early-career investigators.

Instrument Acquisition Proposals:

• The extent to which the instrument is used for multi-user, shared-use research and/or research training.
• Whether the management plan demonstrates sufficient commitment and technical expertise for effective scheduling and usage of the instrument.
• The organization's commitment to ensuring successful operations and maintenance over the expected lifetime of the instrument.
• Whether the research to be enabled is compelling and justifies the instrument request.
• Whether the budget request is appropriate and well justified.
• if student involvement is in the form of direct support for operations and maintenance of the instrument, reviewers will be asked to evaluate the involvement in terms of both instrument needs and the training of the next generation of instrumentalists.
• For instrument acquisition proposals of $1 million or above, the potential impact of the instrument on the research community of interest at the regional or national level, if appropriate.

Instrument Development Proposals:

• The appropriateness of submission as a development proposal.
• The need for development of a new instrument. Will the proposed instrument enable enhanced performance over existing instruments, or new types of measurement or information gathering? Is there a strong need for the new instrument in the larger user community to advance new frontiers of research?
• The adequacy of the project's management plan. Does the plan have a realistic schedule that is described in sufficient detail to be assessed? Are mechanisms described to mitigate and deal with potential risks?
• The availability of appropriate technical expertise to design and construct the instrument. If direct support for student involvement in development efforts is requested, reviewers will be asked to evaluate the involvement in terms of both project needs and training the next generation of instrumentalists.
• The appropriateness of the cost of the new technology.

*Cost-Share requirements

The 30% cost-sharing requirement applies to only the portion of the total project cost budgeted to non-exempt organizations, including those participating through subawards. When required, cost-sharing must be precisely 30%.

Applications to the NSF MRI Program requesting OVCR funds as part of their cost-share obligation must have completed a request through the cost-share system by June 30 (Cycle 5) 2022. Failure to do so will result in this application being administratively withdrawn.

Additional information

Full Solicitation: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18513/nsf18513.htm

For additional information, please contact the Limited Submissions Team with questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For additional information pertaining to the OVCR Programs, Projects and Services, please visit https://research.unc.edu/researchers/programs-projects-services/