NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers Program
The OVPR anticipates that the next deadline for Pre-Proposals for the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) program will be in July 2019. CMU will be limited to 1 submission of a pre-proposal. MRSEC's are comprised of two or three Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) per center and led by a single faculty member acting as director of the MRSEC; while the IRGs do not have to be thematically connected, the MRSEC director must be able to articulate a vision for the center. In the interest of identifying candidate IRGs and center-level leadership as well as providing adequate time for a team to craft a strong proposal, the OVPR will be leading an internal proposal and review process following the timeline outlined below.
Please note the first two deadlines:
Nov 1, 2018: Prospective IRGs submit short pre-proposals online for consideration in a MRSEC by NOVEMBER 1, 2018
See instructions below as they differ from the usual form
• Title page (1 page) - Title, list of investigators and affiliations and an abstract (200 words or less)
• Project narrative (2 pages, no smaller than 11pt Times font)
• Optional page for additional figures/tables (i.e. 1 page, with no additional narrative)
• References (please try to limit to 1 page)
• No budget page is required
Nov 8, 2018 – Deadline for anyone interested in acting as a MRSEC director to declare their interest to OVPR via email to ovpr@andrew.cmu.edu (Note: IRG leads can act as MRSEC Directors)
Successful IRGs should address a major materials topic or area synergistically; involve researchers with complementary backgrounds, skills, knowledge; span synthesis, theory, characterization, evaluation and applications; and be more than a collection of individuals. Pre-proposals should address how the proposed IRG meets these criteria.
For more information about the MRSEC program: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5295
MRSEC Internal Timeline- Nov 1 – IRG pre-proposals (1-2 pages) submitted online
- Nov 8 – Deadline for anyone interested in acting as a MRSEC director to declare their interest to OVPR via email to ovpr@andrew.cmu.edu (Note: IRG leads can act as MRSEC Directors)
- Nov 8 – Dec 17 – Prospective center directors review IRG pre-proposals and prepare a short proposal* for the full MRSEC
- Dec 17 – Internal MRSEC proposals due to the OVPR
- Dec 17 – Feb 15, 2019 – MRSEC Director and IRGs reviewed by the OVPR; OVPR will engage a panel of senior faculty and deans and/or external reviewers in this evaluation process
- Feb 15, 2019 – MRSEC Director and IRGs selected
- July 2019 – Projected due date of MRSEC Pre-proposal to NSF
* Detailed requirements for this proposal will be sent at a later date