Research@UIC > Funding Opportunities > Finding Funding > Limited Competitions > NSF MRI

NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program

Internal Competition Completed

Principal Investigators selected:

• Peter Doran, Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Robert Klie, Physics
• Jason Leigh, Computer Science

Program Summary

NSF's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program provides funds to purchase or develop major research equipment that is too costly for support through other NSF programs. Awards range from $100,000 to $2 million.

MRI will not support instrumentation to be used in the conduct of disease-oriented research, including the etiology, diagnosis or treatment of physical or mental disease, abnormality or malfunction in human beings or animals, or the design and testing of drugs for treatment of such conditions.

UIC can only submit three MRI proposals. One proposal must be for the development of instrumentation. The two remaining proposals can be for either the acquisition or development of instrumentation.

We do not expect NSF to release its updated MRI Program Announcement until after UIC’s internal competition is completed. Any changes based upon the updated announcement will be dealt with administratively. Please refer to PA 05-515 for the purpose of the internal competition. That is located at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05515/nsf05515.htm.

Deadlines

Letter of Intent

By submission of this form, applicant attests that s/he has read and meets the sponsor's eligibility criteria for this program.

Special Instructions:
Item 3 can be left blank for this program.
Item 8: Indicate whether proposal is Acquisition or Development
Note: If this is a resubmission to NSF attach all sponsor’s peer review comments.

Form is located at http://www.research.uic.edu/funding/forms/0600.doc

Limited Competition Instructions

Applicants have the option of attaching prior review comments received from either NSF or from UIC's internal review process. Applicants may add one extra page addressing these prior review comments. This extra one page option is exclusively for addressing prior comments.

Submit one electronic copy of a White Paper containing the following:

1. One (1) Page cover page with following information:
   1. Name & departmental affiliation of PI and Co-PIs
   2. Sponsor and sponsor program name
   3. Title of White Paper
   4. PI Contact Information
   5. Optional:
      1. Identify potential individuals to review proposal - reviewers should not have a personal stake in outcome of this competition and ideally should not be from same unit as applicant.
      2. Identify reviewers to exclude - this information will remain confidential.
      3. Note if this is a resubmission. If so, attach any peer review comments received from either NSF or a prior UIC internal competition.
2. Three (3) page narrative addressing:
   1. Description of instrumentation needs, whether it’s acquisition or development, why it should be considered a priority at UIC, and estimated total cost.
   2. Research activities to be undertaken
   3. Anticipated outcomes
   4. Considerations for long term management
      Page limits INCLUDE any charts, figures, tables, references, etc
3. Attach the following for PI, Co-P Is, senior personnel who will be major users of the equipment, and individual responsible for instrument management:

1. Two page CV
2. 1 page current and pending support

Narrative must be 12-point font; minimum acceptable margin is 1 inch (2.5 cm) all around. Unless otherwise noted, no line item budget is required.

Questions should be referred to Mr. Tony Halford in OVCR at ahalford@uic.edu or 312-996-7036.

Last updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009.