Institute Strategic Fund

1
Institute Strategic Fund
Focus for 2005-2006 Cycle

• Related to, or in the spirit of, the NAI
  Collaborative Science Plan, and its four main
  areas of research
• Terrestrial to Astronomical Biosignatures
• Mission to Ancient Earth
• Protoplanetary/Circumstellar Disk Chemistry and
  Evolution
• Microbial Systems

2
Institute Strategic Fund

• Annual budget of 200K
• No minimum/maximum budget for proposals
• Available only to NAI Members
• Do not need to be submitted through Team PI
• Unused funds transfer to DDF

3
Institute Strategic Fund

• Evaluation Criteria
• Scientific Merit (60)
• Relevance to CSP (20)
• Added value in terms of multiple disciplines,
  teams, or institutions (20)

4
Institute Strategic Fund
Proposal Package

• 1. Title Page with
• - Full address, contact information, and
  signature approval of the proposing P.I.
• - Institutional authorization (from
  Grants/Business Office) of submitting
  investigators institution including the printed
  name, title, and signature of the institutions
  authorizing official (optional at submission but
  require if selected)
• 2. Table of Contents
• 3. Executive Summary
• 4. Research Plan, which is to be less than 8
  pages in length including the main body, figures,
  and references. Since the application may be seen
  by reviewers in different disciplines, it should
  be written in a form that is accessible to
  scientists in fields different from the
  applicants.
• 5. Statements of Commitment from collaborating
  investigators
• 6. A Curriculum Vitae from each major
  collaborator
• 7. Letters of Support (Institutional, NAI Team,
  PIs, others)
• 8. Budget Description, by year and in total.
  Include any indirect costs if these are zero or
  waived please note this explicitly.

5
Institute Strategic Fund

• Review Panel
• 5 members including the Chair
• Drawn from the EC (i.e., the EC decides how to
  spend these funds)
• Each Member reviews and scores each proposal
• Additional reviews solicited by Panel at their
  discretion
• Based on ranking of mean scores, and other
  factors, Review Panel makes selection
  recommendation to Executive Director

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Institute Strategic Fund
Evaluation Form (example)

• EVALUATION CRITERIA SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
  MERIT
• Scientific and technical merit of the proposed
  interdisciplinary research program, including
  basic innovative and novel approaches to fulfill
  the research directions, and the likelihood that
  substantial progress can be made during the
  proposed duration of the effort. This criterion
  includes scientific breadth of the proposed
  research, plans for coordination of the various
  established science disciplines proposed to
  accomplish the research, and quality of
  scientific staff.
• STRENGTHS
• WEAKNESSES

Score ________
7
Institute Strategic Fund

• Schedule for 2005-2006
• Topic (CSP) Announced November 1, 2005
• Review Panel in place by January 5, 2006
• Proposals Due January 15, 2006
• Selections Announced March 15, 2006

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Institute Strategic Fund

• Call for nominations to ISF Revew Panel