Proposal Preparation Forms and Guide

After identifying a potential sponsor of the project, a copy of the Request for Proposal (RFP), solicitation, or program description should be obtained, forwarded to the Sponsored Research Administration (SRA), and followed in detail. This will facilitate the budget preparation process outlined below.

When a researcher decides to submit a proposal, a budget is developed and sent electronically to SRA for reviewing and compliance with university and funding agency requirements. This should be accomplished at least two weeks before the proposal deadline.

After downloading the budget template and upon completing the budget, the Principal Investigator (PI) should also download a proposal routing and Departmental Approval form (also known as a Cost Sharing Statement),  and the Conflict of Interest form from the SRA website.  These forms can be obtained under the “forms” section of the website.    

All PIs are responsible for obtaining matching fund commitments and approvals. We need your scope of work, budget, and the internal sign-offs with your chair’s and dean’s approval in our SRA office before your proposal can be submitted.

SRA has found that proposals submitted in advance are more successful and prefers approximately two weeks to process and submit a proposal that has all of the necessary documents and approvals.   If adequate time is given SRA, we will submit the proposal to the appropriate funding agency guaranteed to meet the submission deadline.

NIH Revised Application and Biographical Sketch Forms

The revised forms and instructions are now available on the SF 424 (R&R) Forms and Applications page and adjustments have been made to improve their usability. Individual fellowships, R36 dissertation grants, and diversity supplements should use the Fellowship Application Biographical Sketch Format Page and related pre-doc and post-doc instructions and samples, while research grant applications, career development, training grant, and all other application types should use the general Biographical Sketch Format Page and instructions and sample.

The new format extends the page limit for the biosketch from four to five pages and allows researchers to describe up to five of their most significant contributions to science, along with the historical background that framed their research. Investigators can outline the central findings of prior work and the influence of those findings on the investigator’s field. Investigators involved in Team Science are provided the opportunity to describe their specific role(s) in the work. Each description can be accompanied by a listing of up to four relevant peer-reviewed publications or other non-publication research products, including audio or video products; patents; data and research materials; databases; educational aids or curricula; instruments or equipment; models; protocols; and software or netware that are relevant to the described contribution. In addition to the descriptions of specific contributions and documentation, researchers will be allowed to include a link to a full list of their published work as found in a publicly available digital database such as MyBibliography or SciENcv.

Tool to Help Build the New Biosketch

The Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv), which serves as an interagency system designed to create biosketches for multiple federal agencies, will be updated by the end of December to support the new biosketch format and to address some issues found in testing. 

SciENcv pulls information from available resources making it easy to develop a repository of information that can be readily updated and modified to prepare future biosketches. A YouTube video provides instructions for using SciENcv.

More Information on the NIH website


NSF Proposal Submission Guidelines

Unless specified in an NSF program solicitation, proposals to NSF must be submitted electronically via either the NSF FastLane System or Grants.gov.  Proposals submitted via FastLane should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically at http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg.  Proposers are reminded to identify the program solicitation number in the program solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing.  Proposals submitted via Grants.gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov. The complete text of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: 

(http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide). 

The Policy Office, in the Division of Institution and Award Support, provides general policy guidance for proposers. The Policy Office page includes NSF regulations, other Federal regulations, notices of important policies and other information for proposers and awardees.  

For updated Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, please see the following websites:

Proposal Preparation/Award Management Interface (Fastlane and Research.gov)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that beginning on April 30, 2018, proposers will be able to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov. The initial release of this new Research.gov capability will run in parallel with existing FastLane proposal preparation and submission capabilities, so proposers can choose to prepare and submit full, research non-collaborative proposals in Research.gov or in FastLane starting on April 30, 2018. The guidelines and information about proposal preparation and submission are available here.