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MRSEC Seed Grant Program

Seed Grants for Interdisciplinary Research Groups

Request for Applications

The Office of the Vice President for Research, the Office of the Provost, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Renaissance School of Medicine invite applications for a seed grant program to fund collaborative efforts between researchers at Stony Brook University seeking to apply to NSF’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) program.

We anticipate the next MRSEC solicitation to be announced during the Fall 2024 time frame.  In preparation for this, Stony Brook University is launching a campus-wide seed grant program to begin forming competitive Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs).  We hope for participation from researchers across all the colleges/schools on campus. To encourage this, the Office of Proposal Development will host a networking event on March 20 to bring researchers together.  Additionally, the NSF Program Directors of MRSEC encourage watching this recording of the DMR Open Hour from October 2023 for more background information.

This seed grant program will award up to four (4) Interdisciplinary Research Groups, IRGs, each addressing a fundamental materials science topic. Awarded projects will receive between $40,000 and $75,000 (average award size $50,000) for a maximum award period of 12 months.

Each IRG should involve several faculty members (typically from a minimum of 6 to a maximum of 12) addressing a major topic or area, in which sustained support for interactive effort by the several participants of complementary backgrounds, skills, and knowledge is critical to progress. The IRGs in a Center may be thematically related, or they may address different aspects of materials research. The MRSEC in its entirety is holistic, its rationale conditioned on the connection of all its parts, with synergy arising from common infrastructure, shared facilities, education and outreach activities, and other Center-spanning initiatives.

HOW TO APPLY

The deadline is May 22, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST (deadline has been extended). 

Eligibility Requirements

Review carefully to determine whether you need a letter from your Department Chair. 

To serve as Principal Investigator, an individual must have a current full-time faculty appointment at Stony Brook University. Titles that require no prior approval from Chair to serve as PI include: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Distinguished Professor, Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, Clinical Professor, Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, and Research Professor.

Individuals with different titles are required to submit a letter from their Department Chair. 

If needed, the letter should:

  • Define how the research will be used to advance Stony Brook University’s efforts to submit a strong proposal to the MRSEC program.
  • Emphasize how the proposal will contribute to advancing materials research at Stony Brook University.

Additional eligibility information:

  • Individuals may only be a PI on one application.
  • Individuals may only be a Co-PI on two applications. 
Application

All documents should be combined in the following order and uploaded to the seed grant application portal as ONE PDF file. Each section must start on a new page (the page limits for each are listed below). Font size must be 11 points or larger with 1 inch margins. Smaller text in figures, graphs, diagrams and charts is acceptable, as long as it is legible when the page is viewed at 100%.

  1. Project Description (3 pages max) that includes the following:
      • A description of the IRG. List names of faculty-level participants, as well as numbers of undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in each group. Provide a concise description of the long-term research goals and intellectual focus and outline the planned research activities. The need for an interactive, interdisciplinary approach involving several investigators, and the means of achieving this, should be clearly established. IRGs are sought that solve fundamental, timely and complex materials problems that are intellectually challenging and important to society.
  2. List of faculty participants and their current or past DMR funding (no page limit)
  3. Budget Justification (no page limit) that includes a general idea of how the funds would be used:
      • An estimated budget between $40,000 and $75,000 with a general description of how the seed grant funds would be used. Salary requests for PI/Co-PIs must present strong justification, and all personnel related expenses must include fringe. Travel funds may be requested but must be necessary to perform the proposed research. Given that these are internal funds, F&A costs should not be included in the budget;
      • A timeline for spending the funds that is no more than 12 months.
  4. Biographical Sketches for each PI/Co-PI (3 pages max each)

Please note that myResearch is not required.

Evaluation

Applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts selected by the Office of the Vice President for Research. If needed, the reviewers may be external to the University and will sign a confidentiality agreement. The following criteria will be used for evaluation:

  • Intellectual Merit: What is the potential for the proposed activity to advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields?
  • Broader Impacts: To what extent would the proposed program benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes?
  • Research Program: Does the IRG describe a well-integrated research program distinguished by intellectual excellence and driven by a clear vision leading to fundamental advances, new discoveries, and/or technological developments that could have national and international significance?
  • Suitability: Are the capabilities of the investigators, technical soundness of the proposed approach, and adequacy of the resources (available or proposed), including instrumentation and facilities appropriate for a Center?
  • Teamwork: Are the benefits of a multi-investigator, interdisciplinary approach to address a major topic or area normally supported by the Division of Materials Research for each IRG clearly laid out? Does cooperation and interdependence of the investigators within the IRG come across?
  • Innovation: Is the IRG addressing cutting-edge science?
  • Budget: To what extent is the budget clear, efficient, and well-justified?
Project Deliverables
  • Midpoint Check-in: Awarded projects will be required to present their findings half way through the award period. The modality (written or oral) is TBD. 
  • Final Report: Awarded projects will be required to submit a preliminary proposal in accordance with and consistent with the MRSEC solicitation for their specific IRG. Please note that seed recipients not selected for the ultimate MRSEC submission will be required to submit to a separate external sponsor/program. Projects will need to indicate this separate external sponsor/program in their final report. 
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/QUESTIONS

Questions should be directed to the Office of Proposal Development at OPD_OVPR@stonybrook.edu

Special Initiative Seed Grant Programs
Special Initiative Seed Grant Programs