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Descripton at end of newsletter Week of May 20, 2024
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Greetings Dornsife Faculty,
This week's report includes
- Accolade for one Dornsife faculty member;
- External funding success reported for one College faculty member;
- Current and diverse external funding opportunities, including two limited submissions;
- Announcement from NIH revisions to the Research Performance Progress Report instructions to address the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy;
- Announcement for Contracts and Grants on Fourth of July office closure; and
- Reminder of zoom office hours for help in Research Administration.
We wish you a peaceful Memorial Day weekend as we remember and honor the men and women who risked, and sacrificed life and limb in defense of our Nation.
Best regards,
Renee J. Perez, Vice Dean, Administration & Finance
Cathleen Crayton, Project Specialist, Research Administration
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Accolade
Joan Flores-Villalobos, History, has received the 2024 David Montgomery Award from the Organization of American Historians (OAH) for her book The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023).
External Funding Success
Brian Finch, Center for Economic and Social Research, Country, cohort, and gender disparities in the relationship between education and ADRD, National Institute on Aging
External Funding Opportunities
**Limited Submission***
(Time senstive - one proposal submission per institution)
Department of State / Bureau of Global Talent Management
Program: Nancy Pelosi Fellowship Funding Opportunity #: DFOP0016559
Synopsis: Supports organizations that will enable undergraduate students to leverage professional experience gained through paid Fellowship opportunities at the Department of State and at think tanks, foundations, or other non-education institutions dedicated to global service and engagement to prepare to pursue a career in the Department of State’s Foreign Civil Service. The program recruits and builds diverse future talent sources in support of the Department’s strategic workplace planning priorities to hire a highly qualified workforce from all segments of society. Interns must be U.S. citizens.
Award details: In addition for funds for recruiting interns, the award provides up to ~$18K per intern annual stipend and ~$7K per intern for in-person orientation and seminar.
USC internal announcement: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/nancy-pelosi-fellowship-program/
External announcement on website: Pelosi Fellowship
USC Internal due date: June 7, 2024.
External due date: July 8, 2024.
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***Limited Submssion***
(1 proposal submission per institution)
NIH / National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Program: Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORC) Research Resource Center (RRC) (P2C - Resource-Related Research Multi-Component Projects and Centers)
NOFO #: RFA-DK-25-011
Synopsis: Supports and enhances the national research effort in nutrition and obesity through cutting-edge basic, clinical, translational, and health disparities research in nutrition science and obesity. In collaboration with the existing NORC program, the RRC will (1) provide administrative support for the entire NORC Program, (2) establish and curate a NORC Program website and centralized repository of research resources, (3) implement a multi-pronged approach to support and grow a diverse early-to-midcareer research workforce with a goal of maximizing national outreach and impact, (4) administer and manage a NORC Opportunity Program to address gaps and promote collaboration, and (5) manage a Pilot and Feasibility Program.
Award details: Maximum award is $625K direct costs in first year and $565K for direct costs in years 2-5, exclusive of consortium F&A costs.
USC announcement on website: https://rii.usc.edu/limited-submissions/rfa-dk-25-007/
External announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-25-011.html
USC Internal due date: June 21, 2024.
Letter of Intent due date: September 9, 2024.
External Application due date: October 9, 2024.
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Norwegian Parliament
Program: The Holberg Prize
Synopsis: Supports a scholar who has made outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social science, law or theology, either in one of these fields or through interdisciplinary work. Named after Danish-Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg, the prize seeks to amplify international scholarship in the above named fields.
Award details: $600K
Announcement on website: https://holbergprize.org/en/holbergprisen/nominations-holberg-prize
Nominations due date: June 15, 2024.
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William T. Grant Program (WTG)
Program: Scholars Program
Synopsis: Supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. The Scholars award program includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community. Focus Area: Reducing Inequality: Proposals should (1) Identify a specific inequality in youth outcomes; (2) Discuss the dimension(s) of inequality the study will address; (3) Articulate how findings will help build test, or increase understanding of a program, policy or practice to reduce the specific inequality. Focus Area: Improving the Use of Research Evidence. Proposals are sought for (1) Building, identifying, or testing ways to improve the use of existing research evidence; (2) Building, identifying, or testing ways to facilitate the production of new research evidence that responds to decision-makers’ needs; and (3) Testing whether strategies that improve the use of research evidence in turn improve decision-making and youth outcomes.
Award details: $350K over 5 years, and including 7.5% indirect costs.
Announcement on website: https://wtgrantfoundation.org/funding/william-t-grant-scholars-program
Mentor and Reference Letters due date: June 12, 2024.
Application / Nominations due date: July 3, 2024. Please contact your Dornsife Divisional Dean if interested.
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Foundation for Child Development
Program: 2025 Young Scholars Program (YSP)
Synopsis: Supports scholarship for early-career researchers. The program funds research projects that aim to clarify how, why, and for whom policies, programs, and practices support the early care and education workforce and shape children’s early learning experiences and well-being in early childhood, defined as birth through age eight. Applicants must have completed their terminal degree within the last 10 years of the date of application. YSP encourages scholars who represent a variety of disciplines and methodologies, as well as scholars who are from underrepresented groups who have experienced racism, xenophobia, poverty, discrimination and prejudice.
Award details: Up to $225K for projects with primary data collection and analysis; up to $180K for projects using secondary data analysis.
Announcement on website: https://www.fcd-us.org/2025-young-scholars-program-call-for-proposals/
Letter of Intent due date: June 3, 2024.
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American Psychological Foundation
Program: The Trust Grant in Honor of Eric A. Harris, Ed.D, JD
Synopsis: Supports early career psychologists (≤ 10 years postdoctoral) and graduate students for projects in the area of ethics and risk management. Applications will be evaluated on innovative and potential impact, clear and comprehensive methodology, realistic aims and practicality of budget.
Award details: $5K
Announcement on website: https://apf.apa.org/funding/trust-grant-harris/
Application due date: June 26, 2024.
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American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
Program: AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research Grants
Synopsis: Supports early to mid-career investigators for creative, paradigm-shifting cancer research that might not be funded through conventional channels. It is expected that these grants will catalyze significant scientific discoveries that will advance our understanding of cancer and have a potentially transformative impact on future clinical practice. As of December 2024, applicants must have an assistant or associate professorship at an academic, medical, or research and have active AACR membership in the current year. Non-members must submit a satisfactory online application. Members may renew memberships online as well. Current holders of the AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research grant are not eligible.
Award details: $400K direct costs over 2 years. PI and co-PI salaries are limited to 25$ of grant. No indirect costs allowed.
Announcement on website: https://www.aacr.org/grants/aacr-mpm-oncology-charitable-foundation-transformative-cancer-research-grants/
Letter of Intent due date: June 11, 2024.
Application due date: October 1, 2024.
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National Endowment for the Humanities
Program: Media Projects
Synopsis: Supports the development, production, and distribution of radio programs, podcasts, documentary films, and documentary film series that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. Expected output of awards include Film/TV/Video; Online Video; Podcast; Radio Broadcast
Projects must be grounded in humanities scholarship and demonstrate an approach that is thoughtful, balanced, and analytical. Media Projects offers two levels of funding: Development and Production.
Award details: Maximum award amount $75K for Development over 6-12 months; $700K for Production for 1-3 years; $1M for Chair’s Special Awards
Announcement on website: https://www.neh.gov/program/media-projects
Optional draft due date: July 10, 2024.
Application due date: August 14, 2024.
Project start date: May 1 to November 1, 2024.
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National Park Service – Historic Preservation Fund
Program: History of Equal Rights (HER)
Synopsis: Supports projects that aim to preserve and protect sites associated with efforts to achieve equal rights. The History of Equal Rights grants are not limited to any specific group and are intended to include the broadest possible interpretation of equal rights for any American. Specifically supports pre-preservation studies, architectural plans and specifications, historic structure reports, and the repair and rehabilitation of historic properties according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Archeology and Historic Preservation.
Award details: Preservation projects must range from $75K to $750K in federal share, of which 20% may go toward pre-preservation costs such as architectural or engineering services. Grant applications that solely involve pre-preservation work must range from $15K to $75K. Administrative costs may not exceed 25% of project budget.
Announcement on website: History of Equal Rights https://www.nps.gov/subjects/historicpreservationfund/upload/HER_23_508-2.pdf
Application due date: August 20, 2024.
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NASA / ROSES 2025 / Heliophysics Division (HPD)
Program: Artificial Intelligence Applications in Heliophysics
Funding #: NNH24ZDA001N-AIAH
Synopsis: Supports projects for innovative adaptations and applications of existing AI techniques, concepts, methodologies, etc. to demonstrate their feasibility and potential to increase science return, as well as to inform Heliophysics science research disciplines of promising techniques and capabilities.
Suggestions of research topics of interest include
- Continuous and affordable validation of existing AI models;
- Development of techniques for integration of HPD AI models into current tools for analysis of HPD data.
- Development of techniques for analyzing HPD data in repositories for bias (i.e., instrument bias, processing pipeline biases) and a common uncertainty quantification (UQ) and to produce a common ancillary metadata product that then can be used as a basis for identifying inconsistent or uneven bias, identifying variances in calibration and for computing uncertainty for a derivative dataset.
- Making the results of AI analysis understandable to the science community, which does not have extensive AI theory or experience, is essential to the model’s credibility.
Award details: ~$1M program funds for ~5-9 projects of 1 year duration.
Announcement on website: AI for Heliophysics Applications
Notice of Intent due date: July 1, 2024.
Proposal due date: August 22, 2024.
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Department of Energy (DoE) / Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)
Program: Vision OPEN 2024
Funding Opportunity #: DE-FOA-0003387
Synopsis: Supports the development of transformational technologies that will achieve energy transition towards net-zero by 2055. The Vision includes three goals that are critical to achieve a sustainable energy and carbon transition with: 1) Greenhouse Gas-free abundant primary energy; 2) An intermodal energy superhighway that transports diversified forms of primary energy; and 3) A carbon transition that sustainably meets demand for polymers and other materials. Proposals for Vision OPEN must address a subtopic of one of these overarching goals, as described in the solicitation.
Award details: Awards will range from $250K to $10M in federal share. Project period is 36 months.
Announcement on website: Vision OPEN
Concept Papers due date: July 16, 2024.
Full Application due date (for proposals that are encouraged): TBD
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Department of Defense (DoD) / Defense Health Program
Program: Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research Program (TBIPHRP) – Emerging Topics Award
Funding Opportunity Number: HT942524TBIPHRPETRA
Synopsis: Supports research that will advance understanding of how deficiencies that coincide with chronic impulse exposure and insults to the head affect the brain physically and the need for increased etiological considerations for how the physical blows manifest to cognitive deficits and psychiatric episodes outside of the International Classification of Diseases paradigm. Proposals proposing preclinical research (animal studies) and clinical research (including clinical trials) are appropriate. Topic areas of interest fall under 3 broad categories
- Blast / Impulse Exposure and Psychological / Cognitive Health
- Diagnosis and Treatment of Anger
- Define risk and protective factors for harmful behaviors at the interpersonal and organizational levels: and
- Relationship between social media and mental health.
Award details: Research Level 1 for projects of smaller scope: $700K over 3 years for direct costs; Research Level 2 for support larger scope, more complex
preclinical, clinical research, or clinical trials: $1.5M over 4 years for direct costs. Research Level 2 includes an Early Career Partnering Option.
Announcement on website: Traumatic Brain Injury & Psychological Research
Pre-Application due date: June 27, 2024.
Application due date (invited): October 3, 2024.
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Department of Defense (DoD) / Defense Health Program
Program: Melanoma Research Program – Team Science Award
Funding Opportunity #: HT942524MRPTSA
Synopsis: Supports a broad range of hypothesis-driven, multidisciplinary research (basic, data science, translational, bioengineering, inequities and disparities) that will focus on three strategic areas:
- Prevention and interception (e.g., identify risk factors determinants and biomarkers, define mechanisms of melanoma initiation, progression, recurrence, emergence from tumor dormancy, and/or metastatic spread.
- Rare melanomas – address unmet needs across the entire cancer research spectrum ( i.e., biology, etiology, prevention, early diagnosis and detection, prognosis, treatment, and survivorship) for rare melanomas.
- Survivorship – Address the psychological and social impacts of a melanoma diagnosis, symptom trajectories, adverse effects of treatment, and other outcomes that affect melanoma survivors and their family members/caregivers. Address the physical impacts of symptom trajectories; acute and late-occurring adverse effects of treatment, including toxicities, reproductive and sexual health issues, and side effects that may not manifest until after treatment has ended; role of diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors on treatment outcomes and/or quality of life; etc.
Award details: Maximum award is $1.5M for 3 years.
Announcement on website: Melanoma Research Program Team Science (CAC)
Letter of Intent due date: July 29, 2024.
Application submission due date: August 26, 2024.
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Department of Defense (DoD) / Army Research Laboratory
Program: BAA for Foundation Research
Funding Opportunity #: W911NF-23-S-0001-0002
Synopsis: Supports cutting-edge foundational conducting scientific studies and experimentation toward advancing the state of the art or increasing basic knowledge and understanding across the sciences. ARO competitively selects and funds basic research proposals across a broad range of scientific disciplines related to long-term national security needs. Interested PIs are encouraged to consult with current areas of interest of the ARL Here are a few current topics:
- Atomic and molecular physics
- Biochemistry
- Biomathematics
- Complex dynamics and systems
Award details: Single Investigator Awards: Funds 3 year project; Short-Term Innovation Research award: $60K Early Career Awards: $120K over 3 years.
Announcement on website: ARL BAA
Application due date: Continuous through 2027 unless announced otherwise.
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Defense Threat Reduction Agency / Cooperative Threat Reduction Directorate / Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP)
Program: Biological Threat Reduction with Global Partners Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)
Funding Opportunity Number: HDTRA1-24-S-0002
Synopsis: Supports cooperative scientific studies that offer a significant contribution to support, enhance, and inform partner country systems to detect, diagnose, and report diseases; instill biosecurity and biosafety (BS&S) best practices and principles; foster sustainable bioscience capability development with partner countries; and establish collaborative partnerships with BTRP partner countries. Examples of research of interest
include
- Improving understanding of the burden, incidence, prevalence, or distribution of endemic, novel, or emerging/re-emerging diseases;
- Strengthening understanding of environmental or population risk factors influencing transmission or zoonotic spillover (e.g. cultural practices, infection prevention and control, migratory and grazing pathways) to develop prevention or mitigation strategies;
- Evaluating or designing effective and self-sustaining training programs to enhance partner nation capabilities to detect and diagnose disease.
Award details: Awards will be based on the value and scope of the project. Project performance period is up to 5 years.
Announcement on website: Biological Threat Reduction w/Global Partners
Application due date and procedure: BAA is continuously open through April 28, 2029. All applicants are required to submit an abstract, that may be submitted anytime. Based on review of the abstract, applicants will be invited to submit a White Paper within 60 days. Invitations to submit full application may occur anytime after White Paper evaluation and applicants will be provided at least 45 days to submit full proposal.
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Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPAH), Health Science Futures Office (HSF)
Program: Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue (PRINT)
Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO): ARPA-H-SOL-24-101
Synopsis: Note: This announcement is an amended draft dated 5.17.2024)
Supports proposals that aim to transform organ biofabrication by leveraging recent advances in 3D bioprinting, cell manufacturing, biomaterials, modeling, and tissue engineering. The PRINT program will assemble the necessary tools to facilitate production from a human cell source to a patient matched biofabricated organ (kidney, heart or liver) to restore at least 40% normal organ function as demonstrated in a large animal model. These tools include: 1) robust methods for cell source differentiation and/or expansion of immunocompetent organ specific cell types, 2) bioreactors and cell biobanks to reach organ level cell number, 3) a library of bioinks capable of recapitulating each unique microenvironment and cellular niche, 4) software to both model complex tissue organization as well as control advanced printing systems, 5) hardware for rapid high resolution precision bioprinting controllers and nozzles, and 6) perfusion chamber enabling effective tissue maturation and transportation to the patient bedside prior to transplantation, among others, as necessary.
Award details: Multiple awards are anticipated. The resources made available under this ISO, and number of awards made will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. ARPA-H reserves the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no awards.
Announcement on website: PRINT Draft
Summary Solution due date: May 28, 2024.
Proposal due date: August 20, 2024.
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NSF / Directorates for Biological Sciences and Geosciences (& National Natural Science Foundation of China, The Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa)
Program: Biodiversity on a Changing Planet
Solicitation #: 24-574
Synopsis: Supports both US-only collaborative proposals and proposals with international partnerships that integrate ecological and evolutionary approaches to enhance understanding of functional biodiversity. Projects should consider past and current ecological and evolutionary processes to enhance understanding of functional biodiversity under various types of environmental change. A couple of areas of interest include, for example
- research on speciation/diversification/extinction rates and dynamics under changing environmental conditions; the effects of phylogenetic history and relatedness on trait evolution and functional biodiversity.
- research into integrated macroecological, macroevolutionary approaches to investigating community assembly, species coexistence, and ecosystem responses along changing environmental gradients; the relationships among trait diversity, species diversity, phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity on ecological and evolutionary timescales.
- the role of emergent and non-linear properties in complex biodiversity dynamics and functional biodiversity; connections between macroecology and macroevolutionary theory and causality as they pertain to functional biodiversity. Proposals may be submitted for either the Design Track or the Implementation Track. The Design aims at building new teams with no collaborative history. The Implementation Track, which aims at building new teams with no prior collaborative history and must combine specific team-building activities over the three years of the project with the development of creative research and technical approaches that start to address critical functional biodiversity.
Award details: Design Track: will fund collaborative US-only or international collaborative projects for up to $500K over a 3 year project period; Implementation Track: will fund collaborative US-only or international collaborative grants over a maximum of 5 years.
Announcement on website: https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/nsf24574.pdf
Full proposal due date: September 5, 2024, and first Thursday in September, annually.
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NIH / National Institute on Aging
Program: Access and Manipulation of Brain Cell Subtypes Implicated in Aging and AD/ADRD (R61 / R33 — Exploratory / Developmental Phased Award)
NOFO #: RFA-AG-25-024
Synopsis: Supports research that propose strategies to target and manipulate brain cell subtypes that are altered in aging including Alzheimer’s and Alzheimer related dementia, Frontotemporal disorders, Lewy-Body disease etc. The two main objectives of this NOFO are (1) Optimize access to brain cell-types, using guidelines specified in the NOFO; and (2) Use the adeno-associated virus (AAV) enhancer tools to manipulate and / or monitor brain cell types to address mechanistic hypotheses in aging and Alzheimer’s and related diseases using guidelines specified in the NOFO.
Award details: No budget restrictions, but must reflect the needs of this phased project: R61 phase may not exceed 2 years; phase RR3 may not exceed 3 years.
Announcement on website: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AG-25-024.html
Letter of Intent due date: September 6, 2024.
Application due date: October 7, 2024.
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Announcements of Interest for Dornsife Investigators
USC Office of Research and Innovation - Contracts and Grants
NIH is informing the extramural research community of planned changes to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) instructions to address the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. Upon receiving approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), NIH will issue new DMS RPPR questions that align with the NIH Final Policy on Data Management and Sharing to include updates on the status of data sharing, repositories and unique identifiers for data that have been shared.
See News Flash! for details.
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Contracts and Grants will be closed for the Independence Holiday July 4th and July 5th. PIs and Administrators are urged to take into consideration proposal submission due dates that fall on these dates. See News Flash! for more info.
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Dornsife Research Office
Office Hours for Help with Research Administration Questions
Every Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. via Zoom: USC Dornsife Research Administration is now offering weekly office hours via Zoom. Feel free to join to ask questions and connect with research administration staff.
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Book Cover: Otherwold: Nine Tales of Wonder and Romance from Medieval Ireland (Oxford Universty Press, forthcoming October 2024) Lisa Bitel, Religion and History
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