Research

NSF MRI internal submission guidelines

Submissions to the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program must follow standard limited submissions procedures with the following modifications.

  • All submissions must include a description of where the instrument will be housed and a sustainability plan. The sustainability plan must address:
    • The expected life of the instrument.
    • Anticipated operations & maintenance, or O&M, costs over that lifetime.
    • The plan for covering O&M costs over the instrument's lifetime and the source of funding; in particular, address what will happen when NSF support ends.
    • If you plan to use user fees as a way to support the instrument's O&M costs, please address what the costs to a user will be, the expected number of users per year, and a description of the market for using the instrument — who will be your users and how likely will they be to use the instrument?
    • If O&M costs will be covered through department and/or college support, please provide email documentation from the appropriate administrator.
  • The MRI program has a 30% cost share; thus, all submissions must address how you anticipate meeting this cost share. If you have a commitment from your dean and/or department head, please include a brief email documenting this potential commitment.
  • Include bios only for the PI and one co-PI — the one you consider your key collaborator — using the two-page NSF format.

The rest of the requirements remain the same. For development submissions, please be sure to address in your narrative what significant new capabilities, not available from a vendor, will the new instrument provide? For pre-proposals that will address resubmissions, please be sure to discuss the overall review you received from NSF and how you are addressing the weaknesses of the previous submission.

All submission components should be combined into a single PDF and submitted to ordlimitedsubs@k-state.edu by 5 p.m. on the date listed on the Upcoming Limited Submission Opportunities table. Use no smaller than an 11 pt. Times New Roman font.