Administration

The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) serves to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in our Nation’s institutions of higher education, museums and science centers, and non-profit organizations. This program especially seeks to improve the quality and expand the scope of research and research training in science and engineering, by providing shared instrumentation that fosters the integration of research and education in research-intensive learning environments. Development and acquisition of research instrumentation for shared inter- and/or intra-organizations use is encouraged, as are development efforts that leverage the strengths of private sector partners as appropriate for the goals of the MRI Program.

To accomplish these goals, the MRI Program assists with the acquisition or development of shared research instrumentation that is, in general, too costly and/or not appropriate for the support through other NSF programs. For the purposes of the MRI Program, proposals must be for either acquisition or development. Instruments are expected to be operational for regular research use by the end of the award period. A key recommendation of a 2006 National Academies report on “Advanced Research Instrumentation and Facilities” (ARIF) was the NSF should expand the MRI Program so that it includes “mid-scale” instrumentation whose capital costs are greater than $2 million, but with costs that are not appropriate for NSF’s Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account. The MRI Program now accepts proposals requesting over $2 million in NSF support (to the maximum request of $4 million) for the acquisition of a single instrument. For proposals requesting $2 million or less, investigators may seeks support for the instrument development or for the acquisition of a single instrument, a large system of instruments, or multiple instruments that share a common or specific research focus.

Please also note that 30% cost share is required. Documentation of the availability of cost sharing must be included in the proposal.

The complete solicitation (PDF) can be found online for review.

1. To provide a balanced instrumentation portfolio at diverse organizations, across varied research topics, and that serves to train and support a broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce across the entire nation, the MRI program requires that an organization may submit or be included as a funded subawardee/subcontractor in no more than three MRI proposals. No more than two proposal submissions may be for instrument acquisition.

2. To promote instrumentation development, the MRI program continues to require that if an organization submits or is included as a funded subawardee/subcontractor in three MRI programs, at least one of the proposals must be for instrument development. NSF reserves the right to carefully examine development proposals to ensure that they meet the requirement for this proposal type (Section II of the guidelines), and that submission limits have not be exceeded.

Note: For the purposes of the MRI Program, proposals must be for either acquisition or development. Please see Section II: Program Description for information on characteristics of acquisition and development proposals.

**An unfunded collaboration does not count against the submission limit.

Please submit the following materials electronically to limitedsub@austin.utexas.edu no later than 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14, 2008:

1. Dean's or ORU Director's Letter of Nomination
2. Two page maximum description of the research activities. Briefly describe the research and research training activities and the projects that will be enabled with the desired instrumentation. Mark at the top of the page if the proposal is for acquisition or development. Please also specify at the top of the page if it is a lead proposal or a subaward/subcontract. If the proposal is a subaward/subcontract to another institution, their description or research activities is required.
3. The biographical sketch of the UT PI

** The Associate Deans for Research should rank the proposals accordingly and submit them forward.

Dr. Alex de Lozanne has been selected to submit a proposal for development, and Drs. Christopher Bielawski and Paul Barbara have been selected to submit acquisition proposals.