New NSF Proposal Requirements
January 05, 2009Investigators submitting proposals to the National Science Foundation on or after January 5th 2009 should be aware of the following significant change in NSF requirements:
Any proposal that requests funding for postdoctoral researchers has to include, as a separate section within the 15-page project description, a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Examples of mentoring activities include, but are not limited to: career counseling; training in preparation of grant proposals, publications and presentations; guidance on ways to improve teaching and mentoring skills; guidance on how to effectively collaborate with researchers from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary areas; and training in responsible professional practices. The proposed mentoring activities will be evaluated as part of the merit review process under the Foundation's broader impacts merit review criterion. Proposals that do not include a separate section on mentoring activities within the Project Description will be returned without review.
In addition, NSF has modified its Senior Project Personnel Salaries & Wages Policy as follows:
‘As a general policy, NSF limits salary compensation for senior project personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year. This limit includes salary compensation received from all NSF-funded grants’. The major effect of this change is that it is now possible to charge academic year salary as well as off duty quarter salary to NSF awards, within the two month limitation.
For additional information see http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf09_1/gpg_sigchanges.jsp
