The Syracuse University Office of Research is pleased to announce the launch of the Limited Submission call for letters of intent for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) 2021 Equipment Grants Program. For this NIFA program, Syracuse University may serve as the lead institution for two proposals. For this Limited Submission Opportunity (LSO) we are issuing a call for intent to submit to gauge faculty interest in a particular funding opportunity. At this stage, only submission of a form and abstract is required to express interest in the opportunity.
Click here to view the full competition information.
Sponsor Program Announcement: https://nifa.usda.gov/funding-opportunity/equipment-grant-program-egp
Number of Possible Internal Nominees: 2
Internal Letter of Intent Due Date: February 24, 2021, 5:00 PM
Sponsor Deadline: March 16, 2021
Synopsis of the Program
The Equipment Grant Program (EGP) serves to increase access to shared-use special purpose equipment/instruments for fundamental and applied research for use in the food and agricultural sciences programs at institutions of higher education, including State Cooperative Extension Systems. The program seeks to strengthen the quality and expand the scope of fundamental and applied research at eligible institutions, by providing them with opportunities to acquire one major piece of equipment/instruments that support their research, training, and extension goals and may be too costly and/or not appropriate for support through other NIFA grant programs.
The EGP does not support the acquisition of suites of equipment to outfit research laboratories /facilities or to conduct independent experiments simultaneously. Similarly, the EGP does not fund common, general purpose ancillary equipment that would normally be found in a laboratory and/or is relatively easily procured by the organization or through other NIFA grant programs. Rather, it is intended to help fund items of equipment that will upgrade infrastructure. Moreover, EGP does not fund research projects, including research that uses the equipment acquired with support from the program nor does it support the operation and maintenance of facilities.
Funding and award period
The EGP will only support Standard Grants with a funding request between $25,001 and $500,000 and a project duration of up to three years. The amount available for support of this program in FY 2021 is approximately $4,800,000.
Proposals to the EGP, must be for acquisition of a single, well-integrated piece of equipment/instrument. Well-integrated means that the ensemble of equipment that defines the instrument enables a specific fundamental or applied research experiment in the food and agricultural sciences, including data science and data systems, programs to be undertaken; separating or removing an element or component of such an integrated instrument would preclude that research from occurring or succeeding.
EGP grants are not intended to replace requests for equipment in individual project applications of other NIFA programs. Rather, they are intended to help fund items of equipment that will upgrade infrastructure. Requests for computer equipment are allowed only if the equipment is to be used to enhance an activity integral to the proposed project.
Call for Intent to Submit Limited Submission Process
For this Limited Submission Opportunity (LSO) we are issuing a call for intent to submit to gauge faculty interest in a particular funding opportunity. At this stage, only submission of a form and abstract is required to express interest in the opportunity. If there is more interest than the number of submissions allowed by the sponsor (e.g., four faculty have expressed interest in applying to this opportunity where the sponsor only allows two proposals from the University), we will announce an internal competition for pre-proposals.
If no applications are received by a call for intent to submit deadline, the LSO will become “first come, first served.” At this stage, eligible applicants may express interest in the opportunity any time before the sponsor deadline.
PI Responsibilities
If a proposal is selected and the PI or team decides to forgo an application, they must notify the Office of Research within five days of the selection notice. This allows another proposal to be selected and move forward. If the PI fails to submit a proposal and has not notified the Office of Research, the PI runs the risk of being disqualified from future LSO competitions.
PI Eligibility
For any sponsored research projects, the applicant must be eligible to serve as Principal Investigator for the project, unless otherwise noted in the LSO. Please see our PI Eligibility requirements to ensure you are eligible.
Questions: Email LimitedSubmissions@syr.edu