Internal competition set for NSF's PFI program

The UT Office of Research is holding an internal competition to determine who will be allowed to send a proposal on behalf of the university to the National Science Foundation's Partnerships for Innovation 2006 solicitation.

NSF will accept only one proposal in which UT is the lead or submitting institution. UT can also be a participating partner is at most two proposals but can be a partner in only one proposal if UT also is submitting a proposal as the lead institution.

The PFI program expects to fund between 10 and 15 promising partnerships among academic institutions, the private sector, and government on all levels in order to support moving innovations from academic settings into the local, regional, and national economies. See the full NSF solicitation.


Guidelines for Internal Preproposal

1. Fill out and include a completed NSF cover sheet prepared using the NSF FastLane.
2. Write a two-page project summary, clearly stating the following:

a. Goals
b. Participants (UT and others)
c. A brief description of the research to be accomplished

3. Prepare a budget summary (use the NSF FastLane to prepare the budget and submit only the summary budget to the internal competition)

UT internal deadline: 12:00 noon, Thursday, May 18, 2006

Please submit preproposals as an e-mail attachment to Arlene Garrison (garrison@tennessee.edu) and Barbara Craddock (craddock@utk.edu). Information is available on-line about the recently revised internal competition process. Contact Arlene Garrison (865-974-6410) with questions.

Deadline for proposals to reach the NSF is 30 August 2006.
Note: NSF has a 28 June 2006 deadline for an optional letter of intent.