Submission Guidance

The Byrd Center specializes in preparing proposals for success across multiple platforms, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and various other foundations and sponsors, that are each unique in their requirements. Our goal is efficiency in helping streamline processes and facilitate critical proposal documents and applying our expertise to ensure each proposal is correctly prepared and submitted in order to ensure the best chance of success. Please contact Cathy Carson or Michele Cook for more information. Let's work together on a proposal to fund your research program!

NSF/Research.gov proposers, please note!!

To avoid line spacing violations when creating a Word document, ensure you have exactly 6 lines per vertical inch:

Go to  Layout tab; open Paragraph settings; on Indents and Spacing tab, go to "Line spacing" and select  Exactly (drop-down menu), then 12 pt in the "at" field.

Information and Helpful Links

National Science Foundation notes

A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1) has been issued. The new PAPPG will be effective for proposals submitted or due on or after May 20, 2024.

You are encouraged to review the by-chapter Summary of Changes provided in the PAPPG.

NSF will present information about these changes in a webinar on March 12th at 2 PM EST. Sign up on the Policy Office outreach website to be notified once registration opens.

 While this version of the PAPPG becomes effective on May 20, 2024, in the interim, the guidelines contained in the current PAPPG (NSF 23-1) continue to apply.  


Fastlane’s days are numbered! As of December 31, 2022, Fastlane will no longer be available as a platform for proposals. NSF encourages use of research.gov instead (when allowed by the solicitation). This is good news and should simplify and streamline our NSF proposal submissions.

Remember changes as of October 4, 2021 – new NSF formats for Biosketch and Current/Pending documents.

Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) is a free electronic system sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that helps prepare your NSF required biosketch and current and pending documents. All Byrd NSF PI’s are encouraged to utilize this system for the NSF bio sketch and current and pending senior personnel documents for NSF submissions. The Byrd Center Grants office (contact Cathy Carson) is happy to help. 

Weblinks below – to get started you can go to the first link and log in with your NSF ID and password. Click on the NSF icon under login.  

Please note that we have discovered that you need to 'save' documents (instead of printing) to PDF when downloading from SciENcv in order to be acceptable for uploading to NSF platforms.  

NASA ROSES-2022 significant proposal notes:

Expansion of the Inclusion Plan pilot program: the following 2022 ROSES program elements will require an Inclusion Plan: A.23 ESI, A.28 IDS, B.22 Space Weather Centers of Excellence (SWxCs), D.3 APRA, D.7 SAT, D.12 TCAN, D.13 Pioneers, D.15 LPS, D.16 Astrophysics Decadal Survey Precursor Science (ADSPS), and F.10 PRISM. This is a default 2-page plan following the Data Management Plan (Program Element and Summary of Solicitation provide more info). Assessment of plan will not change adjectival ratings or selection recommendations.

Expansion of Dual-Anonymous Peer Review (DAPR): In 2022, the following ROSES program elements are using DAPR:

A.18 AuraST/ACMAP, A.26 Earth USPI, A.32 Studies with ICESat-2, B.4 HGIO, B.16 H-ARD, Planetary DAPs C.7-C.11, D.2 ADAP, Astro Observing programs D.5, D.6, and D.9-D.11, D.16 ADSPS D.17 XRISM, F.3 XRP and F.4 HW. Details at: https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/dual-anonymous-peer-review and Section VI(b) of the ROSES Summary of Solicitation.

Regarding “rolling deadline” proposals: More programs accept proposals at any time without any preliminary statement such as a Notice of Intent or Step-1 proposal. Though the NSPIRES page for those programs display a "Proposals Due" date, that is simply the end date for the current ROSES, after which proposals may be submitted to the program element with the same name in the next ROSES. There are two categories of proposals of this type:

1) No Due Date (NoDD) programs that will review proposals with a cadence that will depend on the rate at which proposals are submitted:

A.24 RRNES, A.51 Applications-Oriented Augmentations for Research and Analysis, C.2 EW, C.3 SSW, C.4 PDAR, C.5 Exobio, C.6 SSO, C.12 PICASSO, C.16 LARS. F.2 TWSC and F.8 SOSS.

2) programs that will review quarterly: B.12 HDEE, B.15 HITS, and B.20

 

Change in OSU Fringe Rates:  As of July 12022, the University has revised its fringe rates.  Note significant increase in A and P Regular Staff and Civil Service rates (from 35.1% to 38%). Rates for F and A (indirect) costs are unchanged at 57.5%.

Contact Cathy Carson with any questions at 688-0548 or carson.7@osu.edu


New NSF Research.gov Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Policy

Effective October 27, 2024, all external Research.gov users must complete MFA enrollment and use MFA each time they sign in. The MFA options vary by role, with phishing-resistant methods required for financial or administrative users. Learn more about MFA policy. 

Training resources and guides will be available on October 27 on Research.gov Help. 

For IT-related questions, contact the NSF IT Service Desk at 1-800-381-1532 or email rgov@nsf.gov

Please contact Cathy Carson at the Byrd Center for more information/assistance.

Email: carson.7@osu.edu
Phone: (614) 688-0548