NSF Proposal Preparation Instructions

NSF PROPOSAL WRITING GUIDELINES

The following information is an excerpt from the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide

(PAPPG). To view the entire PAPPG visit: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappg22_1/index.jsp

Proposal Pagination, Margin and Spacing Requirements

All proposals must be clear, legible, and conform to the following requirements:

a. Arial,

Courier New, Palatino Linotype at a font size of 10 points or larger; or Times New Roman or

Computer Modern, 11 points or larger.

b. A font size of less than 10 points may be used for: mathematical formulas or equations; figures;

tables or diagram captions; and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special

characters.

c. Fonts such as Cambria Math may be used for mathematical formulas, equations, or when

inserting Greek letters or special characters.

d. Margins, in all directions, must be at least an inch.

e. No more than six lines of text within a vertical space of one inch.

f. For Fastlane submissions, each section of the proposal must be individually paginated prior to

upload. For Research.gov, page numbers are not required because the system will automatically add

them.

Required Documents

1. Project Summary (1-page limit)

The proposal must contain a summary of the proposed activity suitable for publication. It must

clearly address the following under three distinct headings within the one-page summary:

• an overview of the proposed activity;

• the intellectual merit of the proposed activity;

• the broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity.

Overview

Intellectual Merit

Broader Impacts

• Describe the activity

that would result if

the proposal were

funded

• State the objectives

and methods to be

employed

• Potential to advance knowledge and

understanding within and across

fields

• Qualifications of investigators

• If collaboration, how chosen

partners strengthen project

• Creativity and originality

• Conceptualization and organization

• Access to resources

• Potential to benefit society and

contribute to the achievement

of specific, desired societal

outcomes.

• Advances discovery while

promoting teaching, training

and learning

• Broadens the participation of

underrepresented groups (e.g.,

gender, ethnicity, disability,

geographic, etc.)

• Enhances the infrastructure for

research and education, such

as facilities, instrumentation,

networks and partnerships

•

Results disseminated broadly

Proposals that do not separately address both merit review criteria within the one-page Project

Summary will be returned without review.

For FastLane submissions, only Project Summaries that use special characters may be uploaded in the

Supplementary Documents section. However, they must contain separate headings for Overview,

Intellectual Merit, and Broader Impacts or the proposal will be returned without review.

2. Project Description (15-page limit)

The Project Description should provide a clear statement of the work to be undertaken and must include:

objectives for the period of the proposed work and expected significance; the relation of this work to the

present state of knowledge in the field, as well as to work in progress by the PI under other support.

The Project Description should outline the general plan of work, including the broad design of activities to

be undertaken, and, where appropriate, provide a clear description of experimental methods and

procedures. Proposers should address what they want to do, why they want to do it, how they plan to do

it, how they will know if they succeed, and what benefits could accrue if the project is successful. The

project activities may be based on previously established and/or innovative methods and approaches, but

in either case must be well justified. These issues apply to both the technical aspects of the proposal and

the way in which the project may make broader contributions.

The Project Description must contain, as a separate section within the narrative labeled “Broader

Impacts”. This section should provide a discussion of the broader impacts of the proposed activities.

Broader impacts may be accomplished through the research itself, through the activities that are directly

related to specific research projects, or through activities that are supported by, but are complementary

to the project. NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to the

achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes include, but are not limited to: full

participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology,

engineering, and mathematics (STEM); improved STEM education and educator development at any level;

increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology; improved well-

being of individuals in society; development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce; increased

partnerships between academia, industry, and others; improved national security; increased economic

competitiveness of the U.S.; use of science and technology to inform public policy; and enhanced

infrastructure for research and education.

Visual materials, including charts, graphs, maps, photographs and other pictorial presentations are

included in the 15-page limitation.

URLs must not be used in the Project Description.

Results from Prior NSF Support (can be up to 5 pages within the Project Description)

If any PI/Co-PI identified on the project has received NSF funding with an end date in the past five years

(including any current funding and no-cost extensions), information on the award is required, irrespective

of whether the support was directly related to the proposal or not. When the PI/Co-PI has received more

than one award (excluding amendments to existing awards), they need only report on the one award

most closely related to the proposal. Funding includes not just salary support, but any funding awarded by

NSF. NSF awards such as standard or continuing grants, Graduate Research Fellowship, Major Research

Instrumentation, travel, conference, and center awards, etc., are subject to this requirement. Reviewers

will be asked to comment on the quality of the prior work described in this section. The following

information must be provided:

a) t

he NSF award number, amount and period of support;

b) the title of the project;

c) a summary of the results of the completed work, including accomplishments, supported by the

award. The results must be separately described under two distinct headings: Intellectual Merit

and Broader Impacts;

d) a listing of the publications resulting from the NSF award (a complete bibliographic citation fo

each publication must be provided either in this section or in the References Cited section of the

proposal); if none, state “No publications were produced under this award”;

e) evidence of research products and their availability, including, but not limited to: data,

publications, samples, physical collections, software, and models, as described in any Dat

anagement Plan; and

f) if the proposal is for renewed support, a description of the relation of the completed work to the

proposed work.

If the project was recently awarded and therefore no new results exist, describe the major goals and

broader impacts of the project.

3. References Cited

Reference information is required. Each reference must include the names of all authors (in the same

sequence in which they appear in the publication), the article and journal title, book title, volume number,

page numbers, and year of publication. If the proposer has a website address readily available, that

information should be included in the citation. If there are no references cited, a statement to that effect

should be included in this section of the proposal and uploaded into FastLane or Research.gov.

4. Budget and Budget Justification

Each proposal must contain a budget for each year of support requested. The budget justification must be

no more than five pages. The amounts requested for each budget line item should be documented and

justified in the budget justification. For proposals that contain a subaward(s), each subaward must include

a separate budget justification of no more than five pages.

The proposal may request funds under any of the categories listed so long as the item and amount are

considered necessary, reasonable, allocable, and are allowable under 2 CFR § 200, Subpart E, NSF

policy, and/or the program solicitation. Amounts and expenses budgeted must also be consistent with

MSU’s policies and procedures and cost accounting practices used in accumulating and reporting costs.

alary Support

Grant funds may not be used to augment the total salary or annual salary rate of faculty members during

the period covered by the term of faculty appointment or to reimburse faculty members for consulting or

other time in addition to a regular full-time organizational salary covering the same employment period.

NSF limits the salary compensation requested in the proposal budget for senior 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. Any compensation for such personnel in excess of two months must be

disclosed in the proposal budget, justified in the budget justification, and must be specifically approved by

NSF in the award notice budget.

It is the organization’s responsibility to define and consistently apply the term “year”, and to specify this

definition in the budget justification.

If no person months and no salary are being requested for senior personnel, they should be removed

from Section A of the budget (consistent with NSF’s cost sharing policy).

5. Facilities and Other Resources

This section of the proposal is used to assess the adequacy of the resources available to perform the

effort proposed to satisfy both Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts review criteria. Proposers should

describe only those resources that are directly applicable, and include an aggregated description of the

internal and external resources (both physical and personnel) that the organization and its collaborators

will provide to the project, should it be funded.

Proposers should not include any dollar amounts, costs, dates of acquisition, etc. for any facilities,

equipment and other resources. These figures can be interpreted as cost-sharing which is unallowable by

the NSF. If there are no facilities, equipment and other resources information, a statement to that effect

should be included in this section of the proposal and uploaded into FastLane or Research.gov.

6. Senior Personnel Documents

Biographical Sketch

A separate biographical sketch (limited to three pages) must be provided through use of an NSF-approved

format—either SciENcv or an NSF-supplied fillable PDF—for each individual designated as senior

personnel. The following information must be provided in the order and format specified below:

• Professional Preparation: A list of the individual’s undergraduate and graduate education and

postdoctoral training (including location) in chronological order.

• Appointments: A list, in reverse chronological order by start date of all the individual's academic,

professional, or institutional appointments, beginning with the current appointment.

Appointments include any titled academic, professional, or institutional position whether or not

remuneration is received, and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary (including adjunct,

visiting, or honorary).

• Products: A list of (i) up to five products most closely related to the proposed project and (ii) up to

five other significant products, whether or not related to the proposed project. Each product must

include full citation information including names of all authors, date of publication or release,

title, title of enclosing work such as journal or book, volume, issue, pages, website and URL or

other Persistent Identifier. In the NSF fillable PDF, publications that include multiple authors may

list one or more of the authors and then "et al." in lieu of including the complete listing of authors'

names. If only publications are included, the heading "Publications" may be used for this section.

• Synergistic Activities: A list of up to five distinct examples that demonstrate the broader impact of

the individual's professional and scholarly activities that focus on the integration and transfer of

knowledge as well as its creation. Synergistic activities should be specific and must not include

multiple examples to further describe the activity.

In addition, Biographical sketches for Other Personnel and for Equipment proposals can be uploaded as

a single PDF file in the Other Supplementary Documents section of the proposal.

Current and Pending Support

Current and pending support information must be separately provided through use of an NSF-approved

format—either SciENcv or an NSF-supplied fillable PDF—for all senior personnel on the proposal. Current

and pending support includes all resources made available to an individual in support of and/or related to all

of his/her research efforts, regardless of whether or not they have monetary value. Current and pending

support also includes in-kind contributions. In-kind contributions not intended for use on the

project/proposal being proposed also must be reported.

Current and pending support information must be provided for this project,

for ongoing projects, and for

any proposals currently under consideration from whatever source, irrespective of whether such support is

provided through the proposing organization or is provided directly to the individual.

A brief statement of the overall objectives of the project/proposal being proposed or in-kind contribution

must be provided. The submission also should summarize potential overlap with any active or pending

proposal or in-kind contribution and this proposal in terms of scope, budget, or person-months planned or

committed to the project by the individual.

The total award amount for the entire award period covered (including indirect costs) must be provided, as

well as the number of person-months (or partial person-months) per year to be devoted to the project by

the individual.

Collaborators & Other Affiliations Information

This fillable template must be separately provided for each individual identified as senior personnel on the

project. The COA information must be provided through use of the COA template. The information in the

tables is not required to be sorted, alphabetically or otherwise.

The template has been developed to be fillable, however, the content and format requirements must not

be altered by the user. When completing the template, do not change the column sizes or the font type.

The instructions at the top of the template may be deleted, and rows may be inserted as needed to provide

additional names.

7. Data Management Plan

Proposals must include a section of no more than two pages uploaded under "Data Management Plan" in

the Other Supplementary Documents section of FastLane or Research.gov. This supplement should describe

how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results. A valid

Data Management Plan may include only the statement that no detailed plan is needed, as long as the

statement is accompanied by a clear justification.

Data management requirements and plans specific to the Directorate, Office, Division, Program, or other

NSF unit, relevant to a proposal are available at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp

Simultaneously submitted collaborative proposals and proposals that include subawards are a single

unified project and should include only one combined Data Management Plan. In such collaborative

proposals, the data management plan should discuss the relevant data issues in the context of the

collaboration.

Proposers who feel that the plan cannot fit within the limit of two pages may use part of the 15-page

Project Description for additional data management information. Proposers are advised that the Data

Management Plan must not be used to circumvent the 15-page Project Description limitation.

8. Other Supplementary Documents

Letters of Collaboration

Any substantial collaboration with individuals not included in the budget should be described and

documented with a letter from each collaborator, which should be provided in the Other

Supplementary Documents section of FastLane or Research.gov. Letters of collaboration should

be limited to stating the intent to collaborate and should not contain endorsements or evaluation

of the proposed project.