What
Is a Statement of Interest?
The
Statement of Interest serves as a project pre-proposal that identifies
a topic relevant to coastal and marine needs in Louisiana and
the nation. It describes both the scope of the need, problem,
or opportunity and how the results achieved would contribute to
development, conservation, or utilization of marine resources.
Statements allow for review of concepts, rationale, general approach,
and expected outcomes and impacts before faculty must commit to
providing a narrative of detailed methodology, literature review,
and other requirements of a full proposal.
Download the
Statement
of Interest Form (301KB, PDF) and save
this fillable fields PDF document to your hard drive.
You must do so with Adobe Acrobat; this will
allow you to both save work completed and finish the document
in sessions. If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat, please
contact Katie Lea at 225-578-6445. Completed Statements of Interest
are limited in length to that provided in the PDF form; please
use single-spaced text and standard, 11-point type size. (Note
section on review criteria and strong/weak
statements below.)
Return
to Top
The
Louisiana Sea Grant Funding Cycle
The
Calendar
for Proposal Development and Awards (19KB,
PDF) outlines the time frame for the proposal phase 2010-2012
funding cycle. Slight adjustments to the calendar may be made
as are necessary, but the deadlines for submission of Statements
of Interest and Full Proposals will not be altered. A fully completed
and signed Statement of Interest, along with three hard copies
and an electronic copy on CD, must be submitted to Ms. Katie Lea,
room 238 Sea Grant Building, by 4:00 PM on Friday, 30 January
2009 without exception.
The next opportunity
to compete for Louisiana Sea Grant omnibus funding will be in
2011 for projects that begin February 1, 2012.
For the 2008-2010
funding cycle, Louisiana Sea Grant received 34 Statements of Interest
and invited 17 full proposals for review. Of the full proposals
received, 10 were funded.
Return
to Top
Size
of Grant Awards
Progressive
increases in rates applied to research funding for benefits and
overhead have decreased the real value of the $80,000/year maximum
awards previously stipulated by Louisiana Sea Grant. In response
to this we have instituted a two-tiered funding system:
Tier
1 funding retains the $90,000/year maximum award; four
to eight such proposals will be funded.
Tier
2 funding will have a maximum of $150,000/year; proposals
for these funds must be multi-institutional. This stipulation
is applied to stimulate cooperative research among colleagues
at, for example, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and University
of New Orleans. For purposes of this process, the LSU Main Campus,
LSU Agricultural Center, and LSU Law School will be considered
a single institution. A maximum of two (as few as zero) Tier
2 proposals will be funded.
Occasionally
projects that receive high scores, but fall just below the cutoff
for full funding, can be supported at a reduced scope and cost
with Program Development funds.
For each Sea
Grant dollar, a 50% matching fund commitment is required (i.e.,
every two federal dollars must be matched by one dollar from non-federal
sources).
Return
to Top
Student/Extension
Involvement Is Essential
Sea
Grant is a program with its base in the academic sector and its
roots in extension and outreach. Thus, student and extension participation
in Louisiana Sea Grant funded research is strongly recommended.
Louisiana’s Sea Grant's goal is to ensure that 25 percent
of its research funding supports students (and their associated
costs) who are working within a project. Louisiana Sea Grant’s
Extension Agents & Specialists
possess both important technical expertise on a wide range of
subject matter and knowledge of local geographic, social, and
governmental circumstances; they can prove invaluable to the successful
planning and prosecution of your research project. Proposals with
either no or little student/extension contribution will be given
very low priority.
Return
to Top
Review
Criteria
Peer
review is the responsibility of the Louisiana Sea Grant Program
Manager for Research and Planning. Oversight of the peer review
process is the responsibility of the National Sea Grant Office
Program Monitor.
For Statements
of Interest, Louisiana Sea Grant will solicit email reviews from
agency and industry stakeholders. A Technical Review Panel, composed
of experienced scientists recognized for both their scientific
and their leadership experience, will assess the contributed email
reviews and recommend which Statements of Interest will be selected
for development of full proposals.
Statements
of Interest must focus on the Strategies provided in 2009-2013
Louisiana Sea Grant Strategic Plan Outline (30KB,
PDF). Five criteria will be used by reviewers and panel
members to evaluate Statements of Interest:
1. Scientific
or Professional Merit (40 points) — the intrinsic value
of the work and its relevance to NOAA, federal, regional, state,
and local activities. Will this research, if successful, advance
science, industry, or field methods?
2. Rationale
and Budget (25 points) — the degree to which the proposed
activity both addresses a priority Strategy identified in 2009-2013
Louisiana Sea Grant Strategic Plan Outline and presents
a budget that is realistic and commensurate with both the project
needs and time frame. Include the degree to which inter-institutional
and multi-disciplinary programs have been engaged to leverage
funds and resources.
3. Outreach
and Education (10 points) — the degree to which the project
provides a focused and effective education and outreach strategy
with regards to Louisiana Sea Grant mission to protect our natural
resources. Has an extension agent cooperator been identified
and incorporated into the project? Are potential users (industry,
state resource managers, etc.) of the project results involved
in execution or funding? Is there a plan to disseminate the
results both to user groups and to the public?
4. Expected
Results, Applications and Benefits (20 points) — the degree
to which the completed project is expected to create new commercial
opportunities, improve technological and economic efficiency,
promote environmental and community sustainability/resiliency,
or improve management decisions either in Louisiana or nationally.
5. Investigator
Qualifications (5 points) — the degree to which investigators
are qualified by education, training, and/or experience to execute
the proposed activity consistent with stage of career development
and record of achievement with previous funding.
Return
to Top
Strong
Statements/Weak Statements
Strong Statements
+ Project
idea builds on FSG strategic priorities, clearly documents the
issue, accurately states how the proposed work will help prevent
or solve a problem, and explicitly lays out the steps needed
to produce such valuable outcomes
+ Strong scientific merit is apparent
+ Imaginative, creative, advances scholarship
+ State and national impact
+ Testable hypotheses or methods to evaluate efficacy of new
tool, technology or policy or product are clearly articulated
+ Objectives are measurable, realistic in number
+ Methods clearly explained with evidence of likely success
(e.g., pilot data), recognition of likely problems, and plans
to address potential problems
+ Outputs and potential impacts are clearly defined
+ Involvement of end-users clearly defined and documented
+ Involvement of end-users clearly defined and documented
+ Involvement of end-users clearly defined and documented
+ Realistic timeframe and budget
+ Matching funds or in-kind services from outside cooperator
already committed (or pending)
+ May be part of a package of inter-related projects, possible
regional
+ PI has coordinated development of the project with a Sea Grant
marine agent, a resource management agency or the private sector
+ Employs students; funds student research
Weak Statements
- PI sends
in ill-conceived last-minute idea
- Idea may be better suited to another sponsor
- Rationale is merely indicative (lacks data and clear evaluation
of further work needed to produce outcomes)
- Poor technical design
- Louisiana impacts are not clear
- Objectives are merely a statement of methods
- Methods to collect, analyze and interpret data are not explicitly
stated and assumptions and likely problems are not clearly addressed
- Vague identification of end-users of research results
- Geographic/subject focus too narrow, limited
- Too ambitious, unfocused
- No identification of role of outside cooperators
- Isolated from related efforts
- Exceeds space limitation
- Biographical information incomplete, not up-to-date Return
to Questions
Return
to Top
Regional
Projects
The
four Sea Grant programs around the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are requesting
regional research proposals for 2010-2012 that focus on hazard
resiliency in coastal communities. The total available federal
and state dollars for those projects is $600,000 per year for
two years with the amount of funds for an individual project and
the total number of funded projects to be determined. Complete
details on GOM research priorities and proposal submission guidelines
may be found at http://flseagrant.org/funding/GOM/index_08.html.
Please note that the submission process is different than for
the Louisiana Sea Grant core program Statements of Interest defined
in other sections of this call for projects.
Return to Questions
Return
to Top
About
Louisiana Sea Grant
Since its establishment in 1968, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program
has worked to promote stewardship of the state’s coastal
resources through a combination of research, education and outreach
programs critical to the cultural, economic and environmental
health of Louisiana’s coastal zone.
Louisiana
Sea Grant, based at Louisiana State University, is part of the
National
Sea Grant Program, a network made up of 32 programs located
in each of the coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico.
Sea Grant Programs work individually and in partnership to address
major marine and coastal challenges.
What is Sea
Grant? Congress established the National Sea Grant College Program,
now administered by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 1966. The term
“Sea Grant” was selected to underscore the similarity
between this new program, focused on national coastal and marine
resources, and the Land Grant program created more than a century
earlier to develop agricultural resources.
LSU was designated
the nation’s thirteenth Sea Grant College in 1978. And in
2007, the Program received a Category 1 rating – the highest
level of performance – after an evaluation conducted by
the National Sea Grant Review Panel.
Return
to Top
The
Core Program
The core biennial award from NOAA supports Louisiana
Sea Grant research, extension/outreach, education, communications
and program development and management. It is subject to annual
Congressional appropriations and continuing quality of program
performance. Beyond that, additional appropriations may be designated
by the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP) for special
competitions nationally. Interested faculty members are urged
to apply for NSGCP special competitions as a means of supplementing
the biennial core budget. Check the Louisiana Sea Grant Opportunities
Web page for details.
Return
to Top
