Read the current version of the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), which is the official source of proposal requirements. The following material mentions only the elements needed for a standard research proposal in Mathematics.
The Math Business Office will:
- help create the budget and budget justification
- assist with creating budget impact statements,
- upload budget documentation into Research.gov,
- provide a template for the facilities, equipment and other resources statement,
- work with the campus Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA) on proposal submissions and questions.
To give the Business Office access to your proposal:
- go to “Manage Personnel and Subaward Organizations” in Research.gov,
- click on “Manage personnel”,
- add Cody Mayfield <cmayfiel@illinois.edu> under “Other Authorized User(s) – Data preparation only”.
The PI will create all other required grant documentation (see below), including:
- biosketch,
- current and pending support,
- mentoring plan for grad students and/or postdocs,
- collaborators and other affiliations,
- letters from collaborators mentioned in the proposal who are not included in the budget.
Getting started
- Here are some LaTeX template files for proposals.
- Proposal pages should not be numbered, because numbers will be added by Research.gov. To remove page numbers, insert \pagestyle{empty} in the TeX file.
- See the ACF resources Box folder for sample proposals, Broader Impacts advice (important!), and more.
- The PI Handbook from SPA is worth skimming. It answers many questions.
- Upload the proposal at Research.gov two weeks prior to the deadline and then work with the business office to finalize the submission.
b. Project Summary
Must be formatted with separate headings for Overview, Intellectual Merit, and Broader Impacts, each on their own line.
d. Project Description (including Results from Prior NSF Support)
15 page limit. Must contain, as separate sections within the narrative, sections labeled “Broader Impacts” (as a heading on its own line) and “Results from Prior NSF Support”.
e. References Cited
f. Biographical Sketch(es)
Use the NSF-approved format.
g. Budget and Budget Justification
The budget and justification are prepared by the business office, based on your requests. Budget requests often include:
- summer salary for the PI
- academic year and summer RAs
- undergraduate hourlies (e.g. for an IML group or summer REU students)
- domestic travel
- foreign travel
- collaborator travel
h. Current and Pending Support
See the NSF requirements. To create the document, log in to SciENcv, follow the link to the National Science Foundation, click on “Create a new document”, choose “NSF Current and Pending (Other) Support”, and then create your document.
To find balances and expenditures on your current grants, visit My-UI-Financials. Note: first log in to the VPN, if you are off-campus.
i. Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
Use the departmental template supplied by the business office.
j. Special Information and Supplementary Documentation
Data management plan – if your project will generate data or software then you need to describe the plans for managing this data. See Section II.D.2.i.(ii) of the PAPPG for the requirements.
If your project is purely theoretical, then the following statement will suffice:
“No data management plan is needed for this project since it is theoretical and the data involved is available publicly through publications. No data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, or other materials are to be produced in the course of the project. All results to be obtained through this project will be made available in a timely manner through article publication in peer reviewed journals.”
You could modify this text. For example, you could request funding for Dropbox or Overleaf subscriptions (or similar) in the budget and budget justification, and mention these collaborative tools as part of your Data Management Plan.
Mentoring Plan (if the budget includes funds for a postdoc or graduate students). Here is some advice from NSF on the mentoring plan.
k. Single-copy documents
Collaborators & Other Affiliations – use the COA template. Refer to the frequently asked questions on that webpage.
Letters of collaboration from each substantial collaborator mentioned in the proposal who is not included in the budget. The text for the collaborator to use is: “If the proposal submitted by Dr. NAME entitled TITLE is selected for funding by NSF, it is my intent to collaborate [and/or commit resources] as detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal.”
List of Suggested Reviewers or Reviewers Not to Include (optional).