Proposal Office
The Geophysical Institute Proposal Team is committed to developing, processing and submitting our researchers’ proposals in an efficient and timely manner while also meeting sponsor requirements and the GI’s high quality standards. We aim to help PIs submit the most professional proposals possible and provide assistance in all phases of proposal preparation, including reviewing sponsor guidelines, developing budgets, formatting proposals, and ensuring compliance with agency and University policies.
Please keep in mind that all proposals and pre-proposals from GI staff, faculty, and administration must be coordinated through the proposal team prior to authorization by the PIs, Business Manager, Director, and Office of Sponsored Programs. Only proposals with these approvals may be submitted to an agency for consideration.
Please review the policies and procedures, announcements, and funding opportunities on our site and contact us with any questions about the proposal process. We look forward to hearing from you!
To contact proposal staff please see the Business Office Staff page.
Proposal Process
STEPS IN THE PROPOSAL PROCESS
Examples of things that require routing through the GI Proposal Team: Budgets, estimated project costs, pre-proposals, white papers, collaborations, budget revisions, supplemental funding, project continuations and renewals, and new proposals.
- Meet with Erin Albertson or Janet Daley to initiate proposal as soon as possible; you will be assigned a number and coordinator
- Find and read RFP
- Work with coordinator to develop budget
- Prepare and assemble all required documents and forms, with help from coordinator
- Ten business days before agency deadline: Finalize documents; coordinator will format to meet agency requirements
- One week before agency deadline: Review and approve final proposal package
- Sign routing form and cover page
- All Co-Is and their Deans/Directors review and approve proposal and sign routing form
- Five business days before agency deadline: GI review - Business Manager and Director review proposal, sign routing form and cover page
- Proposal goes to Office of Sponsored Programs (www.uaf.edu/osp) for final review
- Proposal is submitted via GI Business Office and OSP
We will do our best to facilitate submission of the proposal, which can only be ensured by your assistance in meeting deadlines. Please note that the Office of Sponsored Programs requires five business days for review, approval, and submission of a proposal. Proposals that involve matching/cost-sharing, reduced overhead, collaborations with other units or universities, or subawards all require additional review time and documentation.
Budget Development
BUDGET DEVELOPMENT: Getting Started
Often the best place to begin working on a proposal is with the budget. Please work with your Proposal Coordinator to create your draft budget; you will want to consider the following elements and questions during the process:
- Project Personnel (Include names and hours/year for each individual)
- Students:
- How many?
- Academic Level? [Undergraduate; Masters, PhD before candidacy, PhD after candidacy]
- Semesters? (Academic and/or Summer)
- Alaska Resident or Non-Resident?
- Travel
- Domestic Destinations
- How many trips to each destination, and in what year?
- How many travelers on each trip?
- Purpose of each trip?
- Length of each trip (number of days)?
- Foreign Destinations
- See above questions for domestic travel
- Services, Commodities, and Equipment
- Any contractual services?
- Includes journal publication costs, registration fees, software updates, shipping costs, consultants, lab analysis services, GI Machine/Electric Shop services, transportation charter, communication, etc.
- Any subawards?
- To which institution?
- Name of subaward PI and Senior Personnel?
- Expected amount of subaward?
- What services will the subaward be providing?
- Why did we pick this institution for this role?
- Any commodities/supplies needed?
- Includes lab supplies, project supplies, field supplies, transportation fuel, etc.
- Any equipment needed?
- Equipment = Cost of $5,000 and above per item
- Include vendor and/or item name, description, and number of items
- Will there be any equipment fabrication costs or participant support costs?
- Other Considerations
- Is there a match requirement? If so, how will it be met? Have you spoken with Roger?
- What F&A rates will be used for each department?
- Will there be reduced F&A or an F&A exemption involved?
Announcements
Upcoming Deadlines
Funding Opportunities
E-mail Alert Services
- Alaska On-Line Public Notice - You can use the AK On-Line Public Notice system to receive notifications about state funding opportunities.
- Grants.Gov - The Federal Grants E-Mail Notification Service allows you to receive notifications about new federal funding opportunities.
- Foundation Center - Receive weekly notification of recently announced Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from private, corporate, and government funding sources.
- NASA Research Opportunities - The NAIS Email Notification System (NENS) allows you to receive notifications on NASA acquisition opportunities of interest to you.
- NSF Custom News Service - The Custom News Service is available to anyone who would like notifications about new NSF publications.
- U.S. Department of Education - EDInfo provides 1-2 email messages a week describing federal teaching and learning resources and ED funding opportunities.
Federal Opportunities
- Grants.Gov -This allows users to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies.
- NSF – This is a good starting place for browsing NSF funding. It allows users to view upcoming due dates and recently announced RFP’s.
- NSF Office of Polar Programs
- NSF Directorate for Geoscience
- NASA Research Opportunities – View all open, closed, past, and future NASA funding opportunities at NASA NSPIRES.
- Federal Contract Opportunities – Federal Business Opportunities provides users a database to search for federal contract opportunities.
- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) - This site provides a database of all federal programs available to state and local governments.
- Federal Register - This site serves as the federal government's official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
- Grants Resource Center - GrantSearch - The American Association of State Colleges and Universities' (AASCU) Grants Resource Center (GRC) provides this site to find private and federal grant information.
Internal UA
Private/Foundation Opportunities
- Foundation Center – See list of recently published Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from private, corporate, and government funding sources. This site provides information on private funding sources - free to use, but requires registration.
- GrantsNet - This site provides a database to find funds for training in the sciences and undergraduate science education.
Opportunities for Students
- Alaska EPSCoR is a university-state partnership, which builds Alaska-based research.
- Alaska EPSCoR Student Travel Awards
- Alaska EPSCoR Research Fellowships
- Alaska EPSCoR Undergraduate Summer Research Experience (USRE)
- Alaska Space Grant - Student Opportunities
- GI Undergraduate Research Program Interested students should discuss individual opportunities with their advisor.
- Global Change Student Research Grant Competition
This program, sponsored by the UAF Center for Global Change in partnership with the International Arctic Research Center, provides support to undergraduate or graduate students for research on global change presented in an interdisciplinary context, with an arctic or subarctic focus. Proposals may be submitted for one- or two-year awards, and research may involve the Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Biological Sciences and Engineering. For more information, call 474-5818 or email cgc [at] iarc [dot] uaf [dot] edu.
- IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training) -- Regional Resilience and Adaptation (RAP)
- Center for Research Services
- NSF Undergraduate Opportunities
- NSF Graduate Opportunities
- UAF Main
- UAF Financial Aid
- UAF Graduate Research Opportunities - List of All Internal Opportunities
UAF Graduate Research Opportunities - Outside UAF
Policies
There are a few policies that come up on a regular basis in proposal preparation. Please review them. If you believe any of these policies may be relevant to your proposal, please discuss it with your coordinator at the earliest opportunity.