Program Description: 

We are pleased to announce a call for proposals for Year 5 IMOD Seed Grants. This call is open to non-funded faculty at the IMOD partnering institutions. IMOD Seed Grants are intended to respond to emerging or transformative areas of research, education, workforce development, broadening participation, and knowledge transfer aligned with IMOD’s research mission, and to enable IMOD to continually reach out to and draw from the ideas of a broader community. For Year 5, we particularly welcome proposals that bring together interdisciplinary projects with a significant theory component, or collaborations that involve AI or machine learning to accelerate materials discovery, analysis, or characterization.

Anticipated Type of Award: 

IMOD Seed Awards will provide up to $75,000 to support new collaborative research teams. IMOD Seed Awards are intended to be collaborative and must include an additional unfunded IMOD collaborator(s). The goals of IMOD Seed Awards are to support multidisciplinary teams active in areas complementary to IMOD’s current research and Integrative Activities (IA) profile and to broaden IMOD participation to encompass more members of the participating institutions. The anticipated funding period is twelve months.

Submission Requirements:

A proposal requesting seed funding for a new project should be uploaded as a single (one file) attachment in PDF format with a file name LASTNAME_IMOD_SEED_YR5.

The proposal file should include:

• Cover Page (one page) including:
  • Project title
  • Names, titles, and departmental affiliations of the PI and Co-PIs or collaborators
  • Complete contact information for the PI only
  • Names of student or postdoc researchers who will receive salary support if funded
  • Relevance to IMOD Research Thrusts (RT1, RT2, and/or RT3) and/or IA Programs
  • Proposal abstract (250 words maximum)
• Project Narrative (not to exceed three pages): A description of the proposed work including the potential impact of research and/or integrative activities, and how the PI would accomplish the project goals. Any connections to optoelectronic materials for classical and quantum light should be emphasized.
• References Cited (no page limit)
• Budget Information (up to $75,000 for 12 months): Provide a succinct statement of work, a complete budget including overhead, and a budget justification. Your budget should include the following items:
  • Salaries, benefits, tuition. Seed funding can be used to support graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. Other salary types are not allowed.
  • Materials and Supplies.
  • Contractual Services. Facilities/instrumentation expenses are allowed if based on actual use and if required to advance the proposed research.
• An NSF-formatted biographical sketch, not to exceed 3 pages, for the PI and any funded co-PIs.
• An NSF-formatted Current and Pending Support form for the PI and any funded co-PIs.
• External seed proposals are not being accepted this year.

Budget Restrictions:

IMOD Seed Awards are intended to primarily support student and postdoctoral researcher salaries and associated benefits, tuition, as well as research materials and supplies and facilities user fees. The following expenses are not allowed: faculty salaries/benefits; computer or equipment purchases; travel; food and entertainment.

Terms and Conditions:

All selected proposals are subject to terms and conditions, including reporting requirements, that will be detailed in the award notification letter. In particular, these include:

• All publications resulting fully or partially from IMOD Seed funding must appropriately acknowledge the IMOD support. (e.g., “This research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation through the IMOD STC under Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-2019444.”)
• After completion of the project, a final written report will be required. Seed investigators must also provide brief summaries and an NSF “highlight” slide for inclusion in IMOD annual reports, as requested by the Center Director.
• All purchases and HR appointments will be conducted in the home departments of the Seed investigators.
• All external Seeds will require NSF approval to modify the IMOD contract. If IMOD is unable to secure NSF approval to add a new institution to the contract in a timely fashion, the seed proposal may be declined.