FY21 DEFENSE ESTABLISHED PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (DEPSCoR) – RESEARCH COLLABORATION (RC)

The Department of Defense (DoD) announces the fiscal year 2021 (FY21) Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) – Research Collaboration (RC). The program is sponsored and managed by the Basic Research Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD [R&E]), awarded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The DoD plans to award FY21 DEPSCoR appropriations through this announcement.  

DEPSCoR's objectives are to: (1) increase the number of university researchers in eligible States/Territories capable of performing S&E research responsive to the needs of the DoD; and (2) enhance the capabilities of institutions of higher education (IHE) in eligible States/Territories to develop, plan, and execute science and engineering (S&E) research that is relevant to the mission of the DoD, and competitive under the peer-review systems used for awarding Federal research assistance; (3) increase the probability of long-term growth in the competitively awarded financial assistance that IHE in eligible States receive from the Federal Government for S&E research.

...

This funding opportunity aims to create basic research collaborations between a pair of researchers, namely 1) Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI), henceforth referred to as Applicant, a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD directly funded research Prime award and 2) Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), henceforth referred to as Collaborator, an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD directly funded research Prime award actively between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2021. This structure is aimed at introducing potential applicants to the DoD’s unique research challenges and its supportive research ecosystem. Prime award defined in the context of this announcement is the DoD legal instrument (assistance or acquisition) that a Principal Investigator receives directly from a DoD awarding agency and not indirectly from a non-DoD pass-through entity to carry out scientific research.You are eligible to apply as the Applicant under the DEPSCoR-RC FOA as long as you were NOT listed as the Principal Investigator on a previous DoD funded research award, and are a full-time faculty member in a tenured or tenure track position in a DEPSCoR eligible State/Territory. Being a “Co-PI” or “sub PI” on a prior DoD funded award does not count as being a “PI” for the purposes of eligibility of the Applicant for the DEPSCoR-RC FOA.The DEPSCoR-RC white paper package must include prior research award documentation which indicates that the Collaborator was a PI on a previous DoD directly funded research Prime award between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2021. If the Collaborator is not identified as the PI within the award document, a letter from the awarding agency point of contact should be furnished supporting the assertion within the timeframe identified.The Collaborator must have served as a Principal Investigator on a directly funded DoD research Prime award during the eligibility period and not have been subcontracted by: other PIs, non-DoD entities, or companies as a Co-Principal Investigator. Subawards indirectly funded by the DoD where the Collaborator has served as a Co-Principal Investigator do not count as eligible criteria for the Collaborator for the purposes of this funding opportunity announcement.Tenured or tenure-track faculty members with appointments at IHE, in the following States/Territories are eligible to apply for DEPSCoR opportunities under this announcement: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Mrs. Elaina Barker