NSF Modification of Maximum for DDIG Awards and Reminder of Essential NSF Proposal Elements
NSF funds only those expenses essential to achieving the scientific goals of the project and budget requests should reflect only these expenses. While the maximum allowed is $20,000, budget requests for lesser amounts are appropriate for many projects and there should be no expectation that a proposal will be funded for the maximum, especially in cases where other support has been obtained by the PI. All items on budget requests must be research expenses that are well justified in the context of the proposed research. Keep in mind that $20,000 is a maximum and it is anticipated that most awards will be for less than the maximum.
I would like to take this opportunity to also remind everyone about two other essential elements of EVERY NSF proposal.
- A separate one-page Data Access plan (submitted in the Supplementary Documents section) for every proposal submitted to the Physical Anthropology program has been REQUIRED since July 2005.
- All proposals submitted to NSF are merit reviewed for BOTH intellectual merit AND broader impacts. Broader impacts are an integral part of proposal review and should be addressed explicitly in accordance with the guidelines in the Grant Proposal Guide http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf09_29/gpg0929print.pdf
Examples of types of broader impact activities are available at http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf .
Although not applicable to DDIG awards, all senior proposals which include postdoctoral researchers MUST also include a one-page supplementary document on mentoring activities which are evaluated with the Broader Impacts criterion.
Jean Turnquist
Program Officer for Physical Anthropology
National Science Foundation
June 10, 2009
