Overview:
This request for pre-proposals is to initiate UH WRRC's FY2012 participation in the U.S. Geological Survey State Water Resources Research Institutes Program as authorized by the federal Water Resources Research Act of 1984. We invite proposals for research and information transfer projects in any discipline related to water resources. We anticipate approximately $80,000 will be available (as of now, the amount remains subject to Congressional whim) will be awarded. Full proposals will be peer-reviewed.
Successful proposals must identify matching funds in the amount of two (2) non-federal dollars for each federal dollar requested. Questions about meeting or documenting this match should be directed to Ms. Chalotte Kato, WRRC, University of Hawaii at ckato@hawaii.edu.
Typical project duration is 12 months (requests for a second year of funding will be considered). The following types of grants will be considered:
a) Small grants for recently hired principal investigators: The objective of these grants is to assist new principal investigators to collect preliminary data for submission of a large proposal to federal agencies. It is expected that such grants will produce peer-reviewed publications which are essential for full proposals to federal agencies. The maximum support for such grants is about $20,000. Smaller proof-of-concept grants will be considered under this category.
b) Dissertation completion grants: The objective of these grants is to support graduate students for costs associated with laboratory analysis, software, and data collection for the completion of a doctoral dissertation. The grants will be applied for by the mentor of the graduate student so that reporting burden lies on the mentor. Awards up to $5000 will be made on a competitive basis.
c) Exploratory grants: The objective is to support small groups of undergraduate or graduate students working on water and environmental sustainability group projects for the Hawaiian islands.,. Funds are to be used for data collection, preparation of posters, and purchase of supplies relevant to the project. Again the grants will be applied for by a faculty member and the burden of reporting will be on that individual. Products expected from these grants include journal or conference papers, posters, extension bulletins, and other technology transfer products. Awards up to $3000 will be made.
All projects must demonstrate student training as required by federal program guidelines, and must include plans for technology transfer.
Deadlines:| Mon. 24 October 2011: | One or two-page pre-proposal deadline (to wrrc@hawaii.edu) |
| Mon. 31 October 2011: | Invitations to prepare full proposals |
| Mon. 21 November 2011: | Full proposal deadline (to https://niwr.net/) |
| Fri. 9 December, 2011 | Acceptance of full proposals |
| 1 March 2012: | Anticipated project start date |
Pre-proposals must be submitted electronically to wrrc@hawaii.edu. Full proposals must be submitted electronically to http://www.niwr.net
Required deliverables for projects funded under this program include:
- a brief annual report in the USGS format (submitted via www.niwr.net)
- one or more student theses, presentations, and/or posters,
- a final project deliverable, which may take the form of a published or submitted paper. For proof-of-concept/exploratory grants, investigators may also submit as the final deliverable, a follow-on proposal to another funder.
Program Objectives:
This program supports:
- research projects that respond to high priority state research issues in freshwater or coastal environments as outlined below;
- research projects deemed highly likely to generate significant additional funding in the future from other agencies; and
- information transfer projects that enhance communication of research results, or serve a broad environmental education or public service function.
Research Priorities for 2012:
Research prioritis for WRRC are set by its Advisory Council. In addition, the 2006 reauthorization of the Water Resources Research Act shifted priorities in the direction of water supply and reliability questions. Hence, water quality-oriented proposals should refer to improving quality as a means of increasing availability and reliability of water supply. These considerations lead to the following priorities for proposals under this program:
- Water supply: satisfying growing water demand, including desalination, reuse, transfer, conservation, demand management; identifying and assessing new water sources
- Water system infrastructure: modeling of asset replacement; analysis of infrastructure integrity; forensic analysis
- Water quality: methods to restore water quality, especially leading to increasing usable water supply, including models of the fate and transport of contaminants and methods of treating wastewater
- Water institutions, law, economics: methods of increasing usable water supply through institutional refinement; water allocation laws and institutions in Hawaii; methods of planning for or pricing water to increase efficiency of use.
Selection:
In selecting proposals, none of the foregoing priorities is necessarily more important than the others. Some weight may be given to balance among disciplines in the overall research program. Each proposal submitted will be evaluated by multiple referees, within and outside the University.
Questions?
Call C. Ray at 956-7847, or email cray@hawaii.edu
For more information:tel: (808) 956-7847
fax: (808) 956-5044
email: morav@hawaii.edu
