June 2017

Guidelines For

PREPARATION OF SEA GRANT PROPOSALS

to

University of Southern California Sea Grant Program

GENERAL GUIDELINES...... 1

NATIONAL SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM CRITERIA...... 2

NOAA DATA SHARING REQUIREMENT……………………………………………...... 3

PROPOSAL FORMAT...... 3

WORK SCHEDULE...... 3

SEA GRANT BUDGET...... 5

CURRICULUM VITA...... 8

CONCURRENT GRANTS...... 8

MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS REQUEST...... 8

TRAINEE REQUEST...... 8

SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL...... 9

LETTERS OF SUPPORT...... 9

SUBMISSION...... 9

SAMPLE PROPOSAL...... 10-17

SEA GRANT BUDGET FORM…………………………………………………………...... 18

FULL PROPOSALS DUE BY 5 P.M. AUGUST 1, 2017

Funded Projects to begin February 1, 2018

University of Southern California Sea Grant Program

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0373

(213) 740-1961

Email:

PREPARATION OF SEA GRANT PROPOSALS

Reference is made below to items that need to be included in your proposal and to the forms that must be used.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING SEA GRANT PROPOSALS

The project should fit into the philosophy and program emphasis of the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program, which has as its theme, "The Urban Ocean." Program priorities and focus areas can be found in the USC Sea Grant Strategic Plan for 2018-2021, web link here.

Your proposal should provide specific evidence that there is a need for your project. Specifically, it should discuss who will benefit from your results, how soon, and in what way? Do any of these groups know about your proposal? Show that outside groups or companies support your project.

The discussion of the literature in your proposal should convince your professional peers that the project builds productively on prior research without duplicating it.

The research plan should be structured around reasonable milestones, permitting a reasonable estimate of the total time, effort and money that will be necessary to achieve the results.

If you have any questions or comments about the following procedures, please call the Sea Grant office at (213) 740-1961. Reference is made below to items that need to be included in your proposal and to the forms that must be used.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING SEA GRANT PROPOSALS

Urban Focus: The project should fit into the philosophy and program emphasis of the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program, which has as its theme, "The Urban Ocean." Our specific interest in this solicitation is research on resiliency issues in Southern California; if you have questions about this, you should contact Linda Duguay (Director) ; or Phyllis Grifman (Associate Director).

Relevance: Your proposal should provide specific evidence that there is a need for your project. Specifically, it should discuss who will benefit from your results, how soon, and in what way? Do any of these groups know about your proposal? Show that outside groups or companies support your project. We encourage you to seek letters of support from potential users.

Prior Research: The discussion of the literature in your proposal should convince your professional peers that the project builds productively on prior research without duplicating it.

Research Plan: The research plan should be structured around reasonable milestones, and provide a reasonable estimate of the total time, effort and money that will be necessary to achieve the results.

Proposal Review: Sea Grant proposals are by a panel of technical and scientific experts, some from outside of California and may be submitted for review to managers or stakeholders. To some extent, you will be able to address different audiences in different sections of the proposal. Clarity of expression and of organizationare extremely important in your submission.

The National Sea Grant Office reviews Sea Grant programs periodically, with specific reference to the excellence of the scientific work, its relevance to the state and nation and the impacts funded projects have had on issues of concern. The National Sea Grant Program has recently reinforced the importance of reviews in evaluating the quality of research with respect to the following criteria:

NATIONAL SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM CRITERIA

  1. Rationale – the degree to which the proposed activity addresses an important issue, problem, or opportunity in development, use, or management of marine or coastal resources.
  2. Scientific Merit or Outreach Quality – the degree to which the activity will advance the state of the science or discipline through use and extension of state-of-the-art methods.
  3. Innovation – the degree to which new approaches to solving problems and exploiting opportunities in resource management or development, or in public outreach on such issues will be employed; alternatively, the degree to which the activity will focus on new types of important or potentially important resources and issues.
  4. Programmatic Justification – the degree to which the proposed activity will contribute to reaching the objectives of a subprogram in a state, regional, or national Sea Grant program or the degree to which it addresses the needs of important state, regional, or national constituencies.
  5. User Relationships – the degree to which users or potential users of the results of the proposed activity have been brought into planning of the activity, will be brought into the execution of the activity, or will be kept apprised of progress and results.
  6. Relationship to Sea Grant Priorities – the degree to which the proposed activity relates to priorities in guidance provided in documents of the National Sea Grant Office or in descriptions of special focus programs.
  7. Qualifications and Past Record of Investigators or Past Record of Program Component – the degree to which investigators are qualified by education, training, and/or experience to execute the proposed activity; record of achievement with previous funding.

NOAA DATA SHARING REQUIREMENT (effective for all new NOAA-funded research projects)

Because funds for this research program are ultimately provided by NOAA, all new Sea Grant awards will have to conform to NOAA’s Directive on Data Management, available at This directive says:

Environmental data will be visible, accessible and independently understandable to users, except where limited by law, regulation, policy (such as those applicable to personally identifiable information or protected critical infrastructure information or proprietary trade information) or by security requirements.

Accordingly, data and information collected and/or created under Sea Grant grants and cooperative agreements must be made visible, accessible, and independently understandable to general users, free of charge or at minimal cost, in a timely manner (typically no later than two years after the data are collected or created

PROPOSAL FORMAT

The proposal must be formatted as follows: single spaced with double spaces between paragraphs, with 1” margins on the top, bottom and sides of all pages. All major headings (listed on these pages) should be left-justified and typed in capital letters. Narrative text should be single spaced, with double spacing between paragraphs. We prefer that you use a standard serif typeface (preferably Times New Roman) and that you do not add formatting details other than those indicated in these guidelines.

There is no formal limit to the number of pages in a proposal, but 15 pages is normally sufficient. Although conciseness is always a virtue, the more technical sections of the proposal should be thoroughly explained. The following sections need to be included:

l. TITLE OF PROJECT

2. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)

3. ASSOCIATE INVESTIGATOR(S)

4. FUNDING REQUESTED State the amount you have budgeted for each fiscal year. (See budget preparation instructions.)

5. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In this section, you should briefly summarize the situation that calls for research, specifying what has happened or is happening, and the importance of the situation. Why is the research necessary?

6. INVESTIGATORY QUESTION State your scientific hypothesis clearly and completely, preferably as a question or questions. These questions should be clearly focused, taking into account the practical application and any previous research. Here you are posing the specific research question itself, not providing a summary of the whole project.

7. MOTIVATION This section should discuss the background of your project and indicate what led you to propose it – previous research, discussions with governmental officials, or emerging issues. Emphasize the need for and value of the project; interest the readers so that they will want to see the research completed. This section will be particularly important as background for readers not familiar with your professional subject area. Experts in your field also may need some background explanation.

8. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES A good project reflects well thought-out and clearly-identified goals, intermediate steps, and coordination of the disciplines involved in achieving these goals. Goals should be specific. Objectives should be separated from overall project goals, which are more general or longer term in nature (see proposal sample, page 10).

9. METHODS Here, you should talk to your professional peers. Write clearly, but do not try to simplify for the layperson. Specify the methods you will use; note previous data or experiments you have completed; argue why the techniques you propose are appropriate and preferable for your hypothesis and your situation; specify dates, equipment, procedures, references, schedules, etc. Convince the professional reviewers that you know how to do this research well.

10. RELATED RESEARCH First, have there been or are there currently any University of Southern California Sea Grant projects that complement your proposed effort? Second, are there other projects (funded by Sea Grant or elsewhere) that relate to your proposed work? How does your work build on previous research? Can you show that it does not duplicate similar research done elsewhere? If you have previously conducted research in this area, this is a good place to establish your own qualifications for the proposed work.

11. BUDGET RELATED INFORMATION

  1. Budget Explanation/Justification. Details of all Personnel, M&S, Equipment, Travel and Other Costs need to be provided in this section for all Federal/State and Grantee Matching funds.
  2. Matching Funds. Sea Grant requires 50% match on federal funds for the total cost of the project; for example, if you are requesting $50,000 in Sea Grant funding each year for 2 years, it will require $25,000 in matching non-federal funds for each year. You should make considerable effort to obtain university and non-university funds and/or in-kind contributions to your project. In this section, please supply the following:
  3. An explanation of significant matching contributions, i.e., enough explanation for reviewers of the proposal to understand that you do have outside support;
  4. For the USC administration's internal records, more information is needed. We ask you, therefore, to supply as much additional information as you can for each match item shown in your budget. (See Matching Contribution Request Form.)

12. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS This section should be related to your discussion of the motivation for the project. Be specific as to who will benefit, how, and when. General statements such as "the whole state will benefit from better planning" or "the fishermen will benefit from new equipment" mean that you have not thought through the specific benefits of your work. Identify the group and describe the benefits. Show that your research is supported by parties who are interested in the results. The best way to demonstrate this interest is by contacting intended users and requesting that letters of support be sent to the University of Southern California Sea Grant office. These support letters have sometimes been the deciding factors in proposal deliberations. If you have done related work for Sea Grant previously, indicate the benefits that have resulted from that work. (See "Letters of Support," page 9 for additional information.)

13. COMMUNICATION OF RESULTS Publishing your work in a scholarly journal or in a Sea Grant Technical Report is the minimal communication expected. However, such publications do not reach people outside academia. Therefore, you should propose means by which your results will be communicated to user groups, government agencies, stakeholders, and others. Speeches, brochures, workshops, etc. are possibilities. Consult with Phyllis Grifman () or Jim Fawcett (), USC Sea Grant’s outreach experts, if you have questions or want to discuss outreach strategies.

14. REFERENCES List complete bibliographic citations including titles of all papers, books and reports to which reference is made in your proposal and any other works that are pertinent to your research. Do not just list the items you have written. This list is intended to show professional reviewers that you know the current literature in your field. Be sure the references are complete and consistent in style. (Citation format: Author, date, title and type of publication: i.e. journal, book, etc.).

WORK SCHEDULE

The major tasks you intend to accomplish and their corresponding initiation and completion dates should be listed on the Work Schedule form. The tasks should be easily identified in the METHODS section, with the last task being the presentation of results (special report, workshop, briefing, etc.). Use as many copies of the form as necessary to list major tasks. Tasks other than the presentation of results should not continue past the proposed duration of your project. Show the schedule for all years of the project.

SEA GRANT BUDGET

USC Sea Grant is required to identify those portions for which federal funds are requested and those for which the institution itself or others will pay. The federal portion may not exceed two-thirds of the total direct cost. The other portion is contributed by the state, by your academic institution, and by other outside sources.

For your purposes, the "Grantee Share" column refers to those matching funds that you can secure from private companies, academic institutions, foundations or other non-federal sources. The "Sea Grant Funds" column refers to the federal funds for which you are applying. Federal funds from other research projects cannot be used to fulfill the matching funds requirement.

There is no upper limit on the percentage of matching funds. Sea Grant often receives proposals in which the non-federal matching funds are substantially more than the required one-half. In many cases, this is viewed as a benefit of the project and an indication of outside interest in the research endeavor.

Sea Grant permits "in-kind" matching funds as well as cash. Allowable "in-kind" items include:

  • Salaries and fringe benefits for investigators and other employees, when paid from non-federal sources. However, the percentage of salary allowable must not exceed the percentage time actually spent on the Sea Grant activity. Further, the salary rate must be that established by your institution; Sea Grant funds may not be used to augment salary scales, nor pay consulting fees over and above the salaries of participating scientists and engineers who are integral to the proposal.
  • Expendable supplies and equipment used in the Sea Grant activity when purchased for the project with non-federal funds.
  • Services, such as printing or data analysis, valued at usual rates.
  • Equipment purchased or rented with non-federal funds, when the equipment is to be used solely in the Sea Grant activity and when the equipment is not already included in calculations of indirect cost rates by USC, (such as standard lab equipment). The full initial cost of equipment may be used.

In calculating matching costs, care must be taken to avoid double counting of items that are indirect costs. The use of university facilities, for example, should not be listed separately because that is already included in the indirect cost calculation.

Proceeding down the form, the relevant categories are:

A) In calculating Salaries, use actual time to be spent on the project. If a researcher will spend one-fourth of the academic year on the project, and the academic year salary is $40,000, the calculation will be $40,000 divided by four, and the time shown will be nine months divided by four (2.25 mo.). Be sure to use the salary level for the year proposed, not your current salary.

Indicate also how much help (in person-months) from research associates; (non-Trainee) students, technicians, etc. you will need, and their corresponding salary figures, based on the university's salary ranges. The number and man-months of Graduate Student Trainees you are requesting should be listed under item A.2.h. Do not include any funds for Trainees in your budget. Funds for Trainees are provided from a separate budget.

B) Fringe Benefits. For the 2018-2020 years, USC investigators should use the federally approved fringe benefit rate of 33.2% of salaries and wages. Salaries and wages for undergraduate and graduate students are excluded from this fringe benefit calculation. The non-federal rate is 33.5%. Investigators from other institutions should use their home institution’s fringe benefit rate and rate structure.

C) Permanent Equipment is any equipment with a cost of more than $5000 and an expected lifetime in excess of one year. All items of permanent equipment need to be itemized and a purchase vs. lease justification must be included.