FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

FY2021 MIT SEA GRANT PROPOSAL PROCESS

MIT Sea Grant provides competitive funding opportunities for Massachusetts university-based research scientists who seek to address marine issues in ways that benefit the Commonwealth. Lead scientists on a proposal must have Principal Investigator standing at their own institutions to be eligible for funding, and must not be the recipient of other MIT Sea Grant funding during the period of the grant (2/1/2021 to 1/31/2023).

In 2021 MIT Sea Grant will focus our funding resources on the following specific areas of marine research that support the focus areas described in the 2018-2021 MIT Sea Grant Strategic Plan. Please review the 2018-2021 MIT Sea Grant Strategic Plan for detailed information regarding the goals and desired outcomes relative to these focus areas. The four topic areas are:

1. Offshore aquaculture: The focus is on novel technologies to enable offshore installation and operation. We particularly encourage submissions within three topic areas:

   a) “intelligent nets” capable of sensing changing environmental parameters, controlling water flow, and monitoring fish movements for monitoring at-sea conditions, infrastructure, and operations;
   b) autonomy for surface and underwater craft for inspection and maintenance of offshore farms – autonomy algorithms should be open, extensible, and applicable to a wide variety of platforms and missions; and
   c) very low power physical, chemical, or biological sensors for farm monitoring.

2. Ocean acidification: The focus is on ocean monitoring using physics-based data inference, fusing diverse sources of data with a focus on, but not limited to, computer monitoring systems for Boston Harbor or the Gulf of Maine. Data from drifters, buoys, and satellite sources are all of interest.
3. Technology for observation and underwater manipulation: Focusing particularly on shallow water applications, this area builds on past topics in underwater wireless power transmission and data communication. Principal obstacles in underwater monitoring and manipulation include:

   a) re-charging rapidly and effectively;
   b) transferring data reliably at high rates; and
   c) equipping underwater and surface vehicles with manipulation capabilities targeting aquaculture applications.

4. Machine learning for fisheries management: Monitoring and assessment of fisheries resources is a timely, costly, and resource intensive process. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning for computer assisted image recognition, quantification, and real-time monitoring of target species is a need expressed by a variety of stakeholders, including local, state, and federal resource managers, industry participants, and local communities. Development of user-friendly systems for commercial, recreational, and species of concern to assist in monitoring and assessments would support the MIT Sea Grant Focus Area, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture. This technology can be applied to both wild and aquaculture fisheries.

An informational meeting for the FY2021 RFP was held at MIT Sea Grant on January 23, 2020, and provided guidance for interested applicants. Meeting slides are available for download.

Once you have decided on your topic, you are STRONGLY encouraged to contact MIT Research Program Coordinator Mary Newton Lima (mnewlim@mit.edu) with any questions you have about selecting a topic and access to MIT Sea Grant’s proposal system, eSeaGrant. Both Preliminary and Full Proposals must be submitted through our online proposal system, eSeaGrant. For more information about deadlines, see the current schedule in the Full RFP.

FUNDING AND DURATION

Core Research Projects for FY2021

The maximum annual research project budget request to be considered is $100,000 for a total of $200,000 for a two-year project. This does not include the required matching funds provided by the PI, which amount to at least 50% of the figure requested from Sea Grant. Matching funds must be from non-federal sources and can include cash, salaries, equipment, supplies, ship-time, etc.

Projects last for up to two years. The PI will submit a project timeline as part of their full proposal.

PROPOSAL PROCESS AND INSTRUCTIONS

The proposal process is initiated in late January or early February of each year when the Request for Preliminary Proposals (RFP) is announced. Project work begins on February 1 of the following year. The rules governing NOAA/Sea Grant deadlines are strictly enforced and the contents of proposals must be complete by the dates and times given in the Full RFP.

Basic Rules and Assumptions:

• The Principal Investigator is eligible to submit an external proposal according to his/her home institution
• The appropriate authorities at the home institution approve budget figures, including matching fund estimates
• The Principal Investigator agrees to the review process described
• The Sea Grant Director may, at his/her discretion, remove a proposal from further consideration at any point in the process if an investigator has overdue obligations to the MIT Sea Grant College Program under a previous research contract
• The budget amount requested from Sea Grant will not increase by more than 10% in the course of the submission process

ADDITIONAL STEPS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR EVALUATING AND SELECTING PROPOSALS:

Preliminary Proposal Submission

Preliminary proposals submitted by the deadline are reviewed by the MIT Sea Grant Advisory Committee and MIT Sea Grant Director.

Instructions for submitting a preliminary proposal can be found in the Full RFP.

Full Proposal Submission

Principal Investigators whose projects are scientifically sound and are aligned with the goals of the MIT SG Program will be encouraged to write a full proposal.

Instructions for submitting a full proposal can be found in the Full RFP.

Full Proposal Review

Full proposals are distributed for extensive peer review. The reviewers’ comments (blinded) are made available to the Principal Investigators for response and rebuttal. The full proposal, reviewers’ critiques, and the PI’s responses (if provided) are submitted to a Technical Review Panel which meets in September for extensive discussion and to make final recommendations. The Director, with the advice of the MIT Sea Grant Advisory Committee and the Program Monitor, and giving due consideration to the peer technical reviewers’ recommendations, and the relevance of the proposed work to the Program’s strategic goals, selects proposals to be included in the MIT Sea Grant College Program Omnibus Proposal. The Omnibus is submitted in October to the NOAA National Sea Grant Office for review and acceptance. Funding authorization is finalized within 60 days, and Principal Investigators are informed of the result.