• Read about available research commercialization funds from Beall Applied Innovation.
• Learn how to write a stronger biosketch narrative.
• Register for upcoming seminars, including one on job interviews.
• Browse new funding opportunities, including from the Keck Foundation, NOAA, the Department of Defense, and the Simons Foundation.

Funds Available for Research Commercialization

UCI Beall Applied Innovation (BAI) has launched Round 9 of its Proof-of-Product (PoP) Grants program. Through this program, BAI competitively awards grants up to $100K for faculty researchers to advance their discoveries towards market to measurably improve lives. To date, nearly $4 Million has been awarded to over 50 faculty researchers.

Please visit the PoP Grants webpage for additional details, the RFP, and the FAQs. You can email BAI’s Director of New Ventures, Matt Hanson, with questions.

• January 15, 2023 – Letters of Intent (LOI) Due
• January 15, 2023 – Record of Invention Due
• Feb 15, 2023 – Proposals Due
• May 15, 2023 (tentative) – Awards Announced and Showcase Event

To Write a Strong Biosketch Narrative, Use This Structure

The narrative section of a biosketch is your opportunity to tell the reviewers why you are qualified to perform the proposed work. Why is that important? Funding agencies task reviewers with scoring qualifications of the investigators. So a well-crafted narrative helps establish your credibility and adds to the feasibility of your project.

Being persuasive in the biosketch requires you to relay three pieces of information: (1) your previous experience with research projects, (2) your current position and responsibilities, and (3) your future directions. Breaking down the narrative into these three parts, it seems logical to start writing about your past, move to the present, and then finish with the future. As intuitive as it sounds, this structure may not be the strongest way to communicate this information.

Instead, try using this structure: present–past–future. Doing so may seem counterintuitive, so let’s understand why this structure is strong. For starters, it sounds more natural. When you introduce yourself to someone, you don’t start with your history (“Hi, nice to meet you. I started my research career as a graduate student at UC Davis.”). Rather, you would start with your current attributes (“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m an assistant professor of biology at UC Irvine.”).

But more importantly, starting with the present gives the reviewers an anchor of information to hold on to as they learn about your background and future. Having a reference point is more helpful than aimlessly reading a chronological summary of one’s career. Your goal should be to tell the reviewers a story, not give them a history lesson.

The biosketch is an important part of your proposal because it describes crucial information about how qualified you are to carry out the work that you propose. For your next proposal, try elevating your biosketch narrative by using the present–past–future structure.

November

UCI Newkirk Center for Science & Society

• Bri McWhorter (Founder and CEO, Activate to Captivate)
• Danny Mann (Director of Grad Student & Postdoctoral Instruction, UCI DTEI)
• Ken Schiff (Deputy Director, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project)

351 Steinhaus Hall
Please register here to attend.

November

Focus on Evolution Seminar Series

Stacey Smith; Associate Professor; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of Colorado, Boulder

3120 Biological Sciences III and Zoom

December

Developmental and Cell Biology Seminar Series

Kate McCusker; Assistant Professor; Developmental Biology; University of Massachusetts, Boston

4201 Natural Sciences II and Zoom (ID: 935 0482 6445; PW: 754037)

NSF DBI Virtual Office Hours: Research Capacity Programs at NSF-BIO

The Division of Biological Infrastructure will host virtual office hours on Tuesday, January 17 at 12 PM – 1 PM PT. Program Officers will introduce the Research Capacity Program in the Directorate for Biological Sciences, including the Biological Collections and Biological Field Stations/Marine Laboratories (FSML) programmatic areas and discuss recent updates to the relevant solicitation. They will also provide tips on how to write great Collections and FSML proposals. This is an opportunity to raise questions and communicate directly with program officers in your field.

You must register in advance for the webinar. There will be a 30-minute presentation, followed by an open Q&A session with Program Officers.

NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program - Limited Submission

The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit.

This solicitation offers two broad tracks for proposals in pursuit of the aforementioned goals:

1. The Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track offers the opportunity to translate prior NSF-funded research results in any field of science or engineering into technological innovations with promising commercial potential and societal impact. PFI-TT supports commercial potential demonstration projects for academic research outputs in any NSF-funded science and engineering discipline. This demonstration is achieved through proof-of-concept, prototyping, technology development and/or scale-up work.

2. The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track seeks to achieve the same goals as the PFI-TT track by supporting instead complex, multi-faceted technology development projects that are typically beyond the scope of a single researcher or institution and require a multi-organizational, interdisciplinary, synergistic collaboration. A PFI-RP project requires the creation of partnerships between academic researchers and third-party organizations such as industry, non-academic research organizations, federal laboratories, public or nonprofit technology transfer organizations or other universities. Such partnerships are needed to conduct applied research on a stand-alone larger project toward commercialization and societal impact.

While there is no institutional limit on the PFI-TT track, UCI may submit only one (1) application in response to the PFI-RP track. Therefore, PIs interested in applying to PFI-RP are asked to submit a preliminary application to the Office of Research.

UCI limited deadline: November 21, 2022

NSF full deadline: January 11, 2023

Keck Foundation Research Program Grants - Limited Submission

The W.M. Keck Foundation focuses on enabling pioneering discoveries that overturn prevailing paradigms or promote new solutions to old problems. They encourage development of new technology, but also want to know what new science it will enable. Competitive LOIs will clearly articulate the specific problem you want to explore and how your approach is unique. Keck does not want projects that reflect the “next logical step” in your research, but rather encourages out-of-the-box thinking. If your project would be competitive at NIH or NSF, it is not going to be of interest to the Keck Foundation.

Research that is the next logical step for an investigator’s program, or that would be considered incremental, will not be successful. Translational or clinical research, vector and drug development, alternative energy and biodiversity studies, and miniaturization of existing technologies are not considered. If Keck funded it recently, it is likely they will not fund a related project again. Abstracts for funded projects are found on their website.

UCI limited deadline: December 9, 2022

Keck full deadline: May 1, 2023

NOAA Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program

The Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program provides support for master’s and doctoral degrees in oceanography, marine biology, maritime archaeology—these may include but are not limited to ocean and/or coastal: engineering, social science, marine education, marine stewardship, cultural anthropology, and resource management disciplines—and particularly encourages women and members of minority groups to apply.

In order to have a competitive application for the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program, it is recommended that you review the following bullets to assess whether or not you should apply for this scholarship.

1. Your research proposal aligns closely with NOAA's mission, with particular emphasis on meeting the science priorities of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. This is worth up to 30 points of your application score.

2. Your financial need statement documents a strong financial need due to challenges, hardships, or other information through a compelling personal narrative. This is worth up to 25 points of your application score.

3. You have exceptional letters of recommendation. This is worth up to 10 points of your application score.

4. Historically, proposals that do not support the science or education priorities of NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System do not rank as high.

5. If you are in the last year of your Masters or Ph.D. program, it is not advised to apply for this scholarship.

DoD DARPA Young Faculty Award

The objective of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA) program is to identify and engage rising stars in junior research positions, emphasizing those without prior DARPA funding, and expose them to DoD needs and DARPA’s program development process. 

The YFA program provides funding, mentoring and industry and DoD contacts to awardees early in their careers so they may develop their research ideas in the context of national security needs. The long term goal of the YFA program is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who will focus a significant portion of their career on DoD and National Security issues.

In addition to the solicitation, you can view program overview slides here.

Simons Foundation - Neuroscience Collaborations Vision Statements Call

The Simons Foundation seeks to create strong collaborations and foster the cross-pollination of ideas between investigators, as these interactions often lead to unexpected breakthroughs. In 2012, the foundation launched a new collaborative funding model, the Simons Collaborations, which funds groups of investigators — often from different disciplines — to work together on a timely and important problem. To date, 23 Simons Collaborations have been launched in and across our Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Neuroscience divisions, and another two collaborations through the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).

The goal of the Simons Collaborations is to bring together groups of outstanding scientists to address topics of fundamental scientific importance, with a focus on fields in which significant new developments have created novel opportunities for exploration. To enable bold, creative and innovative research, each collaboration is funded for ten years (with a review at year five).

For those interested in submitting a vision statement, the Simons Foundation will host a webinar providing additional information about the process on December 12, 2022 at 10 AM PT.

Vision Statement deadline: March 8, 2023

Help us to generate information for the Research Bulletin.

Submit details about seminars and other research-related events on campus here. 

Submit funding opportunity announcements here.

If the Research Bulletin was forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe, sign up here. 

If you’re a faculty member, postdoc, graduate student, or other researcher in the School of Biological Sciences and would like help with a grant submission, please email bio-research@uci.edu.

To let the Pre-Award team know of your planned proposal submission, please fill out this form at least four weeks before the deadline.