The Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) is a pilot program that aims to:
- Increase the number of researchers capable of performing Science and Engineering (S&E) research responsive to the needs of the Department of Defense (DoD);
- Improve the capabilities of institutes of higher education (IHEs) in eligible EPSCoR states and territories to develop, plan, and execute science and engineering (S&E) research that is relevant to the mission of the DoD and competitive under the peer-review systems used for awarding Federal research assistance; and
- Increase the probability of long-term growth in the competitively awarded financial assistance that IHE in eligible states/territories receive from the Federal Government for S&E research. The program is sponsored and managed by the Basic Research Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD [R&E]), awarded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Approximately $3.6 million in total funding will be made available for this program to fund approximately six (6) awards of up to $600,000 (total cost) each. Each award will be funded up to $200,000 (total cost) per year for three (3) years in the form of a grant. Subjected to funding availability.
Eligibility
This program aims to create basic research collaborations between a pair of researchers, namely:
- Applicant (Principal investigator, Mentee), a non-previously DoD-funded, full-time faculty member with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to conduct the proposed research as the principal investigator and
- Collaborator (co-Principal Investigator, Mentor), an investigator who was previously funded by DoD within the last seven years. Though this is a collaboration between Applicant and Collaborator, Applicant’s Institution of Higher Education (IHE) will submit the proposal.
- Applicant and Collaborator, both must hold a tenured or tenure-track position with your IHE, or your proposal must include a letter from your IHE stating that you will be considered for a tenured or tenure-track position if you currently hold a short- term appointment.
Application Criteria:
- Proposed research should describe cutting-edge efforts on basic scientific problems. White papers deemed to be applied research, as opposed to basic research, will not advance to the proposal stage of the competition.
- You should show strength in as many of the evaluation and selection areas as practicable to demonstrate maximum competitiveness
Registration and submission Deadlines:
- Applicants must register with Sam.gov by no later than 11:59 PM EST on October 18, 2019
- White Paper and Supporting Documents must be submitted by no later than 11:59 PM EST on October 25, 2019
For more information go to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html/ and search for DEPSCoR
For General Inquiries and Questions, contact:
Ms. Lisa Pizarro
Grants Officer
Email: Lisa.Pizarro.1@us.af.mil
The program objectives for DEPSCoR are described in the program statue:
Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title II, §219[e][3], Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1331
