The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment is pleased to announce a unique funding opportunity that supports team building activities aimed at developing new research directions and laying the groundwork for projects and proposals that require interdisciplinary collaboration. Recognizing that assembling interdisciplinary teams for these purposes takes time and resources, this call seeks to support high-impact planning activities such as regular working groups, focused workshops with internal and external partners to develop whitepapers and pre-proposals, and planning meetings for proposal development. For teams that are already well-positioned, the funds may also be used to support proposal preparation (e.g., hiring outside consultants). Note that this funding is restricted to activities aimed at building teams and proposal preparation and is not intended to support research projects.

Proposal Preparation Instructions:

Submission Deadline. On a rolling basis to accommodate program proposal deadlines, though preferred dates are on the first day of each quarter (January 2, April 1, July 1, October 1)

Submission Method. Send a single PDF file to csharpless@princeton.edu.

Eligibility. This call is open to all Princeton Researchers who are eligible to serve as principal investigators (PIs) on R&D grants. Outside collaborators are welcome as participants but may not serve as PI or co-PI.

Award Amount and Duration. Up to $30,000, not to exceed one year. No overhead will be charged.

Review Process. The proposal will be reviewed by the Andlinger Center leadership on rolling basis.

Proposal Contents. Proposals should be no more than two (2) pages (excluding the budget rationale and biosketches) and should be structured as follows:

• Title
• Background (the ideas or research theme to be developed and their significance)
• Project Description (the nature of the activities to be undertaken; participants and partner institutions, if beyond Princeton University; timeline and expected outcomes)
• Budget rationale, stating the amount of funds requested and a brief explanation of how the funds would be spent. Allowable expenses may include, but are not limited, to travel, meeting and/or workshop expenses, consulting fees. No faculty summer salary, benefits, or research supplies may be charged to the award.
• NSF-style biosketches for the PI and co-PIs responsible for managing the award

Reporting. Grantees are expected to provide a one-page summary listing the activities and accomplishments (proposal submitted/awarded, results obtained, connections made, etc.) by the end of the project period.

If you have questions, please email the Andlinger Center’s Assistant Director for Research, Charlie Sharpless at csharpless@princeton.edu.