June 2017

Guidelines ForPREPARATION OF SEA GRANT PROPOSALS

toUniversity of Southern California Sea Grant Program

GENERAL GUIDELINES...........................................................................1 NATIONAL SEA GRANT COLLEGE PROGRAM CRITERIA...........................2NOAA DATA SHARING REQUIREMENT…………………………………………….................................................................................................................3PROPOSAL FORMAT................................................................................3WORK SCHEDULE...................................................................................3SEA GRANT BUDGET...............................................................................5CURRICULUM VITA..................................................................................8CONCURRENT GRANTS...........................................................................8MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS REQUEST...................................................8TRAINEE REQUEST..................................................................................8SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL........................................................................9LETTERS OF SUPPORT............................................................................9SUBMISSION...........................................................................................9SAMPLE PROPOSAL..........................................................................10-17SEA 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 ProgramLos Angeles, CA 90089-0373

(213) 740-1961

Email: seagrant@usc.edu

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) duguay@usc.edu; or Phyllis Grifman (Associate Director) grifman@usc.edu.

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.

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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 organization are 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

A. 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.

B. 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.

C. 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.

D. 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.

E. 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.

F. 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.

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G. 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.

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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 https://www.nosc.noaa.gov/EDMC/PD.DMP.php. 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

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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 INFORMATIONA. 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.

B. 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

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considerable effort to obtain university and non-university funds and/or in-kind contributions to your project. In this section, please supply the following:

a. An explanation of significant matching contributions, i.e., enough explanation for reviewers of the proposal to understand that you do have outside support;

b. 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 (Grifman@usc.edu) or Jim Fawcett (Fawcett@usc.edu), 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

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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.

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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.

If there are not enough lines on a summary form, write "see list" and use only the total. Provide description of equipment to be purchased or leased, including unit cost and total purchase or leasing costs. Identify purpose of each equipment item and how it will benefit or be used for the project. Explain how the acquisition decision was made.

D) Expendable Supplies requested and being supplied as match should be detailed in the body of the proposal.

E) Show the basis for Travel in the body of the proposal. Domestic travel includes travel to all U.S. possessions or territories; e.g., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam or Samoa. For purposes of work directly related to the project (NOT including conferences held by professional societies), travel to Canada or Mexico also may be listed as "domestic." All other travel anywhere outside the U.S. and its possessions is considered "foreign travel" and must be justified and

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specifically approved in advance. Provide number of travelers, type and estimated cost of transportation, to/from destinations @ $/ea. (airfare at coach rates), and total. Identify separately domestic and foreign travel. If actual trips are unknown, provide the basis for the proposed travel charges. Provide rates, number of days @ $/day, total, and statement of conformance to travel policies. Identify purpose of each separate trip and how it is related to the project. Any travel being supported by matching funds needs this same level of detail.

F) Publication Costs. This refers to the costs of preparing your work for publication. Please contact USC Sea Grant when purchasing reprints from journal articles. Sea Grant will often pay for reprints out of separate funds so you may not need to include these as a budget item.

G) Under Other Costs, list such items as computer time, ship time, reimbursement of participating organizations outside the proposing institution for equipment rental, consultants, etc. Note that facilities rental and other costs not allowed under the federal portion of the grant may be listed as "other costs" in the Grantee share column.

If the project includes extensive work at another institution or with consultants, it may be advisable to establish a subcontract relationship (subcontracts will required a separate budget and SOW). There are trade-offs involving indirect costs, administrative convenience, the requirements of other institutions, and so on. Contact the USC Sea Grant Office if you have any questions about such arrangements.

H) Indirect Costs. Indirect costs at USC are calculated on the Modified Total Direct Cost (MTDC) basis. Items included in the MTDC base are all salaries and wages, fringe benefits, travel, expendable materials and supplies, most ship time and the first $25,000 of each subcontract and consulting agreements. Items not included are all equipment purchases, facilities rental and the portion of a subcontract or consulting agreement over $25,000.

The estimated USC (on-campus) indirect cost rates for the next two Sea Grant years are:

07/01/18 – 06/30/19 - 65.00%07/01/19 – 06/30/20 - 65.00%

The off-campus rate for USC is 26.00%

USC Sea Grant projects that will be administered at another academic institution should use that institution's indirect cost rates.

For information and/or assistance regarding the Sea Grant Budget Form, call the USC Sea Grant Office at (213) 740-1961.

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CURRICULUM VITA

Include a CV for all Principal Investigators (PIs). It is necessary to include complete addresses and telephone numbers for all PIs. Resumes for clerical and technical personnel and research assistants need not be included.

The credentials of the Principal Investigators are a key element in assessing the potential of a proposal. Therefore, be sure to include all relevant details that will permit an in-depth evaluation of credentials. In particular, be sure the CV is current. The CV must conform to the format in the sample and is limited to two pages. You may therefore have to eliminate mention of positions, memberships and publications that are not important in establishing your overall qualifications for this project. Items not directly related to your proposed project should therefore be either recent or very important.

CONCURRENT GRANTS

A listing of concurrent grants is required from all Principal and Associate Investigators on proposed project. This listing is useful in demonstrating to reviewers the current grant experience of the investigators and to assure that the investigators are not overcommitted.

Include those grants (or contracts) for which you are currently funded, even if the period of performance does not overlap with the fiscal year(s) of your proposed Sea Grant project. Also, include all proposed grants that have been submitted to a funding agency or foundation at the time of submission of your Sea Grant Proposal.

MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS REQUEST

This information is for USC's internal records and is requested so that we may document the contribution to the USC administration, and if necessary, to federal auditors. We ask, therefore, that you supply as much information as you can for each match item shown on your budget. This information will not be sent to reviewers, donors or the National Sea Grant Office.

TRAINEE REQUEST

Sea Grant Trainees are selected by an independent process. At this point, you are merely notifying us of your intentions. Each Sea Grant Trainee is committed to work half-time during the 9-month academic year. Even if you have not chosen a potential trainee at this stage of the proposal process, it is important that you indicate whether you will need trainee(s). Historically most projects are assigned one trainee, who is expected to complete a major portion of thesis research on the funded research. We are not supportive of splitting trainees, but we will consider it if it expedites the work. The cost for the Trainee should not be included in your budget.

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SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL For the purposes of providing concise, accurate summaries of proposed projects throughout the Sea Grant network, you must include a brief summary of the following aspects of your proposal:

OBJECTIVES:

METHODOLOGY:

RATIONALE:

DATA SHARING PLAN:

These summaries will be compiled in a separate proposal volume to be used as a reference document for all proposals submitted. In addition, please complete the 90-2 summary provided.

LETTERS OF SUPPORT

Because Sea Grant research usually has potential for application or is applied research, Sea Grant reviewers and officials need to know if there is outside interest in your proposal. It is important that letters of support from groups interested in your project accompany your proposal. Examples: A letter from a company stating it will contribute matching funds or services; a letter of support from a public or private agency stating their need for the work to be undertaken; or a letter from a government agency stating that the research results you will produce are needed. Ideally, consultations with such groups would be a natural part of preparing the proposal.

Letters of support should be submitted at the same time as the proposal application so they may be included as part of the proposal review process. The letters may be addressed to you or to the Director of the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program.

SUBMISSION

We prefer receiving your proposal as an email attachment. If email attachment is not possible (due to file size or connection speed), we also accept files on CD or DVD.

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Email your proposal to the USC Sea Grant Office (seagrant@usc.edu) by COB on the official due date.

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University of Southern California Sea Grant ProposalFormat and Required Forms

PROJECT TITLE: (all caps)

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: (Follow name with title, affiliation.) (Begin each name on a new line.)

ASSOCIATE INVESTIGATORS: (Follow same format as above.)

FUNDING REQUESTED: (Follow form shown below, inserting appropriate dates and figures.) It is necessary to submit a separate budget page for each year of funding requested.

2018-2019 $00,000 Federal $00,000 Match2019-2020 $00,000 Federal $00,000 Match

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:(Begin your text here. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

INVESTIGATORY QUESTION: (Begin your text here. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

MOTIVATION:(Begin your text here. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:A. Overall Goals

What are the overall goal(s) of this project?

B. 2015-2016 Objectives

METHODS: (Begin your text here. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

RELATED RESEARCH:

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(Begin your text here. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for guidance.)

BUDGET-RELATED INFORMATION:A. Budget Explanation/Detailed Justification

Details of Personnel, M&S, Equipment, Travel and Other Cost categories.

B. Matching FundsDetail any Matching Funds on your project.

ANTICIPATED BENEFITS:(State specifically who is expected to benefit from this project and

in what ways.)

COMMUNICATION OF RESULTS:(How, when and where will results be transmitted to the above

beneficiaries, i.e., publications, workshops. briefings, reports, use of Sea Grant Extension/Outreach, etc.?)

REFERENCES:(List alphabetically with surname of author first, followed by first

name or initials. See sample below.)

Anderson, D. M. Year. Title. Publication or publisher. Pages.

WORK SCHEDULE FORM(Form attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

BUDGET FORM(Form attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

CURRICULUM VITA(Example attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

CURRENT AND PENDING FORM(Form attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS REQUEST FORM(Form attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for

guidance.)

TRAINEE REQUEST FORM

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(Form attached. See "Preparation of Sea Grant Proposals" for guidance.)

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BRIEF CURRICULUM VITAE(Needed for all Principal and Associate Investigators)

NAME ___________________________________________________________________

Address __________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Phone (work) ____-____________(home) ____-____________ Email _______________

EDUCATION

POSITIONS HELD

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

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MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS REQUEST FORM

PROJECT TITLE: ____________________________________________________________

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S):_______________________________________________

Please supply any of the following information that is available. We recognize that complete information may not be available. You will be given additional chances to update the information. Reproduce this form if you need to report several contributions.

This information is for USC internal use only. It will not be released or provided to reviewers, donors or to the National Sea Grant Office in Washington.

DONOR: ____________________________________________________________________

MATCH (ITEM OR AMOUNT): ________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION OF CONTRIBUTION:

If contribution is in-kind, please explain how the dollar value was calculated. It is not necessary to account separately for the fringe and overhead items in the match column. Itemize only the direct expense contributions.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

USC ACCOUNT NUMBER (FOR USC CONTRIBUTIONS) ________________________

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION: (Please supply letters of commitment or donor's valuation of contribution).

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

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TRAINEE REQUEST FORM

Project Title:_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Principal Investigator(s): (List name, title, affiliation, address and telephone number.)

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Duration of Project: From _________________________ to ________________________

Number of Trainees requested: _____________________________________________

Names of Possible Trainees*: (List name, department, telephone number.)

(1)__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

(2)__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

(3)__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

(4)__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

*Students wishing to be trainees must submit a USC Sea Grant Trainee Application (available at the USC Sea Grant Office). These will be available once PIs are informed of funding decisions.

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