K. Barish Kenneth N. Barish …………… 9 July, 2004 MRI: information and thoughts Matthias and I discussed this with Brad Keister at the NSAC review. I will report on what we learned.  NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) guidelines  Submission procedure  How should we proceed?

K. Barish MRI guidelines (what do I know?) Maximum award is $2M Awards above ~$800K must be considered NSF wide 20% matching required (=> total max cost $2.4M) –More matching does not help (could hurt) –Addition of 4 year colleges reduces matching but does not increase total award. Proposal must stand alone –Cannot rely on a perceived upgrade. This includes to RHIC or to the detector. –Uncertainty of timescale for a 500GeV running may be a concern. $2M is not a typical award –300 awards for total of $75,000,000 ($250K average) Proposal cannot repeat something already funded by NSF –If we include the nosecone we need to consider the possible affect of NSF having funded the STAR endcap EMCal.

K. Barish Submission information Each institution is allowed only 3 MRI proposals »Institutions have internal competitions to select those proposals $2M is not a typical award »300 awards for total of $75,000,000 ($250K average) University internal deadlines are late Nov or early Dec Proposal to NSF is due 3 rd week of January. Decisions are made in ~6 months All money is available at once »Can be spent over several years »Mostly intended to buy piece of equipment. Trigger projects have succeeded in the past (D0, I think), but it is a challenge.

K. Barish How to proceed Define the scope of the MRI ASAP »To NoseCone or not to NoseCone (in the proposal) »2 PRC’s, muTr hybrid, other?? Organization »Who will orchestrate (regardless of where submitted)? »Who will be lead institution in submission? –Who is viable? »Who will do what - what money goes to each institution? »What do we do about matching funds (does not need to be cash)? –What matching funds can we expect from YOUR institution? –Foreign contributions? Assignments and timeline »That’s what this meeting is for … »University internal deadlines November or December »NSF proposal submission 3 rd week of January

K. Barish Example: MRI process at UCR last year National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) Please note: NSF MRI Program has a submission limit of three proposals per institution. Therefore, ORA has established the internal selection process detailed below to ensure UCR does not exceed the submission limit. All faculty interested in submitting to the MRI program are asked to abide by the internal review deadlines. For questions or more information on the internal review process, please contact MaryAnn Beaman in the Office of Research Affairs, x5535.MaryAnn Beaman Preproposal (2-3 pages) to MaryAnn Beaman: 11/08/2003 Vice Chancellor's Decision to Faculty: 11/22/2003 NSF Deadline: 01/23/2003 Award Amount: $100,000 to $2 million Award Period: Acquisition proposals - up to three years; development proposals - up to five years Full Announcement: Website: Limit on Number of Proposals: An institution may submit up to three proposals to the MRI program. An institution may submit up to two proposals for instrument acquisition. If an institution submits three proposals, at least one of the three proposals submitted must be for instrument development. However, two or all three proposals may be for instrument development. In addition, an institution may be included as a member of a legally established consortium submitting a separate proposal, clearly labeled as such in the proposal's title. Synopsis: The Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) is designed to increase access to scientific and engineering equipment for research and research training in our Nation's academic institutions.