FY 2008 Call for Proposals

Date: April 4, 2007
To: R&D Division and Program Directors
Cc: F. H. Akers, Jr., M. V. Buchanan, J. B. Cannon, D. C. Christensen, B. H. Davison, A. Geist, W. H. Gray, R. C. Mann, T. E. Mason, G. E. Michaels, S. E. Nagler, J. A. Nichols, T. P. Sjoreen (RC), R. S. Studham, J. W. Smith, J. Wadsworth, B. A. Worley, and T. Zacharia
From: J. B. Roberto, Bldg. 4500N, MS-6240
Subject: Call for Proposals for the FY 2008 LDRD Director’s R&D Fund

Proposals are now being accepted for the FY 2008 Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Director’s R&D Fund.  This call seeks high-quality proposals that address the research priorities of the Laboratory’s initiatives in:

  • Advanced Energy Systems;
  • Advanced Materials;
  • National Security Science and Technology;
  • Neutron Sciences;
  • Systems Biology for Energy, Water, and Carbon Cycles; and
  • Ultrascale Computing.

These initiatives represent the areas that the Laboratory has chosen to emphasize as we strengthen our science and technology base and prepare for future needs of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Work for Others sponsors.  Proposals should address the target areas described in the attached document FY 2008 Director’s R&D Fund Research Priorities.  As in previous years, we will also consider truly outstanding proposals not directly connected to these areas under a “general” category.

Two themes that cut across our initiatives are being emphasized again this year: science to energy and high-performance computing.  In addition, there is increased emphasis on climate, interfacial systems, network assurance, transportation, and buildings technology. We want to encourage the submittal of crosscutting ideas that offer potential for solving the national, economic, and energy security challenges of the United States, particularly those areas that take advantage of the Laboratory’s new tools and capabilities in nanoscience, neutron sciences, and petascale computing.

As your staffs develop proposals, I strongly encourage you to engage the managers and points of contact associated with each initiative.  They can provide the guidance for tailoring proposals to best meet the needs of their initiatives. Most of the managers plan to hold information meetings to discuss the strategy and objectives of their initiatives.  I strongly encourage you and interested staff members to attend these meetings. Specific times and places for each initiative will be announced in ORNL Today.

I emphasize that proposal teams should not be overly concerned about the placement of their proposals in specific initiatives.  I will work with the Associate Laboratory Directors to ensure that all proposals are appropriately reviewed.

Authors should keep in mind that providing proper context for proposed research is important. The review committees know the scientific and technical issues of the initiatives from both the Laboratory and national perspectives, particularly as embodied in the programs of DOE and our Work-for-Others sponsors.  Therefore, proposals should avoid broad generalities when discussing background and significance.  Such discussions should focus on the science and technology specific to the proposal and include a comparison of the proposed novel approach with the latest published work and explain how the project would advance the state of the art and influence its field of research.

Proposals may request support for one or two fiscal years.  In limiting project duration to two fiscal years, I realize that it is often difficult to recruit a postdoctoral researcher for a project and provide support for a full two-year appointment.  To alleviate this problem, we will permit proposals to budget postdoctoral researchers for 24 months over three fiscal years, if the new recruit arrives within six months after the project starts.

Remember to include Laboratory overhead in your budget estimates.  There is no specific budget limitation for proposals, but keep in mind that the Director’s R&D Fund has limited resources. Our expectation is that total project budgets will average about $700,000 (i.e., $350,000/year for two years) including Laboratory overhead.

Information and guidance for submitting a proposal is provided in the FY 2008 Director’s R&D Fund Guidelines.  As before, to allow consideration of the widest possible range of ideas while limiting the effort invested in preparing proposals, we will go through a two-stage review process.  Preliminary proposals are due by Thursday, May 10; full proposals are due by Thursday, July 5.  Presentations of full proposals and renewal requests will be scheduled during July 23–August 10.

All Director’s R&D Fund documentation, including DOE Order 413.2B, which governs LDRD activities, and the Proposal Compliance Questionnaire, will be available on the ORNL internal web site at URL http://home.ornl.gov/ldrd/.  Questions concerning the Director’s R&D Fund should be directed to Terrence P. Sjoreen, Laboratory Overhead Investments Manager (Bldg. 4500N, MS-6250, 574-4174, sjoreentp@ornl.gov).

JBR:crh

Attachment:      FY 2008 Director’s R&D Fund Research Priorities
Referenced documents: