WHOI Funding and Awards --> Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Technology Innovation Awards and Edwin W. Hiam Endowed Fund for Ocean Science and Technology

Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Technology Innovation Awards
Edwin W. Hiam Endowed Fund for Ocean Science and Technology

Deadline for submission of proposals to this program is October 15 annually. If October 15 falls on a weekend or holiday, proposals are due the next business day.

Purpose and Award Criteria

The purpose of these awards is to provide initial funding as a means of launching new ideas in the instrumentation field or other technologies that can later be more fully developed by funding from outside agencies. These awards are only available to members of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Scientific and Technical Staffs. Since the intent of this program is to bring the Institution's engineering/instrumentation expertise to bear on timely scientific and technical issues, joint proposals between WHOI Scientific and Technical Staffs are strongly encouraged. There is approximately $250,000 available to be awarded each year.

The proposals will be reviewed by an ad-hoc committee of scientific and technical staff from all the departments. They will rate the proposals using the NSF system and make recommendations for funding to the Executive Vice President and Director of Research. His final decision will be based upon those recommendations and the availability of funds.

 Proposals will be reviewed with the following criteria in mind:

• Is the technology and/or application proposed of broad use and not just applicable to the research of an individual principal investigator or laboratory?
• Is there a clear collaborative relationship between science and engineering?
• Is the proposal driven by the needs of the science?
• Is the proposed technology or application more than just an improvement on present methods or instrumentation?
• Will awarding the proposal give the principal investigator(s) leverage when applying for funds from one of the federal agencies?

Proposal Guidelines

The deadline for submission of proposals for these awards is October 15 annually. If October 15 falls on a weekend or a holiday, proposals are due the next working day. The start date for most of these awards will be December 1.

Awards for this program are generally in the range of $45,000 to $50,000. Awards can be used to support salary and overhead as well as appropriate travel, equipment, supplies, and miscellaneous costs.

All funds will be awarded in the first year, but investigators may have two years to complete the work. Please be sure that you will have sufficient time to accomplish the proposed work within this time frame as the need for these funds is always greater than the amount available.

Proposals should be submitted, in pdf format, to the Director of Research (dirres@whoi.edu) by the stated deadline, and include the following in this order:

• The WHOI Research Proposal Summary (Green Sheet) with appropriate signatures at the Departmental level. He/She will review the proposal to be sure that it meets the guidelines of the program before signing the "Green Sheet." It is appropriate that you discuss your ideas with your Chair and request his/her assistance in preparing a better proposal.

• WHOIgrants Information:
  • Agency should be listed as: WHOI Internal Awards.
  • The Division should read: WHOI: OcnSci & Tech to ensure that your proposal is reviewed against the appropriate criteria.
  • Address field in Distribution section should read: Director of Research, Fenno House, Mail Stop #39.
• An Abstract: The abstract will be used for two purposes, should your proposal be funded. First, it will be part of a report to the donor which describes what we have done with the money provided to us for this program. Therefore, the abstract should not be too technical. The second use will be to announce to the Institution what has been funded by including the abstract on our web page. Please be sure that your abstract does not "give away" any privileged information that you may need to acquire future funds from government or other sources. The abstract should be only 1-2 paragraphs long.
• The Text: This should describe what you wish to do. All criteria will be explicitly addressed in a successful proposal since these proposals are reviewed by an interdisciplinary team. The reviewers will be looking for a clear description of the questions you will ask and your method for achieving an answer.

• Page limit of 1-2 pages will be strictly enforced. Graphics and references are not included in this limit.
• Proposals must be readily legible. Font size should be a minimum of 12, and vertical spacing appropriate for the font size. Small type size makes it difficult for reviewers to read the proposal; consequently, the use of small type may be cause to return the proposal without review.

• The Budget: A simple budget which shows your proposed expenditures. An official WHOI salary work-up should be done to determine the salary and related costs. Unusual items in the budget may be explained.
• Current short CV and list of 10 most recent or relevant publications for each PI.
• Signed originals must be sent to the Office of Grant & Contract Services, MS #39 within a reasonable period after electronic submission of pdf file.

Final Report

A brief report is required at the end of the award period. This report will be used to keep the donors of endowment funds that support the Interdisciplinary and Independent Study programs informed of the awards and to express our gratitude by sharing the results of the research. Most of the donors, while not necessarily trained in your field, are knowledgeable about science, in general, and curious about what we do. Please be careful with the use of jargon or lengthy technical explanations in your final report.

The final report should be sent to the attention of Wendy Henley in the Development Office, Fenno House, Mail Stop #40, e-mail: whenley@whoi.edu. A copy of any publications resulting from this research should also be sent to Wendy. It is possible that someone from the Development Office will call to discuss your research in more detail or to ask you to meet with sponsors when they are on campus.