TO: The Puerto Rico Scientific Community

RE: 2025 NASA EPSCoR Basic Research Pre-proposal Competition

NASA released a new NASA EPSCoR Basic Research Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO No. NNH24ZHA003C-EPSCOR).  

Faculty responding to this NOFO shall work closely with NASA researcher(s) to focus on developing competitive research and technology for the solution of scientific and technical issues of importance to the NASA Mission Directorates, Centers, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

This collaboration will allow EPSCoR researchers to work alongside NASA and commercial partners and is intended to strengthen the bonds among NASA EPSCoR jurisdictions, NASA, commercial partners, and other entities.

Each EPSCoR jurisdiction is allowed to submit ONE proposal in response to this NOFO. Thereby, PR NASA EPSCoR is conducting a pre-proposal competition to select the project to be submitted to NASA from PR. Interested research teams are invited to submit their pre-proposals to the PR NASA EPSCoR Office. 

The pre-proposals will be evaluated by the Technical Advisory Committee to determine the project to be developed into a full-fledged proposal based on their alignment with the specific objectives of NASA EPSCoR:

• Contribute to and promote the development of research capability in NASA EPSCoR jurisdictions in areas of strategic importance to NASA’s mission;

• Improve the capabilities of the NASA EPSCoR jurisdictions to gain support from sources outside the NASA EPSCoR programs;

• Develop partnerships among NASA research assets, academic institutions, and industry;

• Contribute to the overall research infrastructure and economic development of the jurisdiction; and

• Focus on research of important priority to NASA.

The PI of the successful pre-proposal will be invited to submit a full-fledged proposal requesting $750,000 from NASA, which must be matched 2:1 with institutional funds (i.e., $375,000). The PI is responsible for obtaining the matching funds from his/her home institution.  In-kind matching funds are allowed.   

Submission: Pre-proposals are due by 5:00 PM on Friday, December 6, 2024 via Submittable.

For more information contact: Dr. Gerardo Morell, PR NASA EPSCoR Director, email: gerardo.morell@upr.edu

Technical Support: For technical questions or problems with the Submittable platform, technical support is available Monday-Friday, 9 am - 5 pm MST and can be reached at support@submittable.com or 855-467-8264