Prairie Research Institute – Center for Digital Agriculture Joint Research Program (PRI-CDA)

Prairie Research Institute – Center for Digital Agriculture Joint Research Program (PRI-CDA) is sponsored by University of Illinois, Prairie Research Institute and Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA). This program connects PRI and CDA researchers by providing funding to work together on innovative solutions for societal challenges, using AI/ML or other digital technologies to enhance agricultural sustainability.

Prairie Research Institute – Center for Digital Agriculture Joint Research Program | Prairie Research Institute | Illinois Prairie Research Institute – Center for Digital Agriculture Joint Research Program Program Contact: Brian Pianfetti The motivation for this proposal is to connect PRI and CDA researchers with seed funding for the formation of new joint research projects to find innovative solutions for important societal challenges.

Funding priority will be given to project submissions relevant to CDA and PRI. The proposed research should work toward solutions using digital technologies to enhance agriculture sustainability. The projects should take into consideration the environmental and climate impacts of feeding a growing population and how technology can improve or advance agricultural production.

This could include but is not limited to improving the operational efficiency of systems, gathering information (estimating land use, crop type, predicting flood risk, supply chain resilience, etc), forecasting (energy demand, etc), tools for speeding up simulations (emulating parts of climate models, etc), and accelerating scientific discovery.

Proposals that utilize existing datasets in novel ways, for example as training data or for data mining, are encouraged. A wide range of project types and exploratory research efforts are welcome. Preference will be given to projects with research and collaborative plans showing a clear path to self-sustaining funding and may ultimately lead to external initiatives.

Teams should submit a one-year budget with a maximum of $30,000. It is anticipated that this funding will support expenditures for preliminary research to strengthen the team for external competitive grants. The proposed scope of research efforts should be aligned with the program funding levels.

In addition to making progress in scientific and technical terms, and enhancing collaboration between CDA and PRI, each project will be expected to submit external proposals to sustain the joint projects beyond year one. During these initial awards, the PRI Office of the Associate Director of Research, in collaboration with the PI’s home unit, will help awarded teams identify potential opportunities.

An ideal project team would engage faculty from both the Center for Digital Agriculture and the Prairie Research Institute. The ambition is to result in a joint CDA/PRI external award. Limited number of proposals Individuals can be PI on only one submission per competition but serve as Co-PI on other proposals.

Document Format requirements: Arial 10/Times New Roman 11pt (or similar size), 1-inch margins, standard line and character spacing, single column, and portrait layout. Tables/figures can be smaller sizes but must be readable. PI last name, Unit, and page number in header/footer Please use Microsoft Word Template ( https://uofi.

box.

com/v/PRI-CDA-Collaboration ) Cover Page (1-Page Maximum, not counted toward page limit) Descriptive Title of project (no more than 180 characters) Participant Table with Name, Affiliation (CDA Area/Survey), Relevant Expertise, Role (PI/CoPI/ Collaborator etc.), and email address of each participant Project Narrative (Maximum 3 Pages) Overview & Motivation for Research Describe the sustainable digital agriculture challenge Goals and ObjectivesResearch & Collaboration Plan (task based with timeline) Anticipated Scientific Outcomes & Impacts of research Follow-up Funding/Growth Plan (campus and external opportunities) References (not counted toward page limit) Collaboration Plan (1-Page) Joint products plan (papers, data sets.

patents, etc.) Joint pursuit of future funding Budget Summary Template & Justification CV of PI and Co-PIs (Any format, 3-page max per person) Proposals are due by Friday, March 15, 2024, at 5:00 PM Proposals will be submitted through the OVCR Special Program system: TBD Upload the following separate documents: Project Narrative (3 Page max) Collaboration Plan(1 page) Summary Budget & Justification CV of PRI Lead (3-page max) CV of CDA Lead (3-page max) Please send any questions regarding this proposal to Brian Pianfetti at bpianfet@illinois.

edu or Christina Tucker at lyvers2@illinois. edu . Successful proposals will have compelling responses to the following: Potential of team success: Why this specific topic?

Does this project focus describe a compelling need for the proposed research that also has the potential to have meaningful national/international sustainable digital agriculture impacts and a pathway to implementation in agriculture. Why is now the right time to pursue this research?

What recent technological advances, societal priorities, or changes to government policies have occurred that make this proposal cycle the best opportunity to succeed. Why this team? How does the complimentary expertise, partnerships, and opportunities that this team brings together uniquely position them for success.

How well do the goals and objectives align with the Center for Digital Agriculture? How well do these activities foster new collaborations across the University? How well do the goals and objectives align with one or more of the four CDA Focus Areas?

Does the team have a sound plan and research potential for growing the research effort to secure self-sustaining funding, and does the initiative have a path to a large-scale funded research program? PRI Office of the Associate Director for Research will coordinate confidential reviews of all proposals, and reviewers will be asked to disclose any possible conflicts of interest for all proposals they are assigned.

Reviewers will be selected based on the topics submitted and comprised of representatives from CDA and PRI. Funded projects will be monitored quarterly to track integration and progress. A full project evaluation using the program review criteria and expenditure reports will take place at the end of each year.

Awardees will be required to submit a brief quarterly progress report using specified activities Awardees will be required to submit a brief outcome and impact cumulative summary and slide using a specifically provided template in December of the final year of funding.