Research Implementation Grants (Oklahoma NASA EPSCoR)

Research Implementation Grants (Oklahoma NASA EPSCoR) is sponsored by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through Oklahoma NASA EPSCoR. This program provides seed funding for researchers in Oklahoma to develop an academic research enterprise directed toward long-term, self-sustaining, nationally-competitive capabilities in aerospace and aerospace-related research.

* Grant Cycle: The current cycle will consist of a Letter of Interest (LOI), pre-proposal phase, and a full proposal phase. A statewide NASA EPSCoR board will select projects from the LOIs which will move forward through a preproposal stage. One submitted preproposal will be selected to prepare a full proposal that will go forward to NASA.

* NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR anticipates the release of a NASA EPSCoR Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Research Implementation Competition in October 2026 with a 90-day turn around for the full proposal. * Proposal requires research collaboration among Oklahoma researchers and their counterparts at a NASA Center or Mission Directorates. Commercial / Industrial partnerships are strongly encouraged.

* NASA requires 50% cost share: for every $2. 00 of NASA funds, $1. 00 must be supplied as match.

_Pre-proposals_ _must include a statement indicating that the applicant understands and agrees to all budgetary and cost share requirements should the submitted proposal be selected to move forward. _ * $250,000 per year for three years. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will provide $50,000 per year of matching funds.

15% of both NASA funds and Regent match funds must be allocated to NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office. * Research _must_ align with NASA priorities. * Since the new Notice of Funding Opportunity will not be released until October, researchers are strongly encouraged to consult the2025 Research NOFO EPSCoR_Final.

pdf (nasaprs. com) for guidance. Special attention should be given to the evaluation criteria listed on pages 21-23.

*****DUE TO DELAYS IN NASA FUNDING FOR THE UPCOMING NOFO RELEASE, THE 2026 CYCLE IS BEING DEFERRED TO THE PRE-PROPOSAL SELECTED IN 2025***** **The next cycle has not been scheduled yet but we anticipate the next call for LOI will be by summer of 2027. We will update this page as we receive more information.

** * **Letter of Interest(LOI) Due:** * **LOI Selection Announcement:** * **Pre-Proposal Selection Announcement:** * Selected pre-proposal team will work with NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR to submit full proposal to NASA **Letter of Interest Content and Review Criteria** All letters of Interest will be considered, however, researchers with previous or existing NASA Travel Grant and/or Research Initiation Grant funding are encouraged to submit a Letter of Interest to be considered for NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR sponsorship.

A competitive process will be used to determine the the researchers who may move on to the Pre-Proposal phase. * NASA Research Focus Areaidentifier and title * The title and description of the potential research including the NASA Mission Directorate and the name of the NASA scientist that has expressed interest in the project. * Goals and objectives should be included in the letter which can be up to two full pages in length.

* A list of the primary researchers and their institutions * A two-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for the lead investigator, * A one-page CV together with a list of current and pending support for each anticipated researcher.

**LOI Selection Criteria** LOI's will be judged on the following criteria: * Conformity to NASA priorities * Identification of an interested NASA Researcher * Qualifications of research team * Past interaction with NASA (including Travel Grants or RIG) LOI must be e-mailed in _**a single PDF file**_ to the NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office at margfer@okstate. edu by deadline.

**Pre-Proposal Review Criteria** Proposers who have been selected from the LOI's will be eligible to submit a pre-proposal. * **Scientific and Technical Merit (40%)** * **Demonstrated Alignment with NASA Budget Priorities (40%)** * Narrative should be specific demonstrating alignment with NASA priorities and specify proposed collaboration with NASA. Include role of NASA personnel, and discussion of use of NASA facilities if applicable.

* Include a letter of interest from relevant NASA collaborator(s) * **Management and Evaluation (20%)** * Identify Lead Science Investigator Sc-I (include 2 pg cv ) * Identify each Team Member (include 1 pg cv ) * Clear description of responsibilities of all researchers * Specify information sharing plan and how individual tasks integrate to plan * Specify meeting plans and project management timeline of when research tasks will be completed as well as each task's responsible party * Include description of metrics or milestones used to evaluate project progress Please follow the following order of documents and page count limits.

* Proposal Cover Page: **1 page** * Proposal Summary:**4000 characters** * Proposal Body (Including Scientific, Technical, NASA Alignment, Management and Evaluation excluding cvs):**5 pages** * Budget:**Applicants must include a statement indicating agreement and understanding of the budgetary and cost share requirements should the submitted proposal be selected to move forward.

** * **​**Biographical sketches**(Sc-I 2pg, Co-Is 1 pg each)** * References and Citations:**As Needed** * **The pre-proposal is not a contractually binding document, therefore it is not required to obtain official university approval signatures. It will only be reviewed by the state EPSCoR committee.

** **Pre-Proposal Submission** Pre-proposal must be e-mailed to the NASA Oklahoma EPSCoR Office in _**a single PDF file**_ at margfer@okstate. edu[](mailto:oksg. epscor@ou.

edu)by Monday September 8th 2025. **Check out*******NASA Mission Directorates*******for latest NASA emphasis**