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2024-25 Rapid Response Funding Program
Published: June 18, 2024​

Request for Proposals (RFP) ​

Section Links
Key Dates & Information | Program Description​ | Diverse Student Participation | EligibilityAward Conditions & Limitations​ | Proposal Materials, Preparation & Submission Procedures | ​​Post-Award Requirements​


Key Dates & Information

Application Deadline: Proposals accepted on a continual basis through May 31, 2025, or until all funding is expended, whichever occurs first.

Projects must begin between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. ​

Award Minimum: $2,500

Award Maximum: $7,500

Project Start Date: Approved projects can begin as little as three (3) weeks from proposal submission date and MUST begin within eight (8) weeks of proposal submission date.

Program Contact: Dr. Krista Kamer, COAST Director, (415) 518-2161, [email protected]

Principal investigators (PIs) who are part of a group that has been historically excluded from marine and coastal science, including faculty members who are Hispanic, Latina/o, Black or African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native or a combination of ethnicities; from another country; female; LGBTQIA+ and faculty with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants of any race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, dis/ability or veteran status are welcome.​​

Program Description

COAST promotes research and education to advance our knowledge of ocean and coastal systems and disseminates scientific information to stakeholders for the development of responsible policy. The scope of COAST includes 
  • ​The open and coastal ocean;
  • Coastal zones (e.g., bays, estuaries, beaches); 
  • Coastal watersheds: the organism, material or process being studied in the watershed must have a clear and direct impact on the downstream marine environment (e.g., anadromous fish, surface and groundwater flow, water quality).
Work supported by COAST is NOT limited to California. Please see http://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/about/Pages/about.aspx for additional information. 

The COAST Rapid Response Funding Program provides funding for projects of opportunity that require a quick response outside of the existing annual COAST funding programs. Applications may cover a wide variety of ocean and coastal research topics (broadly defined) that are aligned with COAST’s mission, vision and goals (https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/about/Pages/about.aspx). Funds must be used to support activities associated with unexpected or sudden events, including unanticipated management or policy decisions or actions. Funds may not be used to support activities related to predictable, recurring events that occur on an annual or seasonal basis with relative regularity (e.g., annual migration, seasonal spawning) or that are anticipated as part of a long-term planning process. 

This announcement serves as the Request for Proposals (RFP) for projects to be initiated July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025. A strong proposal will clearly indicate the significance of the specific proposed work and demonstrate the urgency of the request. Proposals should have a well-developed rationale and a strong theoretical basis with clear, testable hypotheses. Research that addresses important regional issues, problems and opportunities is appropriate. Eligible activities may include, but are not limited to:
  • Data collection and/or generation (e.g., experiments, field work, surveys, sample analysis, data analysis);
  • Travel to field sites; 
  • Student support as related to the above activities.
Successful proposals will clearly demonstrate understanding and support of COAST’s mission, goals and objectives (https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/about/Pages/about.aspx). Time-critical studies that have the potential to lead to subsequent long-term funding are encouraged, but pursuit of follow-on funding is not required. Examples of potential projects include (but are not limited to) responses to hazardous material releases (e.g., oil spills), mass stranding events, pathogen outbreaks, natural disasters, unanticipated policy/management decisions, and sudden discoveries. A list of projects funded to date through this program can be found at https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/funding/Pages/past-faculty-awards.aspx. COAST reserves the right to exercise discretion when making awards.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the COAST Director, Dr. Krista Kamer, prior to proposal submission to discuss the potential project and express their intent to submit a proposal. Approved projects can begin as little as three weeks after proposal submission and may be up to 12 months in duration. 

Awardees are required to submit a final project report and a final product to COAST (see Post-Award Requirements below). While not required, awardees are urged to leverage COAST support as appropriate. Using the results of the funded project to develop and submit a full proposal for extramural funding or to submit a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is strongly encouraged. 

 

Diverse Student Participation 

When awardees are selecting students to be involved in the project, it is expected that PIs not only consider but actively recruit students from groups that have been historically excluded from marine and coastal science, including students who are Hispanic, Latina/o, Black or African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native or a combination of ethnicities; noncitizens; female; LGBTQIA+; economically disadvantaged; veterans; and students with disabilities. Students of any race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, immigration status, national origin, age, dis/ability or veteran status should be welcomed and encouraged to participate in STEM research.


Eligibility

All CSU faculty members and research associates (broadly defined) are eligible to apply individually or as collaborators. All principal investigators (PIs) must have PI status on their home campus. If the Lead PI is not tenured/tenure-track, a tenured/tenure-track faculty member from the PI’s campus must be listed as a co-PI. Non-CSU personnel may be included as unfunded collaborators. Students are not eligible to apply. Anyone with an active Rapid Response award may NOT apply. 

Principal investigators (PIs) who are part of a group that has been historically excluded from marine and coastal science, including faculty members who are Hispanic, Latina/o, Black or African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native or a combination of ethnicities; from another country; female; LGBTQIA+ and faculty with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants of any race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, dis/ability or veteran status are welcome.

All applicants must be members of COAST in good standing as evidenced by:
  1. Inclusion in the COAST Faculty email list (sign up at https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/Pages/faculty-sign-up.aspx​). If you are not subscribed to the list, you will be added upon receipt of your proposal.  
  2. No past due obligations to COAST from awards issued within the last 36 months. 
    • ​​PIs with a current COAST award issued within the last 36 months may respond to this RFP as long as they do not have any overdue obligations associated with their award.
    • PIs with a current COAST award issued within the last 36 months who have overdue obligations to COAST from their award (e.g., progress reports, submission of full proposal for extramural funding) may not respond to this RFP. 
  3. PIs who received COAST support more than 36 months prior are eligible to respond to this RFP regardless of outstanding obligations or the outcomes of prior funding. ​​

Award Conditions & Limitations

Justified and normally allowable expenses such as supplies and services, travel, and support for student assistants will be considered. No cost-share is required. Funding for reassigned time is not allowed but PIs may request academic year additional employment and/or summer salary as appropriate. All funds awarded must be used for the specific purposes requested and approved and may not be converted to other uses without prior authorization. 

Projects may be up to 12 months in duration. A three-month no-cost extension (NCE) may be requested with sufficient justification. The request must be made no less than 30 days before the scheduled project end date.

Recipients may not receive more than one award per academic year. 

Funding provided originates from legislatively appropriated funds. Funds will be transferred to the award recipient’s campus by Interagency Financial Transaction (IFT). Awardees will work with their campus accounting staff to designate the location for award financial management. This location may include the awardee’s college, department, or an auxiliary, research foundation, or corporation (hereafter referred to as auxiliary). If an auxiliary is designated for award financial management, the auxiliary will incur project expenses and then invoice the state side. Regardless of where awards are managed, they are not subject to campus indirect costs (facilities and administrative fees)1 or any other type of fee from any source.  

When an award involving more than one campus is made, funds will be transferred directly to each participating campus.

All funding described in this announcement is contingent upon COAST’s receipt of legislatively appropriated funds from the California State University.  ​


Proposal Materials, Preparation Submission Procedures


Proposals must be routed through and reviewed by campus pre-award offices in accordance with standard campus procedures and policies. Preparation of this proposal should follow the same channels as all other proposals for extramural funding. 

Proposals must be submitted through the campus’ pre-award office as a single pdf file to [email protected] using the Cover Page and Signature Pages provided above. Proposals submitted directly by applicants will be returned without consideration.

Proposals must be submitted using a standard 12-point font (Times New Roman, Arial, etc.), single spaced, and have margins of one inch on all sides. The following elements must be included:

1) Cover Page  
  1. One Cover Page is required for every proposal (linked above).
  2. All information must be typed and the form must be included with the rest of the application materials in one single pdf file. All information is required. 
    • ​​Provide the proposal title, specify the total amount of funding requested, and list the proposed project start date.
      • Projects must be initiated July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2026.
      • The proposed start date must be three to eight weeks from the date the proposal is submitted to COAST.
      • Projects may be up to 12 months in duration.
    • ​Provide names and contact information for the Lead PI and any co-PIs. 
    • Provide name and contact information for Grants Office personnel submitting the proposal.
    • Provide the names and contact information for three suggested reviewers.
      • ​These reviewers must be CSU faculty members or research associates and may not be from your home campus or anyone with whom there may be a potential conflict of interest. 
​​​2) Signature Pages 
  1. One set of Signature Pages must be completed for each department with one or more PIs requesting funding (linked above). These pages should not be completed by departments with PIs who are participating in the proposal but are not requesting funding.
    • ​​Provide the proposal title, amount of funding requested and PI name(s) and contact information. The PI(s) must sign the form. 
      • ​If there is more than one PI participating from the department, please cut, paste and complete the PI section as needed.
      • Note: the amount may be less than the total amount requested if PIs from different departments are each requesting funding.  
      • Please contact Kimberly Jassowski ([email protected]) if you need help modifying the form.
    • Provide the contact information and authorized signature for the PI’s Chair, Dean, Dean’s Resource Manager/Budget Analyst, and campus pre-award officer.
      • ​All information except signatures must be typed. 
      • Wet, digital and electronic signatures are acceptable.
3) Project Summary
Provide a summary of the proposed activity no more than 300 words in length. The Project Summary should consist of an overview and a statement on the intellectual merit of the proposed activity. The overview should include a brief summary of the proposed objectives, activities for which funding is requested and methods to be employed. The statement on intellectual merit should describe the potential of the proposed activity to advance knowledge. If the proposal is funded, the Project Summary will be posted on the COAST website: https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/funding/Pages/past-faculty-awards.aspx.  


4) Narrative 
Page limits for each section of the narrative are provided below. Page limits include tables and figures, but they do not include the Project Summary, References, Cover or Signature Pages. Do not begin text of application on the Cover Page.

Describe in detail the proposed activity for which funding is requested. A strong proposal will clearly describe the significance of the project including an explanation of the urgency of the request.

Please use the headings below to organize your narrative. Note that these elements comprise the evaluation criteria. These are the specific merits on which the proposal will be assessed in the order of importance. E.g., if the request is not determined to be urgent, the proposal will not be funded regardless of the quality of the remaining elements. 

Reviewers will be asked to evaluate each element as Sufficient or Insufficient, or they can indicate that more information is needed in order to make that determination. Intellectual Merit and Need should constitute at least half of the proposal.
  1. ​Urgency of the Request (1-page limit): Explain the need for short-term funding within the next 12 months. Explain why the proposed work must be initiated in the next three to eight weeks.
  2. Intellectual Merit and Need (3-page limit): Describe in detail the proposed activity(ies) for which funding is requested. Describe the purpose of and need for the proposed activity, including a well-developed rationale and a strong scientific basis with clear research questions. Indicate whether this is a new activity or augments existing work. Clarify the nature of each participant’s contribution to the project making clear how the collaboration, if applicable, will increase the scope or significance of the proposed project and its contribution to the discipline. Proposals for work outside of California must make clear how the work benefits CSU faculty members and students. 
    • ​​The activities described in this section should be reflected in the Implementation Plan. 
  3. ​Potential for Student Involvement (1-page limit): Describe the nature and extent of involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in the project.
    1. ​List the number of undergraduate and graduate students that will participate in the project and indicate whether or not they are already working with you (i.e., “in your lab”). 
      • ​​If you will be recruiting new students to work on this project, describe your strategy for actively recruiting students from groups that have been historically excluded from marine and coastal science, including students who are Hispanic, Latina/o, Black or African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native or a combination of ethnicities; noncitizens; female; LGBTQIA+; first-in-family; economically disadvantaged; veterans; and students with disabilities.
    2. Describe in detail your strategy(ies) for making students from historically excluded groups feel included and supported during their participation in this project. 
      • ​Please note that simply saying you mentor students from diverse backgrounds is not sufficient. We are specifically interested in HOW you mentor students whose backgrounds differ from yours. What culturally-aware mentoring practices do you employ? 
    3. See Ahmad AS, Sabat I, Trump-Steele R and King E (2019) Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Diversity and Inclusion in Undergraduate Research Labs. Front. Psychol. 10:1305. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01305 and Chaudhary VB, Berhe AA (2020) Ten simple rules for building an antiracist lab. PLoS Comput Biol 16(10): e1008210 for information and examples.  ​
  4. ​Implementation Plan (1-page limit): Provide a work plan with a timeline that includes the specific activities the PI(s) will engage in during the award period. The plan should reference activities described in detail in the Intellectual Merit and Need section.
  5. ​References (no page limit): Use the APA author-year format for in-text citations2 and any standard, consistent format for the reference list. ​
5) Budget and Justification 
  1. Use the Rapid Response Budget Template to create a line-item budget (linked above). 
  2. Provide a detailed budget justification. There is a limit of 2 pages per campus for the justification.
  3. A separate budget and justification must be provided for each campus requesting support. 
6) Additional Materials
  1. A two-page curriculum vitae (CV) must be included for each PI. CVs should include a complete education history and appropriate research (including publications) and professional activities covering at least the last three years. NIH and NSF biographical sketches are good examples of what might be included.
  2. A list of all current and pending internal and external support for research/scholarship must be submitted for each PI. 
  3. Faculty members who have received prior funding through COAST within the last five years must include a report on the outcome of that funding using the Prior Funding Report Form linked above.


​​​Post-Award Requirements

Reporting
  1. ​A progress report will be required six months after the award period begins and a final report must be submitted within 30 days of the project end date. COAST will provide report templates with space to report activities, success in meeting milestones identified in the original timeline, any problems encountered, and a list of participating students. Any extramural funding obtained or publications resulting in whole or in part from this award should be included. 
  2. Within 60 days of the project end date, a 600-800 word summary of the project with preliminary findings and images for inclusion on the COAST website must be submitted as a final product. See https://www.calstate.edu/impact-of-the-csu/research/coast/funding/Pages/RapidResponseResults.aspx​ for examples of postings from prior awards. COAST staff will work with awardees on the appropriate level of scientific and technical detail.​
Acknowledgement of Support
The awardee is responsible for assuring that acknowledgment of COAST support is made in any publication (including web pages) or presentation of any material based on or developed under this award by them or their students. COAST should be referred to as CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST).

Additional funding for this project
Awardees are required to inform COAST of any other CSU support (e.g., CSU-WATER, CSUBIOTECH, STEM-NET, ARI, any other CSU systemwide or campus-based support) secured before or during the award period that also supports these efforts. 



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1Provisional Guidance on Allowability of Indirect (F&A) Costs on CSU Internal Grant Proposals: Grants issued from CSU lottery funds, student fees (including State University fees) or other legislatively appropriated funds, as a result of a competition within the CSU, shall not be subject to indirect/F&A costs. Indirect cost will not be allowed as a grant-funded expense in proposals submitted in response to RFPs from programs that receive the majority of their support from student/university fee revenue or lottery funds. However, the F&A foregone at the campus/auxiliary's federally negotiated off-campus rate may be shown as cost match on the proposal. This amount may also be used by the auxiliary or enterprise fund as an offset to the university’s cost allocation plan, in accordance with EO 753/1000.