Proposal Forms

• NIH eRA Commons Registration: You must have a NIH eRA Commons Account in order to apply for NIH funding. This account is created by OSP.
• Cayuse Profile Request: You must have a Cayuse Profile in order to apply for federal funding opportunities through grants.gov. This account is created by OSP.
• Internal Approval Sheet: Internal approval form with proposal, personnel, and compliance information.
• How to digitally sign in Adobe Reader

Policies and Procedures

• Research Policies and Procedures: Proper administration of sponsored project funds includes policies set forth by sponsors and policies, procedures, and guidance set forth by Mississippi State University.
• Limited Submissions Notices: External funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Energy, etc., often limit the number of proposal submissions that a university may submit. This information is always provided in the agency announcement. To make sure that Mississippi State University provides an equal opportunity to all researchers pertaining to a limited submission, it is necessary that a process be in place to insure an equal opportunity. Therefore, all limited submissions are required to go through the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) before being submitted to OSP.

Internal Grant System

All requests to OSP for proposal and award assistance should be initiated through the Service Request Portal. Please contact one of the College’s grant and contract specialists to initiate the ticket.

External Grant Systems

Cayuse 424 is an electronic research administration system that serves as a proposal development tool and submission portal to Grants.gov. Cayuse 424 is a convenient, user-friendly interface that provides auto-filling of university and faculty profiles, and interactive error checking as the proposal is being developed.

OSP has compiled general information you may need in writing your grant proposal. Information such as the University Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), EIN, and Institutional representatives can be found on the OSP home page on the bottom left corner.

Listed below are several tools to help you prepare your grant or project budget.

• College of Arts & Sciences Budget Template: Helpful spreadsheet that will do budget calculations such as increases in salary, indirect costs (F&A), etc. for you.
• Budget Justification Template: Information on how to prepare your budget justification.
• F&A Cost Rate Agreement: Our indirect cost rates are determined by an agreement with the federal government and MSU.

Listed below are several resources for on-campus trainings.

• ORED Seminar Series: Seminars offered both in the fall and spring. Topics include: IRB, Project Evaluation, Writing Tips, etc.
• Library Workshops: Workshops are scheduled throughout the semester and taught by MSU knowledgeable faculty and staff. Topics include: Research tools and methods, Citation management, Copyright, etc.

• NIH Research Project Grant Program (R01)
• NIH Small Grant Program (R03)
• NIH Research Enhancement Award (R15)
• NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21)

Proposal Development Resources from NIH

• NIH Office of Extramural Research: NIH’s Central Resource for grants and Funding Information.
• Standard NIH Deadlines: NIH application cycles and their relationship to due dates, review and council dates, and earliest possible start dates.
• NIH Grants Policy Statement: The NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS) makes available, in a single document, the policy requirements that serve as the terms and conditions of NIH grant awards.
• NIH Forms-H: Guidance developed and maintained by NIH for preparing and submitting applications via Grants.gov to NIH and other PHS agencies using the SF424 (R&R).

NIH eRA Commons and Grants.gov (Cayuse): What You Need to Know

• NIH eRA Commons Registration: You must have a NIH eRA Commons Account in order to apply for NIH funding. This account is created by OSP.
• Systems and Roles can be found here.

Resources from NIH

• NIH Email Alert System: Provides notices of new publications about funding programs and other NIH business.
• Information for Researchers: Provides resources for NIH funding, grant process, etc. for researchers.
• Previously Awarded Grants and Contracts: Searchable database of previous grants and contracts funded by NIH and publications associated with NIH funding. It also has matchmaker tool, which allows you to enter abstracts or other scientific text and Matchmaker will return lists of similar projects from RePORTER or program officials associated with those projects. A summary of funding information of NIH Institutes/Centers for Active Projects.
• News & Events: A listing of NIH related news, virtual learning, and in-person training events.
• Active Funding Opportunities

NSF Grant Submission Checklist

• NSF Grant Submission Checklist

Components of a Typical NSF Proposal

• Cover Sheet
• Project Summary
• Table of Contents
• Project Description
• References Cited
• Biographical Sketch(es) (NSF-Approved Formats for the Biographical Sketch)
• Current and Pending Support (NSF-Approved Formats for Current and Pending Support)
• Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
• Special Information and Supplementary Documentation
  • Data Management Plan
  • Supplementary Documentation (varies by RFP)
• Single Copy Documents
  • Collaborators & Other Affiliations Information (Instructions, Workbook, FAQs)

Proposal Development Resources from NSF

• Proposal & Award Policies and Procedures 23-1 (Effective Date: January 30, 2023)
• NSF FAQs (Effective Date: January 30, 2023)

•    Account Management: create or manage NSF account.
•    NSF ID Lookup page: find your NSF account
•    Password Retrieval Page: find forgotten password for your NSF account
•    Research.gov Homepage   
•    Proposal Preparation and Submission Page: video tutorials, FAQs, and how-to- guides.
•    Access Share: learn how to give OSP administrative access.
•    FAQS: frequently asked questions NSF powerpoint 

• NSF 101: An informational series for the science and engineering research community. 
• NSF Email Alert System: Provides notices of new publications about funding programs and other NSF business.
• NSF Events Alert System: Provides notices of grant and policy outreach events, grant conferences, policy/award-related webinars, and proposal and award policy newsletter.
• Previously Awarded Grants and Contracts: Searchable database of previous grants and contracts funded by NSF.
• Webinars: A listing of NSF related webinars.
• Active Funding Opportunities

NIFA Grant Submission Checklist

• NIFA Grant Submission Checklist.

Components of a Typical NIFA Proposal

• AFRI Conflict of Interest Template.
• AFRI Current & Pending Template.
• AFRI Project Summary Template.
• AFRI Project Type Template.

Proposal Development Resources from NIFA

• Regulations and Guidelines: Resources are provided to NIFA’s partners and award recipient to support their adherence to federal regulations governing program performance.
• NIFA FAQs: This list of FAQs covers questions about eligibility and general submission.
• NIFA RFAs: NIFA’s RFAs’ anticipated publication dates (This list is not all inclusive).

Sample NIFA Grants.gov Application Guide.

• Information for Researchers: How to apply for a NIFA grant.
• Grant Training: NIFA recent grant training resources are available for download.
• News: Subscribe to NIFA News.
• Previously Awarded Grants and Contracts: Searchable database of funding data, metrics, and information about research, education, and extension projects that have received grant awards from NIFA.
• Active Funding Opportunities