Deadline for proposal Submission: June 1, 2001

Award Start Date: July 1, 2001

Award Duration: Two years

Amount Available: $300,000

The Ocean Life Institute (OLI) has identified 3 Themes to broadly guide its activities for the next 2 to 3 years. There are areas of interconnection among these themes, and research in any one could support goals of another.

• Biodiversity in the Ocean encompasses discovery and characterization of genomes and species, as well as research on their origins, relationships, ecological functions and interactions with their physical/chemical environment.
• The Health of Marine Ecosystems includes identification of indicators or proxies for ecosystem health and sustainability, and new theoretical and analytical methods to assess them. The regional focus for this theme is the New England coastal waters, including the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.
• New Tools for Ocean Biology is the Technology theme, which aims to further the development of new sensors, instruments and investigative techniques for biological properties and processes, both in the laboratory and field.

To stimulate progress in these areas of research, the Institute is soliciting proposals from members of the Scientific and Senior Technical Staff for research projects that address these research themes.

For the year 2001 competition, the Ocean Life Institute expects to award a total of $300,000. Individual award levels of up to $75,000 will be considered.

The Ocean Life Institute will support individual and collaborative research projects that are relevant to the current themes of the Institute. A major goal of OLI awards is to support research efforts that cross the boundaries of traditional disciplines and explore new collaborative approaches to important questions in ocean biology. OLI research grants may be used as initial funding for the research of young scientists, to support established scientists exploring new research directions, or to review and synthesize existing work relevant to the Institute theme.  We strongly encourage interdisciplinary proposals that support principal investigators from more than one WHOI department.

Awards will be based on the quality of the proposed research project and its relevance to the current themes of the Institute. The awards can be used for salary support for Principal Investigators, support for postdoctoral investigators and graduate students, the development or purchase of equipment, sea-going activities, or any other tasks normally associated with research projects.

Principal Investigators will be expected to participate in some activities of the Ocean Life Institute and to help communicate the results and implications of their research to the public and to policy-makers in government. PIs may also be expected to work with the Institute Director and Institute Advisory Council in developing future research plans and activities for the Institute.

These awards are available to members of the WHOI Scientific and Senior Technical Staff. There is $300,000 available to be awarded in 2001. We expect another $350,000 to be available for research grants in 2002.

An ad-hoc committee of appropriate scientific and senior technical staff will review the proposals. The ad hoc committee may include members of the OLI Institute Advisory Committee, but will not include individuals who have submitted proposals or have other conflicts of interest. The committee will rate the proposals on the basis of the quality and relevance of the proposed research and make recommendations for funding to the Director of the Ocean Life Institute.  The OLI Director will then make recommendations to the Institute Oversight Committee for final approval

The deadline for submission of the proposals is June 1, 2001. Proposals should be submitted to:  Larry Madin, Director, Ocean Life Institute, MS 33. If you have any questions or wish to discuss your proposal, please contact him at ext. 2739 or by email (lmadin@whoi.edu)

The start date for most of these awards will be July 1, 2001.

All funds will be awarded in the first year, but investigators will have two years to complete the work and expend the funds. Please be sure that you will have sufficient time to accomplish the proposed work within this time frame, as the need for these funds is always greater than the amount available.

Awards for this program will be for up to $75,000.

• WHOI Green Sheet: With appropriate Departmental signatures. 
• Abstract:  Abstracts of funded proposals will be used in reports to donors to the Institute that describe how we have used their money, and will be posted on the Institute website. Therefore, the abstract should be less than 1 page in length and written for the educated layperson.
• Text:  The text should describe what you wish to do in no more than 3 pages, including references.  The reviewers will be looking for a clear description of the questions you will ask, your method for achieving an answer and the relevance of the research to the current theme(s) of the Institute. 
• Budget:  A simple budget that shows your proposed expenditures. An official WHOI salary work-up should be done to determine the salary and related costs.  Unusual items in the budget should be explained.
• Current CV: 2 page maximum, with 10 most relevant publications for each PI.