Letter of Intent Guidance for FICUS Research with ARM and EMSL, FY2022

This guidance is for authors submitting Letters of Intent to the call for FY2022 FICUS research proposals with EMSL and ARM.

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is required to facilitate planning of the peer-review process, ensure alignment of proposals to EMSL and ARM missions and capabilities, and to assist users in building strong proposals. LOIs will be reviewed by members of each facility's scientific staff and management. Decisions and invitations for full proposals will be sent by February 24.

Creating and Submitting an LOI

LOIs must be submitted electronically through EMSL's User Portal. Details regarding the LOI format, attachments, and submittal process are unique to this call. Conforming to these instructions will be strictly enforced, and LOIs that are not consistent with these instructions will not be considered.

To create an LOI:

• Log in to the User Portal, making a new account if necessary
• To start a new LOI, click the green “Create New Proposal” button
• Page 1: Participants. Provide the requested participant details. See guidance below.
• Page 2: Details.
  • Provide the requested project details.
  • For “Proposed Research”, upload the PDF of your LOI. See guidance below.
  • For “Resources”, you may leave the section blank.
• Page 3: Logistics. Provide the requested funding, materials, and equipment details. You will be able to change these details on your full proposal if your LOI is approved.

EMSL is upgrading its User Portal on March 1, 2021, and full proposals for this call will be submitted through the upgraded portal. All user and project information will be transferred to the new system, but the appearance and some functionality will change. 

Participants

The following participant details will be requested through the online form when you submit the LOI.

• Principal Investigator. The PI is the individual leading the research project and will serve as the primary point of contact for the project. While anyone can write and submit the proposal on behalf of the research team, students may not serve as primary investigators, in order to maintain a longer-term point of contact for the project lifecycle.
• Co-Investigator. PIs can designate team members as co-investigators, and co-investigators will be required to link their EMSL User Portal account to an ORCID iD before submitting a proposal (see below).
• ORCID iD. For submission of the LOI, an ORCID iD is required for the PI and co-PI(s).
  • For new researchers, you will be asked to link an ORCID iD when you create your User Portal account.
  • For returning researchers who have not yet linked their ORCID iDs, instructions can be found on the Portal homepage.

Letter of Intent Format

• 2 page limit for Project Description (details below)
• Pagination is required
• 11 point fonts (or larger for headings), Captions, symbols, and special characters can have a font of less than 11 points.
• 1 inch margins
• No more than 5 lines of text within a vertical space of one inch
• Single-spaced lines recommended; double-spaced is accepted but must meet established page limits
• Single-column format for text
• Adobe (.pdf) file format

Project description

Describe your research plan for using EMSL and ARM resources (maximum of 2 pages). Any references or visual materials must be included in the 2-page limit. References are not required.

A separate abstract will be required as part of the online form when you submit your LOI. The abstract does not count against your 2-page limit and should not be repeated in your Project Description.

The Project Description in your LOI should be written at a level appropriate for someone familiar with your general area of research who is not necessarily an expert on the specific topic.

The Project Description must include the following sections:

• Title. The project title must be brief, scientifically or technically valid, intelligible to a scientifically or technically literate reader, and suitable for use in the public press.
• Specific Aims. State the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., to test a stated hypothesis, create a novel design, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm or clinical practice, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology), providing concise and unambiguous details.
• Mission Relevance. Clearly describe the relevance of this project to the BER or DOE mission areas and its economic or societal importance.
• Approach. Briefly describe the estimated resource needs for your proposal and how the data produced will be used. Include any preliminary data, background measurements, or tests completed that validate the approach (include references where relevant). Please address the strategy for preparing and delivering samples to EMSL and ARM, providing approximate shipping dates to each facility.
  Applicants should provide information regarding the sampling strategy and mode of sample analysis required to meet science goals such as:
  • Suitable sampling location(s) selected from those listed in the call.
  • Most appropriate weather conditions (e.g. clear or cloudy) and season of the year.
  • Whether fixed-altitude or profiles would be more appropriate for your science goals. 
  • Whether flights are needed at multiple times during the day.
  • Approximate number of separate flights or profiles required.
  • Aerosol information required and associated analysis requested (this will also have a bearing on the sample mass required for a valid sample).
  • Any specific supplementary ARM measurements critical to accompany the tethered balloon samples.
• Regulatory compliance. Are your samples subject to any requirements that may be imposed by local, national, or international regulation for the use of any genetic resource in your proposal? (For example, regulations issued under the Convention on Biological Diversity Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing).

Additional Information

As part of the proposal package, the following information should be included as appendices in the order listed below:

Appendix 1: EMSL Resources Needed. Using the template provided (see Related Documents), please identify high-level list of capabilities that you are considering in your approach. This list allows management and instrument staff to get an idea of the information that would be needed for a full proposal.   

Appendix 2: Active Collaborator List (required). To help EMSL avoid conflicts of interest on our Proposal Review Panels, please attach a list of active collaborators for the PI and co-PI(s) from the past 2 years, and other individuals who may represent a conflict of interest (template available, see Related Documents - example below). In addition to research project collaborators, the list must include co-authors with whom you've actively interacted, co-editors, advisors and advisees, and financial affiliations, all from the past 2 years. Participation in very large collaborative efforts with an individual does not necessarily constitute a conflict of interest. Identify those who would have a personal interest in this proposal or whose unbiased judgment would be questioned by a reasonable person familiar with your relationship. You may substitute a list from a recent NSF, DOE, or other proposal that meets the spirit of this request. Lists in excess of 100 collaborators (per investigator) can be shortened to include only the closest collaborators. Please use your best judgment in these cases.

Appendix 3: Suggested Reviewers or Reviewers Not to Include (optional). Proposers may include a list of suggested reviewers who they believe are especially well qualified to review the proposal and who are not recent collaborators/co-authors. Proposers also may designate individuals that they want to exclude from reviewing the proposal and include an explanation. Suggestions for review assignment or exclusion are optional, and the proposer may be contacted for further information. The decision to use the suggestions, however, remains with user facility management. 

Contacts

For general LOI or full proposal inquiries:

• EMSL – Alison Hatt, ajhatt@pnnl.gov, 509-371-7579
• ARM – Virginia Doyle, vdoyle@anl.gov, 630-252-0373

For detailed research questions:

• EMSL – Nancy Hess, nancy.hess@pnnl.gov, 509-371-6385
• ARM – Jim Mather, jim.mather@pnnl.gov, 509-375-4533