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Letter of Intent Guidance

Updated: December 2024

This guidance applies to the Large-Scale EMSL Research call, EMSL-ARM FICUS call, and Exploratory Research call.

A letter of intent (LOI) is required for some proposal calls before submitting a full proposal. All LOIs must be submitted electronically through the EMSL User Portal. Applicants should read the following guidance carefully. Failure to comply with the requirements will result in letters of intent being returned without review.

Initiate a new LOI by logging into the EMSL User Portal and clicking “Submit a Proposal/LOI” in the left-hand navigation bar. The portal will guide you to enter details about the proposal, participants, funding, resources, and samples. You can navigate through each step to view all the required information and additional guidance. Review the entire form well in advance of the submission deadline to make sure you have enough time to compile the required information. Please note that these guidelines are updated periodically, and requirements may change from year to year.

There are two steps to complete the LOI submission:

1. Enter the required information in the EMSL User Portal

The following information must be entered into the online form in the EMSL User Portal:

  • Proposal Type (Open Calls > Call Name > EMSL Science Area)
  • Primary Research Category (drop-down options provided)
  • Title
  • Abstract (approximately 500 words)
  • Proposed Research (uploaded PDF file; see Proposed Research document section below)
  • Participant Details (name, profession, email, institution, ORCID iD, etc.)
  • Funding for Each Participant
  • Samples/Equipment

2. Prepare and upload the Proposed Research document

Download and complete the standardized LOI form. These responses 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. No references or figures should be included in the LOI form. The form includes 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 (100-word limit). State the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., test a stated hypothesis, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm, or develop new technology), providing concise and unambiguous details.
  • Mission Relevance (100-word limit). Explain how your research addresses EMSL's mission (and, if relevant, ARM’s mission) and advances the science pertinent to DOE’s Biological and Environmental Research program, and describe the value/impact of its economic or societal importance.
  • Approach or Work Plan (300-word limit). Briefly describe the work to be conducted at EMSL (and, if relevant, with ARM). Provide a sample description (including unique characteristics such as transgenic biological material, dilute solution, environmental samples containing contaminants, etc.), approximate sample numbers, any pertinent experimental groups or sampling time points, and the types of analyses to be performed at EMSL. Provide a short description of planned data analyses relevant for the proposed work, indicating which aspects would require EMSL assistance. If your research includes computation, describe what EMSL capabilities and expertise you will need, and how those capabilities complement your own.
  • EMSL Samples and Resources. Fill out the table with a high-level overview of the samples you intend to analyze at EMSL throughout the duration of your project. For EMSL’s purposes, a sample is any material intended to be analyzed or used with EMSL resources. You will have the ability to add/remove resources during final proposal submission.
  • Suggested Reviewers (optional). Proposers may include a list of reviewers who they believe are especially well qualified to review the proposal and who are not recent collaborators/coauthors.
  • MONet Soil Function Request Form (required if requesting MONet resources). Provide detailed information about core collection and site characteristics, including copies of site access agreements. Required for Large-Scale Research proposals requesting to leverage MONet resources. MONet resources are only available on the Large-Scale Research call and CANNOT be requested for ARM-EMSL FICUS or Exploratory Research proposals.

The completed LOI form must be uploaded as a PDF file to the “Proposed Research” section in the EMSL User Portal.