Programs will often resort to panel review when the proposed budget is large ($20K or thereabouts). Proposals needing panel review should be submitted at the target date for regular research proposals. Check with the relevant contact person.

You must now make a choice. Grants are to institutions, not individuals, and you must choose a sponsoring institution. This could be your own academic institution, and you presumably already know about working with your sponsored research office or research administrator to submit proposals. It also means that you will need to cope with your own institutional bureaucracy to reimburse speakers, communicate with the granting agency, etc. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. Alternatively, you can submit the proposal through SICB. An advantage of SICB is that they do not charge indirect costs, which may significantly lower the proposal budget and improve its chances for funding. The SICB Business Office is most familiar with NSF and may require guidance on submitting to more exotic funding sources. It's up to you.

DEADLINES: If you are working with a sponsoring organization other than SICB, this is between you and them. If you are working with SICB, please contact the Business Office as soon as possible and let them know when they can expect your proposal. They would like to receive proposals four weeks in advance of the target dates. "Receive proposal" means that they receive a complete and final version of the proposal, which they can then check for accuracy and compliance with the granting agency's requirements, and revise in consultation with you if necessary.

If you choose to work with the SICB Business Office, contact information for them is:

These days NSF requires that proposals be submitted electronically via an internet-based system called "Fastlane." If you've not used it before, instructions are available at https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/ .

Assuming that you will be submitting an NSF proposal with SICB as the sponsoring institution, you first need a PIN. If you already have a Fastlane PIN from your home institution, you don't need another. If you don't have one, you should send the following information to Brett Burk at the SICB Business Office: Bburk@BurkInc.com

Name

Highest Degree

Year Conferred

Present Institution

Department

Street Address

City

State

Zip Code

Social Security Number (SSN)

Email Address

Business Phone Number

Business Fax Number

PROPOSAL COMPONENTS

The following sections contain advice or boilerplate that can be used in completing each section in Fastlane. Obviously they don't need to be completed in the order given.

Cover Sheet: If you already have a Fastlane PIN from your home institution, when you edit the Cover Page in Fastlane, you will need to change the "Awardee Organization" from your home institution to SICB. Just click on the Awardee Organization Search button and, when prompted, enter Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Follow the instructions thereafter. At this point, Fastlane may move your usual

Awardee Organization into the Performing/Research Organization field. If it does this, click on the Performing/Research Organization Search button, again enter Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and follow the instructions thereafter.

Otherwise, fill out the cover sheet as in any NSF proposal.

Proposal duration and starting date: A year is probably a good duration, and December 1 preceding the symposium a good starting date. This will give you plenty of time to spend out the grant and reimburse participants.

Project Summary: as in any NSF proposal.

Classification Form: as in any NSF proposal, this needs to be filled out if the proposal will go to one of the BIO Programs.

PI CoPI Information: as in any NSF proposal.

Project Description:

a. Progress on Prior NSF Award must still be included for PIs even though the symposium may not be directly related to the prior NSF award.

b. Usual formatting restrictions apply.

c. This section is obviously the main event of the proposal, and is the primary determinant of whether or not your proposal will be funded. Some hints:

i. Review criteria. In addition to the usual criteria, reviewers will ask:

Is there a real need for this symposium? Is it critical to do it now?

Will this symposium move or shape its field? How so?

What will be its impact on the field?

Has a symposium like this one been done within the past two years? In what way is it unique?

Would the symposium bring together groups of researchers that don't normally interact?

Does the symposium program respond to diversity issues by including young investigators (grads & post docs), women, under-represented minorities?

Remember that symposium funding and regular research grants all come out of the same pot, and that many reviewers will oppose diversion of funds from research grants. Thus, the proposal needs to provide compelling answers to these questions and be truly exciting. Rest assured that SICB symposia have had a good track record of being funded. Thus, it is not impossible to produce a fundable proposal.

ii. Choosing symposium participants. Funding organizations don't like to support symposia that have been done recently. If you choose only the 'usual suspects' to be in your symposium, reviewers will wonder what's novel about it. Funding organizations like to see a balance of speakers, including 'usual suspects' and people new to a field, speakers who facilitate links to other fields, speakers who wouldn't ordinarily attend, international speakers, women and underrepresented minorities, and young and old investigators.

Rumor has it that NSF is becoming reluctant to fund travel of those symposium speakers who would attend the meeting anyway. You may therefore want to include few SICB members or, if you do, include an airtight justification of why their travel needs to be supported. There is no prohibition against including 'usual suspects' or those who routinely attend SICB meetings as long as their presence is not overwhelming.

iii. Symposium proposals to BIO are exempt from ad hoc (i.e., mail) review. Some Programs will have people who work at NSF review them, and other Programs will ask their Advisory Panels (i.e., the group that convenes at NSF to review proposals) to review them. Programs will often resort to panel review when the request is large ($20K or thereabouts). Proposals needing panel review should be submitted at the target date for regular research proposals. AGAIN, check with the relevant Program Officer.

References Cited: as in any NSF proposal.

Biographical Sketches: as in any NSF proposal. Note that these are for PIs, not for symposium participants.

Budget

General comment: Funding agencies routinely fund proposals in part. On the one hand, don't be afraid to include all justifiable costs; if a funding agency doesn't like your budget, they'll not hesitate to ask for a revision. On the other hand, exorbitant or even very large requests can give reviewers "sticker shock" and color their view of a proposal's "science".

A. Senior Personnel

B. Other Personnel

C. Fringe Benefits

Ordinarily these are not part of an NSF symposium proposal. If they are not part of yours, just enter your name and those of any Co-PIs and assign yourself zero months of salary support. If your institution insists on recovery of salary, then THEY (and not the SICB Business Office) will need to serve as the grant institution and help you with this. In our experience, NSF takes a dim view of attempting to recover salary for symposium organization.

D. Equipment

Ordinarily this is not part of an NSF symposium proposal.

E. Travel

Ordinarily this is not part of an NSF symposium proposal. Travel for symposium participants is ordinarily included in "F. Participant Support Costs"

F. Participant Support Costs

1. Stipends

Ordinarily this is not part of an NSF symposium proposal. In rare cases (e.g., for under represented minority students or really impoverished foreign visitors, honoraria for distinguished speakers), it may be appropriate to request funds. Historically, SICB has not provided honoraria for speakers, but it may be possible to deviate from precedent if a participant is a Nobel Prize winner.

2. Travel

Sometimes this is the ONLY part of a budget request that NSF will fund, so better make it good. Put together a list of your proposed participants and their gateway airports. Either contact a travel agent or use one of the web services (e.g., www.travelocity.com/ ) to estimate the roundtrip airfare for exact dates of the meeting. Be certain that your price quotes are for the less expensive flying options. Often you can "search by price", and the web service will return a whole lot of price options. While you should budget for reasonably cheap fares, it is best to discard real outliers, which may represent special fares that won't be available when it comes time to put on the symposium. Everybody understands that some speakers will drop out of a symposium and be replaced by other speakers with slightly different airfares. Just do the best you can, and try not to substitute expensive speakers for cheap ones. It is also legitimate to ask for ground transportation (e.g., $50 per speaker).

Example of budget justification:

Air transportation is needed to enable symposium participants to travel to the symposium venue. Airfares are estimated from the current fares for roundtrip SuperSaver flights between each participant's local airport and the symposium city's airport. $50 per participant is requested to defray the cost of ground transportation.

(end of example budget justification)

3. Subsistence

This is the cost of lodging, meals, and meeting registration, typically exclusive of alcoholic beverages. You should budget for this, but it may not be forthcoming from the funding agency. There are several ways to estimate these costs:

(a) The actual cost, available from the SICB Business Office. Hotels are often about $100-$125 single/double not including taxes and other fees.

Previous year's (2004) registration fees:

(b) The U.S. government's own per diem rates. These are available at

http://policyworks.gov/org/main/mt/homepage/mtt/perdiem/perd04d.html

Funding agencies may look askance at requesting a whole week's lodging when the symposium runs only 1 day.

Note that in exchange for your submitting a proposal for extramural funding, SICB will provide reimbursed registration for all symposium speakers. This holds whether or not your symposium proposal is funded. Note also that funds used to provide complimentary registration are funds that cannot be used to support student attendance at meetings, reduce dues, or other good things. Some funding agencies routinely pay registration expenses; proposals to them should include registration fees in the budget. Some funding agencies (e.g., NSF) do not, and including registration fees will simply aggravate the agency. If you don't know what to do, ask the SICB Business Office for advice. If you decide NOT to ask for registration fees, you should certainly then exploit SICB's generosity by mentioning the waiver of registration fees in the proposal.

Example of budget and justification for subsistence (assuming 10 participants, making up rates, and seeking reimbursement of registration costs):

Subsistence costs are requested to defray the actual costs of participating in the symposium and lodging, meals, and incidental expenses in the host city. As examples, these are figured as follows:

2 nights lodging X $140 per night X 10 participants: $2800

3 days X $46 meals/incidental expenses per diem X 10 participants: $1380

Registration:

2 SICB members @$195: $390

8 non-members @$320: $2560

total registration costs: $2950

1 extra day lodging and per diem for international participant: $186

TOTAL SUBSISTENCE COSTS: $7316

Lodging rate is the cost (room rate plus tax) of a single room at the convention hotel. Registration rates are estimated from the corresponding rates for SICB's annual meeting in the previous year. An extra day per diem is sought for the international participant because international air schedules necessitate an extra night's stayover.

(end of example budget and justification for subsistence including registration fees)

Example of budget and justification for subsistence (assuming 10 participants, making up rates, and seeking NO reimbursement of registration costs):

Subsistence costs are requested to defray the actual costs of participating in the symposium and lodging, meals, and incidental expenses in the host city. As examples, these are figured as follows:

2 nights lodging X $140 per night X 10 participants: $2800

3 days X $46 meals/incidental expenses per diem X 10 participants: $1380

1 extra day lodging and per diem for international participant: $186

TOTAL SUBSISTENCE COSTS: $4366

Lodging rate is the cost (room rate plus tax) of a single room at the convention hotel. Registration rates are estimated from the corresponding rates for SICB's annual meeting in the previous year. An extra day per diem is sought for the international participant because international air schedules necessitate an extra night's stayover.

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS THE POLICY OF THE SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY TO REIMBURSE THE REGISTRATION EXPENSES OF PARTICIPANTS IN SYMPOSIA THAT RECEIVE EXTRAMURAL FUNDING.

In the case of the proposed symposium, this represents a direct contribution of $3590 as follows:

2 SICB members @$195 $390

8 non-members @$320 $2560

TOTAL $2950

(end of example of budget and justification for subsistence NOT including registration fees)

G. Other Direct Costs

1. Materials and supplies

It is not unusual to ask for a modest amount (e.g., $200) to pay for the organizers' expenses. The corresponding budget justification might read: "Funds ($200) are requested to offset postage, phone and photocopying costs incurred by the symposium organizers."

2. Publication costs

If your symposium is slated for publication in Integrative and Comparative Biology, then your symposium participants will be assessed $135/page in voluntary page charges for the first 12 pages and $135 in mandatory page charges for any additional pages. As with registration fees, some funding organizations will willingly pay these charges and some (typically NSF) will not. If you think you can get page charges paid, please give it a try. In that case, you would budget

# of participants X 12 pages per participant X $135 per page

A budget justification for page charges might read:

The proposed symposium is slated for publication in the Integrative and Comparative Biology. The Integrative and Comparative Biology is the official journal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. It enjoys a world-wide distribution and is among the most-cited journals in its category. Thus publication in this journal will considerably enhance the dissemination of the results of the proposed symposium. Manuscripts in the journal are typically 12 pages long, at a cost of $135 per page. Funds are sought to defray this cost.

(end of example of budget justification for page charges)

If you have special needs (e.g., color publishing, archiving of symposium materials), you can request funding for these as long as you can justify it.

H. Indirect costs

SICB does not charge indirect costs. Please state this in the budget justification if your proposal is being submitted by SICB.

M. Cost-sharing

Unless you are requesting these items as part of the budget, please place the following, adjusting figures where necessary but otherwise verbatim, in your budget justification:

IT IS THE POLICY OF THE SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY TO WAIVE THE REGISTRATION EXPENSES OF PARTICIPANTS IN SYMPOSIA THAT RECEIVE EXTRAMURAL FUNDING.

In the case of the proposed symposium, this represents a direct contribution of $2950 as follows:

2 SICB members @$195 = $390
8 non-members @$320 = $2560

TOTAL $2950

The proposed symposium is slated for publication in the Integrative and Comparative Biology. The Comparative and Integrative Biology is the official journal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. It enjoys a world-wide distribution and is among the most-cited journals in its category. Thus publication in this journal will considerably enhance the dissemination of the results of the proposed symposium. Manuscripts in the journal are typically 12 pages long, at a cost of $135 per page. For the proposed symposium, SICB's contribution in the form of waived page charges is thus: 10 participants X 12 pages X $135 per page = $16,200

In the past, SICB has requested $500 per symposium to defray office expenses. This expense will now be contributed by SICB. In addition, SICB will furnish audiovisual equipment for the symposium at no charge. Thus SICB's total contribution will be:

Waived registration expenses $2,950

Waived page charges $16,200

Waived office expenses $500

Waived audiovisual expenses ??

TOTAL $19,650 (+??)

(end of example for cost-sharing section)

Current and Pending Support: as in typical proposals.

Facilities, Equipment And Other Resources:

(example follows)

As this proposal is for support of a symposium rather than research, the setting, audience,

resources, and dissemination of the proceedings of the symposium are relevant. The sponsoring organization, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), is a scientific society of about 2200 members. It is the premier society for integrative and comparative biology in this country, and among the leading such societies in the world. It sponsors an annual meeting in North America, at which member-originated symposia are a major feature. In recent years this meeting has attracted approximately 1200 attendees, both SICB members and non-members. A noteworthy feature of this meeting is its emphasis on young investigators. Typically more than half of those in attendance are Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows, and young faculty. Qualified undergraduates and high school teachers from the surrounding community are welcomed. SICB mounts an extensive program of discounted registration and subsistence support for Ph.D. students; literally every graduate student member who presents at the meeting and asks for such support is supported. Thus SICB symposium speakers receive exposure to a cross-section of the relevant scientific community and a strong representation of young scientists. An extensive program of plenary and social events provides ample opportunity for one-on-one interaction of meeting attendees and symposium participants. The annual meeting is held at a convention center or major hotel.