Support for grad students – apply for the Raskin Scholarship: esipfed.org/raskin

ESIP Lab Request for Proposals

Small grants with big impact. We provide funding for Earth science data, technology, and computing projects that make time for learning technical skills.

mountains

ESIP’s mission is to empower innovative use and stewardship of Earth science data to solve our planet’s greatest challenges. As part of that mission, this solicitation seeks proposals that improve the technical capacity of communities to support climate resilience efforts

Additionally, we encourage technical skill-building for awardees as part of their funded projects. By promoting learning within project solicitations, the ESIP Lab seeks to increase the collective technical savvy of the Earth science community and promote transparency about the job skills required to understand our changing planet.

Title: Community Resilience RFP

Award: $20,000

Duration: Up to 10 months

Contact & Proposal Questions: staff@esipfed.org

Deadline: June 17, 2024 (Request for Proposals now closed)

# of awards: Multiple

Priority Area - Climate Resilience

This solicitation seeks proposals that improve the technical capacity of communities to support climate resilience efforts. Given the proposal budget and timeframe, this solicitation is aimed at expanding existing software or data systems related to the priority area, including added functionality, improved interoperability, or other impactful contributions. ESIP’s three agency sponsors have activities directly in line with this RFP’s priority areas and proposals building off of any of their efforts are encouraged (e.g. NASA Cultivating Community Resilience, NOAA Climate Ready Coasts and Communities, USGS Climate Science Capabilities). 

Specifically, we welcome proposals focused on:

  • Data management, analysis or visualization tools, or data-informed storytelling related to climate change and community resilience — following the principles of open science are strongly encouraged. 

Although this RFP will give priority to proposals addressing the bulleted topic above, other high-quality proposals related to the following will also be given consideration:

  • Extension of open source software critical to collecting, distributing, fusing, or analyzing Earth science data.
  • Eligibility
  • General Selection Criterion
  • Budget Guidance
Remote sensing imagery

Photo from NASA

  • Anyone funded through the project must be authorized to work in the U.S.
  • The individual responsible for carrying out the project should write the application and be listed as the Principal Investigator.
  • Project start dates should be a minimum of three months after the submission deadline.
  • The Principal Investigator is not part of ESIP’s elected leadership. 
  • The Principal Investigator has not been funded through ESIP in the past year.
  • Civil servants are eligible to serve as a PI or Co-I but are restricted from receiving ESIP funds.
View of earth from ISS

Photo from NASA

  1. Overall Impact: What is the likelihood that the project outcomes will lead to new knowledge, usable technology, or follow-on funding?
  2. Objectives: Does the proposal include both technical and learning objectives? 
  3. Significance: Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to addressing climate change and community resilience? 
  4. Approach: Are the overall methodology and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented?
  5. Innovation: Does the project use creative problem-solving or novel approaches?
  6. Collaboration: Is the project collaborative between institutions or agencies?
  7. Overall Research Plan: Is the project design and methodology reasonable?
  8. Budget: Does the budget reflect an appropriate use of resources to complete the project in a timeline consistent with the proposal outline?
View of earth from above with clouds

Photo from NASA

ESIP pays out awards based on deliverables (acknowledging that salary and hardware are needed to complete those deliverables). When you structure your project budget, include the tasks to be completed and the projected cost:

  • Correct Formatting: Deliverable 1: Build a community weather dashboard to view current daily temperature and 30-year temperature normals and year-to-date precipitation = $5000
  • Incorrect Formatting: 80 hrs salary at $50/hr = $4000 | Purchase computer = $1000

ESIP does not pay indirect costs in addition to the budget for deliverables.

The ESIP Lab can provide AWS cloud services for your project up to $7,000 (these costs would not need to be included in your budget).

In your proposal, include a plan for which cloud services are needed and how they contribute to your project. Any cloud instances can remain up for the initial project timeframe, but plans should be made to migrate or turn off those instances within one year of project completion.

You are not required to use AWS if another provider is preferred, however, those cloud services must come out of your overall budget.


How to Apply

NOTE: Proposals are open and may be published on the ESIP Lab website if your project is accepted.