W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program
"Call for Concept Papers"
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***Limited $1 million funding opportunity—a university-wide internal selection process is required (first at the school level, then at the Dean of Research Office). Faculty with PI eligibility (with UTL, MCL, and NTL-Research appointments) across the natural and earth sciences, engineering, and medicine at all ranks are eligible. Keck has a stated interest in interdisciplinary research, thus proposals may also come from a team of faculty across departments, disciplines, or schools.
Projects should focus on emerging areas of research at the forefront of science, engineering and medicine, or have the potential to lead to breakthrough technologies in these areas. Thus, high-risk projects are encouraged, and the foundation recognizes that not all such projects will succeed.
# of applicants permitted:
Up to eight concept papers total may be submitted to the foundation, one of which (for each program) may then be selected to advance to the Phase I application process.
See the internal submission guidelines below >>.
Timeline:
Internal deadline for each School (see contacts below**): Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 5 p.m. (see the internal submission guidelines at the end of this message)
Each school and SLAC submits their top 3 concept papers to the Dean of Research Office (c/o Jeanne Heschele): July 19, 2018
The Dean of Research Office Limited Program Review Committee meeting date: July 24, 2018
Phase I application due: Nov. 1, 2018
Notification of Invitation to full Phase II proposal: Jan. 15, 2019
DATE : Full proposal/Phase II deadline (by invitation): Feb. 15, 2019
**School Contacts:
Faculty will submit their internal proposals, per the internal submission guidelines at the end of this message, to their school's respective contact person:
- Medicine: Jeanne Heschele jheschele@stanford.edu
- Humanities and Sciences: Kristi Geerke geerke@stanford.edu
- Engineering (including Bioengineering): Rachel Sparks at rachel.sparks@stanford.edu
- Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences: Amy Balsom amy.balsom@stanford.edu
- SLAC: Dr. JoAnne Hewitt hewett@slac.stanford.edu
Sponsor website:
This email contains the complete Concept Paper guidelines.
For general information about the foundation, please see this webpage: http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-programs/research
Eligibility
- Faculty with PI status (those with UTL, MCL, NTL-Research appts) across the natural and earth sciences, engineering, and medicine at all ranks are eligible.
- Keck has a stated interest in interdisciplinary research, thus proposals may also come from a team of faculty across departments, disciplines, or schools.
- To show the need for Keck support, proposals should indicate that other avenues of funding have been sought but declined.
Amount of funding:
Keck is currently asking that we hold funding requests to not more than $1 million.
Awards may fund a multi-year project over a period of up to five years.
Although Keck does not require formal cost sharing, the foundation does not like to be the sole funder of a project and likes to see a significant commitment to the project from the applicant’s home institution. Toward the Stanford commitment, Keck will recognize overhead (it does not pay indirect costs, including the university infrastructure charge) and graduate student support, as well as commitments of space, renovations, and equipment.
Stanford University contact for questions:
Brooke Groves-Anderson at 725-6250 or bgrovesa@stanford.edu
W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program
The Research Program seeks to benefit humanity by supporting projects in two specific areas (1) medical research and (2) science and engineering, that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the prevailing paradigm, or have the potential to break open new territory in their field. Past grants have been awarded to major universities, independent research institutions and medical schools to support pioneering biological and physical science research and engineering, including the development of promising new technologies, instrumentation or methodologies.
Funding Guidelines - Programmatic Criteria:
- Projects should focus on emerging areas of research at the forefront of science, engineering and medicine, or have the potential to lead to breakthrough technologies in these areas. Thus, high-risk projects are encouraged, and the foundation recognizes that not all such projects will succeed.
- Proposals should demonstrate that the chances of success would be seriously impaired but for the assistance of private philanthropy generally, and the W.M. Keck Foundation in particular. Keck is looking for projects that might be too early stage, too high risk, or too interdisciplinary to fit with traditional agency funding mechanisms. Indeed, they look for assurance that other avenues of funding have been sought but declined, so be prepared (as you may be asked) to document denials received from federal agencies.
- Medical Research proposals should show promise of innovative research that has the potential to impact fundamental mechanisms of human health and disease. Proposals that are too clinical in nature will not be of interest, and proposals that focus exclusively on a single disease are not likely to be funded, as the Foundation is more interested in endeavors that address more basic mechanisms/questions that will impact a number of diseases or disorders. Medical Research program awards are not limited to medical school faculty; in the past Keck medical program grants have been awarded to faculty in H&S and Engineering.
- Projects should encourage self-sufficiency rather than continuing dependence on W.M. Keck Foundation support.
Grant recipients:
For additional guidance, be sure to review abstracts for recent grants made by the Keck Foundation:
http://www.wmkeck.org/grant-programs/research/medical-research-grant-abstracts
Stanford recipients-Medical Research Area:
2014 Manu Prakash-Bioengineering and Zev Bryant-Bioengineering $1M
2013 Josh Elias-Chemical and Systems Biology $1M
Stanford recipients- Science and Engineering Area:
2017 David Reis-Applied Physics & Photon Science, Philip Bucksbaum-Physics, Jelena Vuckovic-Electrical Engineering, and Shanhui Fan-Electrical Engineering $1M
2014 Mark Kasevich-Physics/Applied Physics, Leo Holberg-Physics, Peter Graham-Physics $1M
2010- David Goldhaber-Gordon-Physics, Soucheng Zhang-Physics, and Yi Cui-Materials Science and Engineering $1M
Projects Ineligible for Funding
- Routine institutional or general operating expenses, general endowments, deficit reduction, or general or administrative overhead expenses
- General and federated campaigns, including fundraising events, dinners, mass mailings or direct mail campaigns
- Clinical research or treatment trials
- Medical research conducted in dedicated health care facilities or hospitals
- Grants or scholarships to individuals
- Conference or seminar sponsorship
- Book publication and film or theater productions
- Projects to be undertaken outside the United States
- Public policy research or activities of any kind
Concept Paper Guidelines
See the internal submission guidelines >> at the end of this message. The following is for your reference.
Concept papers should be one page, single-spaced, using 12-point font and 1-inch margins, inclusive of illustrations and references. Papers longer than a page will not be read by the Foundation; thus, illustrations are discouraged at this stage. Each concept paper should include:
- an overview of the proposed project emphasizing any unique aspects and pilot studies (what is the problem and why would this be a breakthrough);
- a brief description of the key personnel and methodologies(who is involved and what are you going to do);
- a brief justification of the need for Keck support; and
- an estimated budget broken down, if possible, by major areas, e.g., personnel, equipment, consumable supplies, etc. (Budgets can be rough approximations at this stage.)
- Faculty are free to add other details (e.g., background to put the research into perspective, description of the institution’s prominence in the field, etc.) if there’s room.
Concept Paper Suggestions
- Be sure to state the major goals of the proposed research project, summarize the methodologies to be used in achieving the goals, and describe the problems that need to be solved to achieve these goals
- Keck is looking to fund areas of research at the forefront of science, engineering and medicine, or that have the potential to lead to breakthrough technologies in these areas. Think about work that has the potential to alter the course of a field and clearly describe this potential.
- The Foundation will want to know why Keck is an appropriate funder of this project. They are unwilling to fund work that could readily be funded elsewhere. They are willing, however, to fund high-risk, early-stage work that the government might not yet be willing to fund.
- Keck is willing to fund equipment and sometimes even core facilities, but not in and of themselves. Your request should focus on the research question behind the equipment need and not seem merely to be an equipment request. That is, focus on the “grand challenge” you are seeking to solve and how you will do it, not on the technology or tool per se.
INTERNAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
By Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 5 p.m., each faculty member should submit one PDF file containing the following in the order listed below to their respective school's representative:
- Medicine: Jeanne Heschele jheschele@stanford.edu
- Humanities and Sciences: Kristi Geerke geerke@stanford.edu
- Engineering (including Bioengineering): Rachel Sparks at rachel.sparks@stanford.edu
- Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences: Amy Balsom amy.balsom@stanford.edu
- SLAC: Dr. JoAnne Hewitt hewett@slac.stanford.edu
PDF file name: Last name_Keck_Concept_Paper.pdf
Institutional representatives: not applicable. You can submit your internal proposals directly to your school's contact person.
1) Title Page
W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program-Call for Concept Papers
Title of your proposal
PI name, title, department, contact information (including address, email, phone)
2) Nomination letter, printed on your department letterhead addressed as follows**, signed by your division chief or your department chair
This letter should address the dollar amount of the proposal and confirmation that the department is committed to working with the applicant to identify additional funds needed, including the university infrastructure charge.
** Each nomination letter should be addressed as follows (according to your respective school):
- Medicine: Dr. Peter Sarnow and the School of Medicine Awards Committee members, c/o Jeanne Heschele
- Humanities and Sciences: Dr. Kam Moler, Senior Associate Dean for Natural Sciences, c/o Kristi Geerke
- Engineering: Dr. Stacey Bent, Senior Associate Dean, c/o Rachel Sparks
- Earth, Energy, and Environmental Sciences: Amy Balsom, Senior Associate Dean
- SLAC: Dr. JoAnne Hewitt hewett@slac.stanford.edu
3) One-page description of proposed project, see Concept paper guidelines and suggestions above
4) For each PI and Co-PIs: separate lists of all funding, current and pending (include name of sponsor, amount and term of funding) and include the name of the PI or Co-PI on each page.
Selection process
Each School will select their top 3 concept papers to forward to the Dean of Research Office (c/o Jeanne Heschele) by July 19th, for distribution to the Dean of Research limited program review committee. That committee will meet on July 24, 2018 to select up to eight proposals to be forwarded to Brooke Groves-Anderson in the Office of Development, the liaison with the Keck Foundation, for further follow up.
