SPARK-ND Intentional Collision Research Seed Award: Pollinators and Cover Crops
The ND EPSCoR State Office’s mission is to support efforts of participating institutions of higher education across the state that result in increased STEM faculty capacity and competitiveness and a stronger STEM pipeline that produces our next generation workforce, educators, and researchers.
In support of this mission, ND EPSCoR in collaboration with the ND NSF E-CORE award SPARK-ND seeks to provide research seed awards of up to $70,000 (total cost) to researchers at ND institutions of higher education. The focus of the proposed research must be directly related to April 22, 2026, Intentional Collision Event topic of Cover Crops & Pollinators. A goal of this program is to support cross-institutional team development that leads to competitive extramural funding. Therefore, proposals must include substantial participation by at least one researcher from a PUI or TCU and state a targeted external funding solicitation. Funds may be used for materials and supplies, student support (undergraduate and graduate), and operating services (e.g., recharge center fees for sample analysis). Proposals must provide an introduction and justification for the research including fit within the current State Science & Technology Plan, description of the research and data to be collected, the specific federal agency RFP to which a proposal will be submitted, and a short biographical sketch (2 pages) for all participating researchers.
Eligibility
Applications must be led and submitted by a faculty member employed in the ND University System or ND Tribal College System. Participants in SPARK-ND are eligible to participate and apply. Applicants are welcome to collaborate with faculty from any North Dakota institution of higher education and researchers at other research facilities in North Dakota. Applicants/collaborators with past due final report on any ND EPSCoR-awarded project are not eligible to compete.
Primary evaluation criteria
Scientific merit
Broader impacts
Fit within the current ND Science & Technology plan
Submitted plan to sustain the proposed effort and leverage the proposed project outcomes.
Allowable expenses (total of up to $70K in direct and indirect costs)
Researcher salary (up to 0.5 month of summer salary) plus related fringe benefits;
Student salary and related fringe benefits;
Research supplies (including minor equipment);
Core facility or recharge center fees;
Domestic travel (i.e., to collaborating institutions or field study sites, or for conference presentations).
Capitalized equipment, and visiting scholars/researchers are not allowed under this award.
Application Requirements
Electronic submission: Submit items through NDSU’s InfoReady submission portal. A guide for accessing NDSU InfoReady is available.
Checklist of Requirements
Project Summary - One-page limit, double spaced, font no smaller than 10.0.
Project Description: No more than six (6) double-spaced pages, font no smaller than 10.0. Required sections: 1) Introduction, 2) Proposed research, 3) Nature of any collaborations including the role and responsibilities of each collaborator, 4) Anticipated results, 5) project timeline with milestones, and 6) fit within the current State Science & Technology Plan. An additional single-spaced page with literature cited can be included.
NSF-PAPPG compliant biographical sketch. Collaborations provide a biographical sketch for each collaborator.
Budget form available through the submission portal. Collaborations add budgets for each collaborator and an overall project budget (compile spreadsheets into single PDF before uploading).
Budget justifications with a clear alignment to the budget form. Collaborations add separate budget justifications for each collaborator’s budget. (Combine all into single PDF before uploading)
Letter from institution’s AOR stating submitted proposal was selected for this limited submission opportunity.
A list of specific federal programs to which future proposals may be submitted as a result of this support.
Additional Information
This is a Limited Submission Opportunity. Only 1 application per institution as lead. Be certain applications are institutionally approved by an Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) as the institution’s sole application prior to submission. A letter certifying selection from an institutional AOR must be included with the application. ND EPSCoR anticipates one to two awards through this solicitation. Awards are planned be announced on or before November 30, 2026. The effective award dates will be from December 15, 2026 – December 15, 2028 (24 months). A no-cost extension will be possible with justification.
All awards require: 1) acknowledgement of the ND EPSCoR State Office as the funder in any publications/presentations using the award acknowledgment guidelines published on the ND EPSCoR website, 2) presentation of the activity/results at the ND EPSCoR Annual State Conference (be sure to include travel for presentation(s) in the submitted budget) 3) a final report submitted to ND EPSCoR through the NDSU InfoReady portal within 30 days of the award end date, and 4) signed photo releases for any images/figures in the final report as these figures may be used in ND EPSCoR reports and promotional materials. Awards are contingent upon availability of funds.
Please direct questions to Jim Doolittle at james.doolittle@ndsu.edu.