Smart Great Lakes Mini-Grant Program

Geographic Scope: Great Lakes region (binational - US and Canadian organizations eligible); priority on Great Lakes proper and connecting channels

Program Goals

The Smart Great Lakes Mini-Grants program intends to advance:

1. Development and deployment of smart technologies to improve monitoring of ecological health of the Great Lakes
2. Effective management of data
3. Creation of information tools that serve stakeholders' needs

Expected funding: About 10-15 projects funded, with most around $50,000 USD average

Award timeline: Awards made in April 2021; projects ran for 12 months starting May 2021

Focus Areas

GLOS supported work that:

• Improves Great Lakes observations, data management, and/or information delivery
• Contributes to development of GLOS IT platform (Seagull) to address local, state, provincial, and/or regional needs
• Helps advance real-time use and management of the lakes

Areas of Interest

• Maintenance and/or upgrades of existing observing assets for 2021 field season deployment
• Expansion of observing network by deploying new assets in poorly observed areas
• Mapping work toward Lakebed 2030 (mapping remaining 95% of unmapped Great Lakes)
• Development and/or testing of innovative observing technologies or data analytic tools
• Development and/or improvement of numerical models for decision-making
• Development and/or improvement of data management workflows using cloud-based technologies
• Other observing and information challenges addressing technological or lake management issues

Example project types:

• Deploying assets for under-ice physical and biochemical observations
• Intercomparison field tests of low-cost biogeochemical sensors
• Developing/testing remote sensing techniques for Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) species
• Implementing data assimilation techniques in numerical models
• Using machine learning to enhance model simulations or automated quality control
• Developing cloud-based frameworks for oceanographic datasets
• Developing and testing cloud-based IOT frameworks for real-time data ingestion

Eligibility

• Eligible applicants: Governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and for-profit organizations
• Requirements: At least one applicant must be a permanent employee of the organization receiving the award
• Geographic scope: Canadian and non-US organizations allowed if project benefits Great Lakes
• Multiple submissions: Yes, multiple proposals per institution allowed, but only one proposal per lead PI

Successful Applicant Requirements

• Collaborate with GLOS team to ensure adequate data transfer to GLOS IT platform
• Allow access throughout project to pertinent information and data
• Disclose in writing equipment purchases over $5,000
• Salary support considered if adequately justified (including student/technician salaries; federal salaries not supported)
• Federal funds (subject to Uniform Guidance 2CFR200)

What Will Not Be Funded

• Projects that duplicate or significantly overlap existing programs

Review Criteria

Proposals reviewed based on:

• Relevance to GLOS Smart Great Lakes vision
• Merit of proposed work to produce Great Lakes information, data, and/or products responding to stakeholders' needs
• Focus and/or impact within binational Great Lakes watershed (priority on Great Lakes proper and connecting channels)
• Feasibility, clarity, and scientific soundness of proposed plan
• Applicants' demonstrated technical expertise
• Project teams' engagement of adequate organizations, stakeholders, and resources
• Budget appropriateness and cost efficiency

How to Apply

Deadline: March 12, 2021 by 5:00 PM EST

Submission method: Send electronically as a single PDF attachment to minigrants-2021rfp@glos.org

Required Proposal Components

Proposals must include the following sections (use 12-point font and 1" margins throughout):

1. Title Page (1 page)
   • Project title
   • Applicants' names, roles, affiliation information, emails, and phone numbers
   • Amount requested
   • Institutional signature(s)
2. Project Description (up to 6 pages)
   • Summary (<200 words; will be included in GLOS website)
   • Project Background, Purpose, and Objectives
   • Project Approach, Methods, Deliverables, and Outcomes
   • Timeframe
3. Personnel (1 page)
   • Detailed description of role of each applicant
   • For multi-organizational proposals: explanation of nature of collaboration
4. Budget
   • Budget justification (up to 1 page)
   • Clearly and in detail justify requests for salaries, fees, travel, and equipment procurement
   • Explain any cost-sharing and detail in-kind contributions
5. Personnel CV(s)
   • Up to 2-page CV for each applicant
6. References
7. Letter(s) of Support
   • Required only if applicant(s) proposes to make use of facilities, personnel, or other resources external to their organizations

Reporting Requirements

• Progress report due 6 months after project start (template provided)
• Final report due at end of project
• Selected recipients asked to present findings in one or more GLOS-led webinar(s)

Project Timeline

• January 6, 2021: RFP release date
• March 12, 2021: Proposal submissions due
• April 2, 2021: Announcement of awards (delayed due to number of proposals)
• May 14, 2021: Project start date (delayed)
• November 15, 2021: Progress report due
• May 16, 2022: Project end date
• June 16, 2022: Final report due