Writing Proposals with ROSEI (FAQs)

Thank you for considering submitting a proposal through ROSEI. We have prepared a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to assist you in determining if ROSEI can be the right vehicle for your idea. ROSEI’s mission is to enable and implement research in sustainable energy, and we are open to a variety of creative ways to fulfill this mission – so if your questions are not answered below, please contact us straight away. Note, these FAQS are intended for Principal Investigators at Johns Hopkins University, for efforts led outside of Johns Hopkins please contact us for teaming possibilities.

General Proposal Inquiries: Sr. Grants and Contracts Analyst Kyra Vocci ([email protected])
Teaming/Strategy Proposal Inquiries: Managing Director Ben Link ([email protected])

: Kyra Vocci, Sr. Grants and Contracts Analyst

: Benjamin Link

ROSEI Proposals – Frequently Asked Questions, Table of Contents

General – details

Q: How do I initiate the process of submitting a proposal through ROSEI?

A: Once you have identified a specific funding opportunity, please email/contact Ms. Kyra Vocci ([email protected]) ROSEI’s Sr. Grants and Contracts Administrator to let her know about the specific funding opportunity that you are interested in potentially submitting through ROSEI. Kyra will confirm receipt of the request and will work with you on the pre-award submission process: preparing budgets, managing teaming, etc. If your proposal requires additional support more of the ROSEI team will become involved. If you are trying to understand if your proposal is a fit for ROSEI in a bigger sense you may want to contact ROSEI Managing Director Ben Link ([email protected]) who can help you coordinate your idea with other efforts at ROSEI as well as provide suggestions on funding opportunities that may match your idea.

Q: How do I describe ROSEI in my proposal?

A: Provided here is some sample text you may consider:

ROSEI is a JHU University-wide Sustainable Energy Institute housed and supported by the Whiting School of Engineering. The Energy Institute integrates efforts across the university to create and implement clean, renewable and sustainable energy technologies; educate future energy leaders; and within the complex inter-connected systems that energy resides support implementation, markets, and policies that promote an affordable and equitable green energy future for a more resilient world.

Short example/sample text: This proposal will be [operated by/housed as part of/managed within/utilizing the resources of/… ]the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). ROSEI is a university-wide endowed institute created in 2021 to expand and increase the impact of sustainable energy research at JHU. ROSEI provides its research with unique platforms for education, outreach and advocacy, and translation and has established partnerships with government and private entities working in sustainable energy – all of which will be available to the team as it implements its research.

Longer example/ sample text: This proposal will be [operated by/housed as part of/managed within/utilizing the resources of/… ]the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). ROSEI is a university-wide endowed institute created in 2021 to expand and increase the impact of sustainable energy research at JHU. ROSEI has over 40 affiliated investigators spanning multiple divisions of JHU. ROSEI’s current primary technical research thrusts include carbon capture and upcycling, innovations in energy storage with an emphasis on non-rare earth. metals and stable storage, scale-up and next generation technologies in solar energy and wind energy, and transformation of the infrastructure, control, markets and policy for the electric grid. At the same time ROSEI supports cross-cutting efforts in energy policy with a focus on the most effective pathways to decarbonization, educational outreach particularly for pre-college students, and partnerships for commercial translation of new technologies developed by ROSEI researchers. ROSEI maintains active partnerships with Department of Energy labs, commercial renewable energy companies, and sustainable energy advocacy organizations. ROSEI is supported by a full staff providing services in events, marketing and communications, grants and contracts, outreach, and commercialization.

Example text on ROSEI from a training grant: Our [training grant] will be organized under the newly established Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) at JHU. ROSEI has been initiated with gift funding and a sustainable business model and can therefore operate as a stable home for this multi-institution, multi-school, multi-departmental [training grant]. ROSEI is entrusted with converging all energy research at JHU and has a specific focus on “enabling technologies” and “equitable implementation” of renewable energy. As such, ROSEI has over 40 affiliated investigators spanning a wide variety of fields. ROSEI’s signature is the combination of fundamental energy engineering across scales married to markets and policy and this is directly aligned with the program for our [training grant] trainees as proposed herein. Figure X illustrates the relationship between the key partners in the [training grant]. The participating schools operate with ROSEI as the administrative lead. The Advisory Council and the Evaluation/Assessment team operate independently and their connection to the core faculty team will be enabled by the staff and the Director of ROSEI. The ROSEI staff, including the new ½ time [training grant] Program Coordinator, will have primary responsibility for developing recruiting materials and programs, additional communications regarding the [training grant], and internship placement. The operational heart of the [training grant] is the four core faculty teams overseeing all of the major functions and objectives of the training program.

ROSEI provides its research with unique platforms for education, outreach and advocacy, and translation and has established partnerships with government and private entities working in sustainable energy – all of which will be available to the proposal team as it implements its research.

If your proposal requires specific administration commitments etc. please contact us. Please see the FAQs on the science plan/content and Education, Outreach, and Training/Translation for additional potential proposal text related to ROSEI. You may also want to utilize ROSEI’s mission, vision, or the Director’s statement on ROSEI’s operations and goals for additional text in your proposal. You will also find long form stories and additional text on ROSEI’s main initiatives [carbon, storage, power, grid] on our website.

Q: When do you need to know that I want to submit a proposal through ROSEI?

A: We understand that sometimes the time gets short before you realize it is time to submit. Of course, the sooner that you’re able to let us know you’ll be submitting the better, but if it is possible to give a minimum of two weeks notice, that will allow us to manage the flow of ROSEI grants administration the most effectively. ROSEI will work with Johns Hopkins University Research Administration (JHURA) on your behalf – in some cases JHURA may impose additional deadlines that will impact the time needed for submission. It is worth noting that even after you submit a proposal, but before the proposal is awarded, it is still possible to move a proposal to be managed under ROSEI.

General – big picture

Q: Why would I submit a proposal through ROSEI rather than somewhere else?

A: ROSEI has built a core team of staff and faculty to serve as the home for sustainable energy research and translation at Johns Hopkins University. We aim to partner with JHU faculty from all Divisions to offer the full continuum of funding opportunities identification, pre-award services and post-award management in energy research. We are growing our capabilities, together with JHTV, to assist with commercialization activities for energy and materials IP as well. In addition to the services mentioned, ROSEI has established deep partnerships with the JHU Applied Physics Lab (APL) and Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) and is working to deepen engagements with several industry partners working in the sustainable energy transition space.

ROSEI’s ability to serve as a long-term home for impactful sustainable energy research coming from Johns Hopkins is predicated in part on receiving return on research that ROSEI manages in its portfolio. By submitting and maintaining your research through ROSEI you are signaling to the university the importance of sustainable energy research as a separate entity and you are directly helping fund the continual operations of ROSEI. At the same time, submitting research through ROSEI will not negatively impact your home department. We believe strongly in ROSEI’s mission and are excited about supporting your research in sustainable energy for the long term.

Q: How can partnering with ROSEI strengthen my science/technical plan?

A: ROSEI has a network of expertise in sustainable energy. We are happy to connect you with that network for your proposal. This could be in the form of informal or formal science advisory boards, helping you to find additional co-principal investigators or senior personnel, or helping you to find or form improved commercial or non-commercial translation opportunities. ROSEI is working across all divisions of JHU and can help you build an optimal science/technical team. We can also help new researchers receive critical reviews of an early proposal idea, if this type of feedback is desired. In addition, ROSEI supports high-risk high-impact research directly – if you need to develop preliminary data and have a specific plan ROSEI supplements the University-wide Discovery and Catalyst awards and is open to directly assisting in developing new ideas, especially those that align with ROSEI’s thrusts in carbon, storage, wind, and the grid.

Q: Won’t my department lose out if I submit my proposal through ROSEI?

A: No, not at all. For investigators in the Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) the Engineering School has set up a financial accounting system that promotes submissions to Institutes and Centers by having all awards count both toward the home department as well as the Institute budget. ROSEI benefits from having awards submitted through it, but the home department counts the grant as well. This structure presents a win-win for the departments and ROSEI. While this policy has been in place for some time, it is still possible that your home department or staff may have some trepidation with grants moving to management by ROSEI. ROSEI is regularly meeting with departments to further discuss and ensure that all leadership is comfortable with grant submission and management, and we are happy to do this for your department should you foresee that additional relationship management is important and necessary. For JHU investigators that are not in WSE we will work with you, your department, and your division individually to ensure a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Q: If I submit through ROSEI how will the support in my home department be able to track all my awards?

A: We understand that making sure your home department knows and can track all of your activities can be important. First, we will ask you, whom in your home department should have access to see your activities and ensure that person is provided proper access. Second, ROSEI’s GCA will provide (quarterly) reports to you and to the host department administrator you designate. Third, ROSEI’s Director, who meets regularly with department chairs, will regularly inquire to make sure the grant accounting is working for departments as well as ROSEI. We understand that having accounts with multiple entities can be a burden on PIs and administrators and will do everything we can to simplify the processes as much as possible.

Q: How is submitting grants through ROSEI related to core, associate, and affiliate research status in ROSEI?

A: ROSEI partners with faculty in a tiered fashion that determines the level of engagement, services and value received. Core ROSEI faculty have all of their energy research grants administered by ROSEI and, in return, receive comprehensive grants management, communications and marketing activities to raise their individual profile as well as that of their research, and invitations to specially organized events with key industry and DOE partners. Associate ROSEI faculty will have a minimum of 1 grant award administered by ROSEI and, in return, will receive many of the services mentioned above but will not receive individualized ROSEI communications and marketing and may only participate in a more focused set of industry and government partnership activities. ROSEI Affiliates are any investigators in the JHU system interested in sustainable energy and materials and they receive email communications from ROSEI as well as invitations to ROSEI events. ROSEI is dedicated to increasing the impact of sustainable energy research from JHU, and uses these designations to help focus our efforts in this regard.

Q: Does ROSEI have experience with DoE grants? BES? EERE? ARPA-E?

A: YES! ROSEI grants and contracts administrators have experience working on DOE, BES, EERE and ARPA-E grant mechanisms. They are well versed in navigating the ARPA-E and EERE eXCHANGE, DOE PAMS, DARPA VAULT, Research.gov and Grants.gov sites, completing complex SF424 budget workbooks and will review each proposal for accuracy and compliance to sponsor policies and procedures. ROSEI also has experience with NSF grant awards and through our partnership with APL can assist with DOD award mechanisms.

Education, Outreach, and Training/Translation Plans

Q: How can partnering with ROSEI strengthen my Education, Outreach, or Training/Translation plans?

A: ROSEI knows that in many cases your EoT plan can be the last piece of the puzzle to put your grant over the funding line! ROSEI is committed to EoT and potentially willing to expand our efforts to meet your individual ideas. The following is a list of activities and efforts that you may want to consider leveraging in your proposal – we are open to creative extensions to these activities, and even to creating new efforts.

ROSEI has a Sustainable Energy Education effort for high school (HS) students. Modeled after the successful nation-wide Engineering Innovation program this effort will host HS students for a summer course on the JHU campus, and is developing a nation-wide online and in-person course on sustainable energy education. The course is based on materials taught at the undergraduate level at JHU, but has been specifically adapted and designed through a collaboration between ROSEI and the WSE Center for Educational Outreach. The program will accept its first enrollees in the Summer of 2023. Investigators may be involved in improving the program, having their graduate students instruct in the program, or a variety of other creative mechanisms.

Starting in 2022 ROSEI will host a series of events “ROSEI on …” that provide a forum to share technical information on sustainable energy with a broad audience at Hopkins. In addition, starting in January 2023 ROSEI will host a yearly Summit that will provide a means for JHU sustainable energy research to be shared with the full JHU community. These events provide opportunities for your graduate students to share their findings with a broader audience, with a low barrier to entry. Your students will also be exposed to the full panoply of energy researchers at JHU, broadening their training experience.

As of Fall 2023 JHU has a new Energy Minor for BS and BA students. ROSEI helps to manage this minor in conjunction with the departments. Any new undergraduate energy courses that a PI wishes to offer may be integrated with this minor. Educators in the minor are also an audience for any energy course modules that a PI creates. ROSEI will help facilitate this integration.

ROSEI is willing to help facilitate undergraduate research pairing in sustainable energy. We are in the process (Summer 2022) of applying for an NSF REU site for undergraduate research, and will support specific undergraduate research that aligns with ROSEI’s mission and vision. We can connect your team with related or complementary teams to broaden the undergraduate research experience for your trainees.

Outreach to commercial, governmental, or the public can all be facilitated in whole or in part by ROSEI. Particularly for ROSEI’s technical pillars in carbon, storage, wind, and the grid and for our cross-cutting efforts in policy, education, and translation we have a growing list of commercial partners, governmental (DoE lab connections) partners, and public advocacy groups that we are working with. We are happy to assist you in deepening these relationships for your work and/or connecting you with specific partners for your efforts. The pages describing the ROSEI pillars provide a good place to start for understanding existing relationships ROSEI has in place that may benefit your EOT effort.

Preparation – non-budgetary

Q: Will ROSEI support coordination of bio-sketches, current and pending, etc.?

A: Yes, ROSEI will support coordination of bio-sketches, current and pending and collaborators and other affiliation documents across the research team. This includes reformatting to the latest NSF, DoE, etc. It is highly encouraged to use the sciENcv format for bio-sketches and current and pending reports. This format is available in My NCBI and it eliminates the need to repeatedly enter information into templates. Our grants and contracts administrators are experienced in setting up accounts in My NCBI and will work closely with each PI to provide updates to both your bio-sketch and current and pending during a proposal submission.

Q: Does ROSEI provide graphics support in preparing a proposal?

A: We understand the importance of graphics and scientific communications. ROSEI has an active relationship with a private third-party vendor for graphic arts but does not have a free service for this effort at this time. Depending on the grant size and circumstance ROSEI may be willing to cost share or assume the costs of development of graphics – please contact us. ROSEI is working with both WSE and Central to improve the graphics support that we can provide to investigators and expects to be able to provide additional resources in the future. Please contact us for current status.

Q: Does ROSEI providing writing support in preparing a proposal?

A: Yes, ROSEI is able to provide writing support for those investigators that desire this level of support. Of course, the more writing you need, the more time we will need. ROSEI typically would provide the budget justification and related materials. Also, we have provided beginning text for describing ROSEI [Q: How do I describe ROSEI in my proposal?] and for the Education, Outreach and Training/Translation sections [Q: How can partnering with ROSEI strengthen my Education, Outreach, or Training/Translation plans?]. Contact the ROSEI Managing Director, Ben Link to discuss potential writing efforts in greater detail.

Q: Does ROSEI support large grant submissions like ERC’s MRSEC, etc?

A: Of course, ROSEI is excited to support you on any of your grant submissions. For extremely large grants the Research Development Team (RDT) in the Vice Provost’s office for Research (VPR) also provides useful centralized direct support. ROSEI can work as you best see fit – we can take the lead and help you utilize our resources and those of the RDT group in the VPR office, or we can support the RDT group, or we can support you directly.

ROSEI recognizes that creating center grants can be all consuming. For those investigators willing to take on such challenges in sustainable energy we are excited to partner with you from the beginning to the end. In many cases we recognize that such grants require administration models – ROSEI is open to providing such models and working with you to envision how your Center and ROSEI can create a synergistic and impactful partnership in the future. ROSEI’s activities encompass many of those activities commonly asked of such centers – and not reinventing the wheel can make for a stronger, more immediately impactful, proposal (see for example our FAQ on EOT above).

Preparation – budgetary

Q: How do I get a draft budget?

A: ROSEI’s Sr. Grants and Contracts Analyst Kyra Vocci is happy to assist you in preparing a draft budget for your proposal so that you can find the right balance of students, postdocs, equipment, and other support.

Q: Will ROSEI prepare my budget and budget justification?

A: ROSEI’s Sr. Grants and Contracts Analyst Kyra Vocci is happy to assist you in preparing the final budget and budget justification for you to review in preparation of your proposal.

Funding

Q: Does ROSEI have matching funds?

A: Potentially yes; however, matching funds are typically regulated by the rules of the submission. ROSEI works directly with JHURA and WSE to make sure that any matching we are committing to are proper for the proposal being submitted. Obviously efforts tightly aligned with ROSEI’s mission and vision and current research efforts are most attractive for additional funding. Also note, that administrative support, tuition, fellowships and marketing services are all a form of matching funding and can be detailed to provide evidence of ROSEI and university commitment through matching should a proposal call for this documentation. Note, ROSEI does provide internal matching funds for the Discovery and Catalyst program and may provide matching funding in other internal case-by-case situations, please inquire.

Q: Does ROSEI provide direct research support?

A: Yes, but only in special cases. ROSEI directly supports research that is tightly aligned with its vision, that is high-risk, high-impact, and has a high chance of leading to future funding. ROSEI generally only supports core and possible associate faculty, i.e., those faculty that are deeply committed to ROSEI’s operations and success. ROSEI does augment the JHU Discovery and Catalyst Awards to provide a means for any faculty member to benefit from ROSEI’s commitments to sustainable energy research. Faculty with a specific idea that they believe meets our objectives are encouraged to contact us for more information.

Q: Does ROSEI provide equipment or computing support?

A: Yes, for research aligned with ROSEI’s efforts we do have resources that may be of interest to your proposal. ROSEI has and continues to make investments with ARCH to support High Performance Computing (HPC) at JHU. We have a dedicated condo on Rockfish, ARCH’s current cluster, and a partnership with IDIES – see for example our efforts with the wind flow database to understand the manner in which we utilize these resources. ROSEI is also partnering with the Materials Characterization and Processing (MCP) facility to provide equipment and resources that are not easily available to JHU researchers, particularly in chemistry, chemical engineering, and materials science. In addition, for equipment that can definitively improve the broader infrastructure for sustainable energy research at JHU ROSEI is potentially willing to partner in acquiring and even supporting such efforts. For specific details on our current HPC offerings (nodes, cores, etc.) and/or experimental equipment (SEM, TEM, Sputter coater, etc.) please inquire directly with ROSEI.

Teaming

Q: Will ROSEI help me build a team in answer to a specific call?

A: Yes, ROSEI has developed relationships with faculty in many Divisions of JHU and will serve as a matchmaker for building teams to respond to specific proposals. ROSEI also hosts regular gatherings and socials where faculty can meet members from other departments and divisions to spark new sustainable energy collaborations. Contact ROSEI directly for more help with teaming.

[Also see Q: Why would I submit a proposal through ROSEI rather than somewhere else?, Q: How can partnering with ROSEI strengthen my science/technical plan? for more on these subjects.]

Q: Does ROSEI have partnerships with DOE labs that can help my proposal?

A: Yes – ROSEI researchers have collaborations with many of the DOE national labs. ROSEI has its deepest connections with PNNL and to a lesser extent NREL. We are happy to assist you with our connections and we are developing specific programs around joint projects, joint appointments, and exchanges with PNNL – please contact us for the latest status. Also see Q: Why would I submit a proposal through ROSEI rather than somewhere else?, and Q: How can partnering with ROSEI strengthen my science/technical plan? for more on this subject.

Q: Does ROSEI have partnerships with APL that can help my proposal?

A: Yes, absolutely – ROSEI is working regularly with APL, especially the Research and Exploratory Development Division (REDD). ROSEI and APL have active collaborations in a number of sustainable energy related areas (e.g., carbon and storage) and we are working on new shared models for space and time. As of Summer 2022 ROSEI is a finalist for a SURPASS award and we expect these collaborations to continue to grow. ROSEI and APL are excited to facilitate new sustainable energy research, please contact us for additional details and teaming.

Miscellaneous

Q: How does ROSEI handle PI’s that are not part of WSE?

A: Acknowledging that individual divisions of JHU are set up differently, ROSEI will work directly with the PI’s home division and department to arrive at an award submission process that is maximally beneficial to all. These scenarios are currently handled on a case-by-case basis, but as additional experience is gained we expect them to become more formalized. [add link to earlier discussion FAQ]

ROSEI Proposals – Frequently Asked Questions, Table of Contents

General-details

General-big picture

Education, Outreach, and Training/Translation Plans

Preparation – non-budgetary

Preparation – budgetary

Funding

Teaming

Miscellaneous

General – details

General – big picture

Education, Outreach, and Training/Translation Plans

Preparation – non-budgetary

Preparation – budgetary

Funding

Teaming

Miscellaneous