Fermi Science Support Center

Fermi Guest Investigator Program

A list of proposals selected through the stage-I peer-review process for Fermi Cycle-5 is posted here. The official notification letters and scientific evaluations will be e-mailed to all proposers by NASA HQ in the coming weeks. The deadline for stage-II (budget) proposals will be June 1, 2012. If your proposal appears on this list of stage-I selections, you may may wish get a head start on budget preparation now, but the NSPIRES system will not open until the official letters are sent. We remind all stage-II budget requests are capped by the total cost estimate submitted in your stage-I science proposal.

Schedule for Fermi Cycle 5

Announcement (as part of ROSES 2011) October 31, 2011
Proposals Due January 20, 2012
Proposal Peer Review March 25-28, 2012
Stage-2 Proposal Solicitation May 2012
Final Selections Announced June 2012
Fermi Cycle 5 Begins mid August 2012

Fermi Cycle 5 Guest Investigator Program Stage 2 Proposal Submission Information

If you have been asked to submit a budget for your Cycle 5 proposal you will be required to use the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES). This submission must be completed by 4:30 PM EDT on June 1, 2012.

Both you and your institution must be registered with NSPIRES. Because of the time this may take we suggest that you, register now, and if you think you are registered, check now to make sure your registration is current.

Guidelines for Preparing a Successful Stage 2 Budget Proposal

  • The total budget request can be no higher than the budget "cap" specified in your Stage-1 selection letter; please note that the requested funding for CoIs on foreign-PI proposals is expected to be substantially less than funding requested for U.S. PI proposals.
  • The assessment of the appropriate level of funding for an investigation will be based upon the factors specified in Appendix D.6. These include the perceived scope of the investigation and other sources of support relevant to this request.
  • Budget proposals from U.S. PIs and U.S. Co-Is on foreign-PI proposals will be considered in the Stage 2 review, but the cap specified in the NRA applies.
  • Sub-grants from NASA to separate non-government institutions will not be issued - the PI institution is responsible for the issuing any sub-awards to Co-I institutions.
  • For investigations with more than one U.S. CoI on a foreign-PI proposal, only a single budget proposal from a designated "budget PI" may be submitted.
  • The "budget PI" on the Stage 2 (budget) proposal may differ from the "science PI" on the Stage 1 (science justification) proposal. If so, please state this clearly in the budget narrative and provide the name of the science PI on the appropriate webform.
  • You may not use grant funding to bring a foreign collaborator to work with you.
  • Fermi GI funding may be used for facilities, detectors or computers dedicated to the collection and archiving of multi-wavelength data relevant to Fermi.
  • A duly registered Authorized Official of your institution must submit your budget proposal via the NSPIRES web site (http://nspires.nasaprs.com/) following the instructions in the Summary of Solicitation of ROSES 2011. This almost definitely means that you cannot start working on your budget submission on the due date!
  • All forms are submitted electronically.

Elements of a Successful Stage 2 Budget Proposal

  • The abstract only of the investigation as submitted in Stage 1 (i.e., do not resubmit the entire science proposal)
  • A summary of the budget justification (10pt minimum font with reasonable margins), not to exceed two pages for "regular," or three pages for "large" proposals and including: a) a breakdown of the work assignments for all funded investigators, including a justification of any major purchases including workstations, b) a list with justification of proposed scientific travel, c) publication costs, and d) any cost sharing applied to this project. Please be specific when requesting funds for travel, giving the proposed destination as well as the estimated costs form registration fees, airfare, lodging, meals, etc. for each trip. Please identify the science PI if different from the budget PI.
  • A listing of any current and pending support, noting grant/contract titles, and a short synopsis of currently ongoing work
  • A budget prepared according to the guidelines of the PI or Co-I institution, detailing the requested itemized expenditures
  • For large or multi-year proposals please provide a detailed budget for each year proposed. Note however that only current year amount (once approved in the budget review) constitutes a commitment by NASA. Continuation of funding for subsequent years will be contingent upon the demonstration of satisfactory progress and available funding.
  • All required government certifications
  • A 1-2 page CV for each PI or Co-I requesting support.
  • All information that is not submitted through a webform may be uploaded in a single PDF file. Specifically, the total budget need not be provided as a separate file.

Schedule

NSPIRES website live May 10, 2012
Stage 2 budget proposal due date 4:30 pm EDT, June 1, 2012
Award Initiation (FY12 / FY13) August 2012 / December 2012
  • The NSPIRES web system provides assistance; note that the NSPIRES helpdesk is staffed 8am-6pm EST. Since NSPIRES' technical support may not be aware of the Fermi-specific aspects of Stage 2, please contact the FSSC if you receive instructions that differ from those provided here or in the letter inviting you to submit a budget.
  • Technical questions should be directed to the FSSC helpdesk.
  • Policy questions should be directed to Ilana Harrus at NASA HQ.
  • Many issues relevant to the GI program are discussed on the FSSC FAQ page.

Overview of Fermi Guest Investigator Program

The Fermi Guest Investigator Program provides funding for direct analysis of Fermi data, for supporting observations in other wavebands, for complementary theoretical studies, and more. The deadline for proposals is typically in January of each year.

Fermi PIs can propose to:

  • Analyze GBM or LAT event data from the beginning of science operations
  • Analyze higher level data released by the LAT: lightcurves of bright or transient sources; and a point source catalog.
  • Carry out pointed LAT observations. However, proposers should be aware that very strong science justifications will be required in view of the probable low additional scientific benefit of such observations see the Fermi Users' Group (FUG) analysis at http://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/pointing_analysis/. Pointed observations will follow the same open data policy as sky survey data, i.e., they will become public immediately.
  • Support correlated observations of gamma-ray sources at other wavelengths that are directly relevant to Fermi.
  • Perform theoretical studies of gamma-ray sources.
  • Obtain observing time on the NRAO and NOAO facilities or on the Suzaku satellite in support of Fermi-related science.

Fermi proposals may be submitted by investigators at both US and non-US institutions, but only PIs or Co-Is sited at US institutions may receive funding from NASA. Proposals without any investigators sited at a US institution will be evaluated (such an evaluation may assist an investigator obtain funding from a foreign funding agency), may result in a pointed LAT observation, or may be awarded Suzaku, NRAO or NOAO observing time.

Additional Details

Fermi proposals may be submitted by investigators at both US and non-US institutions, but only PIs or Co-Is sited at US institutions may receive funding from NASA. Proposals without any investigators sited at a US institution will be evaluated (such an evaluation may assist an investigator obtain funding from a foreign funding agency), may result in a pointed LAT observation, or may be awarded Suzaku, NRAO or NOAO observing time.

Fermi's proposal process will have two Phases. In Phase 1 you will submit a cover page and a scientific justification; the cover page (generated by a webform) will include a maximum budget cap and the scientific justification should include a brief management section that describes the resources required (e.g., FTE). There is also an ARK/RPS form to summarize your proposed management plan and schedule. The page limit for this section is 4 pages for a Regular proposal, and 6 pages for a Large proposal. An additional page describing technical details of your proposed Suzaku, NRAO or NOAO observations must be added if you are applying under the 'joint proposal opportunity.' A peer review panel will review your Phase 1 proposal, and you will submit a Phase 2 budget proposal only if your Phase 1 proposal has been tentatively accepted.

Proposals should be single-spaced, typewritten, English-language text, using one or two columns, and using an easily read font size 12-point or larger, and no more than 15 characters per horizontal inch. No smaller font should be used in the subsections of the proposal, including references: however, figure captions can be in fonts as small as 10-point. In addition, the proposal shall have no more than 5.5 lines per inch of text. Pages should have at least one-inch (2.5 cm) margins on all sides.

PIs of Large (multi-year) projects approved in previous cycles must submit a progress report annually on the Phase 1 proposal due date (rather than on the anniversary of the award date). A Large project may be funded for a total of 3 years. PIs of Regular proposals that were approved for 2 years in the previous cycle need not submit a progress report for Phase 1.

As a resource to proposers list of the titles and abstracts of programs selected in previous mission cycles is available here.

The Fermi GI Process

The Fermi GI Review is typically held in the spring, and results are communicated to the Principal Investigators several weeks later. Additional interested reveiwers are always welcome. If you would like to be considered as a reviewer, please send an e-mail to the HEASARC Peer Review mailbox.

If accepted, the Principal Investigator will be notified to submit Phase 2 budget proposals through NSPIRES. Details of the submission will be provided in the proposal acceptance letter.

Documentation for Past GI Programs

Supporting Materials for Submitting Fermi Proposals