Additional Proposal Documents

Pursuant to Section 7008(a) of the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (42 U.S.C. § 1862o(a)), each proposal^[38] that requests funding to support postdoctoral scholars^[39] or graduate students must upload under "Mentoring Plan" in the supplementary documentation section of Research.gov, a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. In no more than one page, the mentoring plan must describe the mentoring that will be provided to all postdoctoral scholars or graduate students supported by the project, regardless of whether they reside at the submitting organization, any subrecipient organization, or at any organization participating in a simultaneously submitted collaborative proposal. Please note that separate plans are not required for postdoctoral scholars or graduate students. The plan may, however, specify how different components of the mentoring program will be enacted for the two types of researchers. Proposers are advised that the mentoring plan must not be used to circumvent the 15-page Project Description limitation. See Chapter II.E.3 for additional information on collaborative proposals. Mentoring activities provided to postdoctoral scholars or graduate students supported on the project will be evaluated under the Broader Impacts review criterion. Note see also Chapter VII.B. for information on requirements regarding Individual Development Plans for postdoctoral scholars or graduate students.

Examples of mentoring activities include but are not limited to: career counseling; training in preparation of proposals, publications and presentations; guidance on ways to improve teaching and mentoring skills; guidance on how to effectively collaborate with researchers from diverse backgrounds and disciplinary areas; and training in responsible professional practices.

Departmental Letter

The department letter should demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to the effective integration of research and education throughout the award period and beyond. While not an endorsement of the applicant, the letter must convince reviewers that the applicants department supports their proposed CAREER project, and will make all efforts to ensure that it is successfully completed.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst provides examples of Successful and Unsuccessful Letters of support on their website, which is openly available.  Please click here to view.  

Click here to view additional advice on your chair letter from a former NSF Program Director.

Letters of Collaboration

Letters of Collaboration – If the project involves collaborative arrangements of significance, these arrangements should be documented through letters of collaboration. Letters of collaboration should be limited to stating the intent to collaborate and should not contain endorsements or evaluation of the proposed project. Letters of collaboration should follow the single-sentence format:

“If the proposal submitted by Dr. [insert the full name of the Principal Investigator] entitled [insert the proposal title] is selected for funding by the NSF, it is my intent to collaborate and/or commit resources as detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment or Other Resources section of the proposal.”

Departure from this format may result in the proposal being returned without review. Specifics about the need for and nature of collaborations, such as intellectual contributions to the project, permission to access a site, an instrument, or a facility, offer of samples and materials for research, logistical support to the research and education program, or mentoring of U.S. students at a foreign site, should be detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment, and other Resources section. Requests for letters of collaboration should be made by the PI well in advance of the proposal submission deadline, because they must be included at the time of submission. Please note that letters of recommendation for the PI or other letters of support for the project are not permitted.

Biographical Sketch of PI 

For 2024, the following changes are noted:  

Chapter II.D.2.h(i), Biographical Sketch(es), the updated guidance serves as NSF’s implementation of the biographical sketch common form developed by the National Science and Technology Council’s Research Security Subcommittee.

This section has been revised to remove the 3-page limitation for the biographical sketch. There is no page limitation for this section of the proposal.

The Synergistic Activities section has been removed from the biographical sketch. This information must now be submitted by individuals designated as senior/key persons as part of the senior/key personnel documents in Research.gov.  

For complete biographical sketch guidance, click here.

Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources

Proposers should include an aggregated description of the internal and external resources (both physical and personnel) that the organization and its collaborators will provide to the project, should it be funded.

Such information must be provided in this section, in lieu of other parts of the proposal (e.g., budget justification, project description). The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. Reviewers will evaluate the information during the merit review process and the cognizant NSF Program Officer will review it for programmatic and technical sufficiency. Proposers should describe only those resources that are directly applicable to the project.

ORD recommends asking colleagues and department staff for assistance with this section, as it is likely someone has already compiled a relevant Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources list for your department.

Collaborators and Other Affiliations

NSF requires the use of the template linked below for identifying Collaborative and Other Affiliations Information (COA) information. The content requirements specified in the template are consistent with Chapter II.C.1.e of the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. The template has been developed to be fillable, however, the content and format requirements must not be altered by as this will create printing and viewing errors. 

• Collaborators and Other Affiliations Information Template

• • • FAQs on Collaborators and Other Affiliations Information Template

Current and Pending Support