Carnegie Mellon University is anticipating a February 2017 launch of the Manufacturing Futures Initiative (MFI). MFI seeks to support interdisciplinary research aimed at accelerating the maturation of new materials and process discoveries while also helping to stimulate economic growth in the Pittsburgh Region. More details of the MFI will be announced in the coming months. In planning for a rapid startup, MFI is currently seeking research project proposals that are one-year in duration with budgeted cost per proposal between $90k to $200k (no overhead burden). Contingent on final funding approval from our initial sponsor, we expect to fund three to five proposals in this first round of projects. Relevant areas include new materials and processes, design for manufacturing, manufacturing systems and deployment, manufacturing workforce development, and manufacturing policy. Preference will be given to proposals that cross two or more of these areas, and where this short term investment may help increase the investigators' prospects of winning subsequent externally sponsored awards. Faculty should prepare a brief proposal (two-page description followed by references, plus an additional page for the budget, 12 point type) following the format below. Submissions as PI are limited to one per person (not precluding participation on other proposals). Applications are due January 6, 2016 and the awards are expected to be announced by January 30, 2017. Applications must be submitted through the dropbox widget below or at https://goo.gl/NfQGst.

- Project Summary: Provide a brief summary of the proposed activity that outlines the problem to be addressed, explains why it is important, and who will be involved in the work.

- Demonstration: Provide a brief summary of the expected outcomes that could be presented to government and corporate leaders at a Manufacturing Futures Summit in May 2018. How will these outcomes demonstrate concept viability and whether there should be further investment in the topic?

- Leverage: Discuss how a modest seed grant can lay the foundation for an expanded activity, including specific sources that will be sought for future support and indication of the long term potential for growth of this activity. Please briefly describe the closest related work currently underway at Carnegie Mellon by the team (clarifying the uniqueness of the proposed project). Also describe the prospects for matching or in-kind support that can amplify the impact of the grant.

- Impact: How would you measure "success" in your project? What is its potential for social and economic impact, including in the Greater Pittsburgh Region?

- Infrastructure: CMU is evaluating investment in an off-campus advanced manufacturing research facility with highbay facilities, lab facilities, and workforce training space that enables side-by-side R&D engagement with industry. If applicable, describe what aspects of your proposed project outcomes, if successful, would positively impact and/or leverage such a research facility?

- Budget: Provide a budget and justification appropriate for the proposed scope of work. Total budgeted cost should lie between $90k to $200k. The period of performance should be approximately one year and start after February 1, 2017 and end by August 31, 2018.

The goals of the Manufacturing Futures Initiative will be best accomplished by promoting collaboration; therefore, preference will be given to proposals that involve multiple faculty and interdisciplinary interactions (cross-college and/or interdepartmental). Priority will be given to proposals with the capacity to nucleate entirely new activities that link multiple technical areas and their corresponding experts. Proposals that are simply requesting funding to continue an existing and/or mature line of work will receive lower priority. However, integration across existing and/or relatively mature areas may be considered a new activity.

While all proposals will be treated as confidential with respect to protecting faculty ideas, we reserve the right to be proactive. For example, depending on the ideas we receive, we may approach faculty to explore possible alternative or additional collaborations when it might add valuable new perspectives to a project. We may also ask faculty to revise proposals prior to funding, based on reviewer feedback.

If accepting an award, faculty PI award recipients will be required to attend a launch workshop with manufacturing directors and regional partners and a mid-year internal workshop where they will present to each other. PIs will also be required to present their one-year demonstration projects at the MFI Summit involving industry executives and government leaders in May 2018.

Proposals will be evaluated by ad-hoc reviewers, primarily CMU faculty. Final approval of grant awardees will be made by MFI Leadership. Please contact Erica Fuchs, Professor, Engineering and Public Policy, at erhf@andrew.cmu.edu with questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the expected balance between integrating multiple areas versus high cost of a proposal with several co-PIs? The call states the preferences quite clearly but has an actual set of criteria been worked out?

You note that preference is given to collaborative proposals, but the call also says “Submissions as PI are limited to one per person (not precluding participation on other proposals).”

Is utilizing the off-campus advanced manufacturing research facility mentioned in the call a criteria for funding?

Is the expectation that each project will have deliverables in one year?

Is this a one-time call for proposals?

If you have news that the Manufacturing Futures Initiative is officially going forward already in January, are you going to expand the call or the amount awarded?

Can you elaborate on what you have in mind when you think about manufacturing policy?

Are they focused on local or state?

Where should we set the risk needle on our projects?

Follow up, can we get future funding from the government?

The advanced manufacturing infrastructure that you mention, what does it look like?

Do you want to see a one year or three year vision?

The spending of funds, is it limited to graduate students, or can you spend on capital equipment?

What about funds for summer salary?

Is the submission limited to two pages?

Will faculty who participated in one or more ways in supporting the creation of the proposal that brought these funds to the university guaranteed funding?

- No. The call for proposals is university-wide and will have faculty review to support identifying the top proposals for funding.

If this does launch into a larger effort, is there an opportunity to bring people together for teaming and community building? It would be great to have a retreat.

In addition, as noted in the call for proposals, to help develop ideas across the community, “...faculty PI award recipients will be required to attend a launch workshop with manufacturing directors and regional partners and a mid-year internal workshop where they will present to each other. PIs will also be required to present their one-year demonstration projects at the MFI Summit involving industry executives and government leaders in May 2018.”