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Central Virginia Node: The Central Virginia Node Internal Research Grant

Due: June 15, 2022

Objective

The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) is establishing Virginia as a global center of excellence at the intersection of security, autonomous systems, and data. With a mission of research, innovation, and workforce development, CCI serves as a catalyst for the Commonwealth's long-term leadership in this sector through the leadership of a central hub and four regional nodes. CVN is led by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). As the CVN lead institution, VCU uses CCI funding to strengthen a robust research program and seeks to support projects related to the CVN’s research focus areas which include cyber physical systems, autonomous systems, IoT as it applies to medical device security and smart city technology. This CCI-funded program aims to fund projects that relate directly to CCI’s overall mission and the Central Virginia Node’s research focus areas and aims to produce novel research.

Eligibility

A full-time faculty at any CVN institution may serve as a PI. Each faculty member may serve as a PI on one application, and as a co-PI on one application. Focus areas are limited to: cyber physical systems, autonomous systems, IoT as it applies to medical device security and smart city technology. Budgets must be approved by the home institution’s OSP before proposal deadline. Women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.1 We encourage collaboration across the node

Awards

  • Anticipated funding amount: $800,000
  • Award Amount: $ 100,000
  • Identified Commitment: No identified commitment is required for this funding.

Award Details

Awardees will also be required to submit periodic reporting. PIs and co-PIs are expected to participate in CVN meetings, present research findings at CVN and CCI poster sessions, and responding to data collection requests by CCI. Any publications that result from this project must include the following statement (contract numbers will be assigned during the award process).

This work was supported in part by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, an investment in the advancement of cyber R&D, innovation, and workforce development, under the contract number xcxxx.

Schedule

EVENT

DATE

Request for Proposals Released

May 15, 2021

Last Day for Q&A

June 1, 2021

Proposals Due

June 15, 2021

Award Notification

 

July 15, 2021

Project Dates

 

September 1, 2022 – August 31, 2023

Proposal Format

Proposals must use 1-inch margins, 11 point (Calibri or arial) font, and single line spacing. The following outline should be followed:

  • Title Page (1 page)
    • Title of proposed project, contact information for Principal Investigator (PI) and coPrincipal Investigators (co-PIs).
  • Proposed Research (up to 4 pages)
    • Rationale: Discussion of the technical background and engineering/scientific justification. This should include project objectives and intellectual merit of the proposed work.
      • Research Plan: What exactly will be done? How will the objectives be met? What are the motivations, methods, likely outcomes, milestones, and future directions? If existing CCI assets and equipment will be leveraged to support the research, please describe the equipment/assets and how they will be used. Commercialization potential (1 page)
  • Plan for Impact on the Commonwealth (up to 1 page).
    • Address potential for commercialization and economic development/impact, and/or workforce development in the Commonwealth.
  • References (not included in the page count)
  • Budget (1 page)
    • Budget items and justification
    • Budget must include requested amount and identified commitment
    • Budget must be approved by OSP
  • Biographies
    • Up to two pages per PI/co-PI

Proposal Submission

Proposals must be submitted to ccicvn@vcu.edu by the project PI no later than the close of the business day (5:00pm) on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. All proposals must be submitted as a single PDF document. Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered.

Evaluation Criteria

The applications received in response to this RFP will be evaluated by a panel of reviewers and scored according to the following criteria:

  • Strong intellectual merit related to CCI’s mission
  • Strong broader impacts related to CCI’s mission
  • Relevance to industry needs
  • Potential to generate additional funding and revenue
  • Strong relevance to CVN’s focus areas