Advancing Food Animal Innovation and Talent Development Grants

Agriculture remains the largest industry in the state of North Carolina, recently surpassing $111 billion in economic impact. Food animal production and processing represents two-thirds of that economic impact. The grand challenges facing food animal agriculture increasingly call for transdisciplinary approaches and accommodation of multidisciplinary research teams, together with an ability to integrate industry researchers into the process. NC State has a long-standing history of support for this industry through research, education and extension activities and has structured its work and programs to be responsive to the integrated nature of animal production and food processing in the state. The Food Animal Initiative (FAI) will keep North Carolina agriculture growing by improving an already diverse agricultural economy and addressing the grand challenges facing animal agriculture.

Five platforms have been identified from the FAI Economic Development Study jointly commissioned by NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to evaluate core competencies and study the feasibility of building upon our capabilities:

Award Description and Priority Areas

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) will offer funding for multidisciplinary and integrated project teams working in one of these five platform areas, with the expectation that their success will contribute to significant expansion of workforce development programs, novel teaching or communication methodologies, as well as attracting significant and sustained extramural funding for research and Extension programs.

Awards will be made in two funding categories:

Program Planning and Team Development Grants

• Intended for impactful projects that address food animal industry challenges with fast and implementable solutions.
• Projects will be funded at a maximum of $50,000 for one year.
• Examples of project include (but not limited to):
  • New curricula development for undergraduate (2yr or 4yr), graduate or DVM programs.
  • Novel internship, externship, or work cooperative partnerships with industry partners.
  • Establishing new faculty and staff teams or workgroups with project deliverables (i.e. federal or private large grant proposals, collaborative Extension programming, etc).
  • Preliminary research projects with high likelihood for larger funding success.

Integrated and Multidisciplinary Research Grants

• Intended for project teams who have demonstrated collaborative success and have research projects ready to advance in scope or impact.
• Projects will be funded at a maximum of $125,000 for up to two years.
• Examples of projects include (but not limited to):
  • Integrated research projects that address challenges in one of the five platform areas.
  • Deployable Extension or communication projects that address stakeholder needs identified in the FAI feasibility study.
  • Development of novel educational modules or programs that create sustainable training programs to fill a critical need in workforce development in North Carolina animal agriculture with evaluation of the outcomes.

Key Dates

• Pre-proposal due date (3-page max): Sept 15, 2024
• Selection of pre-proposals to move to full proposal stage: October 1, 2024
• Full proposal due date: November 15, 2024
• Funding anticipated to commence: January 1, 2025

Other Key Aspects of Funded Projects

• Projects should be integrated and include a component of workforce development with involvement from associates, four-year undergraduate, DVM and/or graduate students.
• Projects must be led by a faculty member from CALS. Teams must also include one faculty member from outside CALS, and preference will be given to projects that include a faculty member from CVM.
• Projects will be given preference if they include an industry collaboration whereby industry partners are involved in setting project goals and directions from the beginning of the project. Letters of support and demonstration of industry engagement in development of project objectives and procedures will be a required part of the application. Industry engagement should be evident in the workforce development component.
• Support for faculty salaries is restricted to 20% of the total cost of the project. If Extension agents will be involved in integrated projects, salary supplements should be included in the budget according to guidance from NC State Extension.
• Program funds are not intended to solely support equipment purchases; however, funds to build, purchase, or repair crucial infrastructure or instruments are permitted if justified.

Successful proposals will also include:

• A clear and compelling statement of work that describes the novelty of the proposed work and enumerates milestones to be accomplished and the deliverables over the funding period (1 or 2 years).
• A clear demonstration of high likelihood for large (>$1M), extramural grant funding that leads to bigger, sustainable research, academic, or outreach programs.
• A rationale for the alignment of the proposed work program with one or more of the FAI platforms.
• Faculty teams will need to demonstrate strong collaboration potential and integration of effective proposed work programs. Outreach programs should also be developed for targeted stakeholders that would benefit from the proposed work (farmers, agribusiness companies, scientists, intellectual properties/technologists, start-ups, etc.).
• Evidence that the proposed project addresses a need for which there is compelling evidence of sustainable large-scale support (e.g., center-type grants, graduate and postdoctoral training grants, etc.) from government agencies, corporations, industrial consortia and/or foundations as well as a timeline for soliciting such support.
• Letters of support from colleges and department heads, including agreements (if necessary) to provide release time, student support, supplies, travel funds and other financial resources to support the PI and other key faculty.
• Letters of support from industry partners, including financial support (if any) for the effort being proposed, their involvement in the defining of project objectives and tasks, and a clear indication of their willingness to participate in the work.

Co-PIs should have a record of accomplishment and experience leading or participating on successful interdisciplinary and integrated teams, or for junior faculty, a strong demonstration of collaborative engagement with the potential for success.

Faculty may participate on more than one team, but may not serve as PI on more than one proposal. Projects that leverage infrastructure available at NC State and NCDA&CS research stations and NC State field labs are encouraged.

Pre-proposals

The pre-proposal (3 page max) should provide a title and description of the proposed work program as well as a detailed discussion of its game-changing implications and alignment with one or more FAI Platforms. Specific sources of extramural funding that will be targeted for future proposals should be detailed. There is no budget requirement for the pre-proposal.

In addition to detailing the proposed work program and the role each member of the proposal team will play, the pre-proposal should address integrated activities including:

• The impact that the proposed program will have on workforce development.
• How the proposed program will be leveraged for extension and outreach activities, including education of students and the general public.

Please be aware that research and extension program descriptions and the plan for workforce development must be written such that they can be assimilated and championed by reviewers with broad scholarly expertise.

Pre-proposals will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Intellectual merit of the proposed activity:
  • Impact of the proposed program on NC food animal agriculture
  • Qualifications and integration of the co-PIs and project faculty within the proposed program
  • Need to create the interdisciplinary team
  • Potential impact of the project deliverables
  • Likelihood that the proposed program will lead to large-scale support by government agencies, corporations, industrial consortia and/or foundations
  • The degree to which the proposed program builds on existing NC State strengths
  • Impact of the proposed work program on workforce development in the food animal industry
• Project fit and feasibility:
  • How well the proposed program advances FAI platforms
  • Likelihood that the proposed program will be successful

Full Proposals

Submissions must use 1-inch margins and use a font size no smaller than 11pt. to ensure readability. The deadline for submission of full proposals will be on or before 5 p.m. on November 15, 2024.

Full proposals must be organized as follows:

• Proposal Cover Page (1 page): Include the title of the project, a list of 5 key words, PI(s) contact information, list of other key personnel and their college affiliation, a 200-word (maximum) synopsis of the proposed program that is appropriate for a broad faculty readership, and total amount of funding requested.
• Project description (10 pages max): The project description must address how the proposed program is consistent with the goals of the FAI, emphasizing significance and interdisciplinarity, its impact on NC agriculture and the potential for large-scale extramural funding. Also describe how the proposed project complements existing research/academic/outreach efforts at NC State. The description should include sufficient detail such that reviewers can evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of the proposed plans. Please keep in mind that not all reviewers will be experts in every proposed field of study, and thus project descriptions should be written for a broad audience. The project description must outline a clear set of goals that are aspirational yet attainable, an outline of the plan of work with milestones, metrics to gauge success throughout the course of the funding period (1 or 2 years), and a detailed plan for sustainability of the proposed program via the attraction of extramural support. Should the success of the proposed project be dependent on the acquisition of large-scale instrumentation to be located in university shared core research facilities, this information must be included as part of the project description. Plans for extramural funding should be as specific as possible, including agency, industry partner or source names, programs that would be the source of funding, timelines for proposal submissions and potential amounts of funding.
• Management Plan (1 page): This section is intended to document plans for the interaction of co-PIs with themselves and other members of the project team, and delineate the co-PIs’ respective roles and responsibilities. In particular, this page should describe specific “assignments” of the co-PIs (e.g., co-PI #1 will be responsible for Specific Aim #1 and be responsible for doing X, co-PI #2 will work on Specific Aim #2 and be in charge of Y, etc.). This section should also state who will serve as the contact co-PI for interactions with university administrators. The management plan should describe the process for deciding scientific direction and communication procedures, such as regularly scheduled meetings of the co-PIs, periodic evaluation of program progress and finances, as well as strategies to mitigate and resolve potential conflicts or disagreements.
• Budget (1-2 pages): A single 1 or 2-year budget with justifications for specific expenditures, if necessary. Budgets should reflect the distribution of effort by the co-PIs. Funds may be used for any legitimate program expense except F&A costs, and may include faculty release time and summer salary support for faculty with 9-month appointments. Support for faculty salaries is restricted to 20% of the total cost of the project. Limited amounts of funds can be used for administrative support. Program funds are not intended to solely support equipment purchases; however, funds to build, purchase or repair crucial infrastructure or instruments are permitted if justified. As for planning proposals, collaborations with other academic institutions and industry are welcome.
• Biosketches (1-2 pages): One- to two-page bio sketches (each) of the co-PIs and all key personnel are required. PIs should not assume that reviewers will search for additional information elsewhere; bio sketches should provide complete, compelling arguments that the included faculty are both required and sufficient to accomplish the proposal’s stated goals.

Full proposals will be selected based on the following criteria:

Rankings of full proposals will be completed on or before December 1, 2024.

• Intellectual merit of the proposed program activity:
  • Impact of the proposed program on NC food animal agriculture.
  • Originality and game-changing implications of the proposed program for NC State, North Carolina, the nation and the world.
  • Qualifications and integration of the co-PIs and project faculty within the program
  • Likelihood that the proposed program will lead to large-scale support by government agencies, corporations, industrial consortia or foundations, or have otherwise significant workforce development or teaching and outreach metrics.
  • The degree to which the proposed project builds on existing NC State strengths.
  • Impact of the proposed project on workforce development in the food-animal industry.
• Project fit and feasibility:
  • How well the proposed program advances FAI’s platforms.
  • Synergy among team members to enable work of a scope and complexity commensurate with the scale of support.
  • Likelihood that the proposed research program will be successful.
  • Clear description and feasibility of the milestones and metrics.
  • A coherent management plan detailing how the project will be executed as a team effort.
  • Reasonableness of the budget.
  • Likelihood for long-term sustainability of the program via extramural funding.

Post Award Requirements

If selected, teams will work with CALS Communications to create a short (2-3 min) video about their project, the impact it could have on NC food animal agriculture, and expected deliverables. These videos will be shared through the FAI website and other channels. Teams will also be expected to provide a summary and update, if applicable, on their project at the 2025/2027 Food Animal Innovation Summit (poster or oral presentation). Teams will be awarded one year of initial funding and then subsequent funding based on submission of satisfactory annual reports.