25 - Instrumentation Grants

Abstract

This chapter discusses the criteria for instrumentation awards. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) regularly offers Shared Instrumentation Grants (SIGs) for instruments costing $100,000 and up, through annual competition. SIG awards are made on the basis of the strength of the faculty, their current research support, the coherence of the program, and a compelling presentation that the group will be strengthened and become more productive of better research as a result of the award. Administration of the project is important, as is periodic external review. Criteria for review of SIG applications include: the extent to which an award for the specific instrument would meet the scientific needs and enhance the planned research endeavors of the major users by providing an instrument that is unavailable or to which availability is highly limited; the availability and commitment of the appropriate technical expertise within the major user group or the institution; and the adequacy of the organizational plan and the internal advisory committee for oversight of the instrument, including sharing arrangements. Applications are evaluated for scientific and technical merit by specially convened instrument specific initial review groups of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) and receive a second level review by the National Advisory Research Resources Council. Instrumentation proposals are most likely to succeed if the requested instrument is being added to an existing facility and a group of users already exists.