Title
Simons Investigators in the Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems
Agencies
Simons Foundation (Simons)
Description
Basis for Awards: The intent of the program is to help launch the research careers of outstanding junior scientists. Nominees to the program will normally be in the first few years of their first faculty appointment. Nominations will be evaluated on the basis of nominees’ potential for scientific accomplishment.
Rationale and scope: New approaches in mathematically based modeling are making increasingly important contributions to the life sciences. The MMLS program aims to support such approaches and foster a scientific culture of theory-experiment collaboration similar to that prevailing in the physical sciences. To encourage young researchers to pursue this endeavor, the MMLS program will provide a long-term, stable base of support, enabling a focus on model-based approaches to important issues in the life sciences.
A broad spectrum of research areas within the life sciences will be considered, ranging from cellular-level issues of organization, regulation, signaling, and morphogenic dynamics to the properties of organisms and ecology, as well as neuroscience and evolution; however, preference will be given to areas in which modeling approaches are less established and, for this reason, bioinformatics- and genomics-related proposals fall outside the scope of the program. In all cases, preference will be given to work that relates closely to experiment, developing mathematical models that can explain data, suggest new classes of experiments and introduce important new concepts.
Level and Duration of Funding: A Simons Investigator in MMLS is appointed for a period of five years. Appointments will begin August 1, 2017.
An Investigator will receive research support in the amount of $100,000 per year. An additional $10,000 per year will be provided to the Investigator’s department. The award will be administered through the Investigator’s institution, which will receive an additional 20 percent per year in indirect costs.
Allowable Expenses: The funding provided to a Simons Investigator may be used at the Investigator’s discretion to support research expenses in the following categories:
-Up to one month of summer salary and related benefits per year for the Investigator.
- Salary support and related benefits, including tuition support, for postdoctoral, graduate or undergraduate research assistants.
- Domestic or international travel for the Investigator and the Investigator’s postdoctoral and graduate students.
- Short- or long-term visitors and/or collaborators, including travel, meals and lodging expenses
- Research equipment, supplies and other expenses directly benefiting the research, including computers, computer support, publication expenses and professional membership dues.
Eligibility:
To be an Simons Investigator in MMLS, a scientist must be engaged in research related to the program and must not previously have been a Simons Investigator. He/she must have a primary appointment as a faculty member at an educational institution in the United States, Canada, or United Kingdom, on a campus within these countries, and the primary department affiliation must have a Ph.D. program. At the time of appointment, an Investigator should be in the early stages of an academic career (within eight years of the start of his/her first faculty position) and, typically, be holding an assistant professorship or equivalent position.
The foundation reserves the right to determine eligibility, but, generally, a “primary appointment†is defined as one where the Investigator is a full-time employee of an academic institution with a teaching load that is comparable to that of other faculty members in the same department. Investigators may transfer their awards to new educational institutions within the United States, Canada or United Kingdom, subject to approval from the foundation and the old and new institutions. The award will be interrupted or terminated, at the foundation’s discretion, if an Investigator takes up a primary long-term position at (i) a research institute, national laboratory or other institution outside the United States, Canada or United Kingdom, or another campus of their current institution, which falls outside the United States, Canada or United Kingdom (iii) a for-profit organization or (iii) accepts a major administrative responsibility that significantly reduces the time available for research.
More Information
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/
Submission Limits
Nomination Procedure: The foundation asks each university to submit a maximum of two nominations to the MMLS Investigator program. Nominees must be submitted through an online process via proposalCENTRAL (pC) (https://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp). The deadline to submit nomination applications is October 31, 2016, at 11:59:59 p.m. EST.
Deadlines
Internal Notice of Intent |
Aug 18, 2016 |
Notification of Internal Competition |
Aug 19, 2016 |
Internal Pre-proposal |
Aug 26, 2016 |
Results of Internal Competition |
Sep 9, 2016 |
Agency Notice of Intent/Pre-proposal |
N/A |
Agency Proposal |
Oct 31, 2016
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