FUNDING MEMO
Title: 2025 Call for President's and Director's Research and Development Fund (PDRDF) Pre-Proposals
Funding Agency: JPL
External Deadline(s):
11/08/2024 04:00 PM PST (Pre-Proposal)
Cognizant Office: JPL
Description:
This Call solicits one-page pre-proposals from Caltech/JPL research teams to the President's and Director's Research and Development Fund (PDRDF) program. The PDRDF builds and strengthens relationships between Caltech and JPL through funding research in innovative science and breakthrough technology. The goal of the PDRDF is to stimulate joint Caltech-JPL research that has long-term impact and focuses on areas relevant to JPL in the fields of Earth and Space Science, and Technology.
Total Award: $750,000
- Proposals submitted to the PDRDF program should have up to a three-year duration and should not exceed $250K each year, for a maximum total of $750K over three years.
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Budget split between JPL and Campus should be as close to 50-50% as possible.
- If deviating by more than 5% from this split, please request permission from the PDRDF Program Manager.
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Caltech faculty must charge at least 3% of their salary to the PDRDF project.
- If there is more than one Caltech faculty member on the project, the 3% salary requirement can be split among them.
Indirect Costs:
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Standard indirect cost rates at Campus and full burden rates (except MPS) at JPL apply.
Duration: 3 years
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The PDRDF program is not tied to the fiscal year schedule. It is anticipated that selected tasks would start in July 2025 with a duration of up to 36 months.
- Second year funds are contingent upon a successful 9-month review during the first year; third year funds are contingent upon another successful 9-month review during the second year.
Discipline(s): Biology and Biological Engineering; Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Engineering and Applied Science; Geological and Planetary Sciences; Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy
Eligibility: Tenure-Track Faculty, Tenured Faculty
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Each project team will have two co-principal investigators: one Caltech tenured or tenure-track faculty member i.e., Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, and one full-time JPL staff member.
- The JPL Co-PI will serve as the single point of contact for communication with the PDRDF program.
- Each Campus and JPL investigator may serve as the co-PI of only one pre-proposal.
- Co-PIs are not eligible to respond to this call if they have an active PDRDF task that will overlap in time with the new proposed task.
Research Areas of Interest:
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Projects should be relevant to the PDRDF focus areas of earth and space science, and technology.
- Proposals going into their second or third year (i.e. 2024 tasks starting their second year in 2025 or 2023 tasks starting their third year in 2025) will not need to write renewal proposals. Instead, they will need to present their results at a performance review approximately 9 months after the start of the first/second year of the award in order to receive their second/third year of funding. Continued funding is not automatic each year and will depend on the results of this performance review.
Guidelines & Other Information:
Call, Guidelines, and Downloadable Pre-Proposal Template: https://pdrdf.ext.jpl.net
- Please note that the PDRDF website will require either a JPL or Caltech login.
Any questions or requests for clarification should be sent in writing to [email protected] at JPL or [email protected] at Campus.​
Opportunity ID: 2100