Simons Fellows in Mathematics

Deadline: September 28, 2017, at 11:59:59 p.m. EST

Important Note:
Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account on proposalCENTRAL. Applicants are encouraged to submit in advance of the deadline to ensure they have time to make any application corrections that might be necessary for successful submission.

Additionally, all applicants must work with their institutional officials to register their institution with proposalCENTRAL or ensure their existing proposalCENTRAL account is up-to-date. New applicants and their institutions are strongly encouraged to start the registration process at least four weeks prior to the application due date.

Please note that all deadlines are in Eastern Standard Time. If the deadline has expired, an applicant will not be able to see the SUBMIT button and will, therefore, not be able to submit his/her application.

For NEW proposalCENTRAL Users:

Step 1: Register as a proposalCENTRAL user:

• Go to https://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp.
• Select the create one now button (Please see the proposalCENTRAL instructions for “How to Register as a proposalCENTRAL user” at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/review/InfoRequest.asp).
• Once you have completed the required information and agreed to the Terms of Service and the Acceptable Use Policy, click on SAVE. An email will be sent to your email address containing a confirmation number. Note: This email will also contain both your username and password.
• Log in (https://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp) using APPLICATION LOGIN, enter your confirmation number in the box provided on the next screen and click on SUBMIT CONFIRMATION NUMBER.
• You will then be directed to your PROFESSIONAL PROFILE, where you will need to select a primary institution.
• If your institution is already registered on proposalCENTRAL, you will see it listed in the search results.
• If you do not see your institution listed, please ask your grants and contracts office (or equivalent) to create a profile for your institution on the system. (Please see proposalCENTRAL instructions on “How to Register your Institution with proposalCENTRAL” at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/review/InfoRequest.asp).
• It is not a requirement for you to complete the other sections of your PROFESSIONAL PROFILE at this time. It is recommended that you do enter your degrees and personal data for applications (sections 2 and 4). Please be sure to save after completing each section.
• Within the application, a red asterisk will indicate the required PROFESSIONAL PROFILE and INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE fields (see Applicant and Organization/Institution sections below).

Step 2: Navigate to the GRANT OPPORTUNITIES tab.

• Select SIMONS FOUNDATION from the drop-down list and click on the FILTER LIST BY GRANT MAKER.
• You will then see the list of current Simons Foundation grant opportunities.
• Click on APPLY NOW to access either the MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES-SIMONS FELLOWS IN MATHEMATICS application or the MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES-SIMONS FELLOWS IN THEORETICAL PHYSICSapplication.
• Enter a title in the TITLE PAGE section and click the SAVE button. This creates your application and stores it under the MANAGE PROPOSALS tab and allows you to navigate to the other sections of the application.
• Please be sure to save after completing each section.
• You can navigate to each section by clicking on the NEXT button or by clicking on the section’s hyperlink in the left-hand navigation.
• For further information, please see the proposalCENTRAL instructions on “How to Create an Application using proposalCENTRAL” at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/review/InfoRequest.asp.

For EXISTING proposalCENTRAL Users:

Step 1: Log in using APPLICATION LOGIN at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp.

Step 2: Navigate to the GRANT OPPORTUNITIES tab.

• Select SIMONS FOUNDATION from the drop-down list and click on the FILTER LIST BY GRANT MAKER.
• You will then see the list of current Simons Foundation grant opportunities.
• Click on APPLY NOW to access either the MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES-SIMONS FELLOWS IN MATHEMATICS application or the MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES-SIMONS FELLOWS IN THEORETICAL PHYSICSapplication.
• Enter a title in the TITLE PAGE section and click the SAVE button. This creates your application and stores it under the MANAGE PROPOSALS tab and allows you to navigate to the other sections of the application.
• Please be sure to save after completing each section.
• You can navigate to each section by clicking on the NEXT button or by clicking on the section’s hyperlink in the left-hand navigation.
• For further information, please see the proposalCENTRAL instructions on “How to Create an Application using proposalCENTRAL” at https://proposalcentral.altum.com/review/InfoRequest.asp.

Format of Application: Proposal attachments should be single-spaced and in typeface no smaller than 10-point font. Margins, in all directions, must be at least ½ inch.

Applications contain the following elements:

1. Title Page: Enter your APPLICATION TITLE.
2. Download Templates & Instructions: A Sabbatical Form for Home Institution template is provided and must be used for the requirement noted below, under Proposal Attachments.
3. Enable Other Users to Access this Proposal: This screen allows you to give other users access to your grant application, if necessary.
4. Applicant: This information is pre-loaded from the applicant’s PROFESSIONAL PROFILE. Please indicate the applicant’s website, if applicable.
5. Organization/Institution: This information is pre-loaded from the INSTITUTIONAL PROFILE. For both pre- and post-award management, select the appropriate signing official and financial officer from the drop-down list or enter the email address of a new official and click on ADD. Click on the SAVE or CLOSE WINDOW link — the official will now be listed as the assigned signing official or financial/fiscal officer. Please see the Simons Foundation grant policies for a description of the responsibilities of the signing official and financial officer.
6. Abstract & Subject Classifications: Please provide a brief summary of where the applicant’s requested leave will take place and the main scientific goals during this time. Also, select subject classification as indicated. Please note that your choices will be used to select the most appropriate reviewers.
7. Budget Summary & Justification: Enter start and end dates for the proposed full year leave periodand all requested budget amounts, in USD. Please also provide a description of the salary replacement funds requested, including the percentage of total salary covered by the foundation and the fringe benefits rate on that salary, as well as how the leave-related expense funding will be used. Indicate which semester/quarters will be taken for the Fellowship.
8. Proposal Attachments: Please be sure that the following attachments are uploaded as unlocked PDFs:
   • Statement of Recent Work (two-page limit, plus up to one page for references): A statement explaining the candidate’s most significant scientific work over the previous five years.
   • Statement of Sabbatical Plans (two-page limit, plus up to one page for references): A statement summarizing the applicant’s sabbatical plans, including the number of semesters or quarters of leave to be taken, the institution or institutions at which the leave is to be spent and the scientific goals.
   • Curriculum Vitae (two-page limit): Must include Ph.D. year, institution, advisor and positions held.
   • Current and Pending Support: The list of current and pending support should include all financial resources — whether federal, non-federal, commercial or institutional — available in direct support of the applicant’s research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and/or institutional awards. Each support item listed should include the following:
     • indication of active or pending
     • award number
     • source of support
     • title of project
     • dates of approved/proposed project
     • annual direct costs
     • notification date (if known, and only for proposed projects)
   • Publications List: A list of up to five publications from the past five years and up to five other publications.
   • Students List: Current or recent (past five years) Ph.D. students, including their dissertation topics and likely date of completion.
   • Sabbatical Form for Home Institution: This form must be signed by the applicant’s department chair or other appropriate university authority verifying the following:
     • the applicant has a tenured faculty position;
     • the applicant is eligible for sabbatical or approved for the specified academic-year period;
     • the applicant’s academic-year salary for the leave period — if this is not yet finalized, please note the expected salary and expected date of salary increase;
     • that the applicant will have a teaching or administrative position at the same U.S. or Canadian college or university through the semester following the proposed leave; and
     • university funding of at least 50 percent of the full year leave period and that the university supported portion of the leave is contiguous to the period supported by the foundation.
     Verification of sabbatical approval is not required at the time of application but must be provided to the foundation at least three months prior to the start of the applicant’s fellowship funding. The applicant must still upload a letter from the home institution verifying as much of the information indicated above that can be verified at the time of the application submission.
   • Letter from Other Institution (if applicable): If the leave is to be taken at another institution or institutions, confirmation must be submitted from the host institution(s) in the form of a letter signed by relevant department chairs or other appropriate university authorities stating that the visit is approved and briefly describing the facilities that will be made available to the applicant. If the letter of confirmation from the prospective host institution(s) cannot be obtained, then the application must include a backup plan describing what would be done if the visit(s) were not possible. The location of the sabbatical must be confirmed, in the form of the above-mentioned letter, to the foundation at least three months prior to the start of the applicant’s fellowship’s funding. The location must be at either the originally proposed host institution or at the institution(s) specified in the backup plan, unless explicit permission is obtained from the foundation no later than three months before the start of the leave.
   • 501(c)(3) Equivalency Determination Letter from the IRS (if applicable): For Canadian institutions (only applicable to the home institution), upload a copy of the institution’s 501(c)(3) equivalency determination letter. The Simons Foundation requires an equivalency determination letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stating exemption under 501(c)(3) and furthermore, either a 509(a)(1), (2) or (3) classification. If a Canadian institution does not have this letter at the application stage, do not upload anything for this attachment type. However, if a Canadian institution is selected for funding and does not have the aforementioned documentation, the foundation will require that the institution complete an equivalency determination with NGOsource (see Simons Foundation policies). The foundation will handle all administrative and financial aspects of this determination. IRS letters should not be uploaded for U.S. institutions.
   • Signed Signature Page: To be downloaded in the SIGNATURE PAGE(S) section of the application, signed by the designated signing official from the institution’s sponsored research office (or equivalent), and then re-uploaded as a proposal attachment. Please note that not all fields on the generated signature page will be populated. Only the signed first page of the signature page PDF file needs to be uploaded for this requirement.
9. Validate: Click the VALIDATE button to check for any missing REQUIRED information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please correct any missing information before submitting your application.
10. Signature Page(s): Once all sections are completed, the signed signature page is to be downloaded in this section of the application, signed by the signing official from the institution’s sponsored research office (or equivalent) and then re-uploaded as a proposal attachment. Only the signed first page of the signature page PDF file needs to be uploaded for this requirement.
11. Submit: This section will only appear if the deadline has not passed.

Simons Foundation Division for Mathematics and the Physical Sciences Contact Information:
mps@simonsfoundation.org
212-524-6966

proposalCENTRAL Contact:
pcsupport@altum.com
800-875-2562

Download the Simons Fellows Application Instructions as a PDF here.