Solar Radiation Management
- LOI Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - LOI Notification
- Full Proposal Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - Award Notification
- Award Start Date
- LOI Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - LOI Notification
- Full Proposal Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - Award Notification
- Award Start Date
- Program or Administrative Questions:
Elizabeth Roy
Senior Manager for Programs and Administration
[email protected]
212-524-6966 - Technical Assistance:
[email protected] - Simons Award Manager (SAM) FAQ and Instructional Videos:
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/funding-opportunities/simons-award-manager-sam-faq-and-instructional-videos/ - Office Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, except designated holidays.
Office Closures:
November 27–29, 2024, December 24, 2024–January 1, 2025, and January 20, 2025
The Simons Foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for a new Solar Radiation Management program (SRM). The foundation strongly encourages applications from scientists in the global south and from investigators who may not have worked in SRM but have expertise that could bring new perspectives and skills to this field.
Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations, The Simons Foundation, Inc. reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (SFI) for consideration and funding, in which case SFI’s grant policies would apply.
Basis for Awards
The Simons Foundation has launched an international collaborative research program designed to fill fundamental scientific knowledge gaps relevant to Solar Radiation Management. SRM is an emerging collection of approaches, including stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), marine cloud brightening (MCB) and cirrus cloud thinning (CCT), designed to modify the Earth’s radiative balance and cool the planet. Although reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is the only long-term strategy to mitigate climate change and other impacts, SRM might be able to ameliorate some of the negative impacts this century. However, SRM also may pose significant environmental and societal risks, including stratospheric warming, ozone depletion and changes in rainfall, thereby affecting water resources and agriculture. At present, not enough is known about SRM systems and their potential impacts to allow informed decision-making. This call aims to help fill key fundamental knowledge gaps in the science of SRM.
Priority areas for this call include:
- Environmentally benign materials discovery for SAI and CCT.
- Laboratory physicochemical characterization of SAI and CCT materials and their interactions with light, clouds, atmospheric trace gases and with themselves or ambient aerosols, with the aim to improve microphysical inputs to existing climate models.
- Approaches to minimize cirrus cloud formation, including from aircraft emissions.
- Assessments of near-field (<100 km) atmospheric turbulence and its impact on SAI and CCT interventions, primarily through modeling.
- Integration of improved representations of aerosols and turbulence into global-scale modeling, and characterization of global and regional impacts of novel materials for SAI and CCT.
Areas not within the scope of this program include social science research and in-situ field experiments involving aerosol release.
Proposals can be from individual investigators or small teams; the latter are not required to be from the same institution but must be organized via a main institution and subcontract institution(s). We will prioritize funding projects which have not been well supported through existing national programs.
Proposals will be judged on scientific quality, potential for impact, potential for collaboration, extent of training graduate students and postdocs, and broadening participation domestically and globally.
As a part of the program obligations, awardees will be invited and expected to attend an annual meeting held at and paid directly by the Simons Foundation.
Level and Duration of Funding
Proposal budgets should not exceed $500,000 per year, including indirect costs (limited to 20 percent modified total direct costs), for a period of three years. The foundation estimates up to six additional SRM awards will be made for awards starting July 1, 2025.
Eligibility Requirements
Applications may be submitted by established U.S. and foreign public and private educational and nonprofit institutes, research centers and national laboratories or the equivalent. Any entity must adhere to the 20 percent maximum overhead rate noted above. Principal Investigators (PIs), co-Investigators (co-Is) and other project participants may be from non-U.S. institutions.
For those at universities: PIs and co-Is must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution in a department with a Ph.D. program at the time of application and for the duration of the award. There are no restrictions on the department and/or discipline of the PIs/co-Is. A co-I must be employed by or be affiliated with a PI institution or another organization participating in the project under a consortium agreement. Please see the foundation’s grant policies for further information regarding requirements and responsibilities of PIs and co-Is.
For those at national labs or nonacademic institutions: PIs and co-Is must be Ph.D.-level full-time non-visiting research and/or senior scientist or equivalent staff members. Ph.D.-level research staff members may also participate as collaborators.
Current SRM awardees are not eligible to apply.
Allowable Expenses
The funding provided may be used to support research expenses in the following categories:
- Universities: for faculty on an academic year salary in PI or co-I roles, the grant can provide up to one month of summer salary support and related benefits. These salary funds are not substitutional (cannot be used to relieve a university of salary costs) and cannot be used to reduce teaching loads below the departmental norm. They can only be used to supplement the salary, similar to a summer salary in the U.S. system. For scientists at non-US universities on calendar year (12-month) salaries, the program will allow PIs and co-Is to request up to 1/12 of their calendar year salary as a contribution to research time, provided that the summer salary request is not in violation of their institution’s policies of more than 100 percent effort per year.
- All other institutions (including national laboratories): for those in PI or co-I roles, the grant can provide salary support and related benefits.
- For personnel other than PIs and co-Is, including staff/research scientists, postdoctoral, graduate and/or undergraduate research assistants, the grant can provide salary support and related benefits, including tuition support.
- Scientific domestic or international travel for project members per the travel policies of the awardee institution. Parking, hotel, taxi, registration and other related travel and conference costs are allowable.
- Meetings appropriate to the needs of the project, including meals, travel and lodging.
- Support for visitors and collaborators, including domestic and international travel, meals and lodging expenses.
- Research equipment, supplies and other expenses directly related to the research, including computers, computer support, professional literature, publication expenses and professional membership dues.
- Salary support for a project administrator.
Expenditures in other expense categories may be possible but must be approved in advance by the foundation.
Please see the Simons Foundation’s grant policies for further guidelines.
How to Apply
Letter of Intent:
A Letter of Intent (LOI) must be completed electronically and submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM) by September 30, 2024, at 12 p.m. (noon) EDT. Applications will require a two-page LOI and a two-page biosketch for each senior investigator. Please refer to the How to Apply instructions for further details.
Notifications of the status of the LOI will be sent by December 15, 2024.
Full Proposal:
A review of the LOI may lead to a request for a full proposal, which will be due by February 27, 2025, at 12 p.m. (noon) EDT. Selected applicants will be requested to submit a full statement of work, budget and other information, as outlined in the How to Apply instructions. Full proposal notifications will be sent by June 1, 2025.
Awards will begin July 1, 2025.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Many of the greatest ideas and discoveries come from a diverse mix of minds, backgrounds and experiences. The Simons Foundation is committed to grantmaking that inspires and supports greater diversity and inclusiveness by cultivating a funding environment that ensures representation of all identities and differences and equitable access to information and resources for all applicants and grantees.
The Simons Foundation provides equal opportunities to all applicants for funding without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic disposition, neurodiversity, disability, veteran status or any other protected category under federal, state and local law. The foundation also funds programs directed at supporting scientists from disadvantaged backgrounds or underrepresented groups, often working closely with professional societies and other funding agencies.
- LOI Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - LOI Notification
- Full Proposal Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - Award Notification
- Award Start Date
- Program or Administrative Questions:
Elizabeth Roy
Senior Manager for Programs and Administration
[email protected]
212-524-6966 - Technical Assistance:
[email protected] - Simons Award Manager (SAM) FAQ and Instructional Videos:
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/funding-opportunities/simons-award-manager-sam-faq-and-instructional-videos/ - Office Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, except designated holidays.
Office Closures:
November 27–29, 2024, December 24, 2024–January 1, 2025, and January 20, 2025
The deadline to submit LOI applications is September 30, 2024, at 12 p.m. (noon) EDT. Late applications will not be accepted. Applications must be submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM), https://sam.simonsfoundation.org/. Please click on the Funding Opportunities icon. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account in the Simons Award Manager (SAM). For the Mathematics and Physical Sciences – Solar Radiation Management application, please click on Create Application and then on Begin Application. After creating an application, navigate to the Applications in Progress section on your homepage to access the in-progress application.
Informational videos on submitting applications in SAM can be found here.
LOI and proposal attachments should be single-spaced and in a common typeface and font size no smaller than 10 points. Margins must be at least half an inch in all directions.
Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations, The Simons Foundation, Inc. reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (SFI) for consideration and funding, in which case SFI’s grant policies would apply.
Please complete the application as follows:
LOI:
- Proposal Tab:
- Applicant Details & Personal Data: Enter required fields.
- Degrees: Add/modify degrees (required).
- Application Details: Enter the title of the LOI application.
- Proposal – Upload required files as follows:
- LOI Narrative (two-page limit, including references and figures, which can be embedded within the text): Must include the problem statement, a brief statement of planned work, anticipated outcomes and relevant expertise of the individual or the team.
- Personnel Biosketches: A SciENcv or fillable PDF NIH- or NSF-style biosketch is to be uploaded for each senior investigator on the proposal. Please name each PDF as Last Name_First Name_Biosketch.
- Indicate the extent to which, if any, generative AI technology was used and how it was used to develop your proposal.
- Contacts & Personnel Tab: Please refer to the instructions provided in SAM. Under Project Personnel, indicate all project personnel, other than the contact principal investigator (PI), including additional PIs, co-investigators, collaborators, consultants, postdoctoral research associates and others. Project personnel include individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. Please note that the Simons Foundation does not use the role type co-PI.
- Check Application Progress: Click the Check Application Progress button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.
- Submit Application: When the LOI application is complete, please click on the Submit Application button to submit to the foundation. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.
LOI Approval:
A submitted LOI will appear in the Submitted queue of the Applications in Progress table on your SAM home page. If an LOI is approved, the status changes to In Progress. Click on the record to gain access to the full proposal application.
Full Proposal:
- Proposal Tab:
- Applicant Details & Personal Data: Enter required fields.
- Degrees: Add/modify degrees (required).
- Application Details:
- Title: The title of the full proposal application will be the same as in the LOI proposal. The title for the full proposal application can be updated as long as the title is substantially similar to the LOI title.
- Enter start and end dates. The three-year award will commence July 1, 2025, and end June 30, 2028.
- Proposal – Upload required files as follows:
- Narrative (five-page limit, including references and figures, which can be embedded within the text): The narrative should contain a clear description of the work plan, including materials to be tested, where applicable, and a summary of the goals and milestones for each year of the project, including the groups/individuals responsible for each task. For collaborative proposals a management plan describing the coordination of the participating research groups must be included.
- Personnel Biosketches: A SciENcv or fillable PDF NIH- or NSF-style biosketch is to be uploaded for each senior investigator on the proposal. Please name each biosketch PDFs as Last Name_First Name_Biosketch.
- Contacts & Personnel Tab: Please refer to the instructions provided in SAM. Under Project Personnel, indicate all project personnel, other than the contact PI, including additional PIs, co-investigators, collaborators, consultants, postdoctoral research associates and others. Project personnel include individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. Please note that the Simons Foundation does not use the role type co-PI.
- Budget Tab: Click the Edit/Modify button to add a detailed, three-year budget and justification. Please refer to the RFA for funding levels and allowable expenses.
- Please enter each PI on each proposal in the Personnel Costs section of that proposal budget even if not requesting salary.
- For PIs and co-Is requesting summer salary, please only select Academic (referring to 9 or 10 months) for the Appt Type (which refers to the individual’s institutional appointment) and the base salary corresponding to this appointment type.
- For PIs and co-Is requesting summer salary at non-US institutions and/or those receiving 12 months of salary, the program allows them to request an additional 1 month of summer salary for their research effort on the project, provided that the summer salary request is not in violation of their institution’s policies of more than 100 percent effort per year. Please only select Annual for the Appt Type (which refers to the individual’s institutional appointment) and the base salary corresponding to this appointment type.
- Important: In order for known project personnel to display in the Personnel column drop-down list, you must add them as Project Personnel in the Contacts & Personnel tab of the application, as well as add an application role to each personnel using the Add More Details button. You will need to close and reopen the budget for the changes to populate.
- Do not select TBD in the Personnel drop-down list if the personnel are known. They must be first entered in the Project Personnel section as outlined above.
- Do not combine personnel on one budget line (e.g., multiple postdocs must be itemized individually).
- Provide justification for each budget line item entered, including all Personnel Costs requested. Please note that the budget justification should be detailed and appropriate for the funds being requested. An insufficient budget justification will result in the proposal not being considered further.
- The addition of subcontract budgets is handled via the Project Personnel section in the Contacts & Personnel tab. Please click on the ‘Add/modify project personnel’ button in that section for additional instructions.
- Within each budget period, you have the ability to copy the budget and justification from the previous period and then make edits as needed.
- Check Application Progress: Click the Check Application Progress button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.
- Send for Sign-off: When the application is complete, please click on the ‘Send for sign-off’ button to send to your signing official for signature. The Signing Official must go to the Submission tab of the application, enter their signature, and then click on the Submit Signature button on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. The applicant will receive a notification when the application is signed.
- Submit Application: When the full proposal application is complete and signed, the applicant must click on the Submit Application button. A confirmation page will appear once the application is successfully submitted. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.
- LOI Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - LOI Notification
- Full Proposal Deadline at
12 p.m. (noon) EDT - Award Notification
- Award Start Date
- Program or Administrative Questions:
Elizabeth Roy
Senior Manager for Programs and Administration
[email protected]
212-524-6966 - Technical Assistance:
[email protected] - Simons Award Manager (SAM) FAQ and Instructional Videos:
https://www.simonsfoundation.org/funding-opportunities/simons-award-manager-sam-faq-and-instructional-videos/ - Office Hours: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, except designated holidays.
Office Closures:
November 27–29, 2024, December 24, 2024–January 1, 2025, and January 20, 2025
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Are field experiments eligible for funding?
No, the program is only supporting experiments in the lab
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We are a group of scientists interested in this call. Should we submit one LOI or multiple?
Separate LOIs should be submitted only if each is addressing a different scientific question.
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Is there a limit to the number of applicants per university?
No, there is no limit.
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While my institution is a Ph.D. granting institution, my department has only master’s and undergraduate programs. Am I eligible to apply?
No. As noted in the RFA, PIs and co-Is at universities must be part of Ph.D. granting departments. The foundation would like the PIs and co-Is to be able to work with graduate students.
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Is a fraction of the funding being reserved explicitly for efforts in the Global South?
There is no separate reserve of funds specifically for Global South investigators. Any Global South collaborators should be involved in proposals as appropriate.
The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce the first Solar Radiation Management awards. These grants will be funded by the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International and administered by the Simons Foundation.
First-Principles Physicochemical Characterization of Aerosol Candidates for SAI
- Awarded: 2024
- Rajan Chakrabarty, Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis
- Rohan Mishra, Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis
- Lu Xu, Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis
Atmospheric Aging Impacts on Particles for Cirrus Cloud Seeding
- Awarded: 2024
- Zamin A. Kanji, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Ph.D. University of Toronto
- Dominik Brühwiler, Ph.D. Zürich University of Applied Sciences
- Luis A. Ladino, Ph.D. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico
Constraining the Risks of Alternative SAI Materials via Quantitative Laboratory Experiments
- Awarded: 2024
- Frank Keutsch Harvard University
- Paulo Artaxo, Ph.D. University of São Paulo
- John Dykema, Ph.D. Harvard University
- Thomas Leisner, Ph.D. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Exploring the Potential for Regionally Cooling the Earth by Seeding Wintertime Mixed-Phase Clouds
- Awarded: 2024
- Jasper Kok, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
- Sarah Aarons, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
- Zachary Cue, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
- Ian Eisenman, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
- Amato Evans, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego
- Lauren Zamora, Ph.D. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Glaciogenic Seeding on Mixed-Phase Clouds for Radiation Management (GLANCE)
- Awarded: 2024
- Ulrike Lohmann, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
Stratospheric Aerosol Injection from Near-Field to Climate Impact: The Evolution of Aerosol Size Distributions and Agglomerates
- Awarded: 2024
- Beiping Luo, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Martin Gysel-Beer, Ph.D. Paul Scherrer Institute
- Steven Hulshoff, Ph.D. Delft University of Technology
- Zamin A. Kanji, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Heri Kuswanto, Ph.D. Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
- Roxann Stennett-Brown, Ph.D. University of the West Indies, Mona
Laboratory Characterization and Modeling of Stratospheric Aerosol Heterogeneous Chemistry for SAI
- Awarded: 2024
- V. Faye McNeill, Ph.D. Columbia University
Characterising the Global and Regional Impacts and Risks of Alternative Materials for Stratospheric Aerosol Injection
- Awarded: 2024
- Romaric Odoulami, Ph.D. University of Cape Town
Single Particle Measurements of Aerosols for Informed Solar Radiation Management
- Awarded: 2024
- Thomas Preston, Ph.D. McGill University
- Alison Bain, Ph.D. Oregon State University
- James Davies, Ph.D. University of California, Riverside
Exploring the Chemical and Climatic Impacts of Solid Particles for Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering
- Awarded: 2024
- Timofei Sukhodolov, Ph.D. Physical Meteorological Observatory Davos
- Markus Ammann, Ph.D. Paul Scherrer Institute
- Gabriel Chiodo, Ph.D. Spanish National Research Council
- Beiping Luo, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Arnold Müller, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
- Krishnan Raghavan, Ph.D. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
- Christof Vockenhuber, Ph.D. ETH Zurich
Stratospheric Aerosol Injection with Alternative Materials: Modeling of the Feasibility and Impacts Using the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM)
- Awarded: 2024
- Simone Tilmes, Ph.D. The National Center for Atmospheric Research
- Christina McCluskey, Ph.D. The National Center for Atmospheric Research
Mitigating Global Warming by Weakening the CO2 Greenhouse Effect
- Awarded: 2024
- Gabriel Vecchi, Ph.D. Princeton University
- Brian J. Soden, Ph.D. University of Miami
- Wenchang Yang, Ph.D. Princeton University
Post-2020 Changes in Shipping Emissions: Impact on Aerosol-Driven Changes in the Direct and Indirect Forcing of Climate
- Awarded: 2024
- Paul Wennberg, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
- Pablo Saide, Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
Modeling Atmospheric Turbulence and Its Impacts on Plume Dispersion for Stratospheric Aerosol Injection
- Awarded: 2024
- Robert Wood, Ph.D. University of Washington
- Lekha Patel, Ph.D. Sandia National Laboratories