Petroleum Research Fund

ACS PRF Proposal Requirements

Formatting of PRF Proposals

Proposals are limited to 4,000 words, double-spaced, in 12-point Arial, Times Roman, or Courier font.
Word count doesn't include 250-word Abstract, Figure and Table captions, or References.
Research should be a single project with a testable hypothesis, not a number of ideas.
ND and DNI Proposals: Submit a research project which can be done in two years for $110K total funding, with 60% of budget as direct "student support" (i.e., graduate student research assistantships, or post-doctoral researcher stipends).
UR Proposals: Submit a research project which can be done in three years for $70K total funding, with 40% of budget as direct "student support" (i.e., research assistantship stipends).
UNI Proposals: Submit a research project which can be done in two years for $55K total funding, with 40% of budget as direct "student support" (i.e., research assistantship stipends).
UR and UNI Proposals: Undergraduate student(s) must be supported on each year of the budget, but partial support of a M.S. degree-seeking student is also allowed.

Proposal must request the stipulated dollar amounts ($110K ND/DNI, $70K UR, $55K UNI): Do your budget calculations, then add the "odd dollar amount" to "Expendable Supplies and Services" if needed to make the total budget request equal to the stipulated amount.
No indirect costs are allowed on PRF grants.
PI Salary not more than $8,000/year (this amount includes any institutional fringe benefits).
PI Salary is not allowed on proposals from non-US institutions.
Travel not more than $2,000/year (travel to present research results at meetings or symposia).
Travel to obtain data is included in the "Field Work" budget category.

Proposals are submitted as PDF files through the PRF Internet Grant Application Manager (IGAM) Website.
Proposals must be received, in complete and final form, by 5 PM (Eastern) on the deadline date. No exceptions, late submissions, or post-deadline alterations or revisions are accepted.

100-word petroleum-relevance statement is required – this is typed into the IGAM Website when the proposal PDF is submitted.
Principal Investigator must submit names and email addresses of six possible peer reviewers.
To resubmit a previously-denied proposal, the PI must indicate what changes have been made to the "revised and resubmitted" proposal. This is not part of the proposal, but text that is entered into the IGAM Website before the revised proposal PDF is submitted.