Overview
The Beckman Young Investigators Program provides research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of their academic careers in the chemical and life sciences, particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments, and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science.
Guidelines
- Projects proposed for the BYI program should be truly innovative, high-risk, and show promise for contributing to significant advances in chemistry and the life sciences. They should represent a departure from current research directions rather than an extension or expansion of existing programs. Proposed research that cuts across traditional boundaries of scientific disciplines is encouraged. Proposals that open new avenues of research in chemistry and life sciences by fostering the invention of methods, instruments and materials will be given additional consideration.
- The BYI program funds promising young scientists early in their careers who have not yet received a major award from another organization. Proposals that already have substantial funding will not be considered for the BYI award (see eligibility for more information).
- Projects are normally funded for a period of four years. Grants are in the range of $600,000 over the term of the project, contingent upon demonstrated progress after the second year of the award.
- The Foundation does not provide for overhead or for indirect costs.
View 2020 BYI LOI Presentation with Q+A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=5Z8GYvzueG0
Eligibility
- The BYI program is open to those within the first three years of a tenure-track position, or an equivalent independent research appointment, at a United States academic or non-profit institution that conducts research in chemical and life sciences. Tenure Track Start Date for the 2020 program must be after 8/6/2016 and before 8/6/2019.
- Candidates must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States at the time of application. Persons who have applied for permanent residency but have not received their government documentation by the time of application are not eligible.
- No individual may apply for a Beckman Young Investigator award more than two times.
- Investigators can have no more than $225,000 in direct, annualized external funding grants during any BYI Program Year (Aug-July) at time of application. Start-up funds, department-wide instrumentation grants, and "Transition" grants (such as NIH K99/R00) are not counted toward this total.
- Institutions are not limited in the number of applicants who apply at the Letter of Intent stage. (Because the BYI requires Institutional Endorsement, all applications must go through this site to ensure applicants' eligibility. The Vice President for Research, Neil Sharkey (nas9@psu.edu), will provide the Institutional Endorsement.)
- Institutions with a currently funded BYI are eligible for award consideration
Application Procedure to submit a Letter of Intent:
1. Set up an account with Beckman’s Online Grant System to see the full list of required documents and terms of the award. https://beckman-foundation.smapply.io/prog/beckman_young_investigator/
2. Once you’ve created an account, complete the Letter of Intent online
3. How to obtain Institutional Endorsements:
- On the application dashboard, the tasks are titled “BYI Institutional Endorsement 1: Chief Academic Officer, Neil Sharkey (nas9@psu.edu) and 2: Dean (Your Dean)."
- Instructions can be found in the task titled "BYI Institutional Endorsement Instructions"
Steps to complete the application once Endorsement Requests have been sent:
Once endorsers have signed your application, you will receive an email from noreply@smapply.io alerting you. You can complete and submit your application once both endorsements are received.
How do Endorsers sign and what will they be agreeing to?
- Endorser has reviewed the applicant’s LOI materials to be submitted to the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for the 2020 Program Award
- All parties agree to the terms of the Beckman Young Investigator Program as stated in the Guidelines
- The Institution continues ongoing current support levels of the applicant
Upload one PDF file (File name: Last Name_BYI_2020.pdf) containing the following items in order no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Technical Proposal (No more than 1,200 words)
- A brief description of the proposed work that is understandable to a multidisciplinary group of scientific reviewers. Reviewers may not be a specialist in your field--please avoid jargon and acronyms.
- The description should make clear the rationale for the proposed work, its potential importance, the approach to be taken, and the potential significant outcomes.
2. 2-page Biosketch
Questions concerning the submission process may be submitted to LimitedSubs@psu.edu.
Prior Penn State Beckman Young Investigators awardees:
Scott Phillips (2009); Michael Axtell (2008); Andrey S. Krasilnikov (2006); Anton Nekrutenko (2006); Raymond Schaak (2006); Carsten Krebs (2005); Michael T. Green (2004); Christine Keating (2004); Consuelo de Moraes (2003); Karl Mueller (1996).