AWI RFPs
FY08 RFP Process
FY08 Proposal Funding Is Announced
Congratulations to our 15 chosen projects for 2008- see complete list of PI's, projects, and collaborators please click here . Please be advised that additional project funds will be announced soon, dependent on funding obtained from the universities.
For a Research Projects At-A-Glance Spreadsheet which shows outcomes, funding, and benefits of funded projects for both the FY07 & FY08 projects, please click here
On September 22, 2007, AWI received 58 proposals for collaborative projects, requesting a total of over $2.62 million for the available funding in the AWI project pool of $400,000. The proposals are of excellent quality, in part because the collaborations we are supporting have been maturing. PIs also had a bit more time to prepare the proposals, and they were required to seek advice from AWI staff and “theme leaders.” There is no doubt that this consultation requirement helped a lot in building the collaborations. Key criteria for selection included evidence of need for the project from stakeholders, technical/scientific/intellectual merit, collaboration across universities and with specific stakeholder partners, and strategic importance to AWI. Other criteria include commercialization opportunities, availability of matching funds (especially cash), interdisciplinarity and innovation.
Thank you also to the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) for co-sponsorship of an AWI proposal by Dr. Wendell Ela (UA) and Dr. Robert Arnold (UA) and Dr. Michael Ketterer (NAU) titled "Reverse Osmosis Treatment using Ion Exchange Brine Recycle and Selective Precipitation" The NWRI Board is interested in looking into a broader collaboration with AWI on areas where we have mutual interests. This project is the first step in that effort - and we are working towards a larger partnership next year. The board has asked that AWI attend a future NWRI board meeting in order to hear more about our activities and asked us to continue to look for opportunities to collaborate on workshops or other activities. As a result of his award, Dr. Ela will be asked to attend NWRI Research Advisory Board meetings to provide technical and scientific input on his project.
The initial internal review narrowed the field from 58 proposals to 32. An external review panel of 15 met on October 15th. This panel was a mix of stakeholders (11) and university representatives (4). This group reduced the proposals from 32 to 9, but the total funding request associated with these recommended proposals exceeded the amount of money that we had available in the AWI projects pool. The Executive Committee agreed that all of these projects should be funded, and added three more highly-ranked projects to the list, conditional on identifying additional funding sources for these proposals. AWI staff are currently working to expand the funding pool to cover the costs of the additional projects. The total funding from AWI that is allocated for funding the proposals is $490,000 (each university added $30,000 to the projects pool from their dedicated project funds), and as discussed below, the National Water Resources Institute has provided another $25,000 towards the projects. There are other selected projects that the Executive Committee has recommended that we continue to pursue funding for, but the availability of funds for those is less certain and they are not listed here.
There is a significant possibility that additional projects will be funded from AWI discretionary project funds within the universities as occurred last year. In reality, virtually all of the proposals that were submitted were fundable, and it was extremely difficult to make the selections. AWI is happy to work with investigators who would like to pursue alternative sources of funding for their work.
FY07 RFP Process
The response to this initial solicitation was truly overwhelming, with 70 proposals submitted for over 3 million dollars. We are extremely pleased with the level of interest shown in this initial AWI RFP. Given that the initial offering was only $400,000, we have only been able to select 11 proposals to move forward to the contract negotiation stage. The proposal review process included two review committees and a final decision by the Executive Committee. The first review committee was comprised entirely of stakeholders; their recommendations resulted in the number of proposals being narrowed from 70 to 36. The second committee included stakeholders, agency personnel, and university representatives. They forwarded 15 projects for consideration by the Executive Committee, which ultimately selected the 11 projects for funding. If for any reason we are unable to reach agreement with those whose proposals have been selected for funding, there is still the possibility that some proposals will be reconsidered. Further, all three universities are planning to evaluate the remaining proposals from the perspective of funding them from on-campus discretionary project funds that are associated with the Arizona Water Institute. Decisions regarding these funds will be made in the next 1-3 months, so there is still a possibility of AWI funding for additional projects.
For a Research Projects At-A-Glance Spreadsheet which shows outcomes, funding, and benefits of funded projects for both the FY07 & FY08 projects, please click here
For a copy of a synposis on all 17 projects funded, please click here
Photo courtesy of Intel - pilot tests of electrocoagulation (EC)
as a treatment technology for aqueous process streams common
to semiconductor manufacturing.
AWI Sponsored or Attended Upcoming Events
For additional information on other events, please see the calendar