Public Outreach and Informing the Public Grants: Request for Proposals

The American Physical Society is happy to announce that it will award several grants to encourage APS members to develop new outreach activities. Programs to be funded may include not only the more traditional K-12 outreach but also engaging the general public with/in physics and informing them about the importance of physics in their daily lives.

These grants are to foster new activities and not support ongoing programs. Innovative ideas and new approaches, particularly if they have the potential to lead to sustained activities beyond the duration of the grant, are particularly encouraged. Special consideration will be given to those proposals that are exceptionally innovative and/or have high impact. For example, involvement with public media such as radio, TV, print media, etc., would be considered as high impact.

It is expected the grants will be for amounts up to $10,000, however, exceptionally innovative proposals and/or high impact proposals for amounts in excess of $10,000 will be considered. The funds are to be utilized over a period of 18 months starting May 1, 2012; recipients will be notified in February 2012. 

Because this program is for APS members, the main contact person for the grant must be an APS member.  All APS members are encouraged to submit proposals, regardless of location

As a non-profit, APS is not able to support university overhead or indirect costs.  An official APS letter stating this is available for download here if your institution requires one.

Send application materials or questions to Rebecca Thompson at thompson@aps.org no later than Friday, January 6, 2012 (11:59pm EST).

Application Process

To apply for these funds, please submit the following information as one PDF file by January 6, 2012:

• Cover sheet clearly stating the name, address, phone number, and email of the main contact person for your application. Please include the name of your program and if affiliated with an institution, the department and institution you represent.
   
• Narrative description (no more than three pages) of your program. Please include details of other financial support (if any), and description of personnel working on the program (instructional lab technicians, students, professors, etc).
   
• Rough budget detailing your plans for utilizing the funds.
   
• Letter of support from your department chair or similar administrative official (this can be sent separately, as long as it clearly identifies the main contact person and institution).
   
• Tax ID number or Employee ID number if part of an organization, Social Security Number if an individual 

Important Information

These funds cannot be used for salaries, stipends, etc. of the main participants, but can be used to hire a student, an intern, or professional services if that is essential for the project.
  Indirect Cost Letter