Office of Research and Project Administration

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently published a revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (NSF 08-1), which will be effective for proposals received on or after January 5, 2008. The new publication can be accessed at:

 http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=papp
While the changes are effective January 5, 2008, proposers are strongly encouraged to begin complying with the guidance as soon as possible.

Several important changes have been made to the Guide. Among them is a revision to the intellectual merit review criterion. The criterion now specifically includes evaluation of proposals for potentially transformative concepts.

The revised Guide contains an update to the designated fonts that may be used when preparing an NSF proposal. The updated proposal margin and spacing requirements section in Chapter II.B.2 of the Grant Proposal Guide can be accessed at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf08_1/gpg_2.jsp#IIB2 <http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf08_1/gpg_2.jsp>. 

Contrary to previous notice from NSF, the list of approved fonts have been expanded and now includes:
Arial 10
Courier New (10 pt or larger)
Palotino Linotype (10 pt or larger)
Times Roman New (11 pt or larger)
Computer Modern (11 pt or larger)
NSF specifically states that this font restriction applies to all sections of the proposal, including supplementary documentation.  However a font size of less than 10 pts can be used for mathmatical formulas or equations, figures, tables or diagram captions and when using a Symbol font to insert Greek letters or special characters as long as the text is readible.

As always if there are any questions, please contact your ORPA Research Administrator.
Anthony Beckman - x5-1502
Donna Beyea - x5-8037
Marlene Boutet - x3-3960
Brenda Kavanaugh - x5-1504
Jane Tolbert - x5-4210
Cheryl Williams - x5-1503

Donna
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Donna L. Beyea
Senior Research Administrator
University of Rochester
Office of Research and Project Administration
509 Hylan Building - Box 270140
Rochester, NY  14627
Phone:  585-275-8037
Fax:  585-275-9492
email:  donna.beyea@rochester.edu