Notification of intent to apply: To apply to a limited submission program, notify your department head or associate dean for research of your intent to participate, or, for award programs, of your interest in being considered for nomination. You may also contact Research and Graduate Studies' Proposal Development Unit directly by email to carol_ashcraft@ncsu.edu, with a copy to your associate dean for research.

Coordination within your college: Associate deans for research and their designated staff, often referred to as the college research administrator(s), are responsible for coordinating internal preproposals within their respective colleges. Applicants or nominees must work with their college research administrators to ensure that their internal preproposals are compliant with college requirements as well as with internal review requirements. New participants in the internal review process can contact their associate deans for research to identify their respective college research administrators. Also check to confirm any college deadlines. Some colleges set their own review deadlines prior to the institutional internal review deadlines.

Preparing the internal preproposal: The internal specifications for a specific limited submission program are available by clicking on the program title on the Limited Submission Programs webpage. Candidates and principal investigators should follow the guidelines and allow time in advance of the internal preproposal submission deadline for the college research administrator(s) to review the internal preproposal for compliance with the format and content requirements. If the preproposal contains extra material, omits required material or does not conform to format specifications, the college research administrator will inform you of the needed changes. By allowing advance time before the deadline, participants will be able to correct any compliance errors found by the college research administrator and still meet the preproposal submission deadline. Once the college research administrator has approved your internal preproposal, he or she will submit it to the Proposal Development Unit's Research Resource Manager, who will provide it to the internal reviewers.

Note about PINS: Processing of internal preproposals through PINS is not required.

Submitting the internal preproposal for review: An internal preproposal should be submitted first to the college research administrator rather than directly to the Proposal Development Unit's Research Resource Manager. Any preproposal submitted directly by a faculty member will be forwarded to that faculty member's college research administrator for a compliance check. The college research officer will review the internal preproposal for compliance with internal specifications for the relevant limited submission program. When the college research administrator finds the internal preproposal in compliance, he or she will forward it to Carol Linelle Ashcraft at carol_ashcraft@ncsu.edu. Preproposals must be received by or before the internal preproposal deadline. Late preproposals will be refused, as will incomplete or noncompliant preproposals.

Standard review process: In most reviews, copies of the internal preproposals are submitted electronically to the internal reviewers, who then rank the preproposals according to the review criteria for a specific program and provide comments. The reviewers fax or email their evaluations to the research resource manager, generally within five working days.

Special review process: For certain large-scale programs attracting many internal applicants, such as the NSF Active Nanostructures and Nanosystems program, the principal investigator or a designated co-PI will be invited to make a presentation about the project directly to the reviewers at a meeting, or to discuss the project directly with reviewers. If a review meeting will be held for a certain program, that requirement will be posted on the Limited Submission Specifications page.

Notification of results: After the internal reviewers provide their evaluations and comments, the research resource manager compiles them and submits them to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies for approval. After approval, the research resource manager notifies each individual candidate or principal investigator of the results. Candidates who have not heard any communication for seven or more days after submitting their internal preproposals should contact carol_ashcraft@ncsu.edu or call 513-2466.

Feedback: After the review results have been announced, reviewers' anonymous evaluations and remarks will be provided to all candidates or principal investigators as soon as possible.