Preproposal Information for
Keck Foundation – Medical Research or Science & Engineering

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The W. M. Keck Foundation’s Medical Research Program and Science & Engineering Program seek to support high-risk/high-impact projects in fields of biological science, physical science, and engineering. Eligible projects should meet all the following criteria:
·         Focus on important and emerging areas of research
·         Have potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies
·         Are innovative, distinctive and interdisciplinary
·         Demonstrate a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm
·         Have the potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem
·         Does not focus on clinical or translational research, treatment trials, or research for the sole purpose of drug development
·         Medical projects should be platform-based – not disease specific
·         Falls outside the programmatic priorities of public funding agencies (correspondence reflective of such is required for internal review and by Keck)
·         Demonstrates that Keck is essential to the project’s success
Keck does not fund:  therapy and/or clinically-oriented projects, drug development, diagnostic test development, immunological studies, projects with a specific disease focus (such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, etc.), or translational research. For this opportunity, Purdue is allowed to submit one nomination to the Medical Research Program and one nomination to the Science and Engineering Program
TEMPLATE
Include all the following combined into a single PDF file:
- Description - up to three pages max; including:
•	Which of the two programs this preproposal addresses – S&E or Medical
•	Describe past and current efforts related to this project
•	Describe how this work is high risk and novel compared to related research in this field
•	Describe the potential transformative impact of this work (improvements should be exponential, not incremental)
•	Describe “why Purdue?” and “why this team?”  (institutional resources, unique expertise, past collaborative efforts, etc.)
•	Work should not have been previously funded in any significant way or likely to attract funding from federal or other major research funding sources. Describe any previous attempts to secure funds for this project and attach any reviews which demonstrate this can’t be funded elsewhere (inclusion of such feedback is required for both internal review and by Keck)
- CVs for the PI and up to four co-PIs with C&P
- Budget - conceptual budget with justification

Submit completed preproposal in InfoReady (https://purdue.infoready4.com/)