International Collaboration Award - Deadline August 27, 2010

Objective To recognize the most outstanding collaborative research effort between U.S. Army and foreign scientists that has expanded and enhanced the Army’s research and technology program while benefiting the scientific interests of the collaborating foreign scientist(s). The award recognizes the significance of the collaboration’s contributions to solving a critical Army need, materially improving the Army’s technical capability, or establishing a scientific basis for subsequent technical improvements of military importance. Questions regarding the International Collaboration Award should be directed to Mr. Stephen Cohn, stephen.cohn@us.army.mil, (703) 601-1556. Evaluation Criteria This criteria applies to nominations for international collaborative efforts to be considered for the 27th Army Science Conference International Collaboration Award (ASCICA) which will be presented at the 27th Army Science Conference (ASC) Awards Ceremony on the evening of December 2, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. The 27th ASC will be held 29 November-2 December, 2010. Specific evaluation criteria and weighting are outlined in the paragraph below titled Submission Requirements. The Award The award will consist of recognition in the form of a plaque that will be formally presented at the 27th ASC Awards banquet by the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Defense Export & Cooperation) and the Deputy Assistant Secretary (Research & Technology)/Chief Scientist in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology) or their designated representatives. No monetary award or compensation for travel or lodging will be provided. Eligible Projects To be considered for the award, candidate projects may be basic, applied or advanced technology development projects that came to fruition/conclusion during the period October 2008 through August 2010. While projects submitted to be considered for the International Collaboration Award can also be submitted for consideration for the Best Paper Award, or vice versa, submission for either award must be made separately. There must be clear project goals that have been achieved in a collaborative manner, and the project must have relevance to meeting the U.S. Army mission. Nominations will be reviewed on the basis of scientific and technical merit of the research, collaborative contributions and significance of the results, and must be endorsed and submitted by an appropriate participating Army laboratory or Research, Development and Engineering Center (RDEC) Director/Technical Director on behalf of the international team. The endorsement must describe the collaboration effort between the activities and address how the effort: Established a scientific basis for subsequent technical improvements of military importance, and/or Materially improved the Army’s technical capability, and/or Achieved a solution to a critical Army need. Collaboration Team Definition To be eligible for the ASCICA, an international team must include at a minimum two or more distinct research or development organizations, one of which must be a United States Army research and development (R&D) organization performing work on Army needs and the other a non-U.S. research and/or development activity. U.S. eligible participants are: U.S. Army laboratories and RDECs   and/or Universities located in the US that directly support an Army contract (e.g., Army Centers of Excellence, University Affiliated Research Centers and Collaborative Technology Alliance partners)   and/or Industrial partners located in the U.S. and directly supporting an Army collaborative project International eligible participants are: Government research or development facility   and/or Industry partner directly supporting the collaborative project   and/or Universities located in the collaborative country Submission Requirements Collaborative team nominations must be received no later than August 27, 2010. Submit nominations to Mr. Steve Cohn at stephen.cohn@us.army.mil. Submission must be in MS Word format. Each submission is limited to 12 pages, single spaced in Arial 12 or equivalent sized Font with 1-inch side, top and bottom margins. The cover and index pages are not considered to be part of the page count. Submissions must include the following information and be formatted in accordance with the following guidelines. 1. Nominated Collaborative Effort (2 pages background – Not weighted) a. Identify the collaborative effort nominated for the award i. Identify participating US and international collaborators ii. Identify project leaders and lead POCs for all activities b. Describe the collaborative program emphasizing the specific challenge(s) that were addressed. 2. Technical Collaboration and Accomplishments (3 pages – Weighting factor 0.25) a. Describe the technical barriers that had to be overcome. Include discussion on the following: i. Explicit collaborative contribution for each participant ii. The integration of each research or development contribution to the problem solution b. Describe the impacts of this collaborative effort on current and/or future Army systems or capabilities c. Describe how new knowledge gained through this collaborative effort has led to an innovation or overcome the technical barriers 3. Relationship of Collaborative Effort to Country Needs (2 pages – Weighting factor 0.25) a. Describe how this collaborative project addresses US Army needs and the national security needs of the collaborating country b. Describe how this project has enhanced the relationship between the scientific communities in support of each country’s national security needs. 4. Resource Impacts of This Collaborative Effort (2 pages – Weighting factor 0.25) a. Describe the return on investment (ROI) of this collaborative project in terms of cost savings and/or cost avoidance as compared to executing this project as a non-collaborative program. b. Describe the estimated worth of the intellectual property generated and/or gained during the execution of this project and the methodology used to estimate the worth. 5. Utility of This Collaborative Effort on Army Customers (max. 3 pages – Weighting factor 0.25) a. Describe the impact this collaborative project has made on i. the scientific/engineering discipline of interest, ii. establishing a scientific basis for subsequent technical improvements of military importance, or iii. developing a new capability, or iv. enabling a program of record to meet a major milestone (e.g., Have the collaborative results/products enabled FCS to achieve a major milestone?, etc.) v. maintaining and sustaining the force vi. soldier training b. Provide documentary evidence that directly supports the program's impact as described in part 5a.