Reporting Requirements

What is a Capacity Project?

A capacity project serves as a broad framework for organizing and guiding research efforts, regardless of the specific funding source. The project plan outlines long-term (up to five-year) research goals, objectives, anticipated outcomes, and potential stakeholder impacts. It is designed to be adaptable, evolving alongside the researcher’s developing areas of interest and expertise.

Funding from NIFA is provided to AgBioResearch, rather than directly to individual researchers, and is referred to as capacity funding. These funds are intended to strengthen the University’s overall research capacity—for example, by supporting personnel and initiatives that advance Michigan State University’s research agenda.

Capacity Report Descriptions

Capacity projects consist of Hatch, Hatch Multistate, Animal Health & Disease Research and McIntire-Stennis.

Descriptions may be found at https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/capacity-grants.

Project Initiation and Project Renewals

AgBioResearch has launched a new submission application to simplify and streamline the process for USDA–NIFA capacity funds. Please submit via the new application link.

Access Requirements

You must be a registered user to access the application.
Ensure that your MSU email is registered in our system; you will log in with your MSU NetID.
The application auto-populates your name and email from your registered account, so it is important to use the correct MSU email.
If you encounter a “Request Access” error, your email address is not registered in our system.

Support

For assistance with registration or technical issues in the application, contact the app administrator at ABR.Research.Admin@msu.edu.
For all other Umbrella-related questions, contact the NIFA Site Administrator, Jackie Henning, at jdesande@msu.edu