Attachment B - USGS Scientist Letter of Collaboration Template.docx

This is a template letter of collaboration/commitment for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program External Research Support grant opportunity. The template is designed for USGS scientists to document their commitment to collaborate on externally submitted proposals or provide resources such as data. The letter requires the USGS collaborator to describe specific collaboration efforts or resource commitments in 1,500 characters or less, explicitly excluding any words of endorsement or support, which would result in proposal rejection. The template must be signed by both the USGS collaborator and their supervisor, with all red text items customized prior to submission while all other text remains unchanged.

This template supports proposals submitted to the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program for Fiscal Year 2027, which will award an estimated $4 million to $7 million in competitive research grants with 50 to 70 expected awards. Individual grants typically range from $30,000 to $120,000. The program supports external research partnerships addressing earthquake hazards, physics of earthquakes, earthquake occurrence, and earthquake safety policy under CFDA 15.807, authorized by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 and the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2018. Eligible applicants include universities, nonprofit organizations, for-profit entities, state and local governments, and unaffiliated scientists, with evaluations based on scientific merit, relevance to program priorities, technical quality, investigator competence, and budget appropriateness.