Our Mission

To inspire innovative,
cross-disciplinary scientific research and inquiry.

1

Apply

Are you a past participant of a NAKFI conference with an idea to more effectively conduct interdisciplinary research programs and projects? Learn more about the application process and submit your proposal by March 13, 2018, at 3:00 PM Pacific.

Application

2

Get Feedback

Each valid application receives scores and comments from five Peer-to-Peer Reviewers, using a trait-scoring rubric with four criteria: collaborative, feasible, creative, and adaptable. The top-scoring submissions will also receive feedback from the Evaluation Panel.

Scoring Process

3

Win an Award

Based on the recommendation of the Evaluation Panel, the Selection Committee will determine three winning teams, each of whom will receive $500,000 to implement their proposal to improve interdisciplinary research and the cross-collaboration of scholars from various fields.

Meet the Judges

Peer-to-Peer Review

During Peer-to-Peer Review, each team lead will score and comment on five applications from other teams, using four criteria included in the trait scoring rubric: collaborative, feasible, creative, and adaptable. This is the same trait scoring rubric that the Evaluation Panel will use.

Scores will be calculated using a normalization algorithm that ensures a level playing field for everyone. In addition to scoring each application on the four criteria found in the trait scoring rubric, Peer-to-Peer Reviewers will also provide a final numerical score, ranging between 0-100, representing an overall assessment of quality for the entire application. We ask that you carefully review the applications assigned to you and provide meaningful feedback.

The Peer-to-Peer Review will result in a rank-order of all valid applications. The top 30 of these applications will be reviewed by the Evaluation Panel.

Meet the Judges

Evaluation Panel

Using the trait scoring rubric, the Evaluation Panel Judges score and comment on the top 30 applications based on the rank order as determined by the Peer-to-Peer Review process. The top 30 applications will receive an additional five sets of reviews that have been statistically normalized. A subset of the Evaluation Panel will confirm and validate the top-scoring applications as determined by the entire Evaluation Panel.

Meet the Judges

Selection Committee

Once the top-scoring applications have been confirmed and verified, they will be presented to the Selection Committee who will make a final determination as to the Winners. The selection of the three Winners is at the sole discretion of the Selection Committee.

Keep Up to Date

Resources & Updates

Receive Feedback from Experts

Meet The Judges

Peer-To-Peer Review Evaluation Panel Selection Committee

Stay on Track

Timeline

Receive Feedback from Experts

Trait Scoring Rubric

Review the traits the judges will use to score valid applications. Scores will be normalized for fairness.

Everyone is Treated Fairly

A Level Playing Field

To ensure fairness, once a valid application has been submitted for assessment, a minimum of five reviewers will grade each submission. Those reviewers will offer both scores and comments against each of four distinct traits. Each trait will be scored on a 0-5 point scale, in increments of 0.1. Those scores will combine to produce a total normalized score. Examples of possible scores for a trait are… 1.4, 3.7, etc.

The most straightforward way to ensure that everyone is treated by the same set of standards would be to have the same reviewers score every application; unfortunately, due to the number of applications that we may receive, that is not possible.

Since the same reviewers will not score every application, the question of fairness needs to be explained carefully. One reviewer scoring an application may take a more critical view, giving any assigned team a range of scores only between 1.0 and 2.0, as an example; meanwhile, another reviewer may be more generous and want to score every submission between 4.0 and 5.0.

For illustrative purposes, let’s look at the scores from two hypothetical reviewers:

The first reviewer is far more generous, as a scorer, than the second reviewer, who gives much lower scores. If your application was rated by the first reviewer, it would earn a much higher total score than if it was assigned to the second reviewer.

We have a way to address this issue. We ensure that no matter which reviewers are assigned to your team, each application will be treated fairly. To do this, we utilize a mathematical technique relying on two measures of distribution, the mean and the standard deviation.

The mean takes all the scores assigned by a reviewer, adds them up, and divides them by the number of scores assigned, giving an average score.

Formally, we denote the mean like this:

The standard deviation measures the “spread” of a reviewer’s scores. As an example, imagine that two reviewers both give the same mean (average) score, but one gives many zeros and fives, while the other gives more ones and fours. It wouldn't be fair, if we didn’t consider this difference.

Formally, we denote the standard deviation like this:

To ensure that the judging process is fair, we rescale all the scores to match the judging population. In order to do this, we measure the mean and the standard deviation of all scores across all judges. Then, we change the mean score and the standard deviation of each judge to match.

We rescale the standard deviation like this:

Then, we rescale mean like this:

Basically, we are finding the difference between both distributions for a single judge and those for all of the judges combined, then adjusting each score so that no one is treated unfairly according to which judges they are assigned.

If we apply this rescaling process to the same two judges in the example above, we can see the outcome of the final resolved and normalized scores. They appear more similar, because they are now aligned with typical distributions across the total judging population.

We are pleased to answer any questions you have about how we seek to ensure a level playing field for every team. Please login today and join our discussion forums, where you can ask questions or seek clarification.

Understand the legal rules governing the competition

Rules

Thank you for your interest in the NAKFI Challenge (the “Competition”). The Competition is sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences with platform support provided by RAMPIT. Please know that by participating in this Competition and in accordance with these Rules you are eligible to receive various forms of recognition and a possible award from the National Academy of Sciences of up to $500,000 as an Awardee. The Rules governing this Competition ("RULES") are stated here as an extension of the Terms & Conditions ("TERMS") for use of this website. The full TERMS are available for your review by accessing them on this website. The RULES constitute "Competition Terms and Conditions" under Clause 2.3 of the Terms. Capitalized words used but not defined in the RULES have meanings given to them in the TERMS.

Please read these RULES and the TERMS carefully, as they describe the conditions under which you are allowed to participate. As you participate, you may periodically be asked to recognize your acceptance of these RULES and the Terms by clicking "accept" at various pages on this website, but by continuing any use of this website you expressly consent to all of these RULES and the TERMS.

SUBMISSION OF AN ENTRY IN THE NAKFI CHALLENGE CONSTITUTES FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL AGREEMENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES.

1. Eligibility

The National Academy of Sciences welcomes applications from individuals who have previously participated in a NAKFI conference and who represent an organization or entity that have a recognized legal existence and structure under applicable law (State, Federal or Country) and that are in good standing in the jurisdiction under which they are organized.

2. Ineligible persons or entities

Employees of the National Academy of Sciences, RAMPIT, The Common Pool, LLC, and any of their subsidiaries and affiliates, and immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or persons living in the same households of such employees, are not eligible.

3. Financial and Organizational Capacity

All applicants must demonstrate their financial and organizational capacity to accept any Award. If You are selected as an Awardee, You warrant that the appropriate officers, executives, managers, or other persons who have the authority to approve participation in this competition have approved Your Entry and that You understand that these terms will be binding on both You and Your Entity. Furthermore, You understand that if You submit an Entry without obtaining the appropriate approval, the National Academy of Sciences may, in its sole discretion, disqualify Your Entry. Finally, if You are selected to receive an Award, an officer or person entitled to bind the entity will be required to validate that You are entitled to receive the Award on the behalf of the entity and the officer or person entitled to bind the entity must provide the appropriate information for payment of the Award.

4. Supporting Documentation

All applicants are required to comply with the application requirements published on this website.

5. Treatment and Use of Intellectual Property

Each application should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and licensing of any intellectual property. You represent and warrant that your Entry is an original work created solely by You, that You own all Intellectual Property in and to the Entry, and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the Entry, except as expressly identified by You to us in writing in Your application. You retain all right, title and interest in any inventions, software or work of authorship You invent or create. The ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this competition remains with You subject to the License provided to the NAS and Keck Foundation set out in Section 6.4 of these Terms and Conditions

6. Other Rules

Your application must be in English.
Individuals must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry to participate by representing an applicant organization. You cannot reside in nor be governed by countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade relations (including export of technology) with the United States of America or its citizens.
Your Entry should meet the application requirements stipulated on this website. You must comply with all deadlines posted on this website. Your Entry may not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of the National Academy of Sciences and/or RAMPIT, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content. The National Academy of Sciences reserves the right to cancel, modify or suspend the Competition in whole or in part without liability to You. The National Academy of Sciences and RAMPIT each also reserves the right to disqualify You from participating.
By participating in the NAKFI Challenge, You represent, warrant, and agree that:
1. You are the sole author, creator, and owner of the Entry;
2. the Entry is not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim;
3. the Entry does not and will not violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party;
4. the Entry does not and will not contain any harmful computer code (sometimes referred to as "malware," "viruses" or "worms"); and
5. the Entry, and Your use of the Entry, does not and will not violate any applicable laws or regulations, including, without limitation, applicable export control laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions. If the Entry includes any third party works (such as third party content or open source code), You must provide the Competition Sponsor with all appropriate licenses and releases for such third party works. In the event You cannot provide all such required licenses and releases, the Competition Sponsor reserves the right, in the Competition Sponsor's sole discretion, to disqualify the applicable Entry, or seek to secure the licenses and releases for the Competition Sponsor’s benefit and allow the applicable Entry to remain in the NAKFI Challenge.
You may only submit one Entry.
Upon submitting Your Entry, the Entry will be subjected to an Administrative Review, to ensure compliance with all of the requirements. Qualified Entries will then be distributed to other registrants during a Peer to Peer assessment of those Entries. If Your Entry qualifies for Peer to Peer review, You will be required to assess five (5) other Entries. If You do not complete those assessments, using the tools and process described on this Website, Your participation may be terminated. Based on normalized scores from each Peer to Peer review, a rank order of the Entries will be populated. The top thirty (30) Entries will advance to the next phase of review.
Once the top 30 Entries from the Peer to Peer review process have been identified, those Entries will advance to an Evaluation Panel review. The Evaluation Panel consists of experts who are identified on this Website. Each of the top 30 Entries will be assessed by five Evaluation Panel members, who will be assigned to score these Entries either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest, using the scoring rubric and any other judging criteria that are also described on this website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Based on normalized scores from each Evaluation Panel review, a rank order of the Entries will be populated.
Once the final rank order of Entries has been calculated, the top Participants will be presented before the Selection Committee for final consideration. The Selection Committee will meet to review and discuss the top Entries and will determine any Awardees, using judging criteria that may not incorporate the same scoring rubric employed by any previous assessment(s). The judging criteria are to be applied in the sole discretion of the Selection Committee judges. By participating in the NAKFI Challenge, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the final decision of the Judges.
While RAMPIT, LLC (“RAMPIT”) is providing an online platform for your participation, RAMPIT is not responsible for the payment of any Award(s). Payment of any Award(s) is the sole responsibility of the National Academy of Sciences and its designees, subject to its right not to make an award in its sole discretion..
By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the National Academy of Sciences, The Common Pool, LLC, and RAMPIT and their partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors and representatives from any Loss arising out of your participation in the Competition and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any Award(s). Neither the National Academy of Sciences, The Common Pool, LLC, nor RAMPIT assume responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Competition entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms. Neither the National Academy of Sciences, The Common Pool, LLC, nor RAMPIT are responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to Your or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading of any materials related to this Competition. In the event of a dispute about Your identity, an online registration will be declared as if made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.
THIS COMPETITION IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. You agree that this Competition shall be subject to and governed by the laws of Tennessee and the United States of America and the forum of any dispute shall be in the courts of Davidson County, Tennessee, United States of America. To the extent permitted by law, the right to litigate, to seek injunctive relief or to make any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this Competition are hereby excluded and You expressly waives any and all such rights. Certain restrictions may apply.
If for any reason Competition is not capable of running as planned, due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, Trojan horses, denial of service, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of RAMPIT that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, RAMPIT reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) who tamper with the process, and/or to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition. If the National Academy of Sciences and/or RAMPIT terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.
The Competition Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify You if You are found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the NAKFI Challenge, to be acting in violation of these Rules, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the NAKFI Challenge, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.
Entry into the NAKFI Challenge does not constitute entry into any other National Academy of Sciences competition, RAMPIT competition, or promotion that may be offered by the Competition Sponsor and/or its affiliates.
The National Academy of Sciences and/or RAMPIT reserves the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the Terms and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them.
The names of the Finalists and Awardee(s) will be posted on this website for such period of time as the Competition Sponsor deems reasonable.

Contact Information:

You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES. Please enter NAKFI Challenge in the subject line of your email. You may reach us at: keckfutures@nas.edu.

Learn more

About the NAKFI Challenge

Over the past fifteen years, NAKFI has promoted interdisciplinary research and collaboration through our annual conferences and seed grant program. Some of the brightest minds across in sciences, engineering, medicine, and arts and design disciplines have participated in deep conversations and developed bold approaches to the real-world challenges of our day.

Many of our past conference participants have applied for and received seed grants to enable further pursuit of new ideas and inspirations generated at the conference. These seed grants allowed investigators to recruit students and postdocs to the research effort, purchase new equipment, acquire preliminary data, develop prototypes of exhibits, or create new collaborative teams and modes of inquiry -- all of which can position the project to compete for larger awards from other public and private sources.

The NAKFI Challenge invites past participants of NAKFI conferences to submit a proposal that will continue the essential work of NAKFI.

Each application must demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem currently holding back interdisciplinary research and the collaboration of scholars from various fields. Your proposal may address structural barriers, interpersonal hurdles, or other types of impediments to effective interdisciplinary collaboration. For example, the goals of the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative are to influence:

structural change in research funding, both public and private, to provide significantly increased support for interdisciplinary and cross-professional research;
structural change within research universities to foster more interdisciplinary research;
changes in the career paths of Futures participants resulting from greater interdisciplinary and cross-professional opportunities; and
increases in the opportunities for graduate student (PhD-level) research in interdisciplinary and cross-professional areas.

NAKFI has inspired its diverse network to "think big" at the frontiers of science, engineering and medicine. Help us continue this important work by envisioning how your NAKFI experience can shape the future of boundary crossing research and collaboration.

Propose Your Solution

Application

Please read all of the application requirements before completing each section. All applications must be submitted in English. If you are selected as a Finalist, portions of your application, including the Proposal Title and Quick Pitch, and may be published on this website; the remainder of your application will only be viewed by prize administrators and judges.

Be sure to "review your application as the judges will see it" through the link on the internal application page, and confirm your changes have been saved. When you have completed all of the requirements, a message will be displayed on the screen. At that point, you can submit your final application. Once you have submitted the application, you will no longer be able to make changes.

You must submit your application no later than Tuesday, March 13, 2018, at 3:00 PM Pacific.

A. Introduction

Proposal Title (20 words)

Please provide a title for your proposal. This title may be displayed on the competition website post-submission so please be descriptive.

Your Quick Pitch (100 words)

Provide a summary of the new model your team is offering that fosters and rewards interdisciplinary research and interactions. The description should read as a short and interesting pitch for your core concept. Focus on delivering a compelling overview so that the Evaluation Panel members assigned to score your application will want to read more. Your description should not require any other context to clearly explain what you are offering. This is your opportunity to make a strong first impression so make every word count.

B. About Your Team

Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars and practitioners from various fields, and coordination across sectors and institutions. The following information is required to capture a basic understanding of the leadership, structure, vision, and capabilities of your team. Teams may consist of members from multiple organizations or consist of members that belong to the same organization.

Team Organization (250 words)

Each team member must fulfill a specific purpose in implementing your proposed idea. Let us know how your team is structured. Be sure to identify each team member and their affiliation and role. You may include an organizational chart by inserting an image into the text box. Clearly identify which team members have participated in NAKFI conferences.

Team Management (200 words)

Please name up to three of the managing team members or decision makers, including their specific titles within their affiliated organizations. Provide a short biographical statement for those three team members; focus on their interdisciplinary experience most relevant to your proposal and include a description of their role on your team to oversee implementation of your proposal.

Letter of Support (OPTIONAL)

If your team consists of multiple organizations, you are required to upload a letter of support, which stipulates the relationship between the organizations. Make sure to include all necessary parts by referring to the following guidelines for drafting your Letter of Support. Be sure to include all team members who are critical to the implementation of your proposed idea.

If your team is internal to a single organization, you do not need to complete this section.

C. Your Proposal

Provide the details of your idea. Be sure to emphasize how your proposal aligns with the four traits that will be used to assess each valid application (see Trait Scoring Rubric).

Each proposal must demonstrate a clear understanding of the problem currently holding back interdisciplinary research and the cross-collaboration of scholars from various fields. Your proposal may address structural barriers, interpersonal hurdles, or other types of impediments to effective interdisciplinary collaboration. For example, the goals of the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative are to influence:

structural change in research funding, both public and private, to provide significantly increased support for interdisciplinary and cross-professional research;
structural change within research universities to foster more interdisciplinary research;
changes in the career paths of Futures participants resulting from greater interdisciplinary and cross-professional opportunities; and
increases in the opportunities for graduate student (PhD-level) research in interdisciplinary and cross-professional areas.

To achieve a deeper understanding of your idea, convince those reviewing your application that you understand the greater context and the local realities of the environment in which you work. Describe the circumstances that hinder interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners and set the stage for why your approach offers meaningful change and opportunities to address complex problems that transcend disciplinary, professional, structural, and other types of boundaries.

The Big Challenge (150 words)

Please provide a broad description of the specific problem that you are committed to addressing through your team’s idea. Offer an explanation of the current resources available to address the problem. Focus on why those resources are insufficient to break-through the current barriers. Explain any previous attempts to solve the problem, if there were any, and why your big challenge persists within your environment.

Local Conditions (150 words)

Build on your description of the big challenge and offer a complementary description of the environment where you plan to implement your approach. Show that you understand the specific intricacies that you must overcome. Explain your understanding of the necessary operations or tactics critical to overcoming any implementation challenges.

Your Tactics (250 words)

Describe your expertise and the specific details of your technical and operational approach. How will your team foster ways to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and understand interdisciplinary research programs and projects and the individuals and institutions who undertake them? Be specific, get creative. Explain your knowledge of what’s required to achieve success while offering insight into the technical aspects of your idea – what makes your approach different and better? Why does your approach matter? Feel free to include a link to conceptual sketch or drawing that represents your ideas.

NOTE: If you include a link to a file, be sure that the appropriate permissions are set so that individuals outside your organization can open it.

Sustainability (150 words)

Describe your plan to support the proposal after implementation. Describe how your proposal will become self-sustaining over time. What are the key implementation details that will ensure a long-lasting change in your organization(s) to support the overarching goals of your proposal?

D. Your Project Plan and Budget

The information provided in the previous sections is intended to reveal team leadership, and strategic and practical plans; we also need to understand the feasibility of your idea.

Your Timeline and Key Milestones (150 words)

In chronological order, identify the milestones and timeline for implementing your idea.

Budget Narrative (150 words)

Please offer an overview for how you would use the grant award of $500,000. This Budget Narrative should complement your project plan. Your budget narrative description should include, in broad terms, total projected needs by category, and you may include any explanations of existing resources that you have secured. Additionally, if you plan to subcontract any of the work of the project, provide a description of what part of the project you will subcontract and who will do the work.

Detailed Budget

Please provide specific line items from your budget narrative (above) in United States Dollars (USD). Award funds can be used to cover direct and indirect expenses necessary for the successful completion of the project. Please make sure that any funds identified in this table reflect your general explanations provided in your budget narrative.

NOTE: Per National Academy of Sciences policy, tuition is an indirect expense and should be included in the “indirect expense” category.

Additional Expected Support (50 words)

In this section, describe any additional capital or support you have secured from other sources. If you do not have additional capital, please enter “NONE.”

Private Benefit (150 words)

Will private interests (such as shareholders, for-profit companies, contractors, consultants, or other individuals) benefit more than incidentally from the solution as compared to the public or charitable benefit? If your solution will trigger any private benefit to one or more individuals, provide an explanation of how the public benefit cannot be achieved without necessarily benefiting those individuals and to what degree any private benefit compares to public benefit.

Risk Management & Mitigation (150 words)

Please describe any threats to your proposed idea and how you plan to address them. While every project plan is different, we expect teams to raise the most important assumptions of risk and how you will manage them.

Other Considerations (150 words)

This is your opportunity to describe outstanding issues that you could not offer in other sections.

The implementation of your idea may require other resources or partnerships; please explain them. You can offer any contingency planning, based on specific issues raised in the risk or budget sections of your proposal.

Your privacy is important to us

Privacy Policy

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the NAKFI Challenge. This Website is managed by RAMPIT, LLC, ("RAMPIT") and all provisions governing your participation in this Competition (including the Services provided through it) are described in the Terms and Conditions ("Terms"). This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and is a part of the Terms. Capitalized language used, but not defined in this Privacy Policy, may have the meanings given to them elsewhere in the Terms. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully, as it describes what information we gather from you, and how we may use and disclose that information. By registering a User Account and/or by accessing or using this Website, you expressly consent to the information handling practices described in this Privacy Policy.

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You may, of course, decline to share certain personally identifiable information with RAMPIT, in which case RAMPIT may not be able to provide to you some of the features and functionality found on this Website. Please note that we may retain all information you submit for a variety of purposes, including backups and archiving, prevention of fraud and abuse, and analytics.

To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you account access or making corrections to your information. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE SECRECY OF YOUR UNIQUE PASSWORD AND ACCOUNT INFORMATION AT ALL TIMES.

We may now or in the future make certain tools and features for configuring your privacy settings available to you through this Website, but any such features and settings we may provide do not guarantee the anonymity or confidentiality of any information, including personally identifiable information and Postings you provide or submit to this Website.

Third Party Websites:

This Website contains links to Websites and services provided by third parties. Any personally identifiable information you provide on third party sites or services is provided directly to that third party and is subject to that third party's policies, if any, governing privacy and security. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of third party sites or services to which links are displayed on this Website. We encourage you to learn about third parties' privacy and security policies before providing them with personally identifiable information.

Our Commitment to Children's Privacy:

Protecting the privacy of children is especially important. For that reason, RAMPIT does not knowingly collect or maintain personally identifiable information from persons under 13 years-of-age, and no part of this Website is directed to persons under 18 years-of-age. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE, THEN PLEASE DO NOT USE OR ACCESS THIS WEBSITE FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE COMPETING AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY MANNER. If RAMPIT learns that personally identifiable information of persons less than 13-years-of-age has been collected on this Website without verifiable parental consent, then RAMPIT will take the appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child under the age of 13 has obtained a User Account on this Website, then you may alert RAMPIT at privacy@rampit.com and request that RAMPIT delete that child's personally identifiable information from its systems.

Our Commitment to Data Security:

RAMPIT uses a variety of physical, managerial, and technical safeguards designed to improve the security of our systems and your personally identifiable information. We cannot, however, ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to RAMPIT, nor can we guarantee that such information may not be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical, technical, or managerial safeguards. You transfer your information to RAMPIT at your own risk.

If RAMPIT learns of a security systems breach, then we will attempt to notify you electronically so that you can take appropriate protective steps. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing. If you'd like to receive such a notice, please notify us at privacy@rampit.com.

International Visitors

Your information may be stored and processed in any country in which RAMPIT and its affiliates maintain facilities. In this regard, or for purposes of sharing or disclosing data in accordance with this Privacy Policy, RAMPIT reserves the right to transfer, store, and process your information outside of your country. Your acceptance of the Terms includes your consent to any such transfer, storage, and processing of your information outside of your country.

Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy

Please revisit this page periodically to stay aware of any changes to this Privacy Policy, which may be revised at RAMPIT's sole discretion, as provided in the Terms. Note that our amended Privacy Policy will become effective on a going forward basis as set forth in the Terms, except that: (i) unless you agree otherwise, we will use your personally identifiable information in the manner described in the Privacy Policy in effect when we received that information; and, (ii) if you do not agree with any changes to the Privacy Policy, you must terminate your participation and cease use of this Website. Your continued use of this Website after a revised Privacy Policy has become effective indicates that you have read, understood, and agreed to the current version of the Privacy Policy.

RAMPIT Contact Information

Please contact RAMPIT with any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, your personally identifiable information, our use and disclosure practices, or your consent choices by email: privacy@rampit.com.

Learn more

Letter of Support

Under the RULES of the NAKFI Challenge, participants may submit a proposal that includes multiple organizations. To the extent two or more organizations seek to collaborate with respect to a proposal, a single entity must have definitive responsibility for supervision of the project, control over the use of the grant funds, and responsibility for reporting on the use of the grant funds.

Any organizations seeking to collaborate on a project must execute a letter of support that defines and controls the relationships among the parties. The letter must be included as part of any valid application. NAKFI and any designees may review the letter to determine if it satisfactorily addresses these key points:

One eligible entity has supervision of the proposed project and control over the use of any grant funds and is responsible for providing any required reports to National Academy of Sciences designees.
There are clear terms regarding how key decisions will be made and how they will be bind other parties to the letter of support, including termination of the letter of support or the project, any financing, and other key financial and governance terms.
The ownership and use of intellectual property is clearly spelled out and will not result in more than incidental benefit to any private interests.
The persons and/or entities authorized to speak, act and execute agreements on behalf of the collaboration are clearly described.
There are provisions clearly addressing the treatment and use of any revenue expected to be generated by the project (if applicable) and no private interests will benefit from the revenue stream other than on a basis that is incidental to the primary charitable purpose to be served by the project.
The letter of support will be in effect for the duration of the project.

Understand your participation on this website

Terms & Conditions

RAMPIT, LLC (“RAMPIT”) provides an online platform for skill-based competitions through various websites, including but not limited to this website, which are subject to the following terms and conditions. National Academy of Sciences has entered into a contract with Common Pool, which through its affiliate RAMPIT, will host the NAKFI Challenge, as described below, on this online platform. PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET OUT THE TERMS OF A LEGALLY BINDING AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND RAMPIT FOR YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE AND THE RELATED SERVICES. BY RECOGNIZING YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS, BY ACCESSING AND USING THIS WEBSITE, AS APPLICABLE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, YOU MUST CEASE USING THIS WEBSITE AND THE RELATED SERVICES.

1. Definitions and interpretation

In this document, the following capitalized terms have the following meanings, unless otherwise expressly indicated:

“Affiliated Persons” means:
1. the trustees, directors, officers, shareholders, members, employees, clients (with respect to the Competition Sponsor only), contractors, agents, representatives and affiliates of the Competition Sponsor and any entity associated with the funding, administration, or processing of the Challenge and
2. the members of the Immediate Family (as defined below) of any of the persons identified in the foregoing clause (a). The term “Immediate Family” includes a person’s spouse/domestic partner and the parents, siblings, children and grandchildren of the person and his or her spouse/domestic partner.
"Agreement"means:
1. these terms and conditions;
2. any amendments subsequently made to these terms and conditions;
3. any replacement or novation of this Agreement;
4. terms and conditions incorporated into this Agreement by reference; and,
5. any policies (including the Privacy Policy), Rules, terms, conditions, Competition Terms and Conditions, notices and disclaimers contained elsewhere on this Website or provided by RAMPIT or the Competition Sponsor in connection with the Services.
"Award"means any form of benefit or other forms of recognition to declared or selected Awardees as set out in the Competition Rules, in this case three awards of $500,00 to each Awardee, which may be provided in the form of a single payment to each Awardee, from the National Academy of Sciences.
"Awardee"means, in relation to the Competition posted on this Website, those Participants whose Entries are selected by the Sponsor as a recipient of one of the $500,000 Awards. Participants may disqualify their Entries from this selection by expressly informing the Competition Sponsor of their decision within 48 hours after the close of the competition.
“Competition"means the NAKFI Challenge posted on this Website, however expressed.
"Competition Information"means all Content provided in relation to the Competition, including the Competition Terms and Conditions.
"Competition Rules"has the meaning given to that term in Clause 2.3.
"Competition Sponsor" means in relation to the Competition posted on this Website, the National Academy of Sciences, located at 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, and the W.M. Keck Foundation, which provided financial support to the National Academy of Sciences.
"Content"means any information, files, text, code, material, images, data, sounds, graphics, software, photos, designs, software downloads, goods, services documents, layouts, applet, CGI interfaces, descriptions, illustrations, catalogues, advertisements, audio and video material or specifications contained in or referred to in this Website, obtained through or via this Website or available to be viewed by accessing any part of this Website (which may be out of date or superseded), whether it be obtained directly or indirectly, in any machine or human readable format. Without limiting the foregoing, “Content” includes any Entry submitted through or via this Website.
"Entity"means an entity duly organized and validly existing under state or federal law in the United States of America that is represented on the Website by a person at least 18 years of age who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and who is the duly authorized representative of such Entity.
"Entry"means an entry by a Participant in response to a Competition.
"Entry Content"means all Content used, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in describing, drafting, developing, devising, calibrating, testing, evaluating, analyzing or generating an Entry, or which itself constitutes the whole or part of an Entry.
"Intellectual Property Rights"means all intellectual property rights of any type whatsoever throughout the world including all rights which subsist in copyright, patent rights, or trademark rights, whether or not such rights are registered or capable of being registered.
“Judge” means any individual, organization or other entity represented on this website as responsible for the subjective assessment of Entry Content, either for the purposes of determining or informing the determination of any Award(s) or designation(s) of the Finalists and Awardee(s) in the Competition.
"Loss"means any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential liabilities, damages, claims, losses, costs, expenses, actions, demands or suits, whether in contract, tort (including liability due to infringement of intellectual property rights of due to negligence), statute or otherwise and whether pecuniary or non-pecuniary. This includes, but is not limited to, loss of profits, legal costs and defense or settlement costs.
"Participant"means in relation to any Competition posted on this Website, a person who meets the eligibility requirements of this Competition and that submits or proposes to submit an Entry to the Competition. See the Rules for the eligibility requirements.
"Posting"means any addition, insertion or uploading of content to this Website, as well as any submission or communication made through or via this Website. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes (in the case of a Participant) all Entries and Entry Content posted by that Participant.
"Privacy Policy"means RAMPIT's privacy policies and notices posted on this Website, specific pages thereof, and/or provided by RAMPIT in connection with the Services.
“Rules” means any set of provisions that establish specific conditions, under which Participants are bound, that are posted on this website, either as a notice of an extension of these Competition Terms and Conditions or in addition to these Competition Terms and Conditions.
"RAMPIT"means RAMPIT, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, with a place of business at 805 2nd Avenue South, #3, Nashville, TN 37210.
"RAMPIT Affiliate"means an entity affiliated with RAMPIT by ownership or common ownership (including The Common Pool, LLC, and 23Com Software, LLC) or any subsidiary of RAMPIT.
"Services"means the services provided by RAMPIT on or via this Website and includes the Competition.
"Third Party Sites"means sites and resources located on servers maintained by others over whom RAMPIT has no control.
"User"means any person who has registered a user account on this Website. The term "User" includes all Participants.
"User Account"means Your online account with RAMPIT which enables You to use this Website and includes (but is not limited to) Your username, password, rating score and feedback.
"Website"means any web pages contained within this domain and any sub-domains and all underlying software and infrastructure which permits the holding of Competitions. Where the context permits, ‘Website’ or 'website' includes the Services provided on the Website.
"You"means the person or organization using the Website, including a User, or an Entity duly organized and validly existing under state or federal law in the United States of America or the host country of origin that is represented on the Website by a User that is a person at least 18 years of age who is the duly authorized representative of such Entity.
"Your"means the possessive of the person, team, or organization using the Website, including a User.

2. Agreement to be bound

Use of this Website is subject to this Agreement. You agree to be bound by this Agreement and any subsequent amendments to this Agreement, as set forth below.
RAMPIT reserves the right to amend or modify this Agreement at any time, provided that if such modifications materially limit Your rights and/or expand Your obligations hereunder, RAMPIT will notify You electronically, such as by email or through the Website. Such material modifications will take effect on the earlier of the date You indicate Your assent (by clicking "Accept" or otherwise) or 30 calendar days after RAMPIT's notice. No modification of the Agreement will apply to any dispute between You and RAMPIT that arose prior to the effective date of the modification. If at any time You disagree with the Agreement or any modifications thereof, You may terminate this Agreement and shall cease using this Website. Your continued use of the Website after the revised Agreement becomes effective (such as following notice as set forth above) indicates that You have read, understood, and agreed to the revised Agreement. Any new or different terms supplied by You are specifically rejected by RAMPIT unless RAMPIT agrees to them in a signed writing specifically including those new or different terms.
The Competition is subject to additional terms and conditions set out in the Rules (the “Rules"). The Rules will apply in addition to this Agreement and will not limit this Agreement in any way unless RAMPIT notifies the parties to the Competition that this Agreement is amended by the Rules. If RAMPIT does not provide such notification to the parties, this Agreement will prevail in the event of any inconsistency between it and the Rules.
RAMPIT may alter this Website from time to time by adding or removing features. This Agreement will not be affected by any alterations to this Website.
Users may use this Website, including but not limited to those in the capacity of a Participant. This Agreement will apply to Your use of the Website in that capacity, but Users may also include Competition Administrators or representatives of the Competition Sponsor, and any conditions placed on them as Users are identified in the Terms.

3. Participation

In order to participate in any Competition, You must login as a User. Participation on this Website is free.
Participation is available only to individuals and Entities that are able to form legally binding contracts under applicable law. If You do not accept this Agreement, You will not be permitted to participate in any Competition or otherwise access or use the Website in any way.
By entering, You represent that you are not:
1. An individual under the age of 18 years;
2. A person whose participation has been permanently suspended or terminated under Section 4 below; or
3. A person who resides in countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade or banking relations (including export of technology) with the United States or its citizens.
When registering as a User, You warrant to RAMPIT that:
1. You are 18 years of age or older, and You are registering as a User on Your own behalf and in Your own name as a representative of yourself or an Entity (and not on behalf of and/or in the name of a third person);
2. If You are representing an Entity which is a corporation or other legally incorporated entity, that is duly incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States, You have full legal capacity and power to enter into and perform Your obligations under this Agreement on behalf of the Entity; and
3. You agree to act in good faith and in accordance with this Agreement.
No individual or represented Entity may register more than once (for example, by using a different username/email).
Acceptance of registration is at the sole discretion of RAMPIT in consultation with the Sponsor. If RAMPIT believes that any registration has been made in contravention of clauses 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 or 3.5 above (or otherwise in breach of this Agreement), it may refuse to accept the registration.
You are responsible for all use of this Website made using Your User Account (and/or username/email or password), whether or not You are aware of that use or could reasonably have been aware of that use. You agree to notify RAMPIT immediately if You become aware of any unauthorized use of Your User Account.
Your User Account is personal to You and may not be sold, assigned or transferred to a third party. If You attempt to sell, assign or transfer Your User Account to a third party, RAMPIT may suspend or terminate Your participation at its sole discretion.
RAMPIT and the Sponsor may communicate with You through the username/email that You provide at registration. You agree to notify RAMPIT within a reasonable time if there are any changes to Your details. If You fail to notify RAMPIT of any changes to Your details, You agree to waive any objection, claim, defense or recourse You might have had as a consequence of RAMPIT failing to communicate with You. If You change Your email address and fail to notify RAMPIT of the change, RAMPIT will be deemed to have communicated with You on the date on which it communicated with the email address most recently provided by You.
You warrant that any Content provided or posted by You (through registration or otherwise):
1. is not false, inaccurate, misleading or fraudulent;
2. does not infringe any third party's Intellectual Property Rights or other rights arising at law or otherwise;
3. is not obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening or harassing;
4. does not violate any applicable law;
5. does not contain or describe pornography and is not otherwise harmful to persons under the age of 18 years;
6. will not create liability for RAMPIT or the Sponsor or cause it to lose the services of its internet service providers or other suppliers (in whole or in part);
7. will not create liability for the Competition Sponsor or RAMPIT of any kind.
Unlawful, plagiarized, third-party intellectual property infringing, unintelligible, illegible, obscene, indecent or incomplete entries will be disqualified in the Competition Sponsor's or RAMPIT’s sole discretion. The Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT reserve the right to scrutinize all new Entries for these requirements at any time during or after the NAKFI Challenge.
If RAMPIT believes that any Content contravenes Clause 3.10 (or any other provision of this Agreement), it may remove that Content and/or take any other steps it deems necessary to protect itself or third parties against any Loss. To the maximum extent permitted by law, RAMPIT will not be liable for any Loss to any person arising from the removal of Content under this Section.

4. Terminating Your Participation

Subject to Clause 4.2, You may terminate Your participation at any time and without cause by notifying RAMPIT through this Website.
If You terminate Your participation, this Agreement and any other applicable terms and conditions will continue to apply to any Postings made by You prior to giving the notice described in Clause 4.1 above.
RAMPIT may, in its absolute discretion, terminate or suspend Your participation at any time and without notice if it believes that:
1. You have breached this Agreement or any other applicable terms and conditions;
2. You have acted in a way which is unlawful, or which may create liability for You, RAMPIT, our Users, our internet service providers or any other supplier, or the Competition Sponsor;
3. RAMPIT is unable to verify any information provided by You;
4. Other Users give negative feedback about You, which RAMPIT determines in its absolute discretion is worthy of termination;
5. You have acted or represented Yourself in any way that RAMPIT or the Competition Sponsor deems that your termination is necessary.
If RAMPIT terminates Your participation, RAMPIT may in its absolute discretion withdraw any Postings submitted or made by You. If RAMPIT terminates Your participation, RAMPIT may, at its sole discretion, immediately withdraw Your Entries, which will have no force and effect from the date on which Your participation was terminated.
Subject to Clause 4.4, if RAMPIT suspends Your participation, any entries or other Postings submitted or made by You may be suspended for the period in which Your participation is suspended.
If Your participation is terminated, either by You or by RAMPIT:
1. You are no longer authorized to access this Website;
2. all restrictions imposed on You, licenses granted by You and all indemnities, disclaimers and limitations of liability set out in this Agreement, including clauses 10 (Limitation of Liability) and 11 (Indemnities), will survive, along with clauses 13 (Intellectual Property), 15 (Arbitration) and 17 (Miscellaneous).

5. Use of this Website

You must not use the Website to facilitate or participate in any illegal activity or engage in any activity which RAMPIT, in its absolute discretion, considers inappropriate. RAMPIT reserves the right to terminate or restrict Your access to this Website immediately and indefinitely if it suspects that You are engaging in any such behavior or are in breach of any terms of this Agreement. You agree that You will only use Your User Account and this Website for the purposes of using the Services and for no other purpose. Without limiting the foregoing, in using Your User Account and accessing the Website, You agree not to:
1. use Your User Account in a fraudulent or illegal manner, or email or otherwise send any materials from Your User Account which are offensive, unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene or otherwise objectionable;
2. use Your User Account to stalk or harass another person;
3. use Your User Account to impersonate any person in any way whatsoever;
4. use Your User Account to infringe the copyright, trademark, patent or other Intellectual Property Rights of any person or entity;
5. use Your User Account to send advertising, chain letters, junk mail, spam or any other type of unsolicited electronic communications;
6. use Your User Account to send or distribute any Content of any kind which contains a virus, spyware, malware or other harmful, disruptive or destructive component;
7. intentionally or negligently use Your User Account in a way that degrades performance of this Website to other persons;
8. manipulate, or attempt to manipulate, any Competition;
9. use Your User Account or any mechanism, software or other scripts in relation to the Website which could disrupt or interfere with the Website or any servers, software, hardware or equipment connected to or via the website;
10. restrict or inhibit any other User from using or enjoying the Website;
11. distribute any pornographic, extremist or racist material or any material which might otherwise be harmful to persons under the age of 18 years;
12. violate any applicable law relating to Your use of the website.

6. Terms specific to Participants

If You are registered as a Participant, You agree and acknowledge that:
1. in making an Entry, to be bound by this Agreement and all Competition Information (including the Competition Rules) relating to the Competition;
2. RAMPIT and Competition Sponsor do not guarantee the accuracy of the Competition Information (or other Content posted on the Website), ownership of any Content, or the availability of any Award(s);
3. any leader board appearing in connection with a Competition is indicative only and makes no representations and creates no entitlements in relation to any Award(s);
4. RAMPIT does not control the decisions of the Competition Sponsor, and You release RAMPIT and Competition Sponsor from any claims You may have in relation to the decisions of the Competition Sponsor (including the selection of the Awardee(s) and ranking of Participants, including any defamation or other claims arising from its ranking of Participants;
5. RAMPIT and Competition Sponsor are not responsible for any Postings provided by other Users or for the accuracy of Content provided by other Users;
6. RAMPIT is not liable to bestow any Award(s);
7. in the event that You have any dispute with another User, You release RAMPIT and Competition Sponsor from all claims of any kind arising from that dispute;
8. You will not initiate contact with Competition Sponsor for the purpose of contracting separately with the Competition Sponsor to circumvent the Rules; and,
9. an Entry will be deemed to have been logged at the time that it is received by RAMPIT. You agree that neither RAMPIT nor the Competition Sponsor is responsible for any Entry not being received due to technical reasons or otherwise.
The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to conduct an administrative review of any Entry or any Participant in order to screen for completeness and other Entry Content requirements (as described in the Competition Terms and Conditions) before distributing approved Entries to Judges.
Participants permit RAMPIT, the Competition Sponsor, and/or any entity designated by the Competition Sponsor, to publish any Entry, Entry Content, or Content (specifically, the Proposal Title and Your Quick Pitch) on this website; the remainder of any Entry, Entry Content, or Content will also be viewed by the Competition Sponsor, RAMPIT, and Judges, as necessary.
By participating in the NAKFI Challenge, You hereby irrevocably grant to the Competition Sponsor a non-exclusive, royalty free, sub-licensable, worldwide, license and right to use the Entry to the extent necessary to administer the NAKFI Challenge, and to publicly perform and publicly display portions of the Entry (specifically, the Proposal Title and Your Quick Pitch), including, without limitation, for advertising and promotional purposes relating to the NAKFI Challenge. If you are selected as an Awardee of the NAKFI Challenge, as a condition to accepting their respective Awards, You hereby grant the Competition Sponsor a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty free, sub-licensable, worldwide, license and right to post on the Competition Sponsor’s website, portions of your Entry, specifically, the Proposal Title and Your Quick Pitch (via web link, iframe, or other presentation modality).

7. RAMPIT's relationship with Each Participant and Competition Sponsor

RAMPIT is not involved in any way in the formation of any contract between the Participant and the Competition Sponsor. RAMPIT at no time acts as an agent for any Participant.
RAMPIT will not be liable to You in any respect if a Competition Sponsor or Participant fails to perform its obligations under this Agreement or the Competition.
RAMPIT will have no liability whatsoever in respect to the failure of a Competition Sponsor to bestow any Award(s), and You acknowledge and agree that You will not take action of any kind against RAMPIT in respect to any claim for any Award(s) that You may or may not have or wish to make.

8. Terms specific to Finalists and Awardee(s) and Competition Sponsor

Winners agree that any Award is conditional upon receipt by the Competition Sponsor of any Entry Content used or consulted by that Awardee in generating the winning Entry and that any Award will not be bestowed until this condition has been satisfied.
By participating in the NAKFI Challenge, in addition to any other rights granted herein or which may be granted in any other agreement entered into between the Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT, on the one hand, and You, on the other hand, You, to the extent allowed by applicable law, hereby irrevocably (a) grants to each of the Competition Sponsor, and RAMPIT the right to Your name, likeness, image, and biographical information in any and all media for any purpose, including, without limitation, advertising and promotional purposes relating to the NAKFI Challenge and (b) releases Sponsor and Administrator from any liability with respect thereto.
Attempts to notify potential Finalists and Awardee(s) will be made using the contact information provided on the Finalist’s and Winner’s Entry. The Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT are not responsible for e-mail or other communication problems of any kind. If, despite reasonable efforts, a potential Awardee does not respond within five days of the first notification attempt (or a shorter time as exigencies may require), or if the Award or Award notification is returned as unclaimed or undeliverable to such potential Awardee, such potential Awardee will forfeit the Award and an alternate Awardee may be selected. If any potential Awardee is found to be ineligible, or has not complied with these Rules or declines the applicable Award for any reason, such potential Awardee will be disqualified and an alternate Awardee may be selected.

9. Taxes on Awards

You will be responsible for any tax, levy, or other charge that may arise under any applicable law from the use of this website, including without limitation from receiving any Award(s). You acknowledge that You will not be entitled to demand any additional payment by reason of any Award(s) being subject to any tax, levy, or other charge in any jurisdiction.

10. Limitation of liability

THIS WEBSITE AND SERVICES, AND ALL CONTENT ASSOCIATED THEREWITH, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, RAMPIT AND COMPETITION SPONSOR AND THE OWNERS, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS AND SUPPLIERS OF EACH EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. RAMPIT DOES NOT WARRANT THIS WEBSITE AND RELATED SERVICES AND THE CONTENT PROVIDED THROUGH IT, INCLUDING THE ENTRIES AND ASSOCIATED ENTRY CONTENT, TO BE AVAILABLE, ACCURATE, USEFUL, OR FREE OF ERRORS, VIRUSES, OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER HARM THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE (INCLUDING THE SERVICES).
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL RAMPIT OR COMPETITION SPONSOR OR THE OWNERS, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AFFILIATES, LICENSORS OR SUPPLIERS OF EITHER BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OR RELATED TO THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, EVEN IF RAMPIT OR COMPETITION SPONSOR OR THE AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF EITHER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THESE LIMITATIONS WILL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY LIMITED REMEDY.

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, You agree that neither RAMPIT NOR THE COMPETITION SPONSOR are responsible for any Loss arising out of, or in any way connected with:
1. delay or inability to access or use this Website;
2. reliance on any Competition Information or other Content;
3. the transmission of any computer virus, however occurring;
4. any unauthorized access to, modification or alteration of Content;
5. any Content sent or received or not sent or received;
6. any transaction entered into through this Website;
7. any infringement of rights, including Intellectual Property Rights;
8. any threatening, defamatory, obscene, offensive, harmful, inappropriate or illegal Content or conduct of any party;
9. any Content sent by any third party using and/or included in this Website;
10. termination of Your participation; or,
11. any delays, interruptions, inaccuracies, errors, omissions or cessation of services.
For the avoidance of doubt, You acknowledge that RAMPIT is a provider of an interactive computer service and that neither RAMPIT nor COMPETITION SPONSOR is a publisher under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, and therefore not responsible for any of the Users' Postings. If, notwithstanding the provisions of this Clause 10.3, a court of competent jurisdiction holds RAMPIT or COMPETITION SPONSOR liable in respect of any matters arising under or incidental to this Agreement, RAMPIT'S AND COMPETITION SPONSOR’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THIS WEBSITE OR RELATED SERVICES (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, WARRANTY, OR OTHERWISE) WILL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR USING THIS WEBSITE DURING THE 12 MONTHS PRECEDING YOUR CLAIM, OR, IF NO AMOUNT WAS PAID, SUCH LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO $100.
You agree that neither RAMPIT nor COMPETITION SPONSOR nor the third party providers of either will be liable or responsible for any failure in, or delay to, the provision of the Services or in RAMPIT nor COMPETITION SPONSOR complying with its obligations under this Agreement where such failure or delay has arisen as a direct or indirect result of:
1. fire, earthquake, storm, flood, hurricane, inclement weather or other act of God, war, terrorism, explosion, sabotage, industrial accident or industrial strike;
2. telecommunications failure, hardware failure or software failure;
3. the failure of any third party to fulfill any obligations to RAMPIT or COMPETITION SPONSOR; or
4. any other circumstance or event which is or is not within the reasonable control of RAMPIT or COMPETITION SPONSOR.
In the event an insufficient number of eligible entries is received or the Competition Sponsor is prevented from awarding an Award or continuing with the NAKFI Challenge as contemplated herein by any event beyond its control, including, without limitation, fire, flood, natural or man-made epidemic, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, satellite or equipment failure, riot or civil disturbance, terrorist threat or activity, war (declared or undeclared) or any federal state or local government law, order, or regulation, public health crisis, order of any court or jurisdiction, or other cause not reasonably within the Competition Sponsor’s control (“Force Majeure”), the Competition Sponsor shall have the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the NAKFI Challenge. If the NAKFI Challenge is terminated for Force Majeure before expiration of the NAKFI Challenge, the Competition Sponsor will (if reasonably possible) select Awardee(s) from all eligible, non-suspect entries received as of the date of the event giving rise to the termination.
You agree that the Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT:
1. shall not be responsible or liable for any losses, damages, or injuries of any kind (including death) resulting from participation in the NAKFI Challenge or any NAKFI Challenge-related activity, or from Your acceptance, receipt, possession, use, or misuse of any Award, and
2. have not made any warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, with respect to any Award, including, without limitation, regarding such award’s merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT assume no responsibility for any damage to Your computer system which is occasioned by accessing the NAKFI Challenge Website or participating in the NAKFI Challenge, or for any computer system, phone line, hardware, software, or program malfunctions, or other errors, failures, delayed computer transmissions, or network connections that are human or technical in nature.

11. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold the Competition Sponsor, RAMPIT, and their owners, officers, employees, agents and suppliers, harmless from all claims and Losses (including legal fees) due to or arising out of or in connection with Your Postings, Competition, Competition Information and other Content (as applicable), Your use of this Website, or Your breach of this Agreement.
You, by submitting an Entry, agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Competition Sponsor and RAMPIT, and each of their respective directors, trustees, officers, employees, agents, consultants, and successors and assigns, from and against all third party claims, actions, or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses relating to or arising from Your Entry or any breach or alleged breach of any of Your representations, warranties, and covenants in this Agreement.

12. Access to the Site outside of the United States

Neither RAMPIT nor COMPETITION SPONSOR represents or warrants that the content on this Website complies with the laws of any country outside of the United States. If You access this Website from outside the United States, You do so at Your own risk.

13. Intellectual property

You acknowledge that, as between the parties, RAMPIT is the owner of all Intellectual Property Rights in and to this Website (excluding Postings). You acknowledge that You have no Intellectual Property Rights in or to this Website or to any Postings not made directly by you except for a limited license to use this Website as necessary to participate in the Competition or evaluate the possibility of such participation.
You acknowledge that all text, graphics, user interfaces, photographs, trademarks, logos and artwork, including the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, 'look and feel' and arrangement of such Content, provided by RAMPIT or its licensors on this Website is owned or licensed by or to RAMPIT and is protected by applicable copyright, patent and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws. No such Content can be copied, publicly displayed, modified, sold, licensed or distributed in any way by You without RAMPIT's prior written consent. You shall not use the name “National Academy of Sciences” or “W.M. Keck Foundation” or any variation, adaptation, or abbreviation thereof, or the name of any National Academy of Sciences’ Board members, officers, employees, or agents, or any trademark owned by the National Academy of Sciences in any promotional material or other public announcement or disclosure, nor copied, publicly displayed, modified, sold, licensed or distributed in any way by You without the prior written consent of the National Academy of Sciences, which consent the National Academy of Sciences may withhold in its sole discretion.

14. Third party sites

From time to time, RAMPIT may provide, or any Content may contain, links to Third Party Sites and resources. You acknowledge that:
1. Neither RAMPIT nor Competition Sponsor has any control over Third Party Sites and resources;
2. Neither RAMPIT nor Competition Sponsor is responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources; and
3. Neither RAMPIT nor Competition Sponsor endorses nor is either responsible for any content, advertising, products, services or other materials on or available from such sites or resources.
You acknowledge and agree that neither RAMPIT nor Competition Sponsor will be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any Loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with Your use of or reliance on any Content or material available on or through any Third Party Sites or resource.

15. Arbitration

In the interest of resolving disputes between You and RAMPIT or Competition Sponsor in the most expedient and cost effective manner, You and RAMPIT or Competition Sponsor agree that any and all disputes arising in connection with this Agreement shall be resolved by binding arbitration. Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court. Arbitration uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, may allow for more limited discovery than in court, and can be subject to very limited review by courts. Arbitrators can award the same damages and relief that a court can award. Our agreement to arbitrate disputes includes, but is not limited to all claims arising out of or relating to any aspect of this Agreement, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation or any other legal theory, and regardless of whether the claims arise during or after the termination of these Terms. You understand and agree that, by entering into these Terms, You and RAMPIT or Competition Sponsor are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action.
You and RAMPIT or Competition Sponsor each agree that nothing herein shall be deemed to waive, preclude, or otherwise limit any rights to (i) bring an individual action in small claims court, (ii) pursue enforcement actions through applicable federal, state, or local agencies where such actions are available, (iii) seek injunctive relief in a court of law, or (iv) to file suit in a court of law to address intellectual property infringement claims.
Any arbitration between You and RAMPIT or Competition Sponsor will be governed by the Commercial Dispute Resolution Procedures and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (collectively, "AAA Rules") of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), as modified by these Terms, and will be administered by the AAA. The AAA Rules and filing forms are available online at adr.org, by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879.
A party who intends to seek arbitration must first send a written notice of the dispute to the other, by certified mail or Federal Express (signature required), or in the event that we do not have a physical address on file for You, by electronic mail ("Notice"). RAMPIT's address for Notice is: RAMPIT, LLC, 805 2nd Avenue South, #3, Nashville, TN 37210 or support@rampit.com. The COMPETITION SPONSOR’s address is National Academy of Sciences, ATTN: Ken Fulton, 500 Fifth Street, NW, NAS Room 224, Washington DC 20001, with a copy to the Legal Department. The Notice must: (a) describe the nature and basis of the claim or dispute; and, (b) set forth the specific relief sought. We agree to use good faith efforts to resolve the claim directly, but if we do not reach an agreement to do so within 30 calendar days after the Notice is received, You may commence arbitration proceedings.
Any arbitration hearings will take place in Washington, DC. Regardless of the manner in which the arbitration is conducted, the arbitrator shall issue a reasoned written decision sufficient to explain the essential findings and conclusions on which the decision and award, if any, are based. The arbitrator may make rulings and resolve disputes as to the payment and reimbursement of fees or expenses at any time during the proceeding and upon request from either party made within 14 calendar days of the arbitrator's ruling on the merits.
YOU AND RAMPIT OR COMPETITION SPONSOR AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. Further, unless both You and RAMPIT or COMPETITION SPONSOR agree otherwise, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.
If only Clause 15.6 is found to be unenforceable, then the entirety of this Section 15 shall be null and void and, in such case, the parties agree that the exclusive jurisdiction and venue described in Section 17 shall govern any action arising out of or related to the Agreement.

16. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any Content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing RAMPIT's copyright agent (the "Copyright Agent") with the following information in writing (see 17 U.S.C 512(c)(3) for further detail):
1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail;
5. A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
RAMPIT's designated Copyright Agent to receive notifications of claimed infringement is Copyright Agent, RAMPIT, LLC, 805 2nd Avenue South, #3, Nashville, TN 37210, email: support@rampit.com. You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with all of the requirements of this Section 16, your DMCA notice may not be valid.
If you believe that your Content that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or that you have the authorization from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or pursuant to the law, to post and use the material in your Content, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to the Copyright Agent:
1. Your physical or electronic signature;
2. Identification of the Content that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the Content appeared before it was removed or disabled;
3. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the Content was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or a misidentification of the Content; and
4. Your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.
If a counter-notice is received by the Copyright Agent, RAMPIT may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party informing that person that it may replace the removed Content or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the Content provider, member or user, the removed Content may be replaced, or access to it restored, in 10 to 14 business days or more after receipt of the counter-notice, at RAMPIT's sole discretion.

17. Miscellaneous

As defined in Clause 1.2, this Agreement is the entire agreement between You and RAMPIT relating to the subject matter herein, and supersedes all previous communications, representations, understandings and agreements, either oral or written, between You and RAMPIT with respect to said subject matter. This Agreement shall not be modified except in a writing signed by both parties, or by a change made as provided in Clause 2.2. If any provision of this Agreement is invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability will not affect the remainder of this Agreement, which is severable from said provision and will remain in full force and effect.
If You breach any provision of this Agreement and RAMPIT has knowledge (either actual or constructive) of that breach, a failure to pursue legal action or to enforce any remedy against You will not constitute a waiver of its legal rights. Any waiver of rights under this Agreement must be in writing and signed by RAMPIT.
All matters relating to this Website and this Agreement are governed by and are to be construed according to the laws applicable in the state of Tennessee, United States (without regard to any rules governing choice of law). If one or more of the exceptions from arbitration expressly set forth in Section 16 above apply, You agree unconditionally to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Davidson County, Tennessee, in relation to all matters arising out of or in any way connected with this Agreement or this Website.
RAMPIT may assign its rights and novate or transfer obligations which arise under this Agreement. You must not assign, novate or otherwise transfer Your rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of RAMPIT. Any assignment attempted in violation of this Clause 17.4 shall be void.
The parties agree that no rule of construction applies to the disadvantage of a party because that party was responsible for the preparation of this Agreement or part of it.
Unless otherwise requested in writing by You, RAMPIT may refer to You and Your corporate identity (if applicable) as part of promoting this Website and RAMPIT in the marketplace.
RAMPIT accepts content uploaded from Users in good faith and on the basis of warranties provided by Users. It is Your responsibility at all times to investigate and become satisfied as to the accuracy of the information provided by any other party (including all Users) on this Website. RAMPIT at no time makes any representations as to the accuracy of any information provided on this Website.
You acknowledge and agree that to the extent that this Agreement relates to a Competition, a prospective Competition or any Posting, this Agreement is intended also to be for the benefit of the Competition Sponsor, the Participant(s) and other Users, who are entitled to enforce the provisions of this Agreement against You.
All notices, requests, demands, consents, approvals, offers, agreements or other communications given by You to RAMPIT must be emailed to RAMPIT atsupport@rampit.com.
In the interpretation of this Agreement, unless the contrary intention appears:
1. the words 'includes' or 'including' mean 'includes without limitation' or 'including without limitation';
2. a reference to a 'person' or 'entity' includes a reference to an individual, group of individuals, corporation, firm, association or other entity;
3. the singular includes the plural and vice versa;
4. an agreement, representation or warranty made by two or more persons is made by them jointly and by each of them severally; and headings are inserted for convenience only and do not affect the interpretation of this Agreement.
This Competition is a skills-based challenge to resolve bona fide requirements and not, for clarity, any game(s) of chance.

Our Mission

To inspire innovative, cross-disciplinary scientific research and inquiry.

1

Apply

Application

2

Get Feedback

Scoring Process

3

Win an Award

Meet the Judges

Meet the Judges

Peer-to-Peer Review

Meet the Judges

Evaluation Panel

Meet the Judges

Selection Committee

Resources & Updates

Meet The Judges

Timeline

Trait Scoring Rubric

A Level Playing Field

Rules

1. Eligibility

2. Ineligible persons or entities

3. Financial and Organizational Capacity

4. Supporting Documentation

5. Treatment and Use of Intellectual Property

6. Other Rules

About the NAKFI Challenge

Application

A. Introduction

Proposal Title (20 words)

Your Quick Pitch (100 words)

B. About Your Team

Team Organization (250 words)

Team Management (200 words)

Letter of Support (OPTIONAL)

C. Your Proposal

The Big Challenge (150 words)

Local Conditions (150 words)

Your Tactics (250 words)

Sustainability (150 words)

D. Your Project Plan and Budget

Your Timeline and Key Milestones (150 words)

Budget Narrative (150 words)

Detailed Budget

Additional Expected Support (50 words)

Private Benefit (150 words)

Risk Management & Mitigation (150 words)

Other Considerations (150 words)

Privacy Policy

The Information RAMPIT Collects:

The Way RAMPIT Uses Information:

When RAMPIT Discloses Information:

Your Choices

Third Party Websites:

Our Commitment to Children's Privacy:

Our Commitment to Data Security:

International Visitors

Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy

RAMPIT Contact Information

Letter of Support

Terms & Conditions

1. Definitions and interpretation

2. Agreement to be bound

3. Participation

4. Terminating Your Participation

5. Use of this Website

6. Terms specific to Participants

7. RAMPIT's relationship with Each Participant and Competition Sponsor

8. Terms specific to Finalists and Awardee(s) and Competition Sponsor

9. Taxes on Awards

10. Limitation of liability

11. Indemnity

12. Access to the Site outside of the United States

13. Intellectual property

14. Third party sites

15. Arbitration

16. Digital Millennium Copyright Act

To inspire innovative,
cross-disciplinary scientific research and inquiry.