2022 Research Enhancements Seed Grants Programs
Goal
The main goal of the College of Sciences (COS) Research Enhancement Seed Grants Program is to invest in new, innovative, and high impact faculty research programs with a potential for large funding from external agencies such as NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, NASA, and USDA. In 2022 COS seeks to support grant proposals in two different categories: (i) Individual Research Projects (IRPs) led by one to three faculty members and (ii) Collaborative Research Clusters (CRCs) consisting of a larger team of faculty.
Collaborative Research Clusters (CRCs) are intended to enhance research of a high national and international caliber that may be described as ambitious, highly creative, original, scientifically daring, and groundbreaking. CRC proposals will promote new research ideas within one discipline or a broad interdisciplinary area. CRCs offer a way to merge complementary fields of exploration that may exist in different departments and schools within the COS.
Eligibility
All full-time tenured or tenure-track COS faculty are eligible to apply. Research faculty and lecturers may be included as co-PIs with strong justification. UTRGV faculty outside COS or external researchers at other institutions may be included as collaborators but will not directly receive seed funds from this program.
To be eligible to establish a CRC, lead faculty members should demonstrate their involvement in research already funded by the major federal agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOD, DOE, USDA, NASA, etc. They should also describe the activities of current research collaborations that provide a foundation for the proposed Cluster’s research mission.
Criteria
Seed grant proposals must make a convincing case to justify financial need to conduct high-quality research to obtain necessary preliminary data or to fund other related activities that will help the researcher(s) develop a compelling proposal for submission to an external funding agency that would provide substantial funding.
Funding
Seed grant awards will be effective until the end of the following academic year. Investigators are required to propose their project timeline which must align with the deadline of the grant submission of their targeted grant solicitation. Seed grant funds must be used to enhance the ability of the Principal Investigator(s) to obtain external funding. Seed funding requests must be reasonable and justified. Asking for exceedingly large amounts may impede the possibility for acceptance and funding of the program proposed. Detailed plans on how the funds are intended to be spend need to be provided – the general rules for budgets, as provided by OSP need to be followed.
Faculty may request up to a maximum of 6 credit hours of course buyouts using the seed grant funds during the seed grant project period. Faculty may use portion of the funds to invite selected collaborators from other institutions to the campus to develop and write large grant proposals, however UTRGV PI must serve as a lead PI on the external proposal. Seed grant proposals with realistic and reasonable budgets will be more competitive. Decisions on seed grant awards will be made by the Dean upon recommendations of the COS Research Advisory Committee.
Reporting and Acknowledgement
Seed grant recipients will provide a one-page quarterly update on the progress of their seed grant project and will be required to develop and submit a compelling full proposal to an external funding agency of their choice that provides substantial funding. Providing a copy of the full proposal to the COS Dean’s office concludes the reporting commitment.
Each seed grant recipient must submit a draft of the external proposal to the COS Dean’s office at least 4 weeks before the external agency deadline for review by the COS Research Council that will provide input to strengthen the finished proposal. The grantee must acknowledge COS seed grant financial support in all publications resulting from the award and provide a copy of the publication to the COS Dean’s Office.
Proposal Format and Deadline
Proposals should be prepared using Times New Roman, 12-point font, single spaced, and one inch margins format and must include the following items:
Cover Page (1 page): List PI, co-PIs and all other personnel resources, total budgeted amount and teaching release.
Summary: (1 page) - The summary should be written in the third person and must include a clear statement of objectives and methods to be employed. It must clearly address the intellectual merit and the broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity. List the funding agency and the submission date of the full external grant proposal that will continue the proposed research described here.
Narrative (Up to 5 pages) should include:
- Introduction: Emphasize the significance of the project and briefly summarize previous research in the field. In general, the introduction sets forth the major focus of the proposal. Specify how the proposal will meet the purpose and criteria of the COS seed grants program.
- Research Agenda and/or Specific Goals: State a research objective and list specific goals and outcomes of the project keeping in mind the criteria for seed grant awards.
- Methodology and Procedures: Describe what methodology will be used and how the research will be carried out.
- Research Clusters proposal should also:
- Identify the name of the proposed Cluster; its scientific mission, goals, and objectives; and its relationship to the mission of the COS and UTRGV.
- Describe the combination of intellectual merit, broad impact, research environment, and external factors that creates favorable conditions for the Cluster's success.
- Provide information on potential research and education funding opportunities. Justify the funding agencies or sponsors that may support the long term proposed activities.
- Provide the Cluster’s organizational structure. Identify a director or co-directors, faculty members, and staff. Justify these selections. Provide specific details regarding the commitments and resources being requested through internal or external support as well as the commitments and resources secured to date. Include space and capital equipment requirements, including realistic projections of future needs.
- Timeline: Detail the project schedule. Funds will be available until the end of AY22/23, beginning at the time of the award..
- Equipment and Facilities: Description of the equipment and facilities available for the project; justify equipment and facilities requested in the budget.
- Targeted Funding agency: List the targeted funding agency and the specific program to which the full proposal developed using the seed grant funds will be submitted to. Summarize the general external funding environment for the proposed research area, providing specific information about additional funding opportunities.
References (1-2 pages): List key peer-reviewed papers cited the seed grant proposal.
Budget (1-2 pages): Provide a detailed budget and justify each budget item clearly.
Current and Pending Support (1-2 pages): For the previous five years, include a list of current and pending support, both internal and external for each PI/Co-PI. Include the title, sponsor, amount, and period of each funded or pending project.
Curriculum Vitae (2 pages/personnel) - Include NSF style curriculum vitae for the PI, Co-PIs, and all other professional personnel who will work on this project. Note the curriculum vitae should indicate the total number of publications and list the 5 most significant ones that are related to the proposed research project.
Proposal Submission Deadline: proposal should be submitted as a single “word” or “pdf” file to cos@utrgv.edu 5:00 p.m., April 22, 2022.
Only proposals that meet all of the above criteria will be reviewed for seed grant awards.