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| Faculty Seed Grants Guidelines RESEARCH COUNCIL SEED GRANTS GUIDELINES
Click here to fill out the “Request for Research Council Seed Grant”
(Right click and use "Save Target As" and save to your hard
drive) RESEARCH COUNCIL SEED GRANTS 2008-2009 Awards The University of Dayton Research Council Seed Grants (RCSG) are competitive and merit-based awards. These are designated to support only those newer projects which show clear potential for increasing the investigator’s research productivity as evidenced by refereed publications, juried creative work, and external research funding. The three RCSG awards are: Summer Research Fellowships: These Research Council Seed Grants are intended to give support to a faculty member during the period of May 16 through August 15. Potentially, the stipend for 2009 can be as much as $5,000 depending upon the quality of the proposal. The quality of the proposal will be determined by the factors defined in the “EVALUATION” section of this guideline outlined below and on the requirements set forth in the instructions for the proposal narrative. Faculty who has won previous RESEARCH COUNCIL SEED GRANTS must have submitted a report on those grants in order to be considered for new awards. There is no guarantee that all proposers will win awards. Investigators having a 12-month appointment are ineligible for the Summer Research Fellowships, but may apply for the Grant-In-Aid and Equipment awards. Research Grants-In-Aid: These Research Council Seed Grants support the acquisition of resources necessary for research projects. This may include travel, payments to human subjects, purchase and care of animal subjects, research subjects, research software, minor equipment, materials and supplies, student or non-student research assistants, books and other printed source material, and data which must be purchased from external sources. Travel must be directly related to the specific project and funds may not be used to attend conferences. Requests for this grant must be specifically itemized book titles, quotes for software specifics, quotes for equipment, rationale for travel, travel timeframe, cost of other materials and supplies, cost of data to be purchased, rationale for payment to student or non-student research assistants, and the like. Detailed dollar estimate of each item is required. Amounts up to $1,000 may be requested. Granted funds may be expended at any time during the 2009 calendar year. No portion of the funds may be held over beyond December 31, 2009. Faculty who have won previous RESEARCH COUNCIL SEED GRANTS must have submitted a report on those grants in order to be considered for new awards. There is no guarantee that all proposers will win awards. Research Equipment Grants: These Research Council Seed Grants will support the acquisition of research equipment. The maximum equipment grant will be $5,000. Teaching equipment or personal computers will not be funded; other equipment readily available on campus also will not be funded. To establish the urgency and importance of the Research Equipment Grant proposal, it is desirable that the proposer demonstrate that there exists a commitment for matching contributions from one’s own school/college and/or department/program. Equipment must be ordered by June 30, 2009, and funds must be expended by December 31, 2009. New faculty who have received research equipment funds at the time of hire (i.e. start-up funds) from the University are not eligible to apply for the Research Equipment Grant in the first year. NEW FACULTY AND SENIOR FACULTY ELIGIBILITY Members of the Research Council are not eligible to apply for RCSG grants. Faculty who has won previous RESEARCH COUNCIL SEED GRANTS must have submitted a report on those grants in order to be considered for new awards. There is no guarantee that all proposers will win awards. The grants are designated as New Faculty grants and Senior Faculty grants. Faculty is eligible for only one category of grant. New Faculty Grants: The purpose of the seed grants for new tenure track faculty (in their first four years) is to assist them in the initiation of research. The Research Council Seed Grants in this category are awarded to faculty members new to the University whose faculty appointments were effective on or after August 16, 2005. A new faculty member can receive grants from any category in any given year. In order to win an RCSG grant for two consecutive years, however, the proposer must demonstrate that (a) the efforts of the previous year had indeed resulted in significant scholarly research, (b) the previously won RCSG equipment, if any, if being adequately used, and (c) there exists a continuing track record of publishing and seeking external sponsorship, and (d) must have filed the final report for previous year's Research Council Seed Grants. New faculty who have received research equipment funds at the time of hire (i.e. start-up funds) from the University are not eligible to apply for the Research Equipment Grant in the first year. Senior Faculty Grants: After completing four years of tenure track service you are considered to be in the senior category. The purpose of the seed grants for senior investigators is to provide financial support to encourage initiatives in research and other scholarly activities by senior faculty members. There are two categories for eligibility: (1) senior faculty members in transition from administrative duties to renewed research efforts and (2) senior faculty members who are embarking on a new avenue of research scholarship that is different from their previous research endeavors. A memo from the department chair will be required to verify that the proposal represents a new and different avenue of research/scholarship for the faculty member. Senior faculty members who were funded in an academic year in either senior or new faculty category are not eligible to apply for the four years following the last award. The proposer must demonstrate that (a)
the previously won RCSG grant, if any, was successfully completed, and (b)
there exists a continuing track record of research productivity. SCOPE OF THE RCSG PROPOSAL The primary objective of the RCSG grants is to initiate scholarly research. An RCSG research proposal, in addition to describing a well thought-out research project, must show evidence that the investigator has a definite and ongoing plan to increase research productivity. The Research Council does not fund
teaching or course development proposals. Such proposals should be submitted
to the Fund for Educational Development which is administered by the Office
of the Provost. Also, funds may not be used for course revisions or
classroom text writing. PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS An acceptable RCSG proposal must conform to the following format requirements: 1. The Request for Research Council Seed Grants must be completed and signed by the investigator, chairperson/program director, and dean. 2. An abstract of the proposal (maximum of one page). 3. A narrative proposal of no more than four pages, single spaced, 12 pt. 4. An academic resume of no more than one page. 5. Copy of progress report, if a grant was made in the previous year. Individuals applying for more than one of these seed grants should submit them as one combined proposal. It is important that the proposals submitted follow the appropriate guidelines. The proposal will be evaluated by some members outside the investigator’s immediate discipline. Thus it must be written clearly so as to be understandable by all members of the review subcommittee. All budget requests must be justified in the text. Proposals should be submitted both by hard copy (one copy with signatures) to the Office of Research, Kettering Labs, Room 565, Zip 0102, and electronically at research@udayton.edu. The deadline for applying for all three of the Research Council Seed Grants is Friday, October 31, 2008. Contact any member of the Research Council if you have any questions about the application guidelines. The Research Council members are: Michael V. McCabe, VP for Research., Chair Jaro M. Bilocerkowycz, Political Science Albert Burky, Biology Richard Chenoweth, Music Robert Crutcher, Psychology Jennifer Davis-Berman, Sociology/Anthropology Jamie Ervin, Engineering, Mechanical & Aerospace Daniel C. Fouke, Philosophy Peter Gooch, Visual Arts Joe Mashburn, Mathematics Gary Morrow, Chemistry Terry Murray, Research Institute Peter Powers, Physics James Robinson, Communication John G. Ruggiero, Economics & Finance Andrew Sarangan, Engineering, Electro-Optics Shamachary Sathish, Research Institute Paul Vanderburgh, Education (Health & Sport Science)
Stephen Wilhoit, English EVALUATION The evaluation of the review subcommittees will govern the selection of Research Council Seed Grants, based on the information submitted by the deadline of Friday, October 31, 2008. Announcement of awards will be made in early January 2009. Proposals that involve human and/or animal subjects require additional review. The investigator must file the appropriate forms detailing the use of human subjects and/or animals with the proposal for a Research Council Seed Grant. Requests for funding should focus on what is needed to do the research proposed. The Vice President for Research will make the final decision on the grants. The evaluative comments will be shared as constructive feedback, if requested. The criteria upon which the evaluation of proposals is based are: 1. Quality of the proposal’s presentation. (The terms and objectives should be clear and unambiguous to a general audience.) 2. Significance of the research project and its objectives. 3. Appropriateness of the proposed method. 4. Evidence that efforts to secure outside funding are planned or have been made for this research project. The Council recognizes that outside funding is less available in some disciplines than in others but encourages applicants to investigate funding opportunities and to apply for external funding whenever possible. Evidence of these efforts is important to the evaluation of proposals by the review subcommittees. If outside funding is not relevant to the project, explain why. 5. Evidence of scholarly output.
6. Proposal must be consistent with format outlined in
application materials. REPORTS The 2007-2008 awardees are required to file a progress report summarizing the RCSG project by October 10, 2008. Attach a copy of this report if you are applying for another grant at this time and have been a past awardee of a research council grant within the last three years. Click here if your proposal was funded by the Ohio Board of Regents, Research Incentive Fund (for the Science and Engineering proposals). Click here if your proposal was funded by the Research Council Seed Grant (for Arts & Humanities proposals). The 2008-2009 awardees are required to file a progress report summarizing the RCSG project by October 9, 2009. The report submitted at the completion
of the project should include plans to search for external funding. If
there is a proposal for a Seed Grant the following year by the same
applicant, the report on the previous year’s grant, including responses to
the two questions A and B under VI, Funding, in Proposal Requirements are
used as a basis for evaluation of the proposal. FORUM COMMITTEE ON THE CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL TRADITION TODAY Two additional research grants are available through the budget of the Forum for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Today. Proposals for these grants should deal explicitly with some aspect of Catholicism, e.g., the Catholic Church or its members. Catholic thought, art or culture, etc. Proposals are welcome from scholars in all disciplines; interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged. Proposals to the Forum will be submitted to the Research Council. The Council will forward these proposals to the Forum Committee for their review and input. Proposals will then be returned to the Research Council for review and evaluation under its Research Council Seed Grants Guidelines. Members of the Forum are not eligible to apply for these grants. Proposals submitted to CITF that do not fit its requirements will be reviewed with other proposals in the category in which it is submitted. Information about other sources of support may be obtained by consulting the Faculty Handbook. |
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