INSTRUCTIONS FOR 2009-2010 ROUND OF THE FACULTY SEED GRANTS PROGRAM

 

The deadline for online submission of proposals to the Faculty Seed Grants Program (formerly known as the Faculty Small Grants Program -- FSG) is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 15, 2010.

Instructions

(Please read prior to completing the Application)

Examples given in these instructions have been adapted from successful Faculty Seed Grant proposals and are to serve as guidelines only). 

The application form can be found by clicking on the "Application" menu item. Applicants will log onto the website using their UA Net ID username and password. The application form does not need to be completed all at one time; however, the investigator must click the SAVE button at the end of each completed section in order for the entered information to be saved. The application can be edited up to the time it is actually submitted.  NOTE:  Once your proposal has been submittted, you will not be able to make further edits to the cover page information (you will be allowed to upload or replace your CV or proposal PDFs, however.

Contents

Investigator

Investigator's Credentials:  First Name, Last Name, Position, Email Address, Phone Number,  Department, Department Number/Code, and Mailing Address

Project Details

Title: The proposal title should be a brief description of the research idea. The title should not exceed 10 words. 

Example:  "Infrared Imaging of Spin-Coating Evaporation Processes in Real Time" 

Abstract:  

Include what you intend to do, how you intend to do it, and why it is important. The abstract should be brief (100 words maximum) and can be typed or pasted from a Word document into the text area.

Example:  This research proposes the novel application of infra-red imaging to an important technological process: spin coating. Infrared video camera observations will be used to reveal details of surface temperatures during the spin coating process. Temperature variations are currently thought to result in variations in coating thickness that are detrimental to microelectronic and optical device performance. Results of this analysis will help us better understand this important fabrication process and suggest ways for improving coating uniformity.

Compliance:

If your project will require approval by the Human Subjects Protection Program/Institutional Review Committee (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), the Radiation Control Office, or the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), please check the applicable box(es). Approvals are not required at time of submission. These check boxes are for post-review information. If your proposal is selected for funding, appropriate approvals must be obtained by the investigator before funds will be made available.

Document Uploads

You will have to upload two documents:

Investigator's Brief CV

Upload a brief CV in pdf format only, 2 pages maximum.  If you do not have a pdf converter, try http://www.doc2pdf.net/.

Proposal Document

Upload the proposal in pdf format only, 2 pages maximum.  Proposals will undergo a review by a faculty panel in the broad research area (medicine, humanities, public policy, etc.). Top-ranked proposals will be subsequently reviewed by a lay panel of external reviewers for final ranking and selection. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid technical jargon to the extent possible. The project description should be concise and to the point. For ease of understanding, it might be divided into sections as illustrated in the following examples.

Example:

Specific Aims: What are the objectives of your project? What hypotheses will you test? Are you developing a new methodology? Your goals should be achievable within the one-year grant award period.

Example:  This exploratory study draws from Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural perspectives as well as the contributions of the funds of knowledge project (Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez, 1992). Its aims are to: 1) examine the inquiry process and literacy development (Jimenez, 2003) of Latino/Mexican secondary students as they produce and share authentic knowledge on environmental health issues; 2) explore the linguistic and cultural exchanges among bi-national students; 3) examine the "fit" of the research curriculum and its implementation; and 4) provide graduate students an opportunity to develop their Spanish skills and research experience within the borderland context (consistent with the goals of an Hispanic Serving Institution).

Background Information: Why is the work important? What will it contribute to your field? Relate your project to the current state of knowledge in your discipline and, if applicable, to your work in progress.

Example:  During the past 15 years the College of Medicine has been involved in three agriculture development projects in the area of the Senegal River Valley in West Africa. The first two in Niger and Gambia were completed in 1990 and 1992, respectively. The Mauritanian Agricultural Research Project is scheduled to continue through fiscal year 2009. In the course of these projects, project personnel acquired a large collection of unique, nontraditional documents to support their activities. Many of these materials are in a format not normally found in traditional library settings. Included are approximately 1,500 manuscripts, and technical and progress reports. Because of the lack of information management facilities in the project countries, these materials currently are being housed in the Information Center at the Office of Arid Lands Studies (OALS). Although partially cataloged, the documents are not in a form readily available to the public or the current project personnel.

Project Description: What do you intend to do? State clearly what work you plan to undertake, including the objectives, their expected significance, and their relation to longer term goals.

Example:  The OALS Information Center maintains a variety of database management systems for use on personal computers. However, in the international arena the system developed and distributed free-of-charge by UNESCO, called CDS-ISIS, is fast becoming the norm for maintaining and providing quick access to small document collections. During the past year, several government agencies in Senegal and Niger have initiated projects to organize their documentation using this system. Thus, to provide for the widest possible use and compatibility, it is proposed to use CDS-ISIS for creating a bibliographic database for the Senegal River Valley collection. Cataloging and classification schemes will follow an abbreviated Library of Congress format developed and outlined by the Investigator. However, a student from the School of Information Resources and Library Science will perform the actual cataloging and data entry. In addition, a student from the Department of French and Italian will assist with translations for those documents available only in French and to give a French title to the English language documents. The dual language approach will give the resulting database increased value for both U.S. and West African personnel.

Experimental Methods: How are you going to do the work? Outline your experimental design and the methods to be used for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. For projects focused on creative activity, please explain the specifics of how the project will be carried out.

Example: 

Data Collection: The disability service providers at the institutions in this pilot study can comply with the requirements stated in Objective 1. The specific data that is needed for the first, as well as subsequent research questions will be communicated to the participants via teleconference. There will be 5 teleconferences a year to discuss research plans and progress for the consortium. When necessary, digital video clips will be used to provide instruction on the data management system. The data collection system will allow disability service providers access only to the database from their home site. Only the primary investigator will have access to data across sites. Data will be a variety of continuous, dichotomous, and coded variables. The variables will come from the student's diagnostic report, intake interview, and characteristics related to specific accommodation. Information will come from already established information in the students' files that is legally accesible to the disability service providers, and from new in-hourse organization systems (e.g., test performance data).

Analyses and Interpretation: Parametric and nonparametric statistics will be used for analyses. Summative and comparative data and descriptive statistics will be provided to each institution for each research question.

Potential Impact:  Again, why is this work important? What benefits would be achieved? 

Example:  Five direct benefits would be achieved: 
            (1)  Help understand an important fabrication process and suggest ways for                                     improving coating uniformity;

            (2) Promote undergraduate research as an enhancement of education;

            (3)  Encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between groups with particular                                       strength on campus;

            (4) Help develop a new direction for  applying infrared imaging technology;

            (5) Stimulate proposal submissions to external agencies to continue the collaboration                     between groups.

Example:  It is anticipated that the resulting database will provide the basis for initiating information management project activities throughout West Africa.  Visitors from agencies in both Senegal and Niger have expressed an interest in obtaining access to the document collection and in having information managers come to their countries to install and train personnel in the use of the CDS-ISIS system. The creation and distribution of the Senegal River Valley database will  provide a concrete example of The University of Arizona's commitment to and interest in West Africa.

Future Activities: State how the proposed project will contribute to future research and identify potential sponsors (e.g. foundations, agencies, public institutions and the specific program (if applicable) to which you plan to submit a more comprehensive proposal. 

Example:  The findings from this pilot study will provide significant information to seek extramural funding for a longitudinal study focusing on two English Language Learners' family cohorts (first generation and second generation Latino families) to monitor children's development of biliteracy skills throughout their first years of schooling (preschool through second grade).  A proposal for the Foundation for Child Development is in progress for submission next Fall.

Budget

List budget request amounts in boxes provided in the Application Form. All boxes must be completed; if the subcategories provided do not apply to your project, please insert a “0”. If there are budget items for which no category is listed, please enter the total amount in the box titled “Other.”

Wages & ERE Enter total amount of student wages & ERE. ERE is 2.2% of the amount budgeted for student wages. Funds cannot be used for summer salary, graduate assistantships, or salary for postdocs. This category applies to short-term student wages + ERE only and needs to be itemized in the Budget Justification section.

Travel  Enter total amount of travel costs. The Program only funds Travel costs if Travel is an integral part of the project. Faculty Small Grants Program funds cannot be used for presentation of papers, travel to conferences, etc.)

Capital Equipment (Equipment specific to the project and in excess of $5,000.  Any other important equipment costing less than $5,000 such as a camera should be listed under "Other" below).

Operations Supplies/Materials (Enter total amount needed for Operations. Amount requested must be itemized in the Budget Justification below. General purpose equipment such as computers, printers, and other items normally provided to an investigator by his/her department are not covered by the Faculty Small Grants Program).

Consultant Fees (If consultants are required, enter total amount to be paid to consultants. This category must be itemized in the Budget Justification area, giving name of consultant, for what purpose, fee amount, and number of consultations).

Subject Payments (If project requires the use of human subjects, enter total amount to be paid to subjects. Itemized breakdown must be entered in the Budget Justification area, e.g., 20 subjects to complete survey @ $30/subject = $600).

Other (Enter the amount budgeted for all other purposes not listed in the budget categories provided. The total amount must be itemized in the Budget Justification area).

Budget Justification

If your department will provide a match to the Faculty Seed Grant, please indicate that information in the "Budget Justification" text area. Also in this area, briefly itemize the budgeted amount requested in each Budget Category Box. Budget Justification should not exceed 300 words. To help reviewers understand your budget needs, you may wish to provide subcategories, especially if they represent a large part of your expenses.

Example:  If you are asking for $4,642 for supplies, you might itemize as listed below. (Note that you should use plain text; table formatting will not transfer).

No support is requested for Wages & ERE or Travel. Capital Equipment support for an incubator is requested @ $5,000. The following supplies and materials are requested, for an Operations total of $4,642. Total Budget Request = $9,642.

Supplies/Materials:
- Fertile chicken eggs ($9.00/dozen, 6 dozen/week for 48 weeks) $ 2,592

- Cell culture supplies (Basal media, serum, tissue culture plates, pipets, etc.) $ 650

- Dissecting instruments (Forceps, iris scissors, tungsten needles) $ 550
- Immunocytochemical reagents (Primary and secondary antibodies: CFSE) $ 850

Example:

Wages & ERE $2,060
- Woodworking assistance (2 students x 100 hrs @ $10/hr $2,000 + $60.00 [3.3%] for ERE)

Travel $2,400
-One trip for the Investigator to study the Dickinson estate and artifacts in Amherst, Mass., and to consult with the collaborator, Susan Smith, in Guildford, Conn. (airfare $1100 from Tucson to Amherst, bus travel from Amherst, Mass to Guildford, Conn. $100, and $1200 per diem $300 x 4 days).

Operations $2,050
- Supplies/Materials $1050:
Wood - birch ply, fir, maple, cherry, hollow doors $350
Paint and gold leaf $400
Assorted art materials $300
- Consultant fees (2 consultations @ $150 ea) $300
- Other $700
Photographic and video documentation $300
Photocopying, postage $400

The entire budget request in this example is $6,510 (Wages & ERE, Travel, and Operations).

Authorized Signers

Please supply the name and position of one or more persons authorized to approve expenditures. This is NOT the Principal Investigator; typically, the appropriate persons are the department's business manager/accountant.

 Current Research Support

List all current research support, confirmed and pending, even if it does not apply to the proposed project. Include sponsor, title, amount, and period of award.

Example:  American Cancer Society, Molecular Regulation of Morphogenesis, $63,500, June 2006– May 31, 2008.

Note:  In addition to submitting the online application, a hard copy of the cover and budget pages (with original signatures of the Investigator, Department Head, and Dean) must be received in the Office of the Vice President for Research, Administration Building 601, P.O. Box 210066, by the 5:00 p.m., January 15, 2010 deadline.  If you have any questions, please contact Linda Nultemeier at 621-3512 or lindan@email.arizona.edu