The College Research Activities (CRA) Award program is designed to enhance the research enterprise of the College of Communication and Information by assisting faculty in developing and advancing their programs of research, particularly research that is extramurally funded. The source of funding for the CRA account is the indirect costs generated by extramurally funded projects received by faculty in the College, so targeting these funds to enhance success in extramural funding is warranted.
The CRA award program will support (a) faculty research activities and (b) awards to incentivize grant/contract application submission. In each case, awards are made contingent on fund availability. This policy may be revised in future years as warranted by changes in funding climate and budget model.
PLEASE NOTE: The information you need to apply for research project support appears below in the following sections: Support Categories, Review Criteria, Application Deadlines and Application Process. Please read through this information to guide the preparation your application, especially Application Process. If you still have questions, contact the ADR.
SUPPORT CATEGORIES
Faculty Research Project Support
Up to $2,000 may be requested for research projects that support extramural grant and contract development. Faculty members need to indicate in their CRA application the targeted source of extramural funding, and their final report to the ADR must indicate the status of the application. Allowable expenses for research projects include purchase of research supplies (e.g., software, photocopying), research subject payment, research assistant payment and travel for data collection. Preference will be given to activities furthering the career development of nontenured faculty members, then associate professors and finally full professors. Only one project per faculty member may be funded per fiscal year.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
Effective February 1, 2014, faculty members who submit extramural grant or contract applications meeting certain criteria are eligible to receive a monetary award from the CRA fund. The award will consist of an amount that will be set at the beginning of each fiscal year but that is anticipated to be at least $250. The award amount must be spent within one year of receipt.
Criteria:
- The faculty member must be the PI of the grant (or subaward if the grant is to another institution) or contract.
- The faculty member must have research effort on his/her DOE.
- Direct costs must average a minimum of $50,000 per project year.
- The project must generate indirect costs.
- Faculty members may receive no more than two awards per fiscal year.
- Resubmissions do not count; competing continuations do count.
The Associate Dean for Research will monitor grant/contract submissions for the College and make awards on a rolling basis. For faculty research projects, please note the following review criteria, application deadlines and application process.
REVIEW CRITERIA
Faculty Research Project Proposals
The CRA review committee, which consists of a representative from COM, ISC, JAM and SIS, will review all faculty research project proposals and make funding recommendation decisions to the ADR. The following criteria will be considered in reviewing applications:
- Activities furthering the career development of untenured faculty members, then associate professors and finally full professors.
- Applicants who have not previously received support, followed by those who received support least recently.
- Applicants who provide matching funds or who have generated indirect costs.
Review committee members will provide a written review of each proposal, noting strengths and weaknesses, investigator qualifications and appropriateness of budget, and they will provide a priority score ranging from 1 (excellent) to 5 (not fundable). The ADR will make funding decisions based on the reviews and will provide a summary statement to the applicant along with the funding decision.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
- The faculty member must be the PI of the grant (or subaward if the grant is to another institution) or contract.
- The faculty member must have research effort on his/her DOE.
- Direct costs for the project (or subaward) must average a minimum of $50,000 per project year.
- Faculty members may receive no more than two awards per fiscal year.
- Resubmissions do not count; competing continuations do count.
APPLICATION DEADLINES
Faculty Research Project Proposals
The proposal deadline is October 10 by 5 p.m. eastern time. Awards will be made before the end of the calendar year, and funds must be spent by May 31 of the following year.
Applicants must build in sufficient time for review/approval of proposals by their Chair/Director. In the case of multiple submissions from the same unit, the Chair/Director will prioritize proposals before submission to the Associate Dean for Research.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
These awards will be allocated at the beginning of the fiscal year following the submission of the grant/contract.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Research Proposals
The research proposal is to contain the following:
- Cover sheet. (Contact the ADR for a copy of the cover sheet.)
- Abstract of proposed work (up to 250 words).
- Research plan: Specific aims, background and significance, preliminary studies (if applicable), research design and methods and a section explicitly addressing how the proposed work will advance your research.
- Targeted source of extramural application whose development the project is designed to support.
- Detailed budget and budget justification.
- Reference section.
- Brief biosketch of principal investigator – such as NIH or Community of Science/Community of Scholars.
The research plan (item 3, above) is limited to 5 pages (12-point type, single spaced). While IRB approval may be pending at the time of proposal submission for projects involving human subjects, it must be obtained before any awarded funds will be released. The cover sheet is available from the ADR upon request. PLEASE be sure to paginate your application, beginning with the abstract as page 1.
All awardees should file a brief report with the Associate Dean for Research detailing the outcomes of the project, including the status of the extramural grant/contract application, within 90 days of its completion.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
There is no need to apply. The ADR monitors grant application submissions and will make these awards automatically.