Northeastern State University Faculty Research Committee
FRC Mission		FRC Committee Members
Grant Applications		Previous Grant Recipients
Information for Current Grant Recipients		Institutional Review Board

Applying for a Research Grant

All full time NSU faculty are encouraged to apply for a a one year or two year Faculty Research Committee Grant. The deadline for applications is the first Friday in March. Information concerning the application process follows.

Call for Research Grant Proposals

A primary function of the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) is to operate a faculty research grant funding program based on merit review of proposals submitted by faculty. FRC grant funds will support research defined as scientific investigations or other scholarly activities leading to original contributions to understanding in any of the disciplines supported by NSU. Those research activities may include systematic investigations of teaching methods, tools, and/or instructional strategies.

Eligibility

Applicants must be full-time (non-temporary) faculty status and the rank of instructor or above. In addition, if an FRC grant has been awarded to the applicant(s) within the previous five years, an acceptable final report must have been submitted to the FRC. Previous recipients of FRC grants are encouraged to call the Chair of the FRC to assure themselves that a report is on file. Applications are accepted annually on the first Friday of March.

FRC Grant Procedures

Since the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) has limited funds, the grant program is a competition. So that the FRC can give adequate and equal consideration to all proposals, it is necessary that all applicants follow the same procedures as closely as possible, particularly given the differences between disciplines. The proposal should stand alone without the need for interpretation or clarification. The FRC is composed of faculty from a wide distribution of disciplines. This means that an individual may not be an authority in the particular area of research proposed. Thus, the proposal should be written clearly enough that a "non-expert" can understand it and thoroughly enough that an "expert" can document the adequacy of the theory and methodology.

Format

Throughout the proposal and text, use only 12 point font. Please limit the Summary, Procedure and Timetable, Resources Currently Available, Narrative, and Statement of Research Accomplishments with FRC Funding to a total of five pages and limit the curriculum vita to two pages. The budget section should include the required budget justifications.

Submission of Proposals

1. Submit documents electronically as email attachments to the Chair of the FRC. Please send the proposal, the curriculum vita, and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) application (or approval letter if you have already applied and received it), if required, as separate Word or rich text format (RTF) files. Files should be labeled with your last name and first initial and identified as Proposal, CV, IRB or IACUC. (For example: AdamsA.Proposal, AdamsA.cv, and AdamsA.IRB). Additional submitted materials may not be reviewed.
2. Also submit original signature pages: a) Department Head and appropriate Dean's signatures (if requesting release time/summer pay), and b) your Stipulations page (required of all applicants) to the Chair of the FRC.

Human Subjects

All projects that require the participation of human subjects require approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). If your proposed project involves human subjects, the proposal to the FRC must include the IRB application (or approval letter if you have already applied and received it). If your proposal is funded by the FRC then the IRB application will be forwarded to that committee for action. No proposal involving human subjects will be considered without the IRB application. IRB applications may be obtained online  through the IRB web site. Questions concerning IRB should be directed to the Chair of the IRB.

Animal Subjects

All projects that involve the use of live, warm-blooded vertebrate animals or dead animals require approval by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). If your proposed project involves animal subjects, the proposal to the FRC must include the IACUC application (or approval letter if you have already applied and received it). If your proposal is funded by the FRC then the IACUC application will be forwarded to that committee for action. No proposal involving animal subjects will be considered without the IACUC application. IACUC applications can be obtained online through the IACUC website. Questions concerning IACUC should be directed to the Chair of the IACUC.

Proposal Components

Each proposal should contain the following components:

1. Signed Cover Page(s)
2. Main Body of Proposal (Maximum 5 pages), including Summary, Procedure and Timetable, Resources Currently Available, Narrative, and a Statement of Accomplishments from Previous FRC Funding, if required
3. Budget and Budget Justification
4. Curriculum Vitae (CV) (For each researcher applying)
5. Signed Stipulations Sheet(s)
6. IRB or IACUC Application, if necessary

Description of Proposal Components

Cover Page

Please list and provide the requested information for each Principal Investigator. Add additional sheets if necessary. All proposals must be reviewed and signed by the Department Head and appropriate Dean before submission to the FRC.

Main Body of Proposal (Maximum 5 Pages)

Summary State the hypothesis to be tested, the problem to be investigated, or the teaching methodology to be investigated. The summary will be displayed on the FRC web site if the proposal is funded.

Procedure and Timetable. List the steps or stages in the procedure and the approximate time frame during which each will be accomplished. Be realistic in setting up the time schedule. Be aware that funds must always be spent by June 30 of the first year of funding and June 30 of the second year of funding for those who receive a two year funding. Funds cannot be carried from one fiscal year to the next.

Resources Currently Available Indicate the equipment, personnel and technical expertise needed for the project currently available, this may include any unique experience or training that the faculty member has which makes this project feasible. Specify all equipment and/or supplies which will be loaned or donated by an off-campus source if this project is funded. Indicate the approximate dollar value of this donation or loan. (Remember to obtain permission from appropriate individuals for use of resources.)

Narrative The narrative should be concise yet complete in stating the problem, presenting a brief literature review, and thoroughly describing the methodology of the project.

Statement of Research Accomplishments with FRC Funding (Include only if funded by FRC within the last five Years.) Please briefly describe the results of any FRC research or innovative teaching grants that were funded within the past five years.

Budget

The maximum budget allowed for one year proposals is $8,000. The maximum budget allowed for two year proposals is $12,000. The total amount that can be used for salary support/release time may not exceed $7,000 per year.

Salary (release time) Release time for the PI (normally a maximum of 3 semester hours) may be requested during the fall and spring semesters. Requests for funding of release time/summer pay must be approved by the Dean and Department Head of the PI’s college/department and verification of approval must accompany the application. The cost for covering the PI’s released time should be equal to the cost to hire an adjunct faculty person to cover the researcher's teaching duties. In the case of optometry, salary support in the fall and spring semesters may be equal to the cost to hire an adjunct faculty person to cover 8 hours of clinic per week. In the case of the library, salary support in the fall and spring semesters may be equal to the cost to hire an adjunct faculty person to cover twenty-five percent (25%) their weekly load.

Salary (summer). The amount of salary support for the summer may be equivalent to what the researcher would earn by teaching six credit hours.. In no case may the total work load of the researcher exceed what would be equivalent to teaching seven credit hours. For example, if the researcher received summer salary support from FRC equivalent to 3 credit hours of teaching, he/she could not teach more than 4 credit hours that summer and would be expected to spend the remainder of the time doing research. In the case of Optometry, salary support for the summer may be equal to the cost of hiring an adjunct faculty person to cover 20 hrs of clinic teaching each week for 10 weeks. In the case of the Library, a person is eligible to apply up to $7,000.

Student salary. Whenever possible, students receiving work study financial aid should be utilized, since the cost to the research project is one-fourth the cost of an institutional student (any student enrolled in classes at NSU). However, if a project requires a student with specific expertise, it may not be possible to find a student qualified for work study and an institutional student will have to be used. If any student salary is requested, give a thorough description of the student's duties in the research project at the bottom of the budget page.

Supplies and equipment. Use additional pages to itemize and justify supplies (other than office) and equipment. Be specific in listing items needed - not just software, but which specific software product. Indicate exactly how supplies will be used in this project, and if similar or identical equipment is available on campus, why it is not sufficient or available for this project. The grants are not intended for the purchase of computers or computer software for which the university has a site license (word processing, database, spreadsheet or integrated packages).

Travel. The travel should be directly related to the conduct of the research, i.e., original data collection, use of archives or special library collections, consultation or collaboration, or use of lab facilities not available at NSU. Travel to professional meetings should not be included as a part of the grant proposal. If unsure of university guidelines regarding any aspect of the budget, e.g. map miles, meals, etc., please obtain assistance from your respective department or college. It is important that the budget requests are accurate.

All faculty salaries, either release time or summer, should be justified through a description of the planned duties or activities.

Two Year Funding

The funding of two year studies/projects begins on July 1st of the first year of funding. Funding for two years allows faculty to develop studies/projects that cannot be completed in a one year time frame, and enables faculty to devote at least one entire, continuous summer to a study/project. Applications for two year grants must adhere to the following guidelines.

1. Awards are for two years, for a maximum of $12,000 total (pending availability of funds)
2. Application should include a clearly defined time-line with definite goals to be achieved by the end of each semester.
3. The budget should be divided into fiscal year-long segments. Each year would begin on July 1 and end on June 30. Summer salary would be available for each calendar year covered, if all other criteria are met, e.g. justification, teaching load. For example, summer salary could be requested for summer of 2006 and/or for summer 2007, for a study/project beginning July 1, 2006 and ending June 30, 2008.
4. On March 15th of the first year, recipients of two year grants are required to submit a 1-2 page report stating which of the goals had been achieved and how much money had been spent. Justifications should be given for any changes from the original time-line
5. The FRC will evaluate the report at the April meeting, and recommend or not recommend funding for the second year. Funding is always subject to the availability of funds each fiscal year. In the event that sufficient funds are not available for a second year, priority will be given to projects that have made the best progress toward the stated goals, as judged by review of the March 15th report
6. Faculty receiving approval for a two year award are expected to actively seek outside funding during the second year. The FRC grants are “seed” monies on for building outside funding resources
7. Faculty receiving two year awards are not normally funded a third consecutive year for any studies/projects by the FRC.
8. Funding priority will be given to projects with strong justification of need, clearly defined goals for each semester that support the budget for each fiscal year, which are submitted by faculty who have achieved research/evaluation goals in the past, especially if funded by FRC.

Final Reporting Requirements for One Year and Two Year Grants

Within six months of the termination of the funded project or at the time of application for another FRC grant, whichever comes first, the researcher is expected to submit a final report, not to exceed five pages, using the outline below. An acceptable final report must be on file before the researcher applies for another FRC grant

1. Financial report. Were all the awarded funds spent? If not, why not? (Changes in the budget needed previous approval and justification for those changes need not be repeated here.)
2. Information gathered. Was the unprocessed information (or data) gathered as planned? What short falls were there and why did they occur? Does the researcher have feasible plans to gather missing information? What unanticipated, extra information was gathered?
3. Information processing/ achievement of specific objectives. State in a clear manner what the researcher added to the present fund of knowledge in the general area into which this project fits. What publications are in preparation, have been submitted, have been accepted for publication, or have been published? What papers have been (or will be) delivered at meetings (give time, place, and name of sponsoring organization)? What other tangible outcomes are available that verify the achievement of the research goal?
4. Student involvement. How many students were involved and how were they involved? In what way did they benefit from that involvement.
5. Anticipated follow-up work. What new projects or extensions of this project does the researcher anticipate doing, if any? Will new funds be applied for to continue that work, from FRC or from outside sources?

Evaluation Criteria for Grant Proposals

The FRC will use the following criteria in evaluating each proposal.

1. Does the proposal fit FRC guidelines for funding? If the proposal does not fit FRC guidelines, it will not be considered.
2. Clarity of problem. (20 points) Is the immediate objective of the project clearly stated? Is a successful outcome identifiable? Is the main body of the proposal five pages or less?
3. Narrative. (30 points) Did the researcher describe the broad area into which this project fits? Was that description clear and understandable to an educated person outside that specialty area? Does this project seem to be an important part of that area? Is the project innovative? Does the researcher clearly state what new information he/she hopes to gather?
4. Procedures (25 points) Do the procedures to be used seem appropriate? Are they practical and within the capability of the researcher and the research setting? Is a time table clearly identified and is it feasible? Is the budget appropriate? (Inclusion of non-fundable items, such as travel to meetings, can be stricken from the budget without lowering the score; but an unrealistic budget should lower the score.)
5. Use/application of Results (10 points). How will the results of this research be used? Is an immediate application identified? Are publication and/or presentation specifically mentioned?
6. Researcher's Past Performance (5 Points) If the faculty member has not received an FRC grant within the last five years, the researcher will be awarded 5 points. If the researcher has received an FRC grant within the last five years, the Statement of Research Accomplishments with FRC Funding section of the proposal should demonstrate a good faith effort on the part of the researcher to achieve the stated goals.
7. Potential for External Funding (10 points) Faculty members may use these internal funds as seed money for obtaining external funding. Evidence that the researcher has considered and/or pursued this possibility is encouraged (e.g. mention of specific grant programs and deadlines, evidence of contact with Research and Sponsored Programs staff regarding grant opportunities). Does the continuation or expansion of this project have the potential for external funding from private, state or federal sources?

Outside letters of support stating why the proposal should be funded are encouraged. All incomplete or erroneously prepared proposals will be returned to the Principal Investigator for revision and re-submission. Previous grant recipients who have not turned in Final Reports will not be funded for future projects. The FRC committee will consider all complete proposals received by the deadline.

Revised December 2001, January 2009, December 2011
Northeastern State University, Office of the Vice-President of Academic Affairs
Faculty Research Committee