Faculty Research and Support Funds: How to Succeed By Really Trying Faculty Research and Support Funds: How to Succeed By Really Trying! Office of Sponsored Programs 02/15/2019

The Big Picture: What Is FRSF? Acronym: Faculty Research and Support Funds Translation: Internal funding for research, creative and scholarly activities Intended for small projects ($3,500 on average) that help lay the foundation for larger external grants or for more advanced scholarship

Who Can Apply? Short Answer: See section 3 in guidelines (“Eligibility”) Applications limited to: Full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty who: Have no other current FRSF awards; and Have no overdue FRSF final reports

How Do I Apply? Compose FRSF proposal according to guidelines (solicit feedback from peers and committee) Step 1 Email completed proposal AND your current CV to your Dean to request support for funding. (CC: your Dean’s admin asst. and sponsoredprograms@uhcl.edu) Step 2 The Dean emails support of your proposal directly to the Office of Sponsored Programs Step 3 OSP will acknowledge receipt of the proposal and support from the Dean The submission is COMPLETE! Step 4

What Is the Money For? Equipment, supplies, and materials Student assistants (grad or undergrad) – salary and fringe Travel necessary to conduct research (NOTE: NOT to present the research at a conference) Copyright permission expenses Preparation of monographs, including textual & biographical research, annotation, indexing etc – scholarly books only, not textbooks

Examples of Recent Funding Research assistant to do computer programming Participant incentives (gift cards) Technology to carry out a project Assessment instruments Book indexing Travel to take a short course on a new research method Evaluator to collect and interpret program outcomes data

What Goes into a Proposal? Cover page (OSP-provided form) Purpose and objectives Background and Hypothesis Significance of the request Procedures, Work Plan, and Methodology Project Schedule/Timeline Equipment and Facilities Dissemination/Use of Results Budget Budget Justification Cost Share Support (if any) Appendices (CVs of project personnel)

Proposal Review Criteria Guidelines, Section 5: Purpose Significance and timeliness Advancement of the discipline Clarity of hypothesis, methodologies, and project plans Dissemination plan Plan for future funding Results of prior FRSF support

Proposal Review Process Each proposal assigned to 2 reviewers Reviewers rate 7 criteria, assigning ratings of - (0 pts),  (2 pts) or + (4 pts) Two criteria may get N/A ratings if (a) the discipline has few opportunities for external funding and/or (b) the applicant has no prior FRSF awards Points are added, averaged for two reviewers, and converted to percentage based on number of scored criteria

Grant Award Process Proposals are segregated by faculty rank (asst prof vs assoc/full) Each group of proposals is ranked by score Committee members and OSP executive director review rankings in each group and make preliminary recommendations about funding Committee recommendations are submitted to the provost for approval

Tip 1: Write to the Reviewers At least one is not in your discipline One or both may be outside your college Proposal needs to be understandable to an educated person outside your field. If the only understandable sentence is the first line of your abstract, your proposal may not score well. Get to the point quickly, so that reviewers know what you plan to do, how and why you plan to do it, and what resources are needed.

Tip 2: Use a Scholarly Approach Statements such as “Prior research has found that…” should be followed by citations of that work. A complete, concise literature review is appropriate. Tailor the review to what the proposal is requesting. Include citations as part of the 10-page narrative.

Tip 3: Sell Your Idea Don’t assume the reviewers know why the project is important; tell them Explain why the project matters to UHCL Explain how the project advances your field or discipline Include a thorough but realistic plan for disseminating the results of your project

Tip 4: Pay Attention to Details Double-check budget calculations and consistency with budget justification Follow the formatting requirements 10 pages, double-spaced 1” margins and  12 point font Use the current cover page form (available on OSP web site) Assemble the proposal components in the order listed in guidelines

Tip 5: Seek and Use Reviewers’ Advice FY2019 FRSF Committee Members BUS: Timothy Michael & Grady Perdue COE: Amy Orange & Michelle Peters HSH: Anne Marcoline & Thomas Schanding CSE: Hakduran Koc & Yi Su

Wrap-Up REMINDER: Deadline 5 PM on 3/22/19 (including dean’s approval – ask early!) What questions do you have? What topics or issues need further discussion? Next steps: preliminary planning for summer and fall workshops For additional information or assistance: sponsoredprograms@UHCL.edu 281-283-3015