Faculty Research Grants (Internal)
Research Grants Program Call for Proposals

Application Form -- Download (Word Format)
Call for Proposals -- Download

AWARDS:

The University of Texas at Tyler Internal Research Grant Program will fund faculty research for up to one year. Applicants may choose to conduct their research over the full year or they may elect to focus their research in any one semester or the summer. This award may include up to a one course reassignment time for the faculty applicant.

PURPOSE:

To promote faculty research in all disciplines and to encourage faculty members to engage students in the research process. These research awards are intended to provide faculty members with the funds necessary to complete the preliminary research needed to be able to compete for external funding.

AMOUNT:

Up to $5,000 for each of the awards may be requested, which includes all expenses, whether for released time, M & O, equipment, or travel. Of this amount, travel funds for data collection or dissemination of results are limited to $1,500. In addition to the faculty award, up to $2,500 may be requested to fund a UT Tyler student assistant(s) to work on the research project with the faculty applicant. Therefore, the total request, if it includes student help, may be as high as $7,500.

ELIGIBILITY:

All continuing, full-time faculty members are eligible to apply for either award. Preference will be given to:

new faculty,
tenure-track faculty,
tenured faculty.

Applications from non-tenure-track, full-time faculty must include a letter from the appropriate Dean which affirms the likelihood that the faculty member will complete the project. Adjunct and other part-time faculty are not eligible for this funding. Any faculty member with current external funding over $10,000 is not eligible to apply for these awards. Eligible faculty may only receive this funding once every 3 years.

PRIORITIES:

The available funds are awarded based on the merit of each individual proposal and program priorities and preferences as listed below. The priority order for funding is listed below from highest to lowest.

Pilot research into a new area of study with the goal of obtaining external funding (e.g., seed money for the initial stages of new research).
Direct research, scholarly, or creative activity.
Travel to collect data or to disseminate the results of research, scholarly, or creative activity.

PREFERENCES:

In addition to the priorities above, additional attention and points will be assigned to proposals containing the following:

Projects involving students.
Investigators who are new (within two years of hire date), full-time, tenure-track faculty members.

APPLICATION:

The ELECTRONIC submission of the proposal, inserted into the Application Form, must be received by Dr. Eric Stocks, Chair, UT Tyler Research Council, HPR 224, by the Friday following the end of Spring Break, March 19, 2010, at 5:00 PM. Recommendations for proposal funding will be reported by the Research Council to the Vice President for Research (VPR). If selected, the individual faculty member, as well as the respective Department Chair and Dean, will be notified of the award by OSR staff during the latter part of each spring semester. For questions, please contact Dr. Stocks at ext. 5637.

The proposal must contain the following sections in the specific order listed below. The page limits provided in parentheses refer to double-spaced, typed pages and must be strictly adhered to. Proposals containing information outside of these page limitations will be returned without review.

Use Arial font in eleven pitch, one inch margins all around.

Submit ONLY what is required below (sections inserted into the Application Form). DO NOT submit any other documents. Only ONE file, the FACULTY RESEARCH GRANT APPLICATION, should be submitted unless the submission is a collaboration (attach collaborator letters) or the submission is from a non-tenure-track faculty member who needs to also attach a Dean's Letter of Support. NO OTHER ATTACHMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Within the FACULTY RESEARCH GRANT APPLICATION Form, include the following sections in the spaces provided:

BUDGET – List every item requested in this order: Faculty salaries, student wages (if students will be supported), M & O, Travel, Equipment, and Other Expenses. Food, gift cards, honoraria, student travel, or any kind of payments to subjects may not be purchased with these funds. NOTE: Please give the budget serious thought before submission. Budget transfers later on will not be allowed.
BUDGET JUSTIFICATION – Narrative justifying EVERY LINE ITEM on the Budget in terms of its relation to the proposed research and the basis for determining the requested amount. For Faculty Salaries, include the percentage of effort and length of effort.

If you plan to use the funding for a course release, you must specify the semester or academic session for that release and specify the budget amount.

If funds are being requested for student help, please include the following for each student: a.) Student name (if known), b.) Total amount requested (indicate the amount for each student and the total amount for all students together), c.) Dates of work, d.) Amount paid per hour (undergrads are limited to $7.25-$8/hr; grads are limited to $11.50-$12/hr), e.) number of hours per week (students are limited to 19.5 hours/week). Please note that because these are state funds, students may not travel using them.

If capital equipment is requested, include a quote from the vendor (1 page).
RESEARCH PROPOSAL – Please number the pages in this section.

SPECIFIC AIMS – List the broad, long-term objectives and describe concisely and realistically what the specific research is intended to accomplish and any hypotheses to be tested (1 page).
BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE – Briefly sketch the background relevant to the proposed research, critically evaluate existing knowledge, and identify the gaps in the existing knowledge which the project is intended to fill. State concisely the importance of the proposed research. If the proposed research is related to previous work the applicant has conducted, describe the aims and findings of the prior research, grant opportunities applied for, publications, presentations resulting from the prior work, and how the proposed project differs from the prior work (2 pages).
DESIGN AND METHODS – Describe the research design and methods to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project. Criteria for evaluating the results of the project should also be carefully documented (1 page).

LITERATURE REFERENCES – (as needed).
TIMELINE – Provide a tentative sequence for major events in the investigation (1 paragraph).
COLLABORATION LETTER(S) – If applicable, list all collaborators and provide background information on each. Also, detail the extent to which the outcome of the project depends on the collaboration. Attach an appropriate letter from each collaborator confirming his or her role in the project (as needed).
SUPPORT LETTER FROM DEAN – Non-tenure-track applicants must also submit a support letter from their Dean confirming the likelihood that they will complete the project while at UT Tyler (1 page).
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT – include a brief statement describing the extent to which students will take part in the proposed research and the benefits to them for such participation (1 page).
CURRICULUM VITAE OR BIOSKETCH – (2 pages).

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

The duty of the Research Council is to enhance faculty research activity as well as to solicit, review, and make funding recommendations for research proposals to the VPR. The general criteria that will be used to assess each proposal, in no particular order, are:

The significance, quality, and originality of the proposed study.
The feasibility and adequacy of the design and methods.
The capability of the investigator(s).
The advantage of the proposed research to students.
Past UT Tyler internal funding for the principal investigator(s). Preference will be given to those faculty members who have not previously received an award.
The status of final reports and presentations for previously-funded projects.
The applicant’s attempts at external funding. Preference will be given to recipients of prior funding who have also applied for external funding.
The likelihood that the faculty member will complete the project, considering his/her past research record and the definition, focus, and nature of the proposed research project.
The likelihood that the research results will be accepted for publication in a reputable journal within one year.
The likelihood that the research results will be used to aid in the application for an external grant award within one year.
Bonus points will be awarded to applicants who include a copy of an actual grant application for which the applicant will apply after results from this award are analyzed.

CONDITIONS:

All award recipients must agree to provide a public presentation on the funded research during the AY following the award completion at the Annual Faculty Research Day.
The proposal must be complete and readable in order for the reviewers to evaluate it properly. The language of the proposal should be understandable by faculty members not familiar with your particular discipline or research area, yet must be technically detailed enough to describe the proposed work.
Incomplete or late proposals, proposals not responsive to this announcement, and proposals that do not follow these guidelines will be returned to the investigator(s) without being reviewed.
Faculty who have not submitted the required reports and other documents from previous awards will be deemed ineligible for future funding until those reports are submitted.
Only one proposal may be considered from an individual faculty member per funding period (either AY or summer).
Only one faculty member may be identified as the Principal Investigator for a proposed project; however, joint efforts are encouraged. Faculty members may submit separate proposals for different components of the same project; however, co-investigators should be identified in each of the proposal applications. The unique contribution and research role of each co-investigator must be clearly outlined.
Faculty on sabbatical or other authorized academic leave may submit a proposal prior to the sabbatical in order to use the funds during the sabbatical.
All funds awarded for the 2010-2011 AY must be expended (not just encumbered) by 15 August 2011 and all funds awarded for the 2010 summer term must be expended by 15 August 2010.
Awardees must submit one hard and one electronic copy of a one-page Final Report of the results and benefits of the funded research to the OSR and one hard and one electronic copy to the Chair of the Research Council by 30 September following the award completion. Include in the report all major findings, grant applications, publications, and presentations derived from the funded work. Also include all grant announcements that will be applied for as a result of the awarded funding.

SELECTION COMMITTEE:

The UT Tyler Research Council will make recommendations for the award of these internal grants. All award decisions are final.