CRCW Call for Proposals Information
TO: UCCS Full Time Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty
FROM: Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
SUBJECT:
Call for Proposals for Research and Creative Work - Due March 9, 2020 At UCCS, we use part of the money obtained each year from the collection of Facilities and Administrative costs (F&A), often referred to as Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR), from externally funded grants and contracts as investments to encourage and promote further externally sponsored research and creative work on campus. These annual investments are made on a competitive basis, which is open to our tenured and tenure-track faculty in every program area. The objectives of this investment program are to promote research excellence, to help junior tenure-track faculty members establish research programs, and to assist faculty members in becoming nationally competitive when seeking funding from sources external to UCCS.
The proposals submitted under this funding program are evaluated by our Committee on Research and Creative Works (CRCW) which is composed of previous award winners and other appointed faculty from across campus. The CRCW selects awardees in accordance with the eligibility and evaluation criteria specified below. The funds will be made available to awardees in May of 2020, once the award recipient’s home department has completed the speedtype setup.
This seed grant program is just one way we foster scholarship and creativity on our campus. Given that money is limited, it cannot support all of the valuable activities in which our faculty members engage. In addition to the various workshops, seminars, and grant initiatives sponsored by the Office of Research (ORR) and the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, 40% of the total F&A recovered each year is distributed to our colleges, centers, and institutes. That money is directed to support our research environment in a variety of ways and is in addition to the CRCW funds. See F&A policy 900-003 for more details.
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible to receive a CRCW award, applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:
• Applicants must be resident full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members at UCCS. Newly hired faculty members who have not yet begun employment are not eligible.
• Faculty may submit only one CRCW proposal per year, either as principal investigator or as co-principal investigator.
• Requests are limited to a maximum of $7,500.
• The Committee wishes to encourage new projects across a broad range of faculty. Faculty will not be funded for more than two years in a rolling five-year period, nor will they be funded in consecutive years.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
Awards will be based on the merits of the proposals, according to the following:
1. Primary Criteria
• Clarity and comprehensibility of the proposal to a non-expert reviewer.
• Evidence that the award will help the proposer become more competitive when seeking extramural funding.
• Identification of a potential source of funds for supporting continued research or creative work. The proposal must identify a possible funding source (e.g., private foundation or government agency) including posted or projected deadlines for applying. *
• Scholarly and/or applied significance of the project. Funding is for research and/or creative work—standard curricular materials or activities will not be funded.
• Feasibility of achieving project goals, including appropriate and clearly defined methods.
• Likelihood that the project outcomes will be appropriately disseminated (e.g., through publication or public display).
• For past CRCW awardees only: Demonstrated success in leveraging previous CRCW grants for external grant activity and/or research or creative productivity.
2. Secondary Criteria
• Proposals for summer stipends alone will receive lower priority.
• Proposals that involve students (especially funding for students) will receive higher priority than those which do not.
• Proposals that support equipment or software that can be used by multiple researchers and/or in other research projects will receive higher priority.
• Pre-tenured faculty on the tenure track will receive higher priority than tenured faculty.
• Faculty starting new research directions will receive higher priority.
* If needed, please contact the Office of Research for assistance with identifying external funding sources.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION
Electronic submissions of the complete proposal must be received by 5pm on March 9, 2020. Awards will be announced by May 1, 2020.
PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION VIA EMAIL
1. Save your proposal as a single pdf file using your last name as the filename
2. Email your proposal, including the cover sheet, to the Office of Research <OOR@uccs.edu>
PROPOSAL FORMAT
The proposal should contain the following sections, with the specified length restrictions. Proposal contents must be clear to the intelligent lay person. This is absolutely essential for thorough consideration of proposals by the Committee.
I. COVER PAGE (one page) The cover page is provided in a standard format and is included as the last page in this document. If more convenient, it is acceptable to substitute your own cover page that contains the same information.
II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED RESEARCH OR CREATIVE WORK (1000 words, including figures and tables; approximately three pages)
The description of the work to be accomplished must be intelligible to readers in other disciplines. The text shouldn’t include undefined jargon. Please double-space the text and use a 12 point font size. The 1000 word limit for section II, including all text, tables, and figures will be enforced. Project descriptions exceeding 1000 words (approximately three (3) pages depending on figures and tables) will be INELIGIBLE.
III. BIBLIOGRAPHY (one page) Include a bibliography for references cited in the description in section II.
IV. BUDGET REQUEST (up to two pages) Carefully justify all proposed expenses. Budgets should be detailed, itemized, and justified as precisely as possible in terms of the following types of categories: travel expenses, equipment, supplies, principal researcher’s stipend, student assistant salaries, fees, professional development, and communication costs.
All budget requests are examined carefully by the CRCW and the Committee reserves the right to determine the final budget. The Committee may alter the budget, (e.g., reduce the amount requested); in that event, the award will be subject to the proposer’s acceptance of the modified budget.
Include a list of any other funding sources for the proposed project. Projects fully-funded from another source will not be funded. With suitable justification, projects which are partially-funded from another source may qualify for supplemental funding with CRCW money.
Notes on allowable costs:
• Buy-outs can be supported if approved by the college Dean and will be at the current honorarium rate for each applicant’s college or $5,500 whichever is less. Funds must also include fringe (at 29.2%); the funds used for buyouts thus cannot exceed a total of $7,106. All buy-outs must be clearly justified in the budget section as to why the work requires a differential workload. Please seek Dean approval prior to submission.
• Proposals with summer stipends will be considered, but applicants should be aware that normal reductions in pay (e.g., income tax and FICA) will be withheld. As with all expenditures connected with the award, summer stipends cannot be used before July 1 2020. Stipend money may not be carried over past June 30, 2021.
• Travel requests must be specified in the budget justification and address how the travel helps in achieving the goals of the proposed project and renders the applicant more competitive for a future sponsored program. Travel for data collection, research purposes, professional development, or to attend an external conference is allowable.
• Requests for conference travel must include a justification as to why the travel cannot be paid for with other resources on campus or elsewhere. Proposals that request funding for conference travel only will not be considered. Conference travel must specify the conference by name and clearly identify how conference participation helps in achieving the goals of the proposed project and renders the applicant more competitive for a future sponsored program.
• Proposals that involve students must clearly articulate the role of the student in assisting the proposer’s project. Funding cannot support a primarily student-driven project (e.g., a dissertation).
• Requests for computer equipment, software, or peripherals must include a justification as to why these cannot be accessed through current services on campus or elsewhere.• If salaries are included as part of the budget request, the request must include the fringe benefit rate using the FY21 rates below:
| Employee Group | Rate |
|---|---|
| Regular Faculty >= 50% FTE | 32.50% |
| University Staff >= 50% FTE | 38.00% |
| Reg. Faculty/University Staff < 50% FTE | 17.10% |
| Student Faculty/Workers (Hrly) – Not used on federal awards | 0.30% |
| Classified Staff Permanent – Not used on federal awards | 46.70% |
| Classified Staff Temporary – Not used on federal awards | 22.70% |
V. POTENTIAL SOURCES OF EXTERNAL FUNDING FOR CONTINUED WORK (one page) Include information about at least one grant or contract opportunity through which the proposer can seek future funding for either a follow-on to the project described in this proposal, or for similar work. The information should include the funding entity’s name (can be a private or governmental body), a single paragraph summary of the funding program or opportunity (cutting-and-pasting from a solicitation is sufficient), and deadlines for submission. If a proposer needs assistance in identifying a potential source for external funding, they are encouraged to contact the Office of Research.
The proposal must detail how the project directly contributes to the competitiveness for a future sponsored program; including pilot data; proof of concepts; improved publication or performance record; equipment training, etc.
VI. CONDENSED CURRICULUM VITA (two pages) The CV should emphasize research and creative work activity, highlighting the last five years and/or previous work relevant to the proposed project. Use of either the NSF Biosketch format or the NIH Biosketch format is encouraged, but not required.
VII. SUMMARY OF PREVIOUSLY FUNDED CRCW PROJECTS (one page) The summaries should include the title, paragraph description, and outcomes, i.e., publications, displays of creative works, submissions of follow-up grant proposals for external funding (include the status of those proposals, particularly as to whether funding was awarded), etc.
VIII. LIST OF CURRENT AND PENDING EXTERNAL SUPPORT IN THE PAST TWO YEARS using the following format:
Project Title:
Agency:
Requested/Funded Amount:
Start/End Dates: Location of Project:
Role on the Project (PI, Co-PI, etc)
AWARD CONDITIONS
Conditions are determined by the OOR and may be subject to change. The OOR will send one notice to recipients about reporting deadlines and requirements. CRCW recipients who fail to comply with award conditions are not eligible for a CRCW until such time that a) all conditions are met and b) at least three years have passed since the conditions were met.
Awardees are required to:
1. Show scholarly impact of the CRCW project within two years from the award date by meeting at least one of the following:
a. Submit a proposal for external funding through the UCCS Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Integrity
b. Submit a manuscript to a peer reviewed journal
c. Submit a book proposal
d. Publish a paper in a peer-reviewed conference proceeding
e. Give an external performance/exhibit
2. Submit a one-year progress update report due May 1, 2021 at 5pm. Successful applicants will receive further instructions.
3. Submit a final report summary to the Office of Research due May 1, 2022 at 5pm. Successful applicants will receive further instructions.
4. Serve on at least one future CRCW review committee at the request of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research.
5. Give a 10-minute oral presentation of the final report summary for an audience of the CRCW committee and other CRCW recipients, among other interested persons within two years of the award; Presentations will be scheduled before the end of Spring 2022.
Administration of Funds
Funds awarded are to be used from account set up in May/June 2020 through August 30, 2021. Awardees will be responsible for the accounting of grant expenditures. Each awardee will have signature authority on their grant account. Each awardee will be responsible for authorizing purchases, following unit procedures for expenditures, and for any over-expenditure on the account.
Awardees must spend their funds in the manner proposed or receive permission to change budget. The office of the AVCR retains the right to freeze or close an account in case of over
expenditure or other fiscal irregularity.
Unused funds will NOT normally be carried forward beyond August 30, 2021, but will be recovered and put back into the fund for the next year’s CRCW awards. In exceptional circumstances awardees may petition the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research (AVCR) for approval to roll forward funds for up to one year. Requests to roll forward must be made in writing by August 1, 2021 and include an extension justification, revised budget, and brief statement on any change in the scope of the originally proposed work.