Office of Research
2016-2017 FACULTY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
PURPOSE
Cleveland State University is committed to developing and supporting research, scholarly, and creative
activities. The Office of Research through the University Research Council is pleased to announce the
2016-2017 Faculty Research and Development (FRD) Program with support made available through a
portion of the recovered Facilities & Administrative Costs (indirect costs) and internal funding. The
primary goal of the FRD Program is to invest in basic and applied research that would increase the level
of federal and industrial research funding received by the University. Priority will be given to faculty
with a demonstrated external funding portfolio and to new faculty with great potential for external
funding. Proposals may request investment toward enhancements of an established program, for new
projects through funding for a pilot study, or for establishing or enhancing partnerships, or other
activities that significantly advance the University’s potential to receive external funding.
ELIGIBILITY
Full time tenured or tenure-track graduate faculty 1 are eligible to apply for FRD funding. Faculty
members on professional leave are also eligible; however, FRD funds cannot be used to augment
professional leave salary. Faculty who are currently members of the University Research Council are not
eligible. PIs of past FRD awards are eligible to serve as a PI only if it has been at least three years since
the end date of their previous award, an external proposal was submitted based on the prior FRD award,
and the results of the prior award were published. A faculty member can participate in only one FRD
proposal as a PI or Co-PI.
FRD AWARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS
a) Acceptance of an FRD award signifies the recipient’s intent to continue as a regular faculty member
at CSU during the one-year duration of the grant and the faculty member’s obligation to submit a
proposal to an external funding agency within 24 months of award inception.
b) The FRD award period is 12 months from the date of official notification and authorization to
expend, and it is fully expected that awardees will conform to the timelines presented in the FRD
submission. All unexpended grant funds at the end of the award period will revert to the Office of
Research. A one-time no-cost extension of no longer than six months may be approved only in
exceptional cases, and must be requested no later than one month prior to the end date of the award.
c) All required certifications to include, but not exclusive to, Human Participants, Animal Subjects,
Hazardous Materials and the like must be provided to SPRS prior to beginning work.
d) The Office of the Vice President for Research reserves the right to disseminate funded proposals and
to publish proposal abstracts. If the proposal contains confidential or proprietary information, the
applicant must indicate so on the Cover Page and mark those sections in the proposal. Those sections
will not be shared, distributed, or released to the public.
1
Under the revised guidelines for graduate faculty membership, effective spring 2014, applicants must have Level I Membership.
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e) A final report must be sent via e-mail as a PDF attachment to j.yard@csuohio.edu AND
d.j.simon@csuohio.edu no later than 60 days after the end date of the FRD award. The report
should: (1) include a summary of major findings and copies of all papers or publications resulting
from FRD support, and (2) list of sponsors to which a funding request either was submitted or will be
in the near future. Any publication resulting from the FRD must carry an acknowledgement that the
project was conducted with support from Cleveland State University’s Faculty Research
Development Program.
f) Awards must be expended for the purposes as described in the proposal and in accordance with the
proposal budget and applicable University regulations and procedures. If changes in the scope of
work or budget are necessary, the Office of Research should be contacted to request prior approval.
All equipment purchased with FRD funding becomes the sole property of the University and is
assigned to the awardee’s primary department.
PROPOSAL PREPARATION GUIDELINES
The required format for proposals is as follows:
•
Cover Page - Available for download on Office of Research website:
http://www.csuohio.edu/research/faculty-research-and-development - secure appropriate signatures.
•
Abstract - One-page outline of the proposed research suitable for public reports.
•
Project Description - Summarize, using language that can be understood by non-specialists, your
proposed research, scholarly, or creative project, including its significance and its likelihood to
attract external funding. Comment on how the proposed project promotes new research directions,
scholarly capabilities or creative works, and innovation. Be sure to distinguish between the
FRD-seeded research and the eventual project for which you will obtain external funding. Excluding
references, the description may be no more than five (5) single-spaced pages with a minimum font
size of 12 points on 8 ½“ × 11” paper with 1” margins.
•
Budget and Justification – Not exceeding one (1) page - FRD grant awards are generally between
$15,000 and $25,000.
•
Plan for Obtaining External Funding (Appendix A) - Describe your plan for obtaining external
funds, including: a) what funding agency or industry you will approach, and why; b) what contact
you have already had with these agencies or industrial partners, if any; c) when you expect to apply
for funding; d) the expected scale of the eventual project; and e) how the activities funded by the
FRD grant will help to attract further external support. List current or pending grant applications that
are related to the project, including funds requested or received from sources both internal and
external to Cleveland State University. The maximum length for Appendix A is one (1)
single-spaced page.
•
Listing of External Proposals (Appendix B) - List all external proposals submitted in the past five
years and their status (no page limitation).
•
Certification Letters (Appendix C) - This Appendix should contain certification letters as required
by FRD guidelines. For example, if released time is requested, the application must include a letter
from the Department Chair, co-signed by the Academic Dean, which describes the teaching load
policy in the academic unit, how that policy impacts the applicant, and the replacement costs
pertaining to the release-time request.
•
Curriculum Vitae – For each PI and Co-PI, an abbreviated curriculum vitae (maximum two pages)
that includes the most significant journal publications within the last five years only.
REVIEW PROCESS
FRD proposals will be reviewed and ranked by the University Research Council. The AY 2016-17 FRD
Evaluation Form that will be used by the University Research Council is provided below. With faculty
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reviewers from many different fields across the University, the proposal should be written in plain
English that is clear and unambiguous so that the proposal is understandable to readers completely
outside the discipline. Nonetheless, the intellectual underpinnings of the research should be clear.
ALLOWABLE COSTS
Allowable expenditures are direct costs normally applied during the conduct of sponsored research,
including salaries, consultant fees, equipment, well-justified domestic travel required for the conduct of
research, supplies, and other direct costs. The following points should be noted:
•
Faculty, student, and technician salaries (and associated fringe benefits) may be charged to the FRD
Program. Up to one month of faculty summer salary may be requested. If release time for the
academic year is requested, the budget must identify the part-time faculty replacement cost
(including fringe benefits) and a letter from the Chairperson of the Department, co-signed by the
Academic Dean must be submitted. If a graduate research assistant stipend is requested, it will be
necessary to provide documentation of other source for tuition/fees.
•
FRD funds cannot be used for international travel or for developing instructional materials or for
supporting work leading to any academic degree for the applicant. Tuition grants and fees are not
allowable under the FRD Program.
TIMETABLE
March 11, 2016
Proposal submitted to the Dean for review and signature
March 25, 2016
One electronic PDF of the proposal (with all its components, including
cover page with signatures) is due no later than 5:00pm, sent via
e-mail to j.yard@csuohio.edu and d.j.simon@csuohio.edu
By April 30, 2016
Recommendation by the University Research Council and approval by
the Vice President for Research
June 1, 2016-May 30, 2017
Research projects
August 1, 2017
Final report due to j.yard@csuohio.edu and d.j.simon@csuohio.edu
Questions concerning the 2016-2017 FRD Program should be addressed to Joy Yard, 687-9364,
j.yard@csuohio.edu, or Dan Simon, 687-5171, d.j.simon@csuohio.edu.
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2016-2017 FRD PROPOSAL EVALUATION FORM
Proposal Title:
ID#:
In addition to assigning point values, please provide any additional information that might be helpful for the applicants and
the review process. Please indicate whether each comment was a strength or weakness. With faculty reviewers from
many different fields across the University, the proposal should be written in plain English that is clear and
unambiguous so that the proposal is understandable to readers completely outside the discipline.
CRITERIA
Extent of alignment with the purpose of the FRD funding program (5 points max.)
Intellectual merit (5 points max.)
Potential of the project to enhance the ability to attract external research funds (5 points max.)
Previous record of the PI in obtaining external research funding over the last five years (7 points max.) 1
Detailed budget plan with a brief justification for each expense (3 points max.) and the extent to which the research
is interdisciplinary (2 points max.)
Quality of the personnel, including scholarly outcome over the last five years (3 points max.)
TOTAL (30 points max)
Additional Comments
1
PIs who are Assistant Professors can receive up to 3 points for previous unsuccessful submissions for external research funding.
Points