Research Excellence Fund: Frequently Asked Questions

University and Unit Strategic Plans

Review committee: dependent upon the number of proposals received, there may be up to two review committees. Each committee will consist predominently of faculty.

Infrastructure Enhancement Grants (category 1)

• Center Directors may apply.
• Vice Provosts may apply.
• Co-PI may include academic or research faculty or research staff
• No overhead will be charged.
• You can be involved in more than one proposal. Example would be PI on one and Co-PI on another. You cannot be a PI on more than one proposal per category.

• Not all applicants in a collaboration need to be untentured faculty. The PI should be untenured with any tentured faculty listed as Co-PI.Research staff/post-docs may be included as Co-PI....but remember that the purpose is to build research programs of untenured academic faculty so that they are more able to attract external support, and to build the capacity for supporting graduate students.You can be involved in more than one proposal. Example would be PI on one and Co-PI on another. You cannot be a PI on more than one proposal per category.You can partially fund a post-doc.In budget preparation, there are no restrictions regarding equipment, technician support, and some summer support. NOTE: Summer salary may weaken the proposal; the purpose should be to fund Graduate Students. Summer salary needs to be strongly justified to be considered.
• No overhead will be charged.
• Matching funds are not required.

• Only newly hired (starting since July 1, 2006) untenured academic faculty. REF-MG awards are intended for untenured academic faculty who are in their first two years of their tenure probationary period. Matching funds not required. No overhead will be charged. In budget preparation you may include travel and accomodations to work at another institution and a stipend for the mentor.
• The goal of the mentoring grant is to establish a new research relationship with the mentor or expand an existing research relationship collaboration. The mentoring grant should support the development of a true mentoring relationship with a senior figure in the discipline.
• You can be involved in more than one proposal. Example would be PI on one and Co-PI on another. You cannot be a PI on more than one proposal per category.

2. Proposal Format Reminders:

(b) Budget: Please work with the Research and Sponsored Programs Office, Attn: Suzan Caron (sjcaron@mtu.edu or 487-2225) on your budget. You do not need to include a copy of the approved budget now. Research and Sponsored Programs will submit the approved budget to the VPR office and it will be attached to your proposal.
(e) COS Profile: An up-to-date COS profile is a requirement and an expectation of the selection committee. A complete proposal packet must contain a copy of your updated COS profile. If you have not created your profile with COS, you need to do so. If you do not remember your userid and/or password, e-mail cagherna@mtu.edu and this information will be sent to you.