Dean's Faculty Update
Request for Proposals - IFAS Research Innovation Fund
Date: September 5th, 2007
From: Mark R. McLellan, Dean
To All IFAS Faculty:
The Florida Agricultural Experiment Station is calling for proposals to seek funding from the IFAS Research Innovation Fund which provides funding for three target areas:
- Projects that position faculty with preliminary data to be successful with large scale national grant applications.
- High risk projects (lower odds of success) with potential for spectacular scientific payoff.
- Projects that need funding to position them for commercialization.
Each IFAS unit (Department, REC, and IFAS recognized Center) may submit one proposal to the Dean for Research Office. Multi-unit and multi-disciplinary proposals are encouraged and should be submitted through the P.I.’s home unit. P.I.s must be a UF/IFAS faculty member eligible to submit a proposal to an external funding agency. A faculty member may be the PI on only one awarded grant.
Deadlines:
The deadline for receipt of proposals to your unit leader is 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 19, 2007.
Each unit will then select one proposal to be submitted by e-mail to the Mark McLellan (mrm1@ufl.edu) by 5 p.m. Wednesday September 26, 2007.
Proposal Guidelines:
The proposal must be in the form of a PDF file no more than 5 pages maximum consisting of the following materials in this sequence:
- Title, PI and Co-PI names, departments, name of unit submitting proposal, contact information.
- Abstract.
- Project Description.
- Detailed budget(s) with justification of expenses. ( Projects will be supported for 1 year (see note below on 2007 funds); however in unique cases may have up to a 2-year period of support. Requested budgets should not exceed $50,000 per year. Projects with matching support are encouraged and will be considered as a plus in the evaluation process.)
- Target area being addressed (choose from the 3 areas listed above) with specific future plans for obtaining external support or specific efforts towards commercialization.
- Identify if you have attended the IFAS Grantsmanship Training Seminar.
Review Process:
Each unit will review proposals by a method selected and implemented by the unit leader. The unit leader will select one proposal to submit to the Dean for Research Office with a supporting cover letter. An ad hoc committee in the Dean’s office will review the unit-leader selected proposals and make recommendations of funding to the Dean.
Funding Expectation:
We expect to fund at least 8 new 2007 awards with this fund and possibly more depending upon project budgets, matching funds, and total available funds. Our target funding goal is $500,000 including second year funding for one project from last year.
Availability & Use of Funds:
The IFAS Research Innovation Fund awards for 2007 will be made no later than October 3rd and will be provided as General Revenue Funds. These funds will have appropriate state expenditure restrictions on them. Funds will be transferred to the PI by the close of business on October 5th. All 2007 awards must be fully expended (encumbered) by the end of the state fiscal year - June 30th of 2007. There is no carry over of these funds from one fiscal year to another.
Reporting Requirements:
All PIs funded from this RFP must submit to the dean for research by July 15th 2008 a one page executive summary of the year’s work as funded including plans for submission to other major funding. The PIs failing to meet this reporting deadline will be automatically excluded from consideration in next year’s 2008 Research Innovation Fund request for proposals.
Mark R. McLellan
Dean for Research, IFAS
Director, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station
