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November 11, 2018
UCR Research and Economic Development Newsletter
Michael Pazzani
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
Grant Opportunity Search: http://pivot.cos.com
In this Newsletter
  • Collaborative Seed Grant Program
  • REMINDER: Sponsored Projects Administration Proposal Review, Approval and Submission Deadlines
  • UC Valley Fever Research Funding Opportunity
  • Tools for Identifying and Sharing Data sets
  • Gates Foundation Grant Opportunities
  • Upcoming Humanities Grants
  • California Breast Cancer Research Program's Global Challenge to Prevent Breast Cancer
  • ORI Seminar Series - "The Stanford Prison Experiment" Screening
  • Limited Submission: Riverside Public Utilities - Energy Innovation Grant
  • Limited Submission: Riverside Public Utilities - Water Innovation Grant
  • Northern Parula
Collaborative Seed Grant Program 2019
We have had several inquiries about the collaborative seed grant program. Traditionally, the deadline has been in the winter to allow awards to start July 1. However, we don't find out about our budget until late June at the earliest and can't make commitments until we are aware of it. Therefore, we are shifting the deadline to the fall, with awards starting in the spring. The deadline will be Oct 10, 2019.

The grants are internal funds for UCR faculty teams to collaborate and publish in advance of proposing multi-investigator projects and centers to external agencies. Teams with seed funding who generate preliminary results and gain experience working jointly have proven more successful when they later compete for multi-investigator and/or multidisciplinary grants.

PURPOSE
Serving as a catalyst for UCR faculty to form new teams, the seed grant program is intended to initiate new intellectual directions for faculty and to make UCR more competitive for multidisciplinary grants. Selection criteria for seed grants reward projects that create new relationships and synergies across schools, departments or centers. Key considerations include whether the project can be leveraged toward new externally-funded research, and whether the project cannot be otherwise initiated using regular department or school resources. An ideal project would apply for external funding within 6-10 months following seed funding.

TYPES OF AWARDS
  • Large Project Seed Grants: Enable a team of two or more UCR faculty to obtain initial results or data to prepare for a center grant, defined as at least 3 UCR faculty and 4 UCR graduate students. Examples include NIH program project (P-50) grants, NSF Science and Technology Centers, NSF Engineering Research Centers, DOE Manufacturing Centers, NEH Summer Institutes, or USDA/NIFA Coordinated Agricultural Project, etc. Large Project seed grants have a maximum budget of $75,000 and funds may be spent from April 1, 2020 – March 31, 2021. The collaboration must involve faculty from two or more different departments.
  • Small Project Seed Grants: Enable a team of two or more UCR faculty to obtain initial results or data that will make them more competitive for any peer-reviewed federal program. A typical Small Project grant would include summer support for a graduate student plus supplies. Small Project seed grants have a maximum budget of $10,000 and funds may be spent from April 1, 2020 – October 1, 2021. The collaboration must involve faculty from two or more different departments.

ELIGIBILITY
Proposals are invited from all UCR individuals eligible to serve as a Principal Investigator. (For additional information on PI eligibility see Policy #527-3 .) Although external collaborations with universities or companies are encouraged, seed funded projects must involve at least two UCR faculty (a PI and at least one UCR co-PI) and funds may not be used to support outside institutions. A faculty member may participate as PI or CoPI on only one seed grant. A faculty PI on an award made through the Large or Small Collaborative Seed Grant Program in, 2017 or 2018 cannot be a PI or CoPI on a seed grant in 2018, unless they have been awarded a grant as a result of the prior seed grant or applied three times for funding based on the seed grant.

USE OF FUNDS
Funds may be used for any activity directly related to the conduct of the research, e.g. salaries and benefits for students, postdocs, or research scientists, research supplies, equipment/facility recharge, etc. Funds may not be used for faculty summer salaries, administrative staff, course buyouts, seminar speakers, consultants, conferences, or travel, except to federal agencies or proposer workshops. Small project seed grants will receive all funding at the start of the project. Large project seed grants will receive 50% of funds to initiate the project, with the remainder made available upon completion and approval of a brief report on project status. All funds must be expended by the end of the project period. To focus on projects that can make rapid progress, unexpended funds will be returned.

DEADLINES
The internal proposal deadline for both Large and Small Seed Grants is October 10, 2019.

PROGRESS TRACKING AND REPORTING
Awardees of Large Grants are required to submit both a brief interim report to release the remaining 50% of the funds and a final project report within 60 days of the award period end. Small Grant awardees are required only to submit a final project report within 60 days. The final project report should include the results of the research, a financial statement and plans or efforts underway to obtain external funding. Lack of timely reporting may result in exclusion from future award opportunities.

REVIEW PROCESS
Proposals will be reviewed by UCR faculty with comments returned to explain funding decisions. The alignment of projects with the goals of innovation and high impact, and the feasibility of completing the project and submitting a collaborative grant proposal are evaluation priorities. Proposals that are disruptive, use technology in new ways, or launch entirely novel approaches are specifically encouraged. The assessment will consider the extent of inter-disciplinary and inter-departmental collaboration as well as the potential for subsequent extramural funding. Deans of the PI and co-PIs also will be asked for input on the importance of the project for their school.

APPLICATION FORMAT
Bearing in mind that not all reviewers will have an extensive knowledge of their field of inquiry, faculty should use proposal language accessible to the most faculty. Both types of Seed Grant proposals use the same application format:
  1. Application Form (pdf)
  2. Research Plan - No more than 3 pages, single-spaced, 12 point font with one-inch margins. Typical proposals should include: a brief introduction and one-year objectives, research plan - specific aims and methodology, and anticipated results.
  3. External Funding Target: What specific federal funding opportunity will be targeted for subsequent funding? What is the proposed timeline for applying for external funding? Projects that do not indicate a specific opportunity will be returned without review.
  4. Budget with breakdown of cost categories.
  5. CVs (no more than 2 pages for each investigator).
  6. Results of prior seed grant(s).

APPLICATION SUBMISSION
Applications should be submitted through the "EasyChair" system at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=csgp2019 (link active by Jan 1)

Questions on the EasyChair application system should be directed to Bri Cates at VCREDadmin@ucr.edu or 951-827-4800
REMINDER: Sponsored Projects Administration Proposal Review, Approval and Submission Deadlines
UCR has long had a policy that indicates the proposals are due to the Sponsored Research Office three business days before the sponsor's deadline, and seven days before the deadline for complex proposals.
  • Standard Proposal Lead Time – three (3) full business days prior to the Sponsor Due Date.

  • Non-standard Proposal Lead Time – a minimum of seven (7) full business days prior to the Sponsor Due Date. Principal Investigators are strongly encouraged to start working with their unit administrator and the Office of Research at least one month prior to the Sponsor Due Date for non-standard proposals. This will ensure that there is sufficient time to review and resolve any issues, secure special approvals, coordinate with the UC Office of the President, etc. prior to the Sponsor Due Date.

However, it is widely ignored and many proposals come in with less than 8 hours to review before submission. In 2017, 13% of the proposals were received on the same day they were due.

Starting Dec 1, we are going to enforce this deadline, but give one extra day for those that need it.
  
If SPA receives an eCAF and final proposal less than two (2) full business days, the eCAF will be returned and the proposal will nott be submitted to the sponsor. 

Two (2) Business Day Example:
The eCAF and Final Proposal (all components in final form and ready for submission) must be received in RED at least two (2) full business days before the sponsor’s submission deadline.     

Sponsor Due Date/Time                                 RED Due Date/Time
Friday, September 1  st  at 5 p.m. (PST)           Wednesday, August 30  th  at 5 p.m. (PST)
Monday, July 1  st  at 1 p.m. (PST)                   Thursday, June 27  th  at 1 p.m. (PST)

There are several reasons for enforcing this policy.
  1. UCR's faculty and proposal submissions have grown more rapidly than SPA staff, and the number of UCR awards has increased even faster . UCR staff handle more proposals per person than staff at any UC campus and more than double the average for a UC campus.
  2. As a consequence, staff have been prioritizing proposal submission over award set up. Unfortunately, faculty have been waiting far two long to be able to spend the money they have been awarded which slows down hiring students and buying equipment.
  3. The context shift of starting to set up an award or read the proposal instructions, putting it down to do a same day review wastes considerable time. Some research, including that of my former colleague at UCI indicates that it takes 20 minutes after an interruption to catch up. (see Worker, Interrupted: The Cost of Task Switching for a discussion of this research.
  4. Advance notice will allow teamwork and balancing of staff efforts. This isn't as effective in real time.
  5. We have received requests from various departments to enforce the deadline, since not enforcing creates simailr problems in departments.

Please note that the intent is not to reduce the number of proposals. It's to allow the staff to plan and be more efficient so the same number of staff can keep up with the proposal volume AND improve award setup. Just make a mental note that the deadline is 2 days earlier.
UC Valley Fever Research Funding Opportunity
The UC Valley Fever Research Funding Opportunity is intended to support meritorious, multicampus collaborative research that directly addresses any aspect of Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis) and has the potential to make significant advances towards alleviating its impact on the people and communities of California. Proposed projects should leverage and enhance UC expertise in Valley Fever research and enhance research capacity and collaboration across UC to address Valley Fever.

This competition is open to all scholarly disciplines and topics directly related to Valley Fever research, including (but not limited to) basic, clinical, epidemiological, environmental, ecological, translational, social science, and humanistic approaches. For more information on Valley Fever research gaps and promising future directions, please view the October 2, 2018 webinar , or visit the UC Research Initiatives website .


RFP Release:                                      Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Letters of Intent (LOI) Due ( required ): Thursday, January 10, 2019 at 12:00pm Pacific Time
Notification of LOI Decision:               Friday, January 18, 2019          
Invited Full Proposals Due:                  Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 12:00pm Pacific Time
Notification of Review Outcome:         Monday, May 20, 2019
Award Start Date:                                Monday, July 1, 2019
Tools for Identifying and Sharing Datasets
ORCID
ORCID creates for you a persistent unique digital identifier, and makes possible automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized. To create an ORCID, see http://guides.lib.ucr.edu/orcid .
 
DASH
UCR Library supports sharing research datasets through the data repository Dash. This allows for safe, permanent archiving, DOI identification, permanent links and discovery through web interfaces. Using Dash is simple. UCR affiliated researchers may login by selecting UC Riverside from the "Login using Single Sign-on" option. This will redirect you to login using your NetID and password. 
 
EZID and DOIs
If your publication or dataset is already on a persistent and sustained publishing space, such as eScholarship or a permanent dedicated server in the case of very large datasets, EZID can create a persistent DOI for permanent citation and discovery. Contact the Library to coordinate create DOIs using EZID or set up EZID integrations at : dataconsult-lib@ucr.edu
 
More information is available at http://guides.lib.ucr.edu/c.php?g=291771&p=1943880
Gates Foundation Grant Opportunities
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is highlighting grant opportunities that are still open for seven challenges under Round 22 and one request from the African Academy of Sciences, their Grand Challenges Africa partner organization. 

Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) open grant opportunities: Note that the challenge on Application of Metagenomic Next Generation Sequencing to Detect and Identify Pathogens is newly added and has different open and close dates from other challenges in GCE Round 22.

Grand Challenges Explorations is an initiative that awards initial grants of USD $100,000, and successful projects are eligible to receive follow-on funding of up to USD $1 million. Proposals are solicited twice a year for an expanding set of global health and development topics. Applications are only two pages, and no preliminary data is required. Applicants can be at any experience level; in any discipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. The next application round of Grand Challenges Explorations will be in February 2019.

African Academy of Sciences grant opportunity: The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is inviting organizations to submit information regarding their interest in developing an open database for clinical trial capacities and sites on the African continent. The database, which will be managed by the AAS, should be tailored to answer questions from potential trial sponsors, collaborators, and participants. Learn more here ; the submission deadline is November 22, 2018.

More information can be foudn here: https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/
Upcoming Humanities Grants
Details for these opportunities can be found on the CHASS website @ http://chass.ucr.edu/resources_for_research/grant_fellowship_funding_calendars.html


Upcoming Humanities Grants
 
Thursday, November 15
Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard Univ, fellowships
Harry Ransom Center, Univ of Texas, Austin
The Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies
NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War
Fellows at The Huntington

Monday, November 19
  UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) (multiple programs; see website)

Friday, November 30
Russell Sage Letters of Inquiry due (multiple programs; see website)
USArtists International Grant

Saturday, December 1
NYPL Schomburg Center Scholars-in-Residence Program
Virginia Humanities Fellowships
Wenner-Gren Conference & Workshop Grants
Princeton Univ Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies fellowships
The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American & African Studies, U of Virginia 

Monday, December 3
  Harvard Mahindra Humanities Center Postdoc Fellowships

Thursday, December 6
  NASEM Postdoctoral Ford Foundation Fellowship

Monday, December 10
  The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience 2018 McKnight Technology Innovations in Neuroscience Awards (LOI)
  University of Rochester School of Arts & Sciences Humanities Center

Thursday, December 13
Haynes Fnd Faculty Fellowships

Saturday, December 15
The Anne van Biema Fellowship

Monday, December 17
Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Venetian Research Program U.S.

Thursday, December 20
NSF Archaeology/Sr. Research
California Breast Cancer Research Program's Global Challenge to Prevent Breast Cancer
The Global Challenge to Prevent Breast Cancer is a competition designed to surface game-changing breast cancer prevention research ideas.

This challenge, sponsored by the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP), aims to advance breast cancer primary prevention by surfacing innovative breast cancer prevention research ideas from researchers and others interested in breast cancer prevention. By providing cash prizes, feedback from respected researchers, and the opportunity to present ideas to prominent leaders in the field, the challenge aims to surface breakthrough ideas that will help catalyze the field of breast cancer primary prevention research. The most promising ideas will frame CBCRP's future funding strategy and will be further developed in California with $15 million in grant funding from the program. 

Applications are due by January 7, 2019. 


ORI Seminar Series - "The Stanford Prison Experiment" Screening
UCR’s Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is partnering with Psi Chi to present the next event in the ORI Seminar Series. The seminars focus on ethical dilemmas and hot topics in human subjects research.

The final ORI seminar of 2018 will be a screening of the movie, “The Stanford Prison Experiment” , followed by a discussion of the research and related ethical considerations. This seminar will take place on, Tuesday, December 4 at 6:00 PM in The Chass Interdisciplinary Building - INTS 2132.

This seminar is free and open to the public. No registration is required but seating is limited. Light refreshments will be provided.
Limited Submission: Riverside Public Utilities - Energy Innovation Grant
Internal Deadline: 1/4/19

The City of Riverside Public Utilities Energy Innovations Grant program is an ongoing program that has already contributed over $2 million in research funds to our local Universities. Funding from the program has helped post-secondary institutions look for new ways to advance science and technology in energy-related fields. Over the last five years, the utility industry has seen rapid changes as new technology has entered into the utility field. Riverside Public Utilities is looking to continue its partnerships with higher education institutions to explore ways to utilize technologies available today in order to make energy cleaner, more efficient and reliable.
 
  • Funding Amount: Up to $100,000
  • Deadline for submission: 1/4/19
  • Application: no more than 3 pages answering how your proposal is an original innovative idea that addresses a California market need from one of the funding categories, how it will provide a clear potential benefit to electric ratepayers, and target one or more of the categories listed below: 
  • Building efficiency
  • Energy quality
  • Distribution system impacts
  • Distributed generation impacts
  • Environmentally-preferred advanced generation
  • Renewable generation utility impacts
  • Energy-related research
  • Strategic energy research
  • Advanced electric transportation research
  • Smart Grid applications
  • Energy efficiency demonstration projects

Items that typically do not meet program intent:
  • Materials components development or research
  • Nanotechnology components and materials research
  • Fuel cell components and materials
  • Battery components and materials
  • Generation improvement development
  • Products/services readily available in the commercial market
Limited Submission: Riverside Public Utilities - Water Innovation Grant
Internal Deadline: 1/4/19

The City of Riverside Public Utilities Water Innovations Grant Program provides support for local universities as they make advancements in water conservation techniques and procedures.
 
  • Funding Amount: Up to $50,000
  • Deadline for submission: 1/4/19
  • Application: Propose an original, innovative solution to a significant water issue and provide a clear potential benefit to California water ratepayers in one of these target areas:
  • Landscape water use efficiency
  • Indoor water use efficiency
  • Industrial process efficiency
  • Water reclamation and re-use
  • Water use-related environmental research
  • Strategic water research
Northern Parula
On the right is a photo of a northern parula. This warbler can be found on the east coast of the US, but it vacations in Florida and the Caribbean I took this on Harbor Island in the Bahamas, know as Briland to the locals. Harbour Island is best known for it's long, pink sand beach, but it also is a birding hot spot.

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