Critical Needs Initiative

Eligibility

1. Any full-time faculty (including those on special appointment) in any College of Arts & Sciences department or program may apply as long as research or creative activity is required under their UND contract and they will complete the proposed work while employed at UND.

2. Proposals that include collaborative efforts with UND faculty housed outside of the College of Arts & Sciences are allowed, but the PI must be College of Arts & Sciences faculty.

3. More than one proposal can come out of a single department or program. In those cases, the department chair or program director must rank the proposals and explain his/her rankings in writing. Rankings are due by the deadline for proposal submission (see detailed timeline on Page 4). Chairs or directors cannot rank proposals in which they are an investigator. If needed, a tenured faculty member with no stake in any proposal may be appointed by the chair or director to rank departmental or program proposals.

4. An individual faculty member can be included as an investigator in more than one submitted proposal.

5. While consideration will to be given to faculty who have previously received an award; priority may be given to faculty who have not.

6. Faculty who have previously received an award but have not submitted a final report are ineligible to receive a new award.

7. Proposals that fail to follow the guidelines outlined in this document will be denied.

Application

1. Cover sheet: Project title, investigator name(s) and affiliation(s), faculty rank(s), and original copies of faculty and department chair or program director signature(s).

2. Abstract: A brief (200 words or less) non-technical description of the research/creative activity to be performed and the expected outcomes.

3. Project Narrative (3 pages maximum)

a. Clearly explain how the proposed activity will anticipate, identify, or respond to a critical need of the State of North Dakota. If applicable, explain how it aligns with the Grand Challenges outlined in the UND Strategic Plan. Describe the proposed research/creative activity, and include some brief background on the topic, specific objectives, and proposed methods.

b. Describe the proposed activity’s potential for publications, conference papers, recordings, performances and/or other outcomes.

c. Clearly describe the plan for broadly disseminating the results of the research, including a plan for sharing the results with the general public. Preparation of this section should be coordinated with Tanya Butler, Outreach Manager for the College of Arts & Sciences (tanya.butler@UND.edu).

d. Explain why the proposed activity has potential to lead to external grant funding, and identify a target funding agency and program. Include a planned timeline for submission of an external grant proposal (the submission must be made on or before Dec. 31, 2021. See detailed timeline on Page 4).

e. State whether the project will be supported through other resources, including the source and amount.

4. Budget and Budget Justification (2 pages maximum):

• The budget must be broken down into individual line items with each item justified. Individual awards are limited to $20,000. For additional instructions, please refer to the Budget Guidelines for Research Initiatives.
• The following are unallowable budget items: travel to attend conferences, enhancing campus physical infrastructure, and funding studies already completed.
• The following are allowable budget items: release time from teaching (see additional conditions in the following paragraph), summer salary, travel to conduct scholarly activity other than attending conferences, purchase of supplies/research materials and/or research equipment, support for GRA and/or undergraduate assistants, employing technical assistance, software purchase, paying for promotional materials and services, bringing speakers and/or consultants to campus, funding public outreach events, paying for content access fees, covering subscription fees for research networks, and leasing off-campus space for research/creative activity.
• If funds for release time from teaching are requested, a signed letter of support from the department chair or program director is required. The letter should indicate how the release from teaching can be effectively dealt with based on the resources requested. The absence of such a support letter will disqualify the proposal. To ensure that there is enough time to adjust departmental teaching assignments, only release time during the Fall 2020 semester will be considered, unless the investigator’s department chair specifically requests and justifies a Spring 2020 release in his/her support letter.

5. Project Bibliography: The bibliography should consist of primary and secondary sources that relate directly to the project. It is advisable to include works that pertain to both the project's substance and its theoretical or methodological approaches. Reviewers often use the bibliography to evaluate preparation in the subject area and approach to the topic.

6. Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae (2 pages per investigator maximum): The CV should include education, employment history, and most relevant citations (e.g., publications, presentations, performances, juried exhibitions).

Award

Members of the Resources and Infrastructure Committee within the College of Arts & Sciences will review and score proposals and make funding recommendations to the Dean, who will award funding.

Committee members will be asked to evaluate and rank applications according to the following criteria:

1. Significance of the contribution that the project will make in addressing a critical need of the state;
2. Alignment of the activity with one or more of the Grand Challenges identified in the UND Strategic Plan;
3. Quality or promise of quality of the applicant's work, and the likelihood that the work will lead to external grant funding;
4. Quality of the conception, organization, and description of the project;
5. Likelihood that the applicant will complete the project including the appropriateness of the budget, the quality and clarity of the project goals and design, the resources involved, and the qualifications of the applicant;
6. Likelihood that the successful completion of the project will bring recognition to the College of Arts & Sciences and UND;
7. Availability of funds; and
8. Adherence to proposal guidelines included in this document.

Requirements

1. Provision of regular updates for social and/or other media dissemination. Please send updates to, and respond to requests for information from, Tanya Butler at tanya.butler@UND.edu.
2. If an award results in a tangible product such as a book, article, or a video/ audio recording, a copy must be provided to the College. The College’s support for the project should be acknowledged in all resulting presentations, publications, exhibits, performances, etc.
3. UND policies and procedures must be followed for expenditure of funds including purchases, reimbursements, payroll appointments and hiring processes. Please note that according to UND policy, anything purchased with UND funds is the property of UND (e.g., supplies, books, equipment, etc.).
4. Submission of a final report to the College of Arts & Sciences within one month of the project’s end date (see timeline in Deadline and Submission of Proposals section, below). The report must include a brief summary of results of the project, how results were or will be disseminated, how funds were expended and whether or not the project resulted or will result in publications, presentations, performances, exhibits, etc. Send reports via email to: UND.artssci@und.edu.
5. Submission of an external grant proposal within one year of the completion of the project.

Deadlines

October 25, 2019

Proposals are due to the A&S Dean’s Office in MS Word or PDF format. Please submit via email to: UND.artssci@UND.edu. In the email subject line, please type “Applied Research Fund.” Members of the Resources and Infrastructure Committee will review and score the proposals and make recommendations to the Dean. The final decision on awards is made by the Dean.

November 15, 2019

Awards are announced.

January 1, 2020

Start of the award period. Remember to send updates to, and respond to requests for information from, Tanya Butler at tanya.butler@UND.edu.

December 31, 2020

All award monies must be spent. For questions about expenditures and project budgets, contact Kristi Bruggeman at kristi.bruggeman@UND.edu or 701.777.2740.

January 31, 2021

Final reports are due to the Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office. Please submit the reports in MS Word or PDF format via email to: UND.artssci@UND.edu.

December 31, 2021

Submission of an external grant proposal resulting from research supported by this funding opportunity.

Please direct questions to Mark Hoffmann, Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts & Sciences, at 701.777.3669 or mark.hoffmann@UND.edu.