Request for Proposal

Proposal Preparation and Guidelines

Proposal Due:  December 18, 2012

Announcements will be made mid to late Spring 2013, with a project start date of May 15, 2013

Click here to go directly to the Proposal Submission Form.

Program Summary

The Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology (K2I) seed funding solicitation provides an opportunity for Rice faculty and researchers to receive funding for new and innovative projects that leverage information technology into innovations in research, scholarships and education. The goal is to encourage and support new and far-reaching initiatives and innovative scholarly research ideas that reach beyond traditional borders of science and engineering. The program aims to support ideas that:

  • can demonstrate a clear institutional benefit AND/OR can demonstrate a clear potential for external funding
  • involve ideas and faculty crossing school boundaries
  • explore the impact of the pervasiveness of information technology on society
  • promote the mission of Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology

Proposals that give rise to new collaborations that bridges across campus, demonstrate potential for short- and long-term impact, and position researchers for being competitive for obtaining external funding, are strongly encouraged.

Program Goal

K2I seeks proposals that address the broadest possible set of applications of information technology and computing, and have the greatest possibility of placing Rice in a leadership position in research and education. Proposals that promote information technology research and education beyond the historical boundaries of science and engineering, and in particular, that are inter-departmental and/or inter-school, are encouraged. Proposals that incubate new collaborations or significantly expand existing collaborations, inaugurate new research or education areas for advancing Rice’s role as a leading institution in education and research on information technology, are strongly encouraged. Proposals that demonstrate clear institutional impact and/or clear potential for external funding, and have a great potential for establishing a foundation for long term collaboration enabled by computing and information technology, will be prioritized.

In addition to awarding one- and two-year regular seed grants we may also award a small number of exploratory program planning awards. Planning awards are limited to one-year and its aim is to support the process of developing institutional communities around areas of perceived faculty strength, targeting future regular seed funding and building partnerships that can successfully attract external funding.

Contacts

  • Jan E. Odegard, Executive Director, Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology. Phone: 713.348.3128; E-mail: odegard@rice.edu
  • Victoria Langlais, Administrator, Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology. Phone: 713.348.5823; E-mail: vl5@rice.edu

Eligibility Information

  • PI eligibility limit: Regularly appointed full-time tenured or tenure track faculty, faculty fellows, and research professors at Rice are eligible to be lead principal investigators.
  • Proposal limit: A faculty member can only be a PI/Co-PI on one proposal.

Deadlines/Proposal Submission

  • Proposal deadline: Tuesday, December 18, 2012  Only electronically submitted proposals will be accepted.
  • Announcements will be made mid to late Spring with a project start date of May 15, 2013.

You are now required to submit a signed proposal review and approval form.

The form can be found here.

 

Click here to go directly to the Proposal Submission Form.

Award Information

  • Anticipated funding amount: $100,000, pending availability of funds. Maximum single award not to exceed $25,000 for one year awards or $50,000 total for two year awards.  Direct expenditures and a maximum of 15% of the budget can be for faculty support (salary plus fringes). Award period not to exceed two years. A small number of one-year exploratory program planning awards (up to $5,000) will also be considered.  Honorariums are not allowable.  Travel must be approved in the original budget.  Money must be spent at Rice, any deviations from this policy must be pre-approved by the Ken Kennedy Institute.

Regular Grant Seed Funding Proposal Requirements

The main proposal body is limited to 7 pages with 1″ margins, using a 11 point or larger Times New Roman font.   This does not include the cover page, budget, bibliography and other supporting material. The proposal should be organized as follows:

  • Cover page (web form that you fill in online when submitting the proposal)
    1. Project title
    2. Program (select ERIT 2012)
    3. Start date, end date (use 05/15/ 2013)
    4. List of investigators
    5. Amount of total funding requested
    6. Brief project summary
    7. Attach the main body of your proposal
    8. Attach the budget for your proposal (see excel budget template)
  • Main body of proposal(max 7 pages)
    • Problem and Specific Aims of the Proposal (1 page)
    • Background and Related Work by the PIs (1 page)
    • Methods (3 pages)
      • Include a description of the research proposed and its information technology aspects.
    • Plan for leveraging seed funding (1 page)
      • Clearly spell out how this seed funding will directly impact the researcher’s ability to obtain new (external) funding.
      • List specific programs whenever possible and point out how and why the seed funding is critical.
      • Two year projects must make a strong case for why second year funding will be needed and must be closely linked to external funding objectives
    • Project Plan (1 page)
      • Include who will work on the project, timeline and funding statement of broader impact.
  • Budget
  • There is no institutional F&A on these grants but you must include fringes and/or tuition remission on any salary requested.
    • Additional information(there is no page limit)
      • Short (max 2 pages) CV for each PI (required)  CV should be in NSF or NIH style.
      • Bibliography
      • Other relevant information

Planning Grant Seed Funding Proposal Requirements

Submit a short proposal (1-2 pages) outlining the intellectual core and discuss the external funding prospects associated with developing the proposed area (sub-community). Carefully state your long-term goals and potential for external funding. List all faculty members that will be involved. Include a budget that indicates how the money will be used to support community building at Rice.  Funds cannot be used for honorarium payments.  Travel must be included in the approved budget.

Proposal Review Information

A committee appointed by the Ken Kennedy Institute will coordinate and review all proposals. Reviewers will consider the following criteria:

  • inventiveness/significance/feasibility of the proposal
  • the significance of the information and technology aspects of the proposal
  • plan for the execution of the proposal
  • impact on curriculum, research, and the daily lives of Rice students and faculty
  • how the proposed research will expand collaboration across Rice
  • plan for leveraging seed funding for external funding
  • Click here to see the criteria the selection committee will use to score each proposal.
  • Preference will be given to new collaborations.  If this is an existing group of investigators make sure you justify how this will lead to new and expanded collaboration.

Reporting, Communications & Conditions

Pre award:

Each project, prior to finalizing the award, is required to provide to K2I:

(a)   a signed memorandum of understanding (see sample) of deliverables,

(b)   a link to a web page describing the project and committing to maintain the web page for the purpose of highlighting research accomplishments,

(c)    a revised and updated project description (if applicable)

Post award:

One year projects: Submit a final report at the end (within 60 days after the project end date) of the project highlighting the accomplishments and reporting on research expenditures. A web form for submitting reports will be provided.

Two year projects: Submit a mid-term report (60 days prior to first anniversary) and a final report (within 60 days after the project end date). Both reports should highlight the accomplishments, report progress towards obtaining external funding, and report on research expenditures to date. A web form for submitting reports will be provided.

Publications and Rights

The researcher(s) are encouraged to publish the results of the research. Publications must acknowledge the funding source (e.g., this work made possible in part through support from the Ken Kennedy Institute Seed Grant: Enriching Rice through Information Technology 2013 supported by the Sheafor/Lindsay Innovation Fund). Research outcomes are subject to applicable university policies and standard institutional intellectual property rights apply.

Award Administration

As soon as required documents have been signed and the budget has been approved, a budget entry will be made to the department of the lead PI at Rice. Proposals that request part of the funds as matching funds will, upon request, be provided with a letter of support. Cost sharing funds will not be transferred before an award letter of such funding has been submitted.

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