Commonwealth Campuses Collaboration Programs

Commonwealth Campuses Research Collaboration Development Program & Commonwealth Campus Center Nodes Program

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Proposal Submission Criteria

Eligibility

  • All full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty* members at Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses are eligible to apply. [*Waivers for non-tenured faculty may be requested when petitioned by the faculty member’s Associate Dean of Research in advance of the Full Proposal.]
  • Faculty with an active CCRCDP project that remains in progress/incomplete at the time of application are not eligible.

Review Criteria:

Phase 1 concept papers will be reviewed by institute/facility researchers based upon the following criteria:

  • Scientific merit
  • Availability of the required resources and/or other research supports
  • Approach, including technical feasibility and research methods
  • Qualifications of the applicant
  • Likelihood of external funding

Phase 2 Proposal Review Criteria

  • Proposals will be evaluated by the institute/facility leadership. The evaluation criteria specific to each institute/facility are listed on the application sites.

Funding and Allowable Costs

Annually, this program awards a maximum of 20 proposals, with each award up to  $10,000.

The program will consist of three types of support for the Commonwealth Campus faculty:

  • Equipment use time and facility staff time
  • Consumables, if necessary
  • Travel expenses to and from campuses and Interdisciplinary Institutes.

For SSRI applications, $500 will be provided for the UP mentor.

Project Duration

All projects must be completed within one year of the start date. Any unspent funds remaining at the end of one year must be returned to the program/OSVPR.

Reporting Requirements

Within 3 months of the end date of the project, the Commonwealth Campus faculty member/facility staff will submit an initial report to the OSVPR.

The Commonwealth Campus faculty member/facility staff should participate in the Commonwealth Campus Grant Writing Workshop in May.

Within 1 year, a follow-up report is required and should include quantitative outcome measures:

  • Publications
  • Grant proposals
  • Presentations (At UP, CoM, and Commonwealth Campuses)

Application and Review Process

This program requires a two-phase application process, consisting of a pre-proposal concept paper and a proposal.

Phase 1 – For ALL Applications

Concept Paper: Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis.

  1. Faculty must submit a concept paper specifying the main scientific question(s) to be addressed (maximum of two paragraphs). If known, please identify the institute or core facility and any required capabilities/expertise.
  2. For SSRI, faculty should suggest potential UP mentors.
  3. Concept papers will be reviewed by facility/institute staff and matched with an internal Subject Matter Expert (SME). A response will be provided within 10 days of submission.
  4. Preliminary Discussion. A conversation between the faculty and SME will occur to explore/develop the concept. If required, the program will provide “pre-proposal” funding to determine feasibility (e.g. Cover up to ~1 day of staff time + instrument time for ~$1000).  The decision to provide the pre-proposal funding will be made by the facility directors/faculty in conjunction with facility technical staff.
  5. The outcome of the pre-proposal work will be reviewed by the faculty member, SME, and core facility/institute leadership. The faculty member will be encouraged to submit a proposal if the results are positive.

Phase 2

For those invited following Phase 1 review.