Cottrell College Science Awards

Multi-investigator Awards

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Program Description

The MI-CCSA program is a new initiative aimed at helping start sustainable, collaborative programs of research by cross-disciplinary teams of faculty from science departments in primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI's). The program is focused on early career faculty. The research project should be one that could not be effectively attacked by an individual researcher or a group of researchers within the same discipline. Rather it is aimed at projects that, by their complexity and interdisciplinary nature, require a cross-disciplinary team approach to achieve significant progress and sustainability.

The program is being run as a pilot project for the first three years with the intention of determining its potential to facilitate cooperation across disciplinary boundaries in PUI's, build sustainable programs of cross-disciplinary research and facilitate an academic culture for teaching and research in the sciences that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Objectives

a. Fund projects that will advance highly significant research projects that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, produce peer-reviewed publications and subsequently attract competitive funding for continuation.

b. Fund projects that will build teams of students and faculty that cross traditional department boundaries.

c. Help early career faculty to establish long term, sustainable productive research programs.

d. Advance undergraduates to careers in science.

e. Facilitate the development of an academic culture that supports and encourages cross-disciplinary and collaborative research and teaching.

Eligibility

a. Institutional Eligibility

Institutional eligibility during the three-year pilot project is limited to colleges and universities in the US that have achieved a significant level of success in the Single Investigator Cottrell College Science Award (SI-CCSA) program during the past 10 years. A list of eligible institutions for the spring application cycle is available.

Only one application will be accepted from a single institution in a given year and once an institution receives a MI-CCSA award they will not be eligible to apply again during the three-year pilot period (2009-2011).

b. Team Eligibility

An eligible team will consist of at least two, and no more than three, faculty from at least two distinct science departments, all from within the same institution. One of the team members must be from a department of chemistry, physics or astronomy. Only team members from non-PhD granting departments are eligible. While up to one team member may be a tenured faculty, the remaining team members must be tenure-track faculty within six years of their first faculty appointment at the time of an award. Team members may have previously held a SI-CCSA, but cannot have an active award at the time of application for a MI-CCSA, nor can a team member have both an SI-CCSA and MI-CCSA application pending at the same time. Applications containing one or more members from a Department or School of Engineering or Medicine will not be accepted.

Award Size and Matching Requirements:

The award amount is $75,000 for a two-investigator team and $100,000 for a three-investigator team. The award duration is two years with a single, one-year, no cost extension available on request. An institutional match of $25,000 is required on all applications. Allowed budget categories include faculty summer stipends, student summer stipends, equipment, supplies and funds for travel needed to conduct the research. Although no budget page is required at the time of submission of a full proposal, budget allowances and restrictions will be in the award packet sent to awardees.

In general the same budget guidelines and restrictions apply as currently in force for the SI-CCSA, but pro-rated to the number of faculty on the team. For example, for a team consisting of three co-PI's, the budget could include no more than 6 faculty summer stipends of $7,500 for the two-year budget from RCSA funds (i.e., no more than two summer stipends per faculty member over the duration of the award). No indirect costs are allowed from the award and the only fringe benefit allowed is FICA of 7.65%. Institutional matching must consist of a cash contribution to the above categories and cannot include building renovation, academic year release time, facility charges, overhead or fringe benefits beyond FICA.

Application Process

The application process is initiated by taking an eligibility quiz to establish both institutional and team eligibility. Eligible teams will be linked to a pre-proposal application form. The window for submitting pre-proposals will open August 1 and the deadline for pre-proposal submission is September 15. Pre-proposals will be reviewed by RSCA program officers and pre-proposals most closely meeting the review criteria and considered to have the highest prospects for establishing a sustainable program of cross-disciplinary collaborative research will be invited to submit the full application with an application deadline of November 15. Approval for full proposal submission will occur on or around April 1. It is anticipated that approximately 30 teams from the 78 eligible institutions will be invited to submit full proposals and that 5-7 awards will be made in 2009.

Review Criteria

a) Scientific significance, originality and feasibility of the research project

b) Composition of the team and qualifications of the team members to advance the problem proposed

c) Potential for the project to be sustained by attracting significant federal funding by the end of the MI-CCSA period

d) Probability that the project will produce peer-reviewed publications, and engage and advance undergraduates to science careers

e) Potential of the project to further cross-disciplinary work more broadly at the home institution and contribute to building a supportive culture for teaching and research across departmental boundaries

Review Process:

RCSA program officers will screen pre-proposals. External scientific experts, RCSA program officers and the foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee will review full proposals. Notification of awards will be made in mid-November, with funding available in early January.