Medicine & Engineering

Research Development Fund

Call for Proposals and Application Instructions

The USC School of Medicine and the USC College of Engineering and Computing announce funding of a new program titled Medicine & Engineering Research Development Fund (Medicine & Engineering RDF) for support of collaborative research projects involving the joint participation of faculty from the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Computing. Funding will be awarded on a competitive basis through the program for meritorious joint research projects proposed by faculty of the two colleges who submit grants through the University of South Carolina in Columbia. The purpose of the Medicine & Engineering RDF award is to foster scholarly research by collaborating faculty for projects that have strong potential for generating extramural funding. The scope of the research that may be supported includes both biomedical engineering and translational clinical research.

Medicine & Engineering Research Development Fund Awards

Program 1:

Program 2:

Program 3:

Goal: To support revision and resubmission of previously submitted and reviewed research grant applications by providing funds to address the weaknesses or limitations of the original application.
Support: Up to $25,000 may be requested.
Timeline: Maximum of nine months.
Product: A revised research grant application resubmitted to a federal agency.
Application: A grant application already submitted to and reviewed by a federal agency including the review documents (i.e., "pink sheets") provided by the reviewing agency and completed RDF application forms.

A Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee will review applications and reserves the right to recommend altering the amount of support requested in approved projects depending on the appropriateness of the budget justifications, the number of proposals received, and the amount of funds available.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are all salaried or like-salaried faculty and research faculty of the USC School of Medicine and all tenure-track, and research faculty of the College of Engineering and Computing who submit grants through the University of South Carolina. Applicants may not be on terminal notice or have accepted a position in another institution. Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible as principal investigators but may participate in a funded project.

Proposal Submission Date

The first "Call for Proposals" will have an application deadline of Monday, November 4, 2003. Ten (10) copies, including the original copy, of the application should be delivered to the Dean's Office of either the School of Medicine or the College of Engineering and Computing. Application forms may be obtained by calling the Dean's Office or Office of Research at the respective colleges, or downloaded from websites.

Review Process

Proposals will be competitively reviewed as follows: A Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee will conduct initial reviews to select a subset of applications that will undergo further review by an "Medicine & Engineering RDF Study Section" of experts representing a cross section of scholarly disciplines. Medicine & Engineering RDF Study Section reviewers will consist of three School of Medicine faculty; three College of Engineering and Computing faculty and three other faculty from USC or external institutions selected by the Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee. In addition, the Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee may solicit written evaluations by external reviewers on the scientific merit of a proposal. The Medicine & Engineering RDF Study Section will score and rank the applications requested for review in order of priority for worthiness of support. Recommendations of the Medicine & Engineering RDF Study Section will be presented to the Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee which will make recommendations to the Deans of the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Computing for funding. A final decision concerning funding will be made by the Deans. Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee and Medicine & Engineering RDF Study Section grant review sessions will be strictly confidential, but all applicants will receive a critique of their submitted proposals. These critiques may be helpful in modifying applications before they are submitted for external funding. The following criteria will be applied:

• Scientific merit
• Likelihood of generating external funding
• Economic development potential
• Extent of collaboration between the faculty of the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Computing
• Background training and expertise of the applicants

Grant Conditions

1. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator that requirements of the Institutional Review Board for the use of human subjects and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for the use of animal subjects have been met, as well as biohazardous materials guidelines have been satisfied prior to activating an award.
2. Applicants are required to submit "pink sheets" or other critiques from external agencies if they are seeking Medicine & Engineering RDF funds to address a proposal previously submitted to an external funding agency.
3. Grants must be activated promptly following the announcement of an award. For accounting purposes, all awards are set up for one year from the time of final approval.
4. A final report is due to the Deans of both the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Computing 30 days after the conclusion of the award period, including status of grant submission.
5. All recipients of Medicine & Engineering RDF awards will be required to provide extended information on their research activities; i.e., peer-reviewed grants and publications stemming directly from work supported by the award for a period of three (3) years after the grant has ended. The Deans will send to each Principal Investigator an annual reminder and request for updated information on the completed grant. This information will be used to assess the impact of the Medicine & Engineering RDF Awards on acquisition of national funding for the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering and Information Technology.
6. Any publications resulting from work funded by this award should be joint publications by the medicine-engineering investigative team and contain an acknowledgment such as -- "This work was partially supported by the University of South Carolina School of Medicine - College of Engineering and Computing Research Development Fund."
7. Budget expenditures are authorized for only those items listed in the proposal budget (see "Summary of Medicine & Engineering RDF Support Request"). All expenditures must be made through regular University procedures. Changes in objectives or scope or extensions to project dates must be requested in writing to the Deans who will forward the proposal to the Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee for advice and counsel.
8. Non-expendable items purchased with Medicine & Engineering RDF grant funds become the property of the University of South Carolina.
   
9. Expenses incurred prior to the award of a Medicine & Engineering RDF grant will not be reimbursed. Costs that should normally come out of department or service budgets will not be funded. Salaries for state-salaried personnel will not be supported.
10. The Principal Investigator and all Co-Investigators are required to detail in the proposal application all current and pending research support, extramural and intramural, in which he/she is involved.
11. Any copyrightable publication or patentable invention arising out of funding by the Medicine & Engineering RDF award may involve University of South Carolina interest. Normally, intellectual property developed solely by USC employees will follow the patent and copyright policies of the University.
12. The same or similar project may be submitted to other institutional award programs in the same academic year for matching funds. Proposals may be submitted requesting supplemental support of a previously Medicine & Engineering RDF funded project if the supplemental need is appropriately documented and justified. A proposal may be submitted simultaneously to a national agency and to the colleges as Medicine & Engineering RDF proposal. If extramural funding is achieved, double funding of an Medicine & Engineering RDF award will not be allowed. However, Medicine & Engineering RDF funds may be used as match funds for external project support if indicated as such during the application process.

Application Instructions

Project Cover Sheet. Please fill out the information requested in the summary face page. The anticipated starting date is January 1, 2003. If you request another starting date, please justify in writing.

Signatures Page. Signatures of the Principal Investigator and Co-investigators and corresponding Department Chairs are required. (SPAR's Proposal/Award Processing form is not required.)

Statement on Funding Need and Project Potential for Extramural Support.
This section should be written for the Medicine & Engineering RDF award and clearly state why the applicant needs Medicine & Engineering RDF funding and how such an award will lead to external funding. A well-written statement will be of major importance to the Joint SOM/COEIT Research Advisory Committee.

Summary of Medicine & Engineering RDF Support Request .
Complete the form according to the categories specified typically drawing upon the first year budget of the external funding agency proposal. Please state the percent time/effort of all personnel associated with the project. Do not include indirect costs of the external funding agency as part of the request to the School of Medicine.
Allowable expenses: Salaries for students, technicians, postdoctoral fellows, and secretaries (if appropriately justified); technical equipment, research supplies and animal costs; domestic travel for data acquisition; costs of computer time; publication costs of research; special fees (pathology, photography, subject participation fees, etc.). Be specific in justifying budgetary requirements. Any indications of contributions from departmental or service units will be helpful. When applicable, fringe benefits must be included in the budget request.
Unallowable expenditures : Salaries of faculty or state-salaried personnel; dues and membership in scientific societies; purchasing or binding of periodicals and books; building maintenance or alterations of laboratory space; laboratory furniture; office furniture; indirect cost charges.

Biographical Summary and Other Support.
For the Principal Investigator and each Co-investigator listed on the face page, a separate copy of the Biographical (not to exceed two pages) and Other Support sections should be completed. Funding overlap will be carefully reviewed.

Narrative Section.
Program 1: Provide a 2-5 page description of the research area to be explored by the collaborative group.
Programs 2 and 3: Provide a fully completed grant application on forms of the external funding agency that the Principal Investigator plans to target for submitting a grant. The grant should be completed exactly as if it were going to be submitted to that agency with the following differences:

• The research proposal should be written for all years of support that one would request were the applicant to submit the proposal to an external funding agency. The budget for direct costs for the entire grant period must be completed. However, an Medicine & Engineering RDF award would provide support only for funds requested on the "Summary of Medicine & Science RFD Support Request" form.
• Signatures requested on the external funding agency forms need not be provided for Medicine & Engineering RDF review.
• Submit "pink sheets" or other critiques from external agencies if application seeks Medicine & Engineering RDF funds to support a proposal previously submitted to an external funding agency.

Appendix: Supplemental information may be provided in an Appendix if deemed important to the submission. However, the merit of the proposal will be based on the actual grant application text; no assurance can be given that supplemental materials will be considered by the review panels.

Questions regarding the preparation of your application should be addressed to the Associate Deans for Research at the respective colleges. Applicants should contact SPAR for appropriate external grant agency forms and instructions. The original and nine copies [total of ten (10) sets] of the completed application must reach the Dean's Office of either the School of Medicine or the College of Engineering and Computing by the close of business on the deadline date. Proposals submitted after the deadline will not be considered for competition. It is anticipated that award announcements will be made on or before December 16, 2002.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST

____ Project Cover Sheet
____ Signatures Page
____ Statement on Funding Need and Project Potential for Extramural Support
____ Summary of Medicine & Engineering RDF Support Request
____ Biographical Information (for all senior investigators)
____ Research Support (for all senior investigators)
____ Narrative (completed grant application to external funding agency)
____ Critiques from external agencies if applicable
____ Appendix (only if absolutely necessary, 10 copies)
____ Ten sets of the application including original

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Application PDF File

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