PoP Grant for Faculty

The 2023-2024 Proposal or Pilot (PoP) Grant is designed to assist CISLL faculty affiliates in developing research or service-oriented grant proposals for external funding. Proposed projects should be directly related to the mission of the center.

Award Eligibility

Requirements

  • Faculty affiliates are encouraged to apply in interdisciplinary* groups
    • interdisciplinary proposals will be given special consideration during the review process.
  • Proposals that do not involve an interdisciplinary team of researchers will be given consideration.
Awards will only be given to individuals affiliated with CISLL, but individuals hired by the awardee need not be affiliates of the center.

*The National Science Foundation describes interdisciplinary research as a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.

Award

In Fall 2023, awards of up to $11,000 are available. Depending on the proposals received, additional proposals may be awarded (e.g., two awards of $5,500 each or three awards of varying amounts that add up to $11,000). Award amounts may vary depending on a justified budget statement.

Examples of the types of support that the award may be used for include: funding a graduate student, a course buyout, half summer funding, or a grant consultant.

Note: All funds awarded for the CISLL PoP Grant must be spent by May 31 of the academic year in which the grant was awarded. For personnel costs, as long as the funds are officially allocated by May 31, funding can cover salary for the period between May 15 - June 30.

Expectations

All awardees will be expected to:

  • Submit the proposal to an external funding agency with indirects and officially note CISLL as associated with the grant.
  • Share an informal report of progress including empirical findings at the CISLL summer retreat (typically held in May or June).
  • Submit a final report on your project, including information about activities completed and findings by the beginning of the next academic year.
  • Submit a copy of the completed proposal for external funding to the CISLL Office within one year of receiving the grant.
  • Awardees receiving the larger award supporting submission of a proposal for a federally funded grant are also expected to:
    • Submit the proposal to a federal funding agency and officially note CISLL as associated with the grant.

Committee Review

The PoP Grant Committee will review applications based on the following criteria:

  • Importance of the project including its purpose and significance/broader impact.
  • Methodological rigor of the research plan.
  • Potential for future external funding and dissemination of the associated scholarship.
  • Relevance to CISLL’s mission.
  • Expertise in area.
  • Feasibility of completing the proposal for external funding in the stated time period and relevance of the budget request to the stated objectives.
  • Interdisciplinary team proposals will receive special consideration.

Applications will be rank ordered by the committee. Funding will be allocated in rank order based on the committees' recommendations until the maximum amount the CISLL budget has designated for these PoP Grants has been committed.

Application Submission and Deadline

A completed application must be submitted by October 2, 2023. Applications must adhere to the length limitations of four pages, single-spaced with one-inch margins and no smaller than 12-point font. The reference list, and itemized budget of expenses, and any additional items required for grant requests over $2000 do not count towards the four-page limit.

The application must address all topics and guidelines and include:

  • Brief narrative of the project which includes its purpose, research plan, and significance/broader impact (at least two pages).
  • Brief statement of how the results of the project will be disseminated (one paragraph)
  • Relevance to CISLL’s mission (one-two paragraphs).
  • Brief narrative on how this funding will be used in support of potential future funding

The requirements listed below do not count toward the four-page limit:

  • A short biographic sketch showing expertise for each member of your project team (i.e. annotated vitae highlighting their expertise related to their role in the project and references for related work) (one page/person).
    • If you have not yet fully assembled your team, include descriptions of team members you will seek and their relevant skills.
  • An anticipated timeline for completion of the proposal for external funding.
    • Include a description of your plans to turn your project into a grant and the anticipated agency(s) and due date(s) for which you plan to submit your proposal.

Contact Us

Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy
Gabel Hall 156
cisll@niu.edu