T-RISE Seed Grants

In 2024, there will be two competitions for seed grants related to T-RISE.

The purpose of this funding is to provide resources to inspire transdisciplinary research on problems in STEM education. We define transdisciplinary as transcending individual disciplines and including multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary efforts. Therefore, a proposed research project must include collaboration between faculty from at least two colleges who work together to develop innovative approaches to answer novel research questions. This project should include collecting pilot data and will be judged on whether, if successful, it could attract external funding.

Applications submitted in response to this opportunity should propose transdisciplinary pilot projects that align with one or more of the three T-RISE research themes: Science of STEM Learning, Equity in STEM, or Pedagogical Innovation in STEM; and that will lead to externally funded transdisciplinary projects.

In 2024, T-RISE will fund up to 4 seed projects of up to $15,000 each.

Timeline

Proposal Submission

Proposals must be submitted via NIU’s InfoReady portal.

• NIU users should log in to InfoReady via single sign-on using the “NIU Login” button on the NIU InfoReady home page.
• Support documents and videos for applicants are available via the “Help” link on the NIU InfoReady webpage.
• For technical assistance with the InfoReady submission process, send an email to erahelp@niu.eduand reference "Research and Artistry 2023-2024” in the subject line.

The submission process is completely electronic. Proposals submitted by any method other than the InfoReady portal will not be accepted.

Project Summary

Provide a summary of the project not exceeding 1,600 characters. This character limit is built into the InfoReady application form and will be enforced. You may develop your summary outside of the portal and paste it into the text field.

The summary should be a self-contained description of the activities that will be completed if the proposal is funded. The summary should include a statement of objectives, a description of the methods that will be employed and/or activities that will take place, and an explanation of how the project will impact the applicant, the University, the discipline, and society.

Proposal Narrative

The proposal narrative should communicate all aspects of the research plan. Your team should develop your proposal narrative outside of InfoReady and upload it to your application as an attachment. The proposal narrative (excluding references cited and glossary) is limited to five single-spaced pages with one-inch margins in all directions and font size no smaller than 11 points. Please work within this limit to determine the appropriate length for each section below based on the content required for your specific proposal. Proposals that exceed this overall page limit will not fare well during review at best, and at worst may be returned without review.

The required sections of the proposal narrative are as follows:

• T-RISE grant justification: Describe how the project is likely to lead to external funding. This section may include:
  • How specifically the project will strengthen an extramural proposal? What activities will the project fund that is necessary to secure external funding (e.g., proof of concept, securing pilot data, establishing collaborative relationships, project planning, etc.).?
  • Information on previous attempts to secure external funding, including whether reviews of previously submitted external proposals justify the need for the proposed activities and/or internal funding in support of a stronger application.
  • Information on specific plans to apply for external funding in the future, including sponsors that may fund the work, a timeline for pursuing extramural funding, and other details.
• Project goals:
  • This section should clearly state the project goals and objectives (hypotheses to be tested, questions to be answered, concepts to be explored, and/or products that will result from the project) and how those relate to prior work in the field by the project team members.
  • Describe how the proposed project aligns with one of the three T-RISE themes: Science of STEM Learning, Equity in STEM, or Pedagogical Innovation in STEM.
• Project methods:
  • Define the methods that will be used and activities that will be conducted to achieve the project goals and to evaluate project impacts, irrespective of whether the fields involved are artistic, scientific, or humanistic.
  • Please include a justification and explanation of sample sizes, where applicable.
• PI and co-PI qualifications and career enhancement:
  • Each project must include at least one PI from at least two colleges (e.g., faculty A from CLAS and faculty B from CHHS).
  • Provide a short description of how each team member will contribute to this project.
  • The description should clarify how the proposed work builds on successful work already carried out by members of the project team. If the proposed work is in a new area, the proposal should explain the motivation for the change in direction and plans to ensure success.
  • Include a work plan to ensure the team will have the time and opportunity to meet proposed project goals given that research collaborations across disciplinary boundaries can be time-consuming.
• Student involvement (optional):
  • Involvement of students in T-RISE seed grants is optional. If students are involved, include a description of how you will engage students in data collection and analysis.

References Cited

Provide a list of references cited in the proposal narrative or elsewhere in the application documents. Applicants may use the citation method most appropriate for their field, as long as the citation method is consistent throughout the application. 

Budget and Justification

Provide an itemized budget request and detailed justification. You will download an Excel budget form from InfoReady, complete it offline, and upload the completed form to your application. You will have access to download the form once you start your application in InfoReady.

The total budget requested may not exceed $15,000 – including summer salary. Funds may not be spent before the award start date. Funds may not be used for activities that occur before the award start date. Funding is limited to the following categories:

• Faculty summer salary of up to $5,000 per faculty member. Faculty may only request summer salary on one proposal up to this limit, even if they participate in more than one proposal. The project can have a maximum of five investigators. In general, salary should indicate the relative level of contribution unless otherwise described in the proposal (e.g., $2500 for one week of work versus $5,000 for two weeks of work).
•  
• Graduate or Undergraduate assistant salary.
• Supplies (e.g., software subscriptions, consumables).
• Fees for use of established NIU service centers (i.e., RMS). More information is available on these service centers.
• Contractual services (e.g., transcription, etc.). Note that payment for contractual services to an external organization may only be requested if the service is not available via NIU.
• Participant payments.

Budget items other than those listed above are not allowed. Specifically, the following requests are unallowable:

• Travel.
• Non-faculty collaborators – Staff on 12-month salaries are not eligible for additional pay for this funding opportunity.
• Costs incurred for activities taking place before the award start date.
• Faculty summer salary exceeding $5,000 per faculty member, and/or requested in multiple proposals.
• Any costs (travel, lodging, meals, registration, or any other cost) in support of conference attendance, including for presentation of project results.
• Costs of collaboration with external entities: Funding to external entities is limited to contractual payments to another organization for services not available at NIU (e.g., transcription, lab analyses that cannot be conducted at NIU, access to facilities required but not available at NIU, etc.). Direct payments to individuals are not allowed, nor are consortium arrangements with another organization to conduct a portion of the work (i.e., a sub-award).

It is not necessary to include fringe benefit costs, student tuition, or facilities and administrative costs in the T-RISE Seed Grant budget. These costs are requested in budgets of externally funded grants and contracts to recover institutional costs associated with those projects. Because T-RISE is an intramurally funded program, recovery of these institutional costs is not applicable.

You must provide a detailed budget justification within the budget form. Each budget line has a “description” column; please use that space to justify each item requested. Additional space is available at the end of the budget to provide further justification if needed. The justification should directly tie the budget request to the work plan of the proposed project, and must include the following information:

• Why each item requested in the budget is required to complete the project
• How each item requested will support the proposed project
• The cost basis for and total cost of each item requested, in dollars (e.g., “X widgets x $Y per widget = $Z total”; “X amount of time x $Y per time unit = $Z total salary/wage request”)

Budgets that are not adequately justified will not be awarded.

Award funds must be expended between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Funds may not be spent before or for activities occurring before the award start date. Extensions of the award end date must be approved by the T-RISE Executive Board and are not automatic or guaranteed. Such approval must be requested well before the award end date. If approved, extensions will be awarded as “no cost”, meaning no additional funding will be provided and the applicant must have funds remaining to complete the project during the extended award period.

Other Supporting Documentation (required for the lead PI and all co-PIs, where applicable)

Required Additional Documentation

• Extramural funding (past three years): Provide a list of all extramural proposals submitted during the last three years (funded, unfunded and pending). Please retrieve the list from the InfoEd database by accessing the standard reports. This document is required. If you have never applied for external funding, you must upload a document stating as much to meet the requirement. Do not include intramural funding activity in this list. Describe any additional efforts you have made to develop such proposal(s) or to identify appropriate external funding sources, if applicable.
• Abbreviated CV of no more than five pages. The emphasis should be on publications and professional activities (e.g., books, book chapters, proceedings, refereed articles, monographs, presentations, exhibits, performances, inventions, etc.) during the last five years. This document is required.

Optional Additional Documentation

• Internal Funding History: A list or description of internal funding support you have requested or been awarded to support the proposed project.
• Letters of Collaboration: If external collaborators are involved, you may provide letters of collaboration confirming their intention to participate. Such letters should be brief and to the point and should document the commitment to collaborate rather than describing qualitative support for the project. Basic letters of support (letters that praise the project idea or PI(s)) are not allowed and will not be reviewed or considered.

Review Criteria