Committee on Research

Overview
The COR Faculty Allowance program (CFA) is a non competitive grant program intended to provide financial support for research related activities of Senate faculty. This program replaces predecessor programs such as the New Faculty Research Grant (NFRG), the Faculty Research Grant (FRG) and the Special Research Grant (SRG). The fundamental difference is that faculty will no longer be required to submit a project proposal but will instead be required to fill out a simple application. The only requirement needed to apply is that the applicant is a member of the Santa Cruz Division of the Academic Senate. This program does not replace either the Scholarly Meeting and Travel (SMT) nor the Inter-Campus Travel (ICT) programs. These will still be running concurrently with funds available on a first come, first serve basis.

Policy
The application opened in the fall of 2022-23 (FY23). In the 2023-24 (FY24) year, the call for the CFA will go out during the spring quarter and awards will be effective at the start of the next fiscal year. With the exception of the FY23 awards, which will run for 20 months, Senate faculty members will have two years (24 months) to spend their $2000. Any remaining balance of the FY23 awards, transferred on Nov, 1, 2022 must be returned by 6/30/24. Unexpended balances for CFA awards transferred in FY24 must be returned before the end of the next fiscal year. The maximum balance of CFA funds that can be held in an account is $4000. That is, a faculty may retain funds up to two years’ worth of CFA awards, $4000, for a single year.

As an example, if in FY23, a faculty member applies for CFA and receives $2000, yet they elect not to spend it in FY23. They will have 6/30/24 (the end of FY24) to spend it or return the unspent balance. If the faculty member is awarded $2000 on 7/1/2023 (FY24), the following year, their CFA balance would be $4000. They will have until the end of FY24 to spend the FY23 balance. If they do not, the balance must be returned. However, they may apply again for CFA in FY25 and receive another $2000, on 7/1/24, thus retaining a balance of $4000 if they wish. This scheduled return removes the necessity of having to request an extension since Senate faculty will be automatically eligible to apply in the next cycle.

A brief description of allowable expenses follows.

Allowable expenses fall into five broad categories:

• Computer and Office Equipment
  • This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Computers
    • Hardware, software
    • Printers, copiers
    • Paper and other print materials for manuals, texts, etc.
• Specialized Research Equipment
  • This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Custom orders for research-related materials
    • Laboratory equipment
    • Laboratory samples or specimens for testing
    • Access to, or copies of, archival materials, manuscripts
• Student Support
  • This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Postdoctoral researcher support
    • GSA support (academic year and summer)
    • Undergraduate research assistants
• Conference and Field Travel
  • This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Airfare
    • Lodging
    • Conference fees
• Professional Services and Memberships
  • This includes but is not necessarily limited to:
    • Membership fees for professional associations
    • Open access fees (UC authors have access to reduced fees in many cases) 

COR travel grants are intended to provide the opportunity for qualified applicants to participate in meetings of learned societies and organized conferences for the purpose of presenting and discussing important research results. The meeting can either be in the U.S. or abroad.

 Eligibility

Who may travel:

Full-time members of the Academic Senate, including emeriti and those on sabbatical leave, are eligible. Non-Senate faculty members are encouraged to contact the Non-Senate Faculty Professional Development Fund to learn more about funds available to support their scholarly travel.

Eligible Travel:

1. The “participation” of the applicant is ordinarily in the form of presentation of scholarly papers or other active participation such as organizing the conference.
2. In exceptional circumstances, COR will consider requests for travel to participate in Scholarly Meetings without active presentation of results by the applicant provided that attending the meeting is crucial for the applicant’s ongoing research.
3. Heads of recognized scholarly organizations may be eligible for travel to meetings if the organization in question makes no provision for its officers’ travel
4. Grants may be made for travel to present works of art or to present other forms of creative expression, but only for the initial presentation of such creative endeavor.
5. Active and emeritus faculty who are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, or the National Institute of Arts and Letters may be eligible for travel (but not for subsistence) expenses for attendance at meetings of these organizations. Such reimbursement is authorized only for one such meeting per faculty member per fiscal year.

Ineligible Travel:

1. Requests to attend meetings primarily for recruitment purposes cannot be funded by COR. As described above, COR support for Scholarly Meeting travel is to be used for the primary purpose of presenting and discussing important research results.
2. These funds are not meant to be used to support travel to present a talk at another institution for the benefit of a local audience. Although talks of this kind can be important, COR is unable to support them directly.

Award Guidelines

1. Faculty may apply for travel funds to attend just one scholarly meeting per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). 
2. The travel amount is limited to a maximum of $1000 in each fiscal year. This is the maximum amount available for COR funding; whatever amount is requested must be fully justified. Applicants are encouraged to supplement COR funds with other funding sources.
3. Support is limited to:

• Round-trip economy airfare
• Least expensive ground transportation
• Meeting registration
• Lodging at the minimum meeting rate 

Application Procedures

1. Application for support of travel must be made at least fourteen (14) calendar days in advance of the date of departure.
2. The application is submitted via the CARS system. (click here).
3. Notifications of award are sent out on a monthly basis
4. CANCELLATION: Persons with approved applications should promptly notify the Committee on Research by e-mail (csilva67@ucsc.edu) if they will be unable to use the funds requested. These funds can be used to support other applications.
5. The expectation is that the funds will be used only for the trip described in the original approved application. However, modifications will be considered on a case by case basis.

 Post Travel Forms and Reimbursement

1. COR transfers SMT funds to the appropriate divisional budget office. All dispersing of funds to faculty is handled after the trip by these offices and not by COR.
2. A Post Travel Form (click here) supported by appropriate receipts and other evidence of payment (e.g., air ticket stubs), must be submitted to the recipient’s division business office for processing within ten (10) working days after completion of travel.

 SMT Flow Chart (ICT follows the same process)

(Approved 13 May 96; Revised 1 July 13, 9 March 23)

Please note the following changes to the Intercampus guidelines and application process:

1. Eligibility is limited to full-time members of the Academic Senate and graduate students advanced to candidacy.  Graduate students must be sponsored by a member of the Academic Senate and the faculty must submit the application on behalf of the graduate student. 
2. Funds may only be used for transportation and lodging, and have a maximum of $250.
3. Faculty may receive intercampus research funds only once every two years.
4. Faculty sponsorship of a graduate student will count as that faculty’s biennial award.
5. Applications must be submitted online at least 14 days in advance of travel.  

Guidelines of the Intercampus Program:

• Intercampus Travel Guidelines
• Intercampus Travel Request Form

Overview
The Committee on Research (COR) is pleased to announce the second offering of the competitive grant program for UCSC faculty that extends the COR Faculty Allowance (CFA) program.  COR “Large Grants” (CLG) can be proposed for any amount up to $12,000, with the number of awards determined by the yearly balance of the CFA.  Awards are intended to support faculty research and scholarly activities, broadly defined.   Budgets might include: summer Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) support; travel (including associated childcare costs); event costs; materials and supplies; participant support; manuscript fees; and other expenses allowed by the CFA.  Faculty summer salary is not an allowed use of these funds, nor are course buyouts.  Awards are made for a period of two years, with funds expected to be available in late June.  No extensions will be granted.

COR anticipates having funds for approximately 30 awards, and expects that awards will be made supporting a broad range of scholarly activities.  Faculty from all campus divisions are eligible and encouraged to apply. You can access the application HERE.

The Large Grants Program in Academic Year 2022/2023 awarded 30 grants across all divisions.  Each academic division received at least four awards, and divisions with large numbers of strong proposals received additional awards.  Proposed projects from last year’s awards include (but were not limited to):

• Films, installations, and exhibitions
• Research support for book projects; travel to visit primary sources
• Equipment and software for human subjects research
• Visits to field sites, resources for data collection
• Support for graduate student researchers and undergraduate research assistants

Awards to faculty from the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences will be partially funded by an endowment named after Earl C. Anthony.

Eligibility
All UCSC tenure-track or tenured Senate faculty, including teaching professors and emeritus faculty, are eligible to apply. 

Adjunct faculty, visiting faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows or scholars, fellowship trainees, and graduate students are not eligible.

Application Requirements
The application will be submitted via a form that collects basic information about the proposal.  A narrative portion will be uploaded by the applicant.

• Form information:
  • Project title
  • Faculty member name and contact information
  • Department and Division of the faculty member
  • Amount requested, up to $12,000
  • Current and Pending (other) funding.  List all funding, but indicate which is relevant to the proposed project.
  • List of other COR awards (excluding the $2,000 CFA) from the previous 3 years
• Narrative description (not to exceed 2 pages)
  • Project Summary
    • Motivation and description of the project. Is this an extension of existing work, or a new area?
    • Timeline for the project
    • Expected outcomes and criteria for success of the project.  
    • Qualifications of the faculty or team that will contribute to the success of the project
  • Budget Justification
    • Description of costs
    • Role of CLG funds.  Will the project only rely on CLG funds, or are CLG funds being used in conjunction with other support? 

Review Criteria
Applications will be evaluated based on:

• Clarity and accessibility of the proposal to reviewers, who are of varying intellectual backgrounds
• Strength, creativity, and/or novelty of the proposal
• Impact of the award on the success of the project
• The compatibility of the timeline of the proposed work with the two-year award

Junior (un-tenured) faculty are particularly encouraged to apply.