Program Goal
K2I seeks proposals that fit the broadest possible definition of information technology and have the greatest possibility of placing Rice and its collaborators at the Texas Medical Center in a position for receiving future joint funding from external sources. Proposals leveraging computing and information technology to incubate new collaborations, significantly expand existing collaborations or inaugurate new research areas for advancing biomedical computing are strongly encouraged. Proposals that demonstrate clear institutional impact and/or clear potential for received subsequent external funding, and have a great potential for establishing a foundation for long term cross-institutional research enabled by computing and information technology, will be prioritized.
In addition to awarding one- and two-year regular seed grants we may also award a small number of exploratory program planning awards. Planning awards are limited to one-year and aim to support the process of developing inter-institutional communities around areas of perceived faculty strength, targeting future regular seed funding and building partnerships that can successfully attract external funding.
Proposal Preparation and Guidelines
Regular Grant Seed Funding Proposal Requirements
The main proposal body is limited to 7 pages. This does not include the cover page, budget, bibliography and other supporting material. The proposal should be organized as follows:
• Cover page (this is the web form that you fill in online when submitting the proposal)
1. Project title
2. Program (select CABC 2017)
3. Start date, end date (use May 1, 2017)
4. List of investigators
5. Name of partner investigator(s) in TMC
6. Amount of total funding requested
7. Brief project summary
8. Attach the main body of your proposal
9. Attach the budget for your proposal
10. Letter of commitment from TMC collaborator(s)
– The letter(s) from TMC collaborator should explain why this project is important for their work and why he/she is willing to put time in it.
• Main body of proposal (max 7 pages)
o Problem and Specific Aims of the Proposal (max 1 page)
o Background and Related Work by the PIs (max 1 page)
o Methods (max 3 pages)
– Include a description of the research proposed and its computational aspects.
o Plan for leveraging seed funding (max 1 page)
– Clearly spell out how this seed funding will directly impact the researcher’s ability to obtain new (external) funding.
– List specific programs whenever possible and point out how and why the seed funding is critical.
– Two year projects must make a strong case for why second year funding will be needed and must be closely linked to external funding objectives
o Project Plan (max 1 page)
– Include who will work on the project, timeline and funding statement of broader impact.
• Budget
o There is no institutional F&A on these grants but you must include fringes and/or tuition remission on any salary requested.
• Additional information (there is no page limit)
o Short (max 2 pages) CV for each PI (required)
o Bibliography
o Other relevant information
Planning Grant Seed Funding Proposal Requirements
Submit a short proposal (1-2 pages) outlining the intellectual core and discuss the external funding prospects associated with developing the proposed area (sub-community). Carefully state your long-term goals and potential for external funding. List all faculty members that will be involved.
Proposal Review Information
A committee appointed by the Ken Kennedy Institute will coordinate and review all proposals. Reviewers will consider the following criteria:
• institutional benefit OR potential for external funding
• plan for leveraging seed funding for external funding
• inventiveness/significance/feasibility of the proposal
• plan for the execution of the proposal
• how the proposed research will expand collaboration between Rice and TMC
Reporting, Communications, and Conditions
Pre award:
Each project, prior to finalizing the award, is required to provide to K2I:
(a) a signed memorandum of understanding of deliverables,
(b) a link to a web page describing the project and committing to maintain the web page for the purpose of highlighting research accomplishments,
(c) a revised and updated project description and
(d) (if required by the proposed research) submit a copy of the appropriate and approved IRB approvals (projects may require IRB approval from more than one institution).
Post award:
One year projects: Submit a final report at the end (within 60 days after the project end date) of the project highlighting the accomplishments and reporting on research expenditures. A web form for submitting reports will be provided.
Two year projects: Submit a mid-term report (60 days prior to first anniversary) and a final report (within 60 days after the project end date). Both reports should highlight the accomplishments, report progress towards obtaining external funding, and report on research expenditures to date. A web form for submitting reports will be provided.
Publications and Rights
The researcher(s) are encouraged to publish the results of the research. Publications must acknowledge the funding source (e.g., this work made possible in part through support from the Ken Kennedy Institute Seed Grant: Collaborative Advanced in Biomedical Computing 2011 supported by the John and Ann Doerr Fund for Computational Biomedicine). Research outcomes are subject to applicable university policies and standard institutional intellectual property rights apply.
Award Administration
As soon as required documents have been signed and the budget has been approved, a budget entry will be made to the department of the lead PI at Rice. Proposals that request part of the funds as matching funds will, upon request, be provided with a letter of support. Cost sharing funds will not be transferred before an award letter of such funding has been submitted.