RA & $10k Seed Grants

• WSU faculty members on any campus in any discipline and rank that includes a research appointment may serve as principal investigator or team member.
• PI must work with their finance manager to have the funds transferred from the Office of Research by November 1, 2024.

Application Due	5:00 p.m., September 10, 2024
Flash Talk Presentations	10:00–11:00 a.m., September 24, 2024
Award Announcement	September 25, 2024
Recognition at Research Excellence Awards	11:00–12:00 a.m., October 24, 2024
Funds Transfer Deadline	November 1, 2024

One or two awards will be given depending on availability of funds. Each award will include $10,000 and a one-semester, non-renewable research assistantship to support individual faculty or collaborative teams. The funds will be processed by the PI’s home department, school, or program.

The RA will be funded according to the student’s educational level:

• Master’s student: Step 59
• Doctoral student: Step 64
• Doctoral student (with passed qualifying exams): Step 69

If the PI wishes to or must fund the the RA at a higher step, the difference in cost can either be covered as part of the $10,000 award budget or using department or grant funds.

The lead PI will make a 3–5 minute public presentation to a general WSU audience and the review panel. The pitch should convey the core ideas, purpose, and expected benefits of the proposed activity to a non-specialist, multi-disciplinary audience. A short question and answer period will follow. The review panel will select the most promising and compelling project to receive the award/s.

Note: Based on number of written applications received, applicants may be shortlisted for the public presentation. The Office of Research will contact applicants with further instructions following the application deadline.

The successful projects will be announced on September 25 and recognized during the Research Week awards ceremony on October 24.

A multi-disciplinary faculty review panel will evaluate both the written proposal and public presentation using the below criteria.

Criteria	Weight
Research question is well-defined.	0.20
Project is of significance to discipline and/or has public/community impact.	0.20
Project shows innovation, positive collaboration or originality.	0.20
Plan of execution is reasonable and feasible within two semesters.	0.20
Project has potential to contribute to RA’s professional and academic development in a meaningful manner.	0.20

• The award period is 12 months following transfer of funds.
• The RA must complete the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training prior to spring semester 2025.
• If the research activities include human subjects, animals, and/or biosafety activities, the protocol letter of approval must be submitted to the Office of Research before funds can be released.
• Assistantships are funded for Spring 2025.
• Awardees may be asked to present at a research showcase event following the project’s completion.
• A proposal directly related to the seed grant project must be submitted to an external funding source no more than 12 months after the award period ends, or the awardee must show evidence of significant scholarly or creative practice achievement.
• Awardees must submit a final report to the Office of Research and Graduate School no later than six (6) months after end of the award period. The report must include an assessment of the award’s impact on both the PI’s research program and the individual RA’s academic development in order to allow the university to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. It should document project goals, activities, and outcomes as well as any publications, presentations, exhibitions, media coverage, sales or marketing, projects, papers, proposals/awards or other accomplishments that resulted from this support. 

• How can the funds be used? The $10,000 can be used for almost any expense directly related to the proposed project. However, subawards/subcontracts (see below) and conference travel are not allowed. Additionally, any requested faculty salary must be well justified, confirming the need for their time to be covered by this grant funding.
• How detailed does the budget justification need to be? The budget justification portion of the proposal can be a general description of anticipated expenses (e.g. “Travel – $2,000 for our collaborator at TAMU to travel to WSU for planning activities.” or “Salaries – $5,000 in summer salaries for the lead PI to coordinate and oversee the planning process.”). It does not have to be detailed in the same manner as an NSF, NIH, or other federal budget proposal.
• Can the grant include subawards/subcontracts to external collaborators? No. The money for this grant comes from state funds, which do not allow the establishment of subawards/subcontracts with outside entities. Grant funds may be used to support a travel stipend or other expenses in support of an external collaboration, but no salary or benefits can be paid to non-WSU employees.
• Can the graduate student/RA be PI for this funding competition? No, while the RA must be well integrated into the proposed project, the end goal of this completion is to provide faculty with the resources to advance their research program by pursuing a new area of research. As such, only faculty are allowed to be lead PI.
• Should the Research Assistantship be accounted for in the budget? Yes, please include the cost of the research assistantship in your budget. If the cost of your RA is greater the base salary steps outlined in Award Details above, describe how the additional cost will be covered.