The College of Science Industry Partnership Award provides critical resources for projects that take a new direction, utilize a new technology or are in the “proof-of-concept” phase. Undergraduate & graduate students and faculty researchers can participate in the research, with a preference given to graduate students and faculty who are developing new areas of research AND establishing/augmenting research partnerships with external industrial partners. The Innovation award is made possible by funds from the College of Science Venture Fund.
These awards provide funds to establish partnerships with industrial partners, accelerate project development, generate data and manuscripts, and foster proposal submissions. The Innovation award will make faculty much more competitive for extramural grant funding by providing them with the seed funding necessary to build bridges, demonstrate the feasibility of their ideas, and quicken the pace of scientific discovery. Successful projects can subsequently apply for a Stage 2 SciRIS award.
About the award
Objectives
The Industry Partnership Award specifically seeks to
- Identify transformative research opportunities,
- Cultivate external engagements with industrial partnerships,
- Broaden participation and foster equity, access & inclusivity,
- Cultivate ideas that strengthen the research & innovation enterprise.
Outcomes
The Industry Partnership Award is expected to lead to two or more of
- Industrial partner engagement,
- Collaborative research,
- Collaborative publications,
- New proposal submissions,
- Engaging a diverse workforce.
Example costs supported
The following costs are allowed
- Student stipends and OPE (internships, or research including summer research),
- Research related travel, particularly for students,
- Materials, supplies, and services,
- Equipment purchase or upgrade,
- App development,
- Innovation training,
- Funds for a course release for faculty.
Note: Faculty salary is not allowed.
Deadlines and expenditures
Deadline: October 15
Award: $10,000
Timeline: Funds must be expended within 12 months of award date.
No cost extension: The College of Science Internal Funding Program provides seed funds for one year. We anticipate that some projects may experience challenges that could delay outcomes and deliverables. If your funded project meets this criterium and you would like to request a no cost extension (NCE), you’ll need to fill out the following form: https://beav.es/cew (Note this requires ONID login).
The NCE request will be reviewed by the College of Science Research Development Unit (RDU) and a recommendation will be sent to the Dean of Science by the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. If approved by the dean, an appropriate NCE will be provided. Note: Filling out the form does not guarantee that an NCE will be granted. Please contact the COS RDU for further details at [email protected]
Eligibility
Faculty (tenure track). Applicants may serve as PI or receive major funding for only one funded project (SciRIS-ii, SciRIS Stages 1-3, DMPF, Industry Partnership award, etc) at any time. Applicants may serve in support roles on one or more funded grants.
Proposal guidelines and reporting
The proposal must adhere to the following guidelines. Incomplete proposals will be returned without review.
Summary: The project description is limited to two pages for Project Narrative, a 1 page budget & budget justification, 2 page bio-sketch, Current & Pending (no page limit). It must be formatted 1-inch margins and 10pt font or larger, with the exception of figure legends (as applicable).
Submission
Prepare your proposal as described below. Submit your proposal to our portal here: https://beav.es/pP6 by the deadline.
Proposal Guidelines
Pagination: Documents must be formatted with 1-inch margins and 10pt font or larger, with the exception of figure legends (as applicable).
You will prepare two documents to upload into the portal; (1) a combined proposal (described below) and (2) a budget / justification using the COS budget template (found below).
Note, you will be asked to fill in a short public abstract for dissemination in the event of an award and a list of keywords that describe your project in the portal.
Proposal file: Combine the following items in this order into one pdf:
- Proposal summary page –1 page limit
- Project title
- Names and affiliations of PI and any senior personnel
- Short abstract
- The project description is limited to two pages, 1-inch margins and 10pt font or larger, with the exception of figure legends (as applicable). It should include the following sections:
- Project plan and timeline.
- Vision addressing originality of idea and transformative potential of research and/or innovation. Briefly describe what innovation means to you and how your project fits in the definition (for example).
- Description of broad impacts; external industrial partnership, student research.
- Anticipated outcomes, e.g., manuscript, proposal submission, subaward.
- Statement on Inclusive Excellence goals (examples: broadening participation, fostering equity, access & inclusion).
- Prior COS internal funding support, if applicable. 1 page or less
Include a brief summary of your proposal(s), outcomes and deliverables. Include headings for Intellectual Meritsand Broader impacts. If not applicable, state “not applicable” - References. (not mandatory but limited to 1 page)
- Letter of collaboration from industry partner. (1 page per letter)
- Append 3-page NSF style biographical sketch. You may use SciENcv. Some researchers have had issues combining pdfs because of the certification, but you print to PDF so it will combine easily. Your proposal support team can help you with this step. Alternatively, you can use a template found below.
- Current & Pending for each faculty co-applicant (do not list expired grants). You may use ScienCV, but note issues above and optional template below.
- Name this file Program_PI lastname_year.pdf (e.g IndPart_Jones_2024.pdf, etc)
Budget / justification template. Please use our template located at the bottom of the page for your budget and justification.
Reporting
Awardee must submit a report describing how the award contributed to advancing a partnership toward concrete outcomes. The report is due within one year of the award date.
Acknowledging the grant
The acknowledgement should include the web address https://internal.science.oregonstate.edu/rdu/internal-research-funding-program or https://beav.es/ihi on any documents about the project, including but not limited to video productions, press releases, brochures, publications, posters, etc. and include the phrase:
This project has been made possible with support of the College of Science Research & Innovation Seed (SciRIS) program, https://beav.es/ihi
Proposal review criteria
Proposals will be judged on scientific merit, significance of the proposed research, development of new or existing partnerships with industry, potential impact on future funding, creativity in the use of emerging technology and the potential to broaden participation, equity and access. Proposals must demonstrate
- Originality & Transformative Potential: How original is the proposed idea? Does the research challenge current understanding? What is the transformative potential of the proposed work? Does the research open pathways to new frontiers of science?
- Inclusive Excellence: How well does the project promote equity, inclusivity, and access? Does It provide opportunities for broadening participation of under-represented groups?
- Intellectual Merit: What is the potential of the work to advance knowledge both within a discipline and across disciplines? What are the tangible outcomes?
- Broader Impacts: What is the potential to strengthen an external industrial relationship via additional extramural funding? Does the plan incorporate training of graduate students, mentoring postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty or involves undergraduates in research experiences.
- Effective Teamwork: Are resources aligned with proposed work and outcomes? Is the team integrated and poised to succeed?
Cost sharing
Not required.