FEBRUARY 25, 2020 — The Office of the Vice President for Research, Economic Development and Knowledge Enterprise has launched its annual internal funding opportunities to seed research on campus with over $700,000 in available funding in 2020.
Currently, four UTSA institutional seed grants are open for application and faculty members are encouraged to apply.
“These seed grants are one of the most important components in sparking innovation and furthering research on campus,” said Bernard Arulanandam, the division’s vice president. “The funds help faculty explore new ideas and acquire the necessary data to apply for larger, external awards required to fund their research and support student engagement in research activities.”
This past fiscal year Research Support funded 32 grants totaling $495,000 to support research on campus. VPREDKE tracks two years of research output and prior year programs continue to yield success.
With a 279% return on investment for FY 2018 seed grant awards, faculty secured follow-on funding in the amount of $1.2 million. A continuing trend from FY 2017, faculty secured $3.1 million in external funding yielding a 293% return on investment.
In response to the growing complexity of research and faculty needs, UTSA launched the Transdisciplinary Teams Program in 2019 to support faculty to engage in scholarly research activities that foster transdisciplinary collaboration by assembling teams of researchers from different disciplines. The program also supports faculty to establish a foundation to seek extramural funding, ultimately advancing UTSA’s research strengths and growing new areas of opportunity.
Two projects in 2019 were awarded $20,000 each. Led by Ethan Ahn, the team of Wei Gao (College of Engineering) and Arturo Ponce Pedraza (College of Sciences) is working on “Transdisciplinary Investigation of Electromechanical Coupling-driven Properties of New 2D Materials.”
Led by Yufei Huang (College of Engineering), the team of Jenny Hsieh and Changfeng Gui (both in the College of Sciences) is working on “Identifying Local Field Potential Biomarkers for Epileptic Patient-Derived Organoids Using Machine Learning.”
This year’s research concentration is smart and connected cities, with a specific focus on proposals that intersect technology and policy focused on one or more of the following: social mobility, affordable housing, water, utility and waste management, population health and community wellness, digital connectivity, transportation, e-governance and sustainability. Full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty at UTSA are eligible to apply. The deadline is March 3, 2020.
The Internal Research Awards offers experience in identifying and submitting applications to potential funding sources, provides preliminary data to support applications for extramural funding and enhances scholarly and creative activities. Proposals to this program are expected and encouraged for a broad range of research and creative activities. Output has potential for publications, exhibits, performances or external grant proposals as appropriate within the respective discipline, and represents growth of the principal investigator’s research portfolio. Full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty at UTSA in the colleges of Architecture, Construction and Planning; Business; Education and Human Development; Liberal and Fine Arts; and Health, Community and Policy are eligible. The deadline is March 17, 2020.
The Grant for Research Advancement and Transformation supports new areas of research for faculty at UTSA, and to facilitate the collection of preliminary data that can be used to seek extramural funding. Full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty at UTSA are eligible to apply. The deadline is March 24, 2020.
Connecting Researchers through Partnerships is a joint funding opportunity with the Southwest Research Institute. Full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty at UTSA are eligible to apply along with a designated collaborator from SwRI. The deadline is March 31, 2020.
