Overview

The purpose of the Information Science (IS) Faculty Summer Research Grant Program is to provide tenured and tenure-track faculty with summer financial support to engage in collaborative research projects with students in the Interdisciplinary Information Science (IS) Ph.D. program.  Doctoral students need to be exposed to and engage in the entire research process as they move through the program. One major outcome of this grant program is the continuing scholarly development of the students and their preparation to become independent researchers. Another major outcome is the increased research and publication activities of the IS faculty members.

Grant Program Objectives

• Engage students and faculty members in collaborative research projects 
• Provide faculty members incentives to engage in such collaborative research 
• Provide students experience in identifying research problems, designing and developing research studies, and conducting research projects
• Develop students' abilities to do research and present research findings, both orally and in writing
• Encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between IS faculty members, doctoral students, and other UNT faculty members.

  The IS Faculty Summer Research Grant Program provides the opportunity for both faculty member and IS doctoral students to engage in the faculty member's research projects. IS faculty members will lead the project and work closely with doctoral students in developing a significant research project. IS faculty members may also include other UNT faculty members in the collaboration. This faculty-student collaboration will provide opportunities for students to have a realistic exposure the entire research process and may include grant writing, designing the study, conducting the research, and publishing or presenting research results. 

  Types of Fundable Research 

  The IS Faculty Summer Research Grants are intended to fund small projects, or small components of larger projects, that can be completed over the summer.  Some examples of fundable projects might be: 

-  Pilot study that will lead to external grant proposal(s) and peer-reviwed academic jounral article(s) or top conference paper(s)

-  Complementary study to strengthen or extend current externally funded projects, which leads to new grant proposal(s) and/or peer-reviewed academic jounral article(s) or top conference paper(s).

-  Study to complete an on-going project so that the research results can be submitted to a high impact, peer-reviewed  academic journal. 

Eligibility

All tenured and tenure-track full-time IS faculty members are eligible to apply to receive IS Faculty Summer Research Grants. No distinctions are to be made regarding rank or tenure status of applicants. However, fauclty with no or fewer summer teaching will be given priority.  IS faculty members are encouraged to work with UNT faculty members in other departments. However, a IS member must be the lead on the project. 

Grants will be awarded exclusively on the merit of the submitted proposal and the promise of enhancing the research experience of students in the IS PhD program. IS faculty members who failed to submit project status reports and demonstrate satisfactory outcome of previously funded IS Faculty Summer Research Grant project will be ineligible to receive subsequent Summer Research Grants. Faculty members are encouraged to submit well-developed proposed project ideas; faculty members may submit more than one project proposal per funding cycle but can be receive only one award per funding cycle.

Categories of Awards and Types of Expenditure

Awards are made in two categories: 1) projects requesting up to $5,000 and 2) projects requesting more than $5,000 but not more than $10,000. The amount requested should be justified in terms of the scope of the work proposed, the number of students involved, and the of the proposal. Faculty members can use up to 50% of the awarded amount for their summer salary. The balance of the award can be used to support student hourly employment, travel, and other legitimate research expense.

Grant Applications

The structure and content of the submission depend on the nature of the project to be undertaken. The length of the proposal should be 8 pages or less. The following elements must be contained in the proposal:

Broader Context of Proposed Work

Schedule

• • Research projects that can be completed from beginning to end over the summer
  • Preliminary work that will lead to a completed plan of research, such as doing a pilot study to validate data collection and analysis methodologies
  • Implementation of some specific part of a longer-term research plan
  • Preparation of a proposal to an external granting agency including collection of data 
  • Analysis and projects of creative work that will lead to publications