Faculty Research and Innovation Center

The Seed Fund is intended to jumpstart new lines of inquiry that don't yet have enough preliminary data to compete for external funding. Faculty ideas are worth betting on early — even before the work is fully formed. Projects should display potential for having a significant impact on one’s field or chart a new trajectory in one’s scholarly, creative or artistic development, as well as develop innovative and transformative ideas to the point where they can successfully garner new external funding.

Grants of up to a maximum of $5,000 are available for supplies, limited course buyout, student research assistants, or equipment. The duration of the grant is up to two years. The project end date is determined by the date submitted in the proposal, no later than two years (no extensions allowed unless there are extenuating circumstances).

Only one proposal per review cycle, and faculty must have closed previous FRIC project fund grants before applications will be considered. A faculty member may hold concurrent Seed Fund Grant and Momentum Fund grant, provided the two awards support different projects. A PI on a Collaborative Grant may not concurrently hold a Seed Fund Grant. A co-PI on a Collaborative Grant may hold a concurrent Seed Fund Grant.

Open to all ranks of tenured and tenure-track faculty. Priority may be given to pre-tenure applicants.

There are two submission cycles per year with deadlines at the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on December 15th and March 1st of each year. If the deadline day falls on a weekend, then the deadline is moved to 5:00 p.m. on the next business day.

• Grants awarded in Round 1 may run for up to two years - February 1 through January 31 of the second year.
• Grants awarded in Round 2 may run for up to two years - April 15 through April 14 of the second year.

Seed Fund Grant proposals are awarded by a competitive review process. Proposals are reviewed by members of the Faculty R&D Committee, which is composed of faculty from several disciplines, and therefore MUST be written to be understood by members of these multi-disciplinary review committees, i.e., an educated lay audience, rather than by narrow specialists in your field.

Criteria used in evaluating proposals include: project justification, significance of project, appropriateness of project design and methods, qualifications of the applicant for implementing the project, probability of achieving project objectives, and appropriateness of the schedule for project activities, if applicable. All of these criteria must be judged in terms of the likelihood that the project will result in recognition for the faculty member, faculty member's department, and the University.

Proposal Guidelines (coming soon)

Letter of Support Template

FINAL REPORT
A final report is due upon the conclusion of your project and is submitted within the MyApps system. It should include your goals, how you did or did not meet those goals, how the process went, and any dissemination plans. A final report must be submitted and approved before the recipient may apply for any other FRIC internal grant.

DISSEMINATION
Either internal or external dissemination is expected. 

EXTERNAL GRANT OR FELLOWSHIP
Awardees must apply for at least one relevant external grant or fellowship within 24 months of the award. Compliance is confirmed in the final report; failure to do so — without a documented reason — affects eligibility for future internal funding.

Each grant recipient is allocated a budget for their project. This budget is determined by the application process and varies depending on the needs of the research or creative project. Grantees are responsible for monitoring their budget and initiating any payments/reimbursements. We do not order supplies, make travel arrangements, etc.

FRIC will reimburse the faculty grantee's department from the project's budget. Please work with your Department Coordinator to initiate a department transfer request (a.k.a. Budget Amendment for Organization for general funds, Department Journal Entry for non-general funds) through Workday. Reimbursement requests must be made within the same fiscal year the expenses were incurred. GVSU's Workday system should allow faculty to make purchases via department Expense Cards, etc., so that the faculty do not need to have out-of-pocket expenses.

Per GVSU policy, any services performed (editing, page publication, transcription, etc.) MUST be paid directly by a GVSU department via an invoice or purchased using your department p-card. Purchase of services using personal credit cards will not be reimbursed.

PLEASE NOTE ALL GVSU PURCHASING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MUST BE FOLLOWED, INCLUDING: