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Research Equipment Reserve Funds (RERF) may be used to acquire, repair, renovate, or improve EQUIPMENT directly used for research. The equipment may be inventoried capital equipment =>$5,000 per unit, fabricated capitalized equipment, or minor equipment costing less than $5,000 per unit which lasts at least two years.
Faculty with the rank of instructor and above are eligible to serve as Principal Investigator. The Research Office does not restrict Research Associates from serving as Principal Investigator; however, some colleges do. Therefore, approval by the dean of the unit must be received prior to submission of a proposal to the program. Faculty with courtesy appointments may serve as Co-Investigator only.
The Research Council is interested in supporting new faculty. However, new faculty with uncommitted Research Office start-up funds are not eligible for consideration.
Principal Investigators may receive an award from RERF only one time in a 24-month period. Principal Investigators who reapply after the 24-month period are only eligible if the required final report from the previous award was submitted (see "Other Requirements").
Award amounts vary. The Research Office has budgeted approximately $125,000 for the 2007-08 Spring solicitation.
Applicants will be notified via email of award decisions by the announcement date listed at the top of this page. For a detailed list of prior awards see OSU Incentive Programs: Award Recipients: Funded Proposals.
Each application must show at least 20% cost sharing from the department, college, or other funds. Grant funds may be used for cost sharing, but RERF money may not replace funds originally budgeted in the grant to purchase the requested piece of equipment.
Grant funds contracted through National Laboratories (i.e. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory or Lawrence Livermore) and some types of EPA Cooperative Agreements may not be used as matching funds. These organizations retain ownership of equipment purchased with their funds.
The following provides common examples of eligible and ineligible items based on recent proposals submitted to this program:
Budget items ELIGIBLE for support
Budget items NOT ELIGIBLE for support
(In most cases, software (excluding the operating system if it is included in the base price for the system) and peripherals, (i.e. printers, plotters, scanners) cannot be purchased using RERF funds unless the individual peripheral fits within the definition of “capital equipment”)
(Examples of IOTB might include concrete pads to be used as storage or staging areas, installation of fencing, (chain link enclosures) and construction of flumes or similar experimental structures).
(If the investigator is proposing to build an instrument or piece of equipment, RERF funds cannot be used to cover labor costs, nor can labor costs be used to meet the matching requirement of the RERF program. The one exception to this rule occurs when an organizational unit has a billing mechanism that allows that unit to develop an audit trail identifying those hours and dollars spent specifically on the construction task. Most units at OSU do not have the accounting mechanisms set up to accomplish this).
The RERF application form is available in MS Word format. If you are unable to access this form, contact the Research Office at 737-8390 to request a hard copy. Please allow one week for delivery.
Incomplete proposal packets will not be considered for funding.
All application materials, MSWord or PDF file and printed copy (including supporting documentation and ALL signatures), must be received at the Research Office, A312 Kerr Administration Building, by the deadline indicated at the top of this page.
The Research Office reviews all proposals for eligibility. Requests, or eligible portions of requests, that qualify as capital equipment are then given to the Research Council for competitive review and evaluation. The Research Council provides a prioritized list of recommendations for funding to the Vice President for Research based on the quality of the proposals as reflected in the review criteria. The Vice President for Research will award equipment grants based on available funds.
The Research Council is composed of faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee who represent the diversity of the University's research enterprise. Proposals that describe the science and equipment needs to this general audience, providing clear explanations of the purpose, importance and justification of the need for this equipment, and avoiding the use of jargon and unexplained acronyms, will fare better than those written to reviewers from a highly focused discipline perspective.
The Research Council evaluates each proposal using the following criteria: (Not in Order of Importance)
Scientific Merit
Leverage
Multiple Uses
Need
Undergraduate Research
Reporting
If the investigator(s) has received previous funding from the research office, have all required reports been appropriately completed? (see "Other Requirements")
Industrial Collaboration
For those investigators receiving awards, a final report will be due within 6 months of equipment procurement / repair / construction. The report should contain a brief summary of activities performed using RERF support, and it should provide a final budget statement describing how all funds were used.
Please submit the report electronically to Debbie Delmore, Coordinator of Special Programs at debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu.
Recipients who fail to submit the required report will be ineligible to receive future funding from the Research Office Incentive Programs.
Contact Debbie Delmore, Research Office at: | debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu | 737-8390
Oregon State University Research Office
312 Kerr Administration Building, Corvallis, OR 97331
Phone 541-737-8390 Fax 541-737-9041
researchsupport@oregonstate.edu
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Oregon State University
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