Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship Program (GIA)

Program Overview

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The Grant-in-Aid program, administered through the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, was established to promote excellence in the scholarly, scientific, and artistic activities of University of Minnesota faculty.  Funds are awarded in the belief that the quality of faculty research or artistic endeavors is a major determinant of the overall vitality of the institution.  Note that in most cases grants are not meant to provide sole support for research activities, but instead to act as seed money for developing projects to the point of attracting more complete, external funding.

Eligibility: Applications are accepted from faculty members who hold (or will hold during 2008/2009) regular appointments (i.e., tenured or tenure-track), or full-time (100%) annually renewable, fixed term, or clinical-track faculty appointments.  New faculty must begin their appointment by the start date of the grant.  A faculty member may be principal investigator on only one application at a time or one awarded Grant-in-Aid during a given grant period.  Exception is made, however, for investigators applying under category #2 -- shared equipment.

Consideration will not be given to:

• Proposals from principal investigators who have held two Grant-in-Aid awards within the past five years.  (Exception: Funding provided for category 2, shared equipment, will not be included in the two GIA maximum.)
• Proposals that have been reviewed three times previously, unless the PI was specifically encouraged to resubmit the proposal following the most recent submission.
• Applications directed primarily toward curriculum or educational development, e.g., preparation of textbooks or course materials, or toward product development, market surveys, etc.  These are more appropriately funded by the faculty member's department or college, or by industry, respectively.
• Projects which are evaluations of educational (e.g., classroom) experiments, industrial processes, etc. are generally not eligible for funding unless it is clear that the research is part of a broader hypothesis that is the basis of the scholarly work of the faculty member and that the evaluation is not an end in itself.
• Graduate student thesis research per se (although graduate students are often major particpants in projects receiving support).

Criteria for Evaluation (summary)

1. Intrinsic scientific, scholarly, or artistic merit of the project as judged by its a)  importance to the field; b)  coherence and clarity of purpose; c) apparent potential for success; and d)  degree of imagination and innovation in concept and approach.
2. Need of the applicant as judged by a)  availability of alternative internal and external sources of funds; b)  current resources of the applicant for all funded activities; c)  evidence of ongoing attempts by the applicant to obtain other funds; and d)  previous support to the faculty member from the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, especially in areas where outside funds are potentially available.

Terms of Support.  Specific projects are generally supported only once.  Should faculty wish to apply for a second term of support, a new proposal must be submitted that addresses the following issues:  a) there must be a strong indication that the potential for useful results and/or outside funding would be markedly improved by the additional term of support; b) the first term must show appropriate progress; and c) concrete efforts should have been made (whether successful or not) to obtain external funds.  Note, however, new projects will have priority for funding, other factors being equal.  Support for a specific project beyond the second term is granted only in exceptional circumstances. 

Resignation, Termination.  In the event that a faculty member leaves the U of M during the award period, remaining GIA funds will revert to the Graduate School.

For questions, please call Faculty Grants Office at 612-625-2356 or email facgrant@umn.edu .

Revised 8/08