Research Enrichment Program

NEW in Fiscal Year 2010!

For sponsored projects active on or after July 1, 2009 (i.e., FY2010), a revised approach is being implemented for returning a portion of the realized facilities and administrative (F&A) cost income to the departments, centers and institutes that generated it. The goal of this Research Enrichment Program is to ensure a more equitable distribution of F&A income to units and to support the university’s strategic objective of facilitating interdisciplinary research and collaborative scholarship.

Under the Research Enrichment Program, the distribution of F&A income to departments, centers and institutes is determined as follows:

1. A department, center or institute will receive an allocation equal to 10% of the actual F&A income realized on those awards for which it is the sole unit listed on the Internal Approval Form (IAF). This is equivalent to the Research Incentive Award that everyone is accustomed to.
2. In the case of collaborative projects involving two or more units, the participating departments, centers and/or institutes will share an allocation equal to 16% of the actual F&A income realized on those awards.

To be eligible for a share of this larger F&A allocation, a unit must contribute substantive resources to the project and it must be listed on the IAF at the time the proposal is submitted to the sponsor. Co-investigators must have committed effort on the project. Simply listing someone as an “internal consultant” will not count.

Research Enrichment Program funds will be awarded to units according to the distribution indicated in Item #8 on the newly revised IAF. It is the responsibility of co-investigators, chairs/directors and deans to agree upon the distribution and to complete and sign the IAF at the time of proposal submission.

Further information and some hypothetical cases to illustrate program criteria and how units might choose to divide the higher F&A allocation on collaborative awards can be found in this 3-page pdf of the memo to chairs, center and institute directors.

Research Enrichment Program awards must be used for support of research programs during the fiscal year in which they are provided. Fund balances and encumbrances from the previous year will not be returned. Any negative balances will be deducted from future awards.

The chair/director has discretion in how these funds are used. Research Enrichment Program funds are expected to be used to enhance the research capabilities of the faculty and staff in the unit and/or to support unit graduate student activities. They may be used for mandatory cost-sharing for extramural grant applications. 

Appropriate uses include:

1. faculty research support (start-up, retention, bridge funding, etc.)
2. graduate student support
3. research equipment (purchase, upgrades, maintenance, etc.)
4. research seminars, symposia, workshops
5. domestic and foreign travel related to research
6. research staff support
7. research supplies (including research-related office supplies)

Inappropriate uses include:

1. faculty salary and salary supplements
2. purely instructional or service costs
3. routine office supplies, equipment and furniture