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Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards

GUIDELINES FOR THE ORAU PRE-PROPOSALS FOR THE 2023 COMPETITION

INTERNAL PRE-PROPOSAL DEADLINE is Monday, November 13, 2023, by 5:00 p.m.

Agency Deadline is Monday, January 8, 2024, noon EST.

ORAU invests in the future of science through award programs for young faculty. The research project must be in one of the following five disciplines:

  • Engineering and Applied Science
  • Life Sciences
  • Mathematics/Computer Sciences
  • Physical Sciences
  • Policy, Management, or Education
  • Augmented Reality in the Workplace
  • Supply Chain Innovation

New Discipline Areas:  As a result of ORAU’s partnership with The Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance (The AREA) and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), two new research disciplines have been added to the list from which candidates may select:

The AREA:  Augmented Reality in the Workplace. The AREA seeks to promote research that brings greater attention to the use of AR in enterprise environments and supports aspiring future leaders in the field of enterprise AR. One (1) award will be made in this research area.  The following represents preferred research focus areas:

  • Design, development, and use of displays for AR experience delivery
  • Development of business and technical standards to address interoperability between AR components or to accelerate AR integration with IT systems
  • Design, development, and/or evaluation of methods to ensure privacy, security and safety of AR systems and their users
  • Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with AR solutions to enhance workplace productivity and safety
  • Assessment/comparison of AR-assisted procedures to those enterprise operations without AR in order to understand drivers and barriers to adoption in a particular industry

GDIT:  Supply Chain Innovation.  GDIT is interested in promoting multi-disciplinary research that focuses on developing innovative supply chain solutions. One (1) award will be made in this research area.  The following examples are representative of preferred research topics:

  • How can emerging technology innovations in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, and IoT be used to create supply chain improvements? 
  • From a policy perspective, how do you address the ethics implications of sharing data across an integrated supply chain system?
  • Examining the impact of medical supply chain improvements on health and health care disparities. 
  • How can Big Data be used to increase supply chain efficiencies and effectiveness?

This award can include funds for faculty summer salary, graduate student salary, travel, equipment, or other assistance relevant to the faculty member’s research. ORAU does not allow overhead charges or indirect costs on the ORAU grant award or the university match.

Agency Application forms and instructions

ELIGIBILITY

Full-time assistant professors at ORAU member institutions within two years of their tenure track appointment at the time of application are eligible.

FUNDING SOURCE AND DURATION

Funding is provided exclusively from non-federal monies by ORAU. The award amount provided by ORAU is $5,000. The applicant’s institution is required to match the award with at least an additional $5,000. This is a one-year grant (June 1 to May 31).

LIMIT ON PROPOSALS

Because the agency restricts the number of proposals ISU can submit for this particular program, an internal competition will be held to select the proposals going forward to the agency. Specifically, each university is permitted to submit up to two applications per year.

INTERNAL PRE-PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

  • INTERNAL PRE-PROPOSAL DEADLINE is Monday, November 13, 2023, by 5:00 pm.   
  • Submit electronically here. 
  • You do not need to submit through Cayuse at this time.

In a pre-proposal of no more than two (2) pages, address the items below:

1.   Project Description - Include research goals and objectives and relevant background; expected research outcomes and relevance; research design and methodology; competence of the applicant to perform the proposed research; and the available research facilities and resources.

2.   Budget - Include a budget outlining your required costs along with a budget justification. 

  • Cost-share is required by the proposal guidelines.
  • All pre-proposals, including descriptions of source(s) of cost share - which must be NON-FEDERAL - must be accompanied by a letter/email of financial commitment from appropriate chairs, deans, directors, etc. Such correspondence must include the actual dollar amount that will be contributed.

PRE-PROPOSAL REVIEW

  • The internal pre-proposal is due Monday, November 13, by 5:00 p.m.
  • The Vice President for Research, or his designee, will review the pre-proposals that are received, and the selected Pl's will be notified by early December.
  • Final proposals are to be submitted and routed through Cayuse (be sure to include the cost-share form) by January 2, 2023.  

If you have any questions, please contact Steve Wright (x2593, wrigstep@isu.edu).