Process
The Budget Office has established the estimated pool as part of the annual initial E&G budget development process and will true-up the final pool from the institutional contingency funding. An example of the assessment calculation is shown in Table 1.
The Vice President for Research or their VPR designee will establish a small review group including, at a minimum, a member of the Research Office, a center and institute director, an associate dean for research or graduate studies, and a faculty member with a record of sponsored research awards. Members will recuse themselves from commenting on any application from their unit. Applications will be reviewed on a semi-annual basis and recommendations for funding will be made to the VPR, who will approve amounts and duration of funding in consultation with the relevant dean or director.
Some of the essential elements of the application include:
- Demonstrating a record of sponsored research awards and expenditures, as the purpose of providing bridge funding is to assist research faculty who are between externally funded research grants.
- Defining the critical bridging needed, which can include up to nine months of salary support for essential personnel and operational expenses for labs, field staff, or other technical support. Note that bridge funding may not be used for the purposes of supporting summer salary for a 9-month employee.
- Describing the plan and timeline for securing new external funding to support salary for essential personnel and operations and any evidence of the likelihood of such funding.
- Securing the approval of department or school head (if applicable) and dean or director, to document the importance of the program to the research portfolio of the unit.