Research Growth Initiative Workshop Scheduled for December 2

Learn how to submit a proposal to acquire seed funding from UWM at a faculty and staff workshop on Friday, Dec. 2, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Business N140.

Register through UWM's MyDev (http://www3.uwm.edu/employeedev/ )

The workshop is part of the Research Growth Initiative, which was unanimously endorsed by the UWM Faculty Senate on Nov. 17. A centerpiece of Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago’s broad university program to grow research, scholarly, and creative activities on campus, the initiative establishes equal access to seed funds of about $14 million that are available annually through so-called 101-4 funds in the UW System budget.

“The RGI provides our university with a revolving research fund that is open to all faculty and staff,” said Chancellor Santiago. “This process gives us the opportunity to reinvest in ourselves.”

Under the Research Growth Initiative, whose development the chancellor placed in the hands of Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Abbas Ourmazd, faculty and staff can receive significant seed funding for periods of one to three years. An independent, external panel will review the proposals, and make decisions based on the excellence and novelty of the proposal, impact on the scholarly community, likelihood of success, and anticipated extramural funding and returns on investment. Ideally, funded projects would become self-sustaining after the seed funding phase.

The initiative came together through leadership and input from a large number of people, Ourmazd said, citing in particular the Academic Deans’ Council, headed by Provost Rita Cheng. “It showed in an exemplary fashion how joint governance can work to formulate and launch important initiatives on campus,” he said.

“The RGI is about providing broad access to research funds in way that enhances our research and scholarly work,” Ourmazd explained. “By moving away from ‘legacy allocations,’ anyone with a good research idea has an opportunity to receive RGI funds. Naturally, we hope that our enhanced national standing and competitiveness will allow us to increase our extramural funding, which, in turn, will enable us to increase our support for all kinds of scholarly and innovative work.”