These Category 1 grants are designed to catalyze new extramural research and build new intramural collaborations. Awards support Graduate Research Assistants (salary, ERE, tuition remission, travel), undergraduate research assistants, and core facility usage.
Track 1: Interdisciplinary Link awards extend a single faculty member’s funded research (i.e., existing grant) into new interdisciplinary efforts with a collaborator in another discipline (typically in another college) via a co-mentored GRA.
Track 2: Industry Engagement awards extend a newly funded UA-industry agreement via a co-mentored GRA. The GRA should work in industry and gain experience supervising and mentoring undergraduates conducting the industry-supported work.
Expected Outcomes: Student Team awards must be leveraged to acquire external support for the proposed research. Indications of such support will vary (e.g., depending on when external proposals are due). PIs are expected to use RDI services/staff to enhance the competitiveness of external proposals. Options include: Research Development Services, Strategic Business Initiatives (link is external), and consultation with federal agency representatives. In addition, PIs will need to liaise with college/departmental staff on planning proposal budgets. Other expectations are distinguished for the tracks below.
a. Interdisciplinary Link: Co-mentors must be faculty from different disciplines (typically across colleges).
b. Industry Engagement: Co-mentors must include the UA-based PI and an industry-based collaborator.
Eligibility: UA Competition Space will require a single PI from the UA as a local lead for RDI to contact. Teams must include the PI, one graduate student, and at least one other mentor for the student (i.e., UA faculty for Track 1; industry supervisor for Track 2). Teams can include other participants, but those participants cannot serve as PI.
