Lynch School of Education

Useful Resources For Developing Grant Proposals

Prepared for The Lynch School of Education faculty and Research Staff by the Office of the Associate Dean, The Lynch School of Education, in collaboration with the EPC Sub-committee for Grant Support Resources

September, 2005

Welcome & Overview from AVP of Research
http://www.bc.edu/research/overview.html

Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP)
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp.html

Boston College Research Policies
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/policies.html

Financial Oversight of Sponsored Projects
Principal Investigator and Department Administrator Responsibilities
http://www.bc.edu/research/meta-elements/pdf/PIFinMan.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions and Step-by-Step How To's
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/faqs.html

OSP staff
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/staff.html

Principal Investigator’s Handbook
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/meta-elements/PDF/PIHandbook.pdf

Research Expense Grants
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/funding/internal/regguidelines.html

Research Incentive Grants
http://www.bc.edu/offices/avp/fac-resrc-serv.html

Sponsored Funding Resources
http://www.bc.edu/research/osp/funding/external.html

Smarts Database (See PI Handbook)
Many federal and nonfederal funding programs are hyperlinked on the OSP webpage. Faculty may have funding announcements emailed to them directly through the InfoOffice Smarts Database. If you are interested in taking advantag e of this resource, please contact Sandra Baynes at OSP (sandra.baynes@bc.edu )

BC Institutional Review Board
http://www.bc.edu/research/rcip/human.html

Office of University Advancement (Formerly the Development Office)
http://www.bc.edu/friends/invest/cf

The Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations in the Office of University Advancement maintains a library of funding sources for faculty research projects. Most of the opportunities listed are in the category of individual support and are for fellowships, travel grants, and residential fellowships. Further information may be obtained in the Corporation and Foundation Resource Center located in More Hall 220. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  

Recommended Strategies for Success in Submitting Grant Proposals

It is strongly suggested that the Principal Investigator (PI) meet with the Associate Dean (AD) and Department Chair as soon as he/she decides to write a grant proposal. This initial meeting will help to guide the PI’s proposal planning an d will enable him or her to work with the Associate Dean to determine adequate levels of resources to request and how these resources can be obtained. The AD may also help in identifying potential collaborators or resources within The Lynch School of Edu cation or beyond of potential benefit to the PI.  At this time, it is helpful for the PI to explain to the Associate Dean the nature of his or her affiliation with the grant sponsor and the estimated likelihood of success given this relationship. When possible, this meeting should take place at least 2 months prior to the grant deadline. In the case of grants that do not allow a full 2 months of lead time, the PI should bring the Associate Dean into the proposal process as early as possible . The Lynch School of Education and OSP administrators will do their best to work with PIs whose sponsors compel them to produce proposals under compressed deadlines.

Proposal Schedule:

  • Providing the Associate Dean with all the appropriate documents will help to ensure that grant proposals are processed in a thorough and timely manner. Research transmittal forms and copies of proposals notification of awards should all be provided to the Associate Dean’s Office as soon as they are available to the PI.
  • After the initial meeting has occurred, the Dean’s Office requests a minimum of 5 days to review a completed proposal which has already been reviewed by the department chair, and the Office for Sponsored Programs (OSP) requires an add itional 3 days. While the Associate Dean recognizes that it is not always possible to submit all documents within this timeframe, it is helpful for PIs to follow these guidelines whenever feasible. This allows the Dean’s Office more flexibility in meeting the needs of PIs who are under exceptional deadline circumstances. Subcontractors, illness, travel, and questions about the proposal can delay this process, so it is important to allow time to resolve these unanticipated problems.
  • PIs should consult their Department Chairs regarding any administrative support that they may require during the grant proposal process, including the coordination of copies, sending Fed-Exes, etc. All deadlines should be communicated to th e Department Chair as early in the process as possible.
  • The PI should notify the Fiscal Officer and Associate Dean upon hearing the results of an award application (i.e., whether it is funded or funding has been denied).  

The Associate Dean will consider the following elements when reviewing a proposal:

  • Cost-sharing/Matching funds
    • John Carfora is currently revising the cost-sharing policy; this section will be updated once the new guidelines are in place.
    • Some sponsors require that the University contribute a certain portion of funding to the overall cost of a project or the purchase of a piece of equipment. These sponsors consider this to be an indication of the University’s commitmen t to a given research project. Contributions of university resources may come from in-kind (non-cash) or cash contributions and must be approved by the Dean of The Lynch School of Education, the Associate Vice President for Research, and the Office of th e Academic Vice President.

The following is an excerpt on cost-sharing as described in the OSP handbook:

PIs must obtain written authorization for cost sharing before writing or submitting a proposal requiring this kind of commitment by the University.

 It is the University’s policy not to propose cost-sharing unless the sponsor requires it and not to cost-share in excess of the sponsor’s stated requirements.

  • Buyouts
    • Faculty Buyouts are written into grant proposals to allow time typically spent on teaching responsibilities to be re-allocated for research. The expected level of teaching for an active researcher is typically a 2/2+ course load (before any buyouts). NB: For purposes of calculating buyout rates, the Lynch School of Education teaching load is considered to be 3/2.
    • The Lynch School of Education practice is for active researchers to buy out to a minimum of a 1-1 course load. Faculty are strongly discouraged from dropping below a 1-1 load or requesting a 2-0/0-2 course load.
    • The amount of the salary reduction is based on the percentage of the teaching load from which the faculty member is being released, not the part-time faculty replacement cost. Buyout of 1 course currently equals ""20%"" of t he annual contract salary.
    • Buyouts release faculty from classroom teaching but not from other teaching (i.e. supervising comprehensive exams or dissertations) or service (advising, committee work) activities.
    • Proposed buyouts should be discussed with the PI’s Department Chair. The chair oversees course scheduling and is in the best position to assess the impact of PI’s proposed buyout(s) on curricular and other departmental concerns. Any concerns expressed by the Department Chair should be communicated directly to the PI and the Associate Dean.  
  • Space
    • Space is at a premium at Boston College and it can be difficult to accommodate the requests of all researchers, but the Associate Dean can work with the PI to achieve the best possible outcome.
    •  We strive to provide full-time staff on a research project with an office. Part-time researchers and GAs typically share office space.
    • The Associate Dean for Finance, Research & Administration (Mary Ellen Fulton) coordinates this aspect of proposals in The Lynch School of Education, in consultation with the Associate Dean. Requests can be made to either of these admi nistrative officers.
  • Technology
    • Before submitting a proposal to OSP, it may be useful for the PI to meet with a member of the Academic Technology Services (ATS) department to accurately assess the researcher’s technology needs. It is important to incorporate these requirements into the proposal request in order to avoid “hidden costs” that can cause problems later in the process.
  • Graduate Research Assistants
    • In crafting proposals, PIs should realistically assess the number of students needed for a particular grant, since there are limited resources available to support these GA positions.
    • In order to maximize the contributions of each GA, it may be preferable to prioritize PhD students over MA students, since PhD students typically have more research experience.
    • To further extend grant resources, it may also be helpful to take on more advanced students rather than first-year students, since the former have fewer credit requirements to complete their degrees.
    • In order to maintain a certain number of Graduate Assistants, PIs may want to consider distributing fewer credits to more students (i.e., 12 credits to each of 3 students vs. 18 credits each to 2 students)
  • Tuition Remission
    • Typically, Federal Grants allow the PI to write TR into the proposal.
    • Smaller grants and private Foundation grants are usually less likely to support TR.
    • The Associate Dean will work with the PI and Fiscal Officer to determine how much TR can and should be written into the grant to show appropriate support from the University.
  • Indirect costs (“F&A”)
    •  Indirect costs are those costs that are not readily identifiable with individual projects, including all facilities and administrative costs (building operation, electricity, copies, etc). These costs must be included in all budgets a s a percent of total direct costs. The Fiscal Officer will help the PI calculate this figure.
    • It is useful for all PI’s to know that BC’s F&A rate is currently "54%" of the total grant amount. However, some sponsors set a much lower rate of 8-"10%"; in these cases, BC will accept the foundation rate for F&A, but univ ersity policy is to expect "54%" unless otherwise specified. Any reduced rate must be approved by the appropriate administrator. The Lynch School of Education Associate Dean must approve any fixed rates set by the granting agency. In addition, if the agenc y has a varying rate, then both the AVP for Research and OSP must approve the request. These approvals must be in writing and forwarded to the Lynch School of Education Associate Dean.
  • Summer salary
    • Funding for summer salary for faculty may be written into a grant proposal.
    • It is useful for PIs to note that faculty contracts are for a 10 month period, even though they are paid out over the course of 12 months. Sponsors, however, consider the academic year to be 9 months long, so they are willing to pay a summe r salary of up to 3 months salary, where each month is calculated at 1/9 of the PI’s total salary.
  • Human subjects
    • The Associate Dean no longer reviews the proposal for compliance with the standards established by the Institutional Review Board, also known as the Human Subjects Committee. This role has been assumed by a university-wide Institutional R eview Board (http://www.bc.edu/research/rcip/human/), whose principal responsibility is to review and approve protocols submitted by faculty who intend to use human subjects in their research. The Associate Director of OSP is the administrative coordinat or for the committee and is the person responsible for overseeing and implementing policies (institutional and Federal) related to the use of humans in research projects. Please note that all PIs (and, in the case of student research, the students’ supervisors) must have a certificate indicating that they have completed the required training course before submitting a proposal to the IRB (see IRB website for a list of courses online and at BC).