The ACT Center Computational Interdisciplinary Seed Funding (CISF) program seeks proposals for innovative seed projects that initiate innovative research programs integrating computational methods and thinking with other disciplines. The goal of funded seed projects is to incubate interdisciplinary teams and ideas to develop such interdisciplinary projects, with a key deliverable being a submitted proposal for external funding to continue the project.
Successful proposals will develop new and innovative research concepts that involve deep collaboration between computing and another discipline—not just development of computational tools for disciplinary research or of disciplinary datasets for testing algorithms, but rather meaningful integration of computational thinking into disciplinary research. Projects should have clear scientific merit as well as broader impact, and ideally will contribute to developing new areas for computational interdisciplinary collaboration.
Please address all questions to ACT Center Interim Director Shlomo Argamon (argamon@iit.edu).
PROPOSAL CONTENTS
The title of the proposal should read as follows: Cayuse#, ACT CISF: Title of Project, PI Name and PI
Department. Note: The Cayuse number is generated from the routing sheet.
Proposals should be no more than two pages long, including all figures and tables, exclusive of the budget and budget justification, references, and biographical sketches. Proposals should address, in a clear narrative format,
- The objectives of the research, including how it will advance developing meaningful collaboration between computing and other disciplines;
- The significance of the work in the context of current and previous work in the area;
- The intellectual merit of the proposed work, including projected advances in methods and the state of the art;
- Key potential challenges and strategies for overcoming them;
- The broader impacts of the work; and
- A plan to seek further funding.
The plan to seek external funding must clearly explain how the investigators will use the results of this proposed work to prepare a multi-investigator cross-disciplinary proposal, the agency/agencies and division(s) within the agencies and/or industries to which the investigators are planning to submit the proposal, the expected range of the total funding request, and the time frame for the submission, and how the proposed seed grant from CISF will enable the development of these external proposals. Note: Proposals that do not include a plans for seeking external funding will be rejected without review, as will proposals that mention only the names of agencies and do not provide specific time frames and programs.
Biographical Sketches
Include a brief (no more than two pages) biographical sketch for each investigator
Budget and Budget Justification
Include a budget that does not exceed $20,000. An explanation (budget justification) of how the expenditure of the CISF funds would lead to results for developing strong proposals for external funding agencies must be included.
Funds awarded will be released at the beginning of the project period, August 22, 2022, subject to the discretion of the IIT Controller’s Office. The project end date must be on or before May 31, 2023. Applicants are encouraged to use the format outlined in the proposal format section for their proposal submissions.
ACT Center CISF Allowable Expenditures
- IIT graduate student support as stipend or tuition (no support allowed for students outside of IIT)
- IIT undergraduate student support in the form of hourly stipend
- Essential research supplies/equipment/services
Recipients are required to submit a one-page progress report for the first half of the project period no later than January 15, 2023. Continuation of the second half of the allocated funding will depend on satisfactory
demonstration of progress. A final technical report is required by July 1, 2023 and must include an outline for major proposal submission.
All programmatic or budgetary questions should be directed to Shlomo Argamon, ACT Center Interim Director (argamon@iit.edu, 312.567.5289).
ROUTING SHEET (CAYUSE) INSTRUCTIONS
All PIs must complete a routing sheet in Cayuse. See the PI Portal on the “Research: Office of Sponsored Research and Programs” webpage for further instructions. Contact osrp@iit.edu if you have questions regarding the routing sheet.
Note: These Instructions Deviate from OSRP’s Routine Procedures.
- Please start a Cayuse routing sheet as early as possible, but do not submit the routing sheet for
departmental and college approval until you have uploaded the final proposal document in Step 5 below. - In the “Sponsor” field, search for “Active Computational Thinking Center” (and select “Active
Computational Thinking Center”) as the sponsor. - In the “Affiliated Units” section, click on the link and select “Active Computational Thinking Center” as an affiliated unit.
- Submit your proposal by uploading the final proposal document in the attachments tab in
Cayuse. DEADLINE: Proposals must be uploaded by 5:00 pm on Mon., July 25, 2022. - After the final proposal has been uploaded, please submit the routing sheet for departmental and college approval. The Cayuse timestamp of the file upload, not the timestamp of the departmental approval, will be used to determine if the proposal has been submitted on time.
Please address all questions to ACT Center Interim Director Shlomo Argamon (argamon@iit.edu).