IIT tenured and tenure-track faculty members are invited to submit multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary proposals for funding from the Educational and Research Initiative Fund (ERIF). The maximum award will not exceed $25,000. Proposals (including the budget and appendices) are limited to eight pages. An original of the proposal is due by Monday, November 17, 2014 at 5 p.m. to the Office of Research via email to Elizabeth Soto at esoto2@iit.edu.

For the 2015 award period, ERIF proposals:

•Must be based on the collaboration of two or more faculty members from at least two different academic units. The collaborators may be designated as co-PIs, or as PI and co-PI(s).
•Must be multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary in scope.
•Should show substantial promise for developing a larger proposal for external funding. Each proposal must include strong evidence that the PIs have identified external funding agencies with potential interest in the proposal.
•May not be used to supplement existing grants or contracts.

Additional proposal characteristics may include:

•High risk or innovative ideas that need pilot funding at the pre-competitive stage; or
•New initiatives for the organization of multidisciplinary research programs leading to the development of research centers or consortia.

Applicants must use a standard proposal format. The budget is limited to tuition and stipend expenses for students, except for a small amount of funding (up to 5 percent) that may be allocated for supplies. The award period is January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015. Recipients will be required to submit a midterm progress report and a final technical report.