Internal Funding

Office of the Vice Provost for Research

Research Funding Program

ETSU’s vision is to be recognized, through funding and program rankings, as one of the premier R2 research universities in the nation. In support of this vision, the University, through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR), is committed to financially supporting high-quality, rigorous, impactful scholarship. The OVPR Research Funding Program (RFP) Awards, awarded annually, fund proposals likely leading to external funding, increased institutional reputation, or significant missional impact. 

Eligibility

Full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty, clinical faculty, and research faculty are eligible to apply. While faculty at any rank are eligible to apply, preference will be given to junior, tenure-track faculty. Eligible faculty must have a minimum of 20% effort devoted to research during the award period. Faculty may submit only one proposal per funding cycle.

Funding Amount & Period

Maximum of $15,000 per individual award. Two or more eligible applicants may submit collaborative proposals with a budget of up to $20,000. The role of each collaborator must be clearly defined in the proposal. The award period is 15 months (July 1, 2025-September 30, 2026). Interdisciplinary collaborations are preferred. Requested can be for less than the maximum amount. No cost extensions are at the discretion of the Associate Dean(s) for Research/Directors of Research and the Vice Provost for Research. An awarded amount may be less than the amount requested.

Allowable Expenses

In addition to project-specific expenses (e.g., supplies, equipment), RFP Awards can support summer salary for 9-month appointments (if not covered by startup funds or another institutional resource), course buyout, graduate/undergraduate student support, and research-related travel. Article processing charges can be included for publications resulting from RFP-supported research. However, RFP Awards will not cover article processing charges for non-RFP publications. Travel to present RFP-related findings can be included. If the award covers summer salary, the faculty member being covered is prohibited from teaching during the summer session.  If the proposal requests a course buyout, evidence should be provided that such a buyout is justifiable given the faculty member’s percent effort allocated to research.

Application Details

The application deadline for FY26 funding is February 14, 2025. Please submit applications to the Vice Provost for Research (hagemeier@etsu.edu) and OVPR Office Coordinator (tallentml@etsu.edu). Applications must be submitted as a single pdf document. Applications should be formatted to mirror the formatting requirements of an anticipated proposal submitted to an external funding source (e.g., IES, NEH, NIH, NSF), including adherence to line spacing, font size, and margins.

 

Application Checklist:

• PI Information Form (1 page)

• Specific Aims (1 page maximum) – Concisely state, using plain language, the overarching goal(s), central hypothesis, specific aims/objectives, and expected outcomes of the proposed project. Concisely describe how this project, if funded, is likely to lead to external funding, increased institutional reputation, and/or significant missional impact.

• Research Strategy (3 page maximum) – Describe your project in language that can be understood by an educated nonexpert; avoid jargon and technical details that would only be accessible to an expert in the field. Elements of the research strategy can include background information, preliminary research, significance, innovation, objectives/aims, approach/ methodology, the roles of collaborators, data collection, and data analysis. Tailor the research strategy to reflect the anticipated external funding source to which a subsequent proposal will be submitted. Describe expected outputs (e.g., publications) in terms of quality and quantity. Describe the project activities, activity durations, and milestones that will occur. A Gantt chart and/or logic model may be included.

• RFP Budget Form (1 page) - Using the RFP Budget Form, list all anticipated expenses by category. See Allowable Expenses section in RFP Award information.

• Budget Justification (1 page maximum) – Provide a justification for all expenses. Poorly justified expenses are unlikely to be funded. Faculty with access to startup funds should clearly explain why the startup funds cannot be used for budgeted items in this proposal. Applicants are encouraged to work with Ms. Cynthia Hardin (hardinc@etsu.edu), Associate Director of Sponsored Programs, for budget construction.

• References Cited (1 page maximum) – Standard citation format for the applicant’s academic field can be used.

• Abbreviated CV or Biosketch (2 page maximum) – Include education, training, relevant publications, and past 3 years of funding history, both sought and awarded.

• Signed PI/Chair Commitment Form (1 page)

Evaluation Process and Criteria:

Complete proposals will be evaluated by the University Research Council (URC). The URC will make recommendations for funding to the Vice Provost for Research. Criteria against which proposals will be evaluated include:

Investigator qualifications (10%)

  • Does the PI meet eligibility criteria?
  • Is the PI qualified to conduct the research?
  • Are there gaps in expertise on the research team?

Impact (30%)

  • Does the proposal significantly improve the likelihood of the PI obtaining external funding?
  • Will the proposal likely lead to increased institutional recognition?
  • To what extent will the project significantly contribute to institutional impact?

Proposal strength and quality (40%)

  • To what extent does the proposal provide a compelling argument for funding?
  • To what extent does the proposal represent a significant contribution to the PI’s field of study?
  • Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project?

Budget Justification (20%)

  • Is the budget fully justified and reasonable in relation to the proposed research?

 

  • 2024-25 OVPR Research Funding Program Awardees
    • Dr. Gerardo Arceo-Gomez (Dept of Biological Sciences)
    • Linking patterns of community structure with plant and pollinator reproductive success
    • Dr. Russell Brown (Dept of Biomedical Sciences)
    • Effects of nicotine vapor exposure in a heritable rodent model of psychosis
    • Dr. Julie Fox-Horton (Dept of Cross-Disciplinary Studies)
    • Prosecuting Witch and Punishing Women in Early Modern Italy and Scotland
    • Bill Hemphill (Dept of Engineering, Engineering Technology, & Surveying)
    • Comparative Analysis of Acoustic Guitar Bracing Designs Using Acoustic and Photoelastic Models
    • Dr. Justin Ledogar (Dept of Biomedical Health Sciences)
    • Mechanical compensation and trade-offs in the evolution of the primate-feeding apparatus: Implications for hominin craniofacial evolution
    • Dr. Violet Nkwanzi (Dept of Social Work)
    • Examining the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Human Trafficking Vulnerability and the Long-term Mental Health Outcomes of Women Survivors of Trafficking (18-35 years) in Uganda
    • Dr. Erik Peterson (Dept of Biomedical Health Sciences)
    • Regulation of Bacterial Replication by a Salmonella Environmental Sensor
    • Dr. Aaron Polichnowski (Dept of Biomedical Sciences)
    • Mechanisms of PFAS-induced Kidney Injurcy
    • Dr. Ashana Puri (Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences)
    • Microneedle-mediated nose-to-brain delivery of antidotes for xylazine/opioid overdose
    • Tema Stauffer (Dept of Art & Design)
    • Printing, mounting, and framing 25 exhibition prints for "Wonderlands" series
    • Dr. Tianhu Sun (Dept of Biological Sciences)
    • Spatiotemporal organization of carotenoid biosynthetic enzymes in plants
    • Dr. Valentin Yakubenko (Dept of Biomedical Sciences)
    • Exploring the role of integrin αDβ2 in neutrophil-mediated macrophage migration during inflammation
    • Dr. Matthew Zahner (Dept of Biomedical Health Science)
    • Validation of Viral Infection of Designer Receptors to Improve Recovery of Blood Pressure Regulation after Spinal Cord Injury
  • 2023-24 OVPR Research Funding Program Awardees
    • Dr. Patrick Bradshaw (Dept of Biomedical Sciences)
      NADPH in the regulation of mitochondrial respiration and aging.
    • Dr. Kristie Calvin (Dept of Educational Foundations and Special Education)
      Using a graphic organizer to improve main idea identification and inferential and text comprehension.
    • Dr. Siva Digavalli (Dept of Pharmaceutical Sciences)
      Developing patient-centered tools to accelerate personalized medical care for those with mental illness.
    • Dr. Cerrone Foster (Dept of Biological Sciences)
      The role of caveolin-1 in the estrogen deficient heart following myocardial infarction.
    • Dr. Mohammad Khan (Dept of Computing)
      AI-enabled dynamic ad hoc clustering in IoV.
    • Dr. Renee Moran (Dept of Curriculum & Instruction)
      Whose "community" and what "standards"? Trajectory and impact of educational censorship policies in Tennessee schools.
    • Dr. Steven Nash (Dept of History)
      Reconstruction in North Carolina: A new history.
    • Dr. Matt Palmatier (Dept of Psychology)
      Intracranial self-administration of THC.
    • Dr. Brooke Schmeichel (Dept of Biomedical Sciences)
      Brain-immune interactions in a model of polysubstance drug dependence.
    • Dr. Stacey Williams (Dept of Psychology)
      Uncovering racial/ethnic and gender diversity in experiences of social stress and mental health in polycystic ovary syndrome.