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Except as otherwise noted with respect to the Interdisciplinary Synergy Award, items that may be fundable are listed below:
Reassigned time (not granted during summer semesters) - Normally no more than three or four (3 or 4) credit hours of reassigned time per semester is funded. The maximum reassign time for any given project is six or eight (6 or 8) credit hours. To ensure that the courses reassigned from one faculty load will continue to be offered, funds will be payable to the faculty member's department for an adjunct instructor replacement. The department is responsible for providing any costs greater than those approved for the grant.
Summer Salary- Summer Salary funding is based on a percentage of your annual salary, and is awarded in units of a summer course equivalent. In effect, you are being paid a salary for undertaking research or engaging in creative activity at a level requiring the same time commitment as teaching a summer course. To determine the appropriate amount to request, decide how many hours during the summer your project will require, and determine whether that is equivalent to the time required to teach a one, two, three, or four-credit-hour course. (75 hours of work time equals 1 credit hour.) Specific justification is needed for requesting 4 hours of summer salary. Referring to the chart below, select the appropriate percentage of your academic year salary and request that percentage in your Application and Approval Form.
| Summer Course Equivalency |
% Academic Year Salary |
| 4 Credit Hours |
12.50 |
| 3 Credit Hours |
9.375 |
| 2 Credit Hours |
6.250 |
| 1 Credit Hour |
3.125 |
Salary payments are received on the last day of August. Because this grant is salary, it is taxable income.
During the period that this award is active, the faculty cannot engage in "overload" assignments. All sources of university remuneration cannot exceed 25% unless a portion of the summer activity is sponsored by external funding agencies, in which case the limit is 33.33%. Summer Salary funding will only be considered for proposals received in the first round of review.
Equipment and Supplies - The FRCAC supports funding equipment that is needed for research. The FRCAC will consider funding the purchase or rental of any item(s) that cannot be provided by your department that are necessary to carry out your project. Include a letter from your department chair stating that departmental funds are unavailable for the proposed purchases or rental. The committee may decline to fund purchases that can be awarded through other grants or that are traditionally acquired by the faculty personally. All equipment or other items purchased with FRCAC grant monies becomes the property of Middle Tennessee State University and will be placed on the College of Graduate Studies inventory. Equipment may be reassigned to newly approved grants if the original FRCAC grant recipient is no longer engaged in research activities requiring the equipment.
For research projects needing microscopy-related services, please remember to add the total hourly fees to the budget estimate. For example, a project with samples requiring 5 hours of microscopic and elemental analysis would cost $150 for unassisted use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector or $250 if the samples are analyzed by the MIMIC Technical Manager with a complete report of the SEM/EDX results. For more information on fees and facilities of MIMIC, please visit the website (http://frank.mtsu.edu/~mimic/fees.html)."
Personnel - The FRCAC will consider funding additional personnel (i.e., a student, graduate assistant or outside consultant) necessary to complete your project.
Dollars for student workers will be funded ONLY for graduate students. Applicants are urged to help undergraduate collaborators apply for funding through URSCA, STEP-MT, McNair, or TLSAMP. All of these programs and application procedures are available at the Undergraduate Research Center.
Travel Funds - The FRCAC will consider funding travel necessary to carry out your project. When the travel is out-of-country, a Travel Authorization must be submitted to Dr. McPhee's office 30 days prior to travel dates. Please send to the attention of Janice Lewis in CAB 111. Travel to conferences or seminars are not eligible for funding. Travel Authorizations, with appropriate signatures, must be completed and submitted with the proposal. (Travel within the state of Tennessee does not require a Travel Authorization.) Applicants are urged to help undergraduate and graduate collaborators apply for travel funding through URSCA, STEP-MT, McNair, or TLSAMP. Graduate students may apply through the College of Graduate Studies travel fund [http://www.mtsu.edu/~graduate/pdf/StuTravelAppl.pdf}. All of the undergraduate program travel application procedures are available at the Undergraduate Research Center (http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11202/formtodatabase1.asp).
Book Proposals - The FRCAC will consider funding the development of book proposals. Include a description of the scope of effort required and appropriate documentation supporting likely acceptance.
External Grant Applications - The FRCAC will consider funding reassigned time during the academic year to write proposals for external funding of research and creative activities. Summer proposal development time will be excluded from this funding and the CARS-Proposal Development Program has been discontinued. Applicants developing external grant proposals should contact the Office of Research Services for identification of suitable funding programs and agencies prior to submission to the FRCAC. Perennial FRCAC funding of an individual, except in disciplines bereft of suitable funding sources, should not be expected. FRCAC funds are to be considered as "seed" and not "source". Documentation of past FRCAC support and justification for continued support should be included in the proposal. All proposal approvals are conditional on pre-existing funding from other sources. Requests for journal article page charges or book indexing, etc. should not be requested in the FRCAC proposals. Those are considered separately from grant proposals and involve submission of a Dissemination and Services Support Request Form with documentation of costs.
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