Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant Program (SIRG)

General Information

The Cal Poly Pomona Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant (SIRG) Program is designed to promote interdisciplinary initiatives involving at least two departments and usually more than one college and 2-3 cross disciplinary collaborators. Awards will range from $10,000 to $25,000 and will provide summer stipends for funded project. Requests for overload support will not be considered, but requests for up to $5000 for supplies or travel to help collect essential pilot data will be considered.

We expect 3 to 6 proposals to be awarded for the 2024-2025 cycle.

Awardees, including PIs and co-PIs, from the previous three years will not be eligible: 2023-24, 2022-23, and 2021-22.  Previous awardees must file their final report and provide an updated summary of outcomes, to be to be eligible for 2024-2025 SIRG funding.

Priority consideration will be given to proposals that are viewed as likely to result in major interdisciplinary contracts or grants that are consistent with our mission. Partial funding of some proposals may be possible. If there are not a sufficient number of high quality proposals in this round to justify the strategic allocation of all the available funds, some of the funds may be retained for future years.

The funding in this round (SIRG 2024-2025), will be for the 2024-2025 academic year and the summer of 2025.

Proposals must be submitted by April 7, 2024.

Confidential reviews will be conducted to select proposals with high likelihood of securing external funding aid. Recommendations will be made to the AVP Research. Final decisions will be made by the Provost or designee.

All Cal Poly Pomona members of Unit 3 - Faculty, Librarians, Coaches, and Counselors, are eligible to be team members for funding from this program. However, the PI (team leader) must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member.

SIRG activities will include the writing of an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary/cross-disciplinary contract or grant proposal for an external agency. Each PI/Co-PI can request up to $5000 to provide a summer stipend during summer 2024.

Procedure for proposals: SIRG proposals must be submitted through the campus InfoReady Review site by 11:58 PM on April 7, 2024.

Award announcements are expected by May 3, 2024.

Formatting Limitations: Submitted files must be in PDF format. The project narrative must be single-spaced in 12-pt Arial font with 1” margins.

The application must include:

The information requested at the website https://cpp.infoready4.com/ and

1. Letter of Support from the Department Chair for each PI/Co-PI
2. Letter of Support from the Dean of the lead college
3. A one-page report of previous SIRG funding outcomes (if applicable), including title of project, names of all Co-PIs, external all funding pending or received.
4. Project Narrative (a maximum of five pages) written for an educated general audience. The narrative should include the following information (use headings as outlined below).
   1. Title of project
   2. Project abstract - Limit 250 words
   3. A description of the interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary/cross-disciplinary problem to be addressed, and your basic approach to the problem.
   4. A brief description of how the proposed activity relates to one or more of the core values of Cal Poly Pomona Mission and Vision
   5. A brief summary of the expertise of the PI and each of the Co-PI's, and their roles in the project.
   6. A description of the agency or agencies that could be a source of external support for the project. Be as specific as possible regarding the program and amounts of awards that you will be seeking. Correspondence with program officer is encouraged and should be documented if possible in an appendix which should be uploaded.
   7. A budget, with the support for the PI/Co-PI’s indicated for the Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring Semester, and, if necessary, funds for supplies or travel
   8. Objectives and measurable outcomes for activities planned, with a timeline.
5. A bibliography of citations from the project narrative. This does not count against the five page limit for the project narrative.
6. Curriculum Vitae (maximum of two pages each) for the PI and for each Co-PI, demonstrating that the team as a whole has the qualifications necessary to compete for the external funding. The two page limit per PI/Co-PI does not include the required list of peer-reviewed publications and list of relevant current and previous contracts and grants. The Curriculum Vitae will be used to help evaluate the potential of the PI/Co-PI team to compete successfully for grants and/or contracts from external funding sources.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Outcomes from previous SIRG funding (when appropriate);
• Clarity of the statement of a significant interdisciplinary question or problem to be addressed;
• Organization and clarity of the written application;
• Relevance of the proposed project to the core values of Cal Poly Pomona Mission and Vision

• Reasonableness of the proposed timeline;
• Reasonableness of the amounts requested, and supplies or travel, to achieve the project objectives;
• Potential for submitting a competitive application for significant external funding. Criteria will include:

• • Potential programmatic impact, creative contributions, or contributions to the basic and/or applied body of knowledge;
  • Publication track record of the team and its relevance to the proposed grant application;
  • Clear definition of the role of each PI/Co-PI in the team;
  • Presence of pilot data, if necessary, to support the grant application;
  • Potential of obtaining external support for the proposed research (includes quality and relevance of the research/programmatic idea);
  • Availability of external support (funding) for research or program development in this interdisciplinary area;
  • Evidence of correspondence with program officer confirming the feasibility/suitability of proposal(s) for those program(s);
  • Likelihood of indirect cost recoveries resulting from external funding is one consideration

Required reports from funded projects

For successful proposals, a progress report will be due on December 10, 2025. The final report, in the format of a full length proposal that was submitted, or is planned to be submitted to a particular funding agency, will be due on May 22, 2026.