EMERGE program requests must meet several conditions:

1. The program is intended for cases where current, active grants or contracts have been terminated or interrupted (i.e., paused) for reasons beyond the investigator’s control. Other situations may be considered on a case-by-case basis, provided that recent changes in federal funding policies and practices cause the funding gap to be addressed.

2. Phase 1 funds Funding priority is for the base salaries and fringe of graduate students, postdocs, and other externally funded personnel costs up to the amount currently funded on the impacted grants or contracts. Other critical research expenses outside of salaries may be considered with justification. Summer salary is excluded from EMERGE requests.

Phase 2 funds: Can include any costs in Phase 1, plus other expenses needed to support an investigator in the pursuit of new external funding through pilot projects and/or completing critical aims/tasks from terminated projects and/or helping a graduate student complete their degree.

3. Contributions from PI, Co-PI, department, school/college, and/or Center/Institute funds are expected based on available unrestricted fund balances (startup, IDC, salary savings, or any other accounts that may be used for research costs). Faculty, department heads/chairs, deans, and directors are empowered to work collaboratively on plans to make funds available for contribution. Contributions for emergency needs will vary based on the local funds available. Where available balances allow, local and school/college contributions will likely need to exceed the third/third/third model previously used for OVPR matches. This will allow the OVPR to reserve limited central funds for units with low discretionary balances. This allocation of university resources is also imperative given the state’s attention to the university’s unrestricted account balances. The OVPR has cut programs/resources (e.g., internal seed grants, research development and communication resources) to pay costs associated with the EMERGE program.

4. PIs applying for EMERGE funds must work with their department, center/institute, and school/college leadership while preparing their financial and action plans.
   • All financial resources available to the applicant should be examined. For example, if the investigator has over $10,000 in start-up or other discretionary funds, the OVPR expects the investigator to deplete those funds below $10,000 collectively as part of the financial plans.
   • The role of the department head / dean / director is to render their best judgment regarding the applicant’s need for emergency funds in the context of the applicant’s other support and department / school / college / center / institute resources, and the applicant’s plans for restoring funding.
   • Applications must have Department and School/College approval prior to submission
   • All applications for EMERGE funds will be routed to the department head, dean and/or director for confirmation (the same approvals as IPRs).

5. If extramural grant funds (for the project in question) become available to the investigator during the period of the EMERGE award, any future unused funds must be returned. For example, it is expected that graduate student/staff supported by EMERGE funds would be transitioned back to external funding on reinstated or new related award

6. To receive funds under the EMERGE program, PIs must be up-to-date/compliant with all training requirements, including new trainings related Research Security.

7. Requests to the OVPR must be initiated through the EMERGE intake application (available through the UConn Quest Portal). Applications may be submitted by the PI, the Department/Center, or the Dean’s office.

Applications may be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal, (you may be prompted to first log in and then to click the link again to access the application) and must include the following components:

Note: Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications may be submitted together, if desired; however, we recommend taking time to fully consider phase 2 plans before submitting a phase 2 application.

• Application Form – available on Quest Portal
  • Applicant Information
  • Background information regarding request
  • Financial contribution overview

• Request Details (*uploaded as PDF – no more than 3 pages). Please include the following sections:

• • EMERGE Rationale:
    • Please describe the circumstances motivating the request for emergency funding. 
    • If applicable, please include an overview of grants that have been cancelled (date of notification, expected end date, reason for cancellation, etc.) 
    • For requests not including cancellations, please describe the federal action that is causing the emergency, any communications you’ve received from the sponsor, and any backup plans you have prepared. 

• • Immediate university-obligated / non-cancellable costs: EMERGE Phase 1 awards can support University obligated/critical costs that would have been covered by a grant if not for the action described in the previous section.  Please include: 
    • An overview of personnel (students, postdocs, staff) costs that can no longer be charged to the grant, as expected. 
      • Include details about their current contract timeline, other sources of funding for their position (if any), and notice requirements for their positions if they cannot be continued.
      • If a contract end date extends beyond the expected end date of any terminated grants, please describe your original plans for supporting the position after the grant’s end.
    • A description of any other critical research expenses necessary to safely close out the project.
    • Any steps taken or commitments received that mitigate the impact of the federal action.  This can include shifting impacted personnel to other projects/duties, offers of TAships/fellowships, or commitments of cash support.
    • Please work with your local financial / grant administrators and SPS Post Award to ensure all information is accurate.   

• • Action Plans, with timelines What activities do you propose to undertake during the EMERGE Phase 1 award period? Please outline: 
    • Steps you are taking to minimize project-related costs.
    • Steps needed to scale down, reconfigure, or potentially close out the impacted project in an orderly fashion.  Please complete this even if you also plan to apply for phase 2 funds.  
    • The activities that personnel funded by EMERGE phase 1 would do during the award period.
    • Any project activities/deliverables that can be completed using EMERGE phase 1 support.  This can include completing in-progress activities previously funded by terminated awards or activities that can help you pivot to new funding. 

• • Staffing plans  EMERGE Phase 1 funds can only support personnel for the duration of the University’s current obligation (end of contract or end of layoff period, if applicable).  Please share a brief overview of: 
    • Plans for impacted staff beyond the phase 1 award period (may include new assignments for impacted personnel). 
    • Plans to support impacted students through the end of their degree programs. 
    • Any special circumstances (e.g., international considerations, etc.) 

• Budget Spreadsheet (uploaded as PDF) - Note: we have not yet established a particular format for the budget spreadsheet.
  • Budgets should reflect the full non-cancellable costs related to the project for the emergency period, after cost minimizing steps are taken. 
  • Contributions from the PI, department, center/institute, and school/college should be accounted for in the budget.  All project-related costs should be included.
  • Budget should include:
    • Eligible Personnel costs, including benefit fringe rates at this link; university fringe benefit rates, (Storrs and regional campuses) and university fringe benefit rates (UConn Health Center) broken down by individual categories 
    • Other critical costs that are required and/or cannot be deferred, in detail (e.g., animal care, equipment maintenance)  
    • Itemize contributions from PI, department, school/college, affiliated centers/institutes 
  • Please also provide a separate sheet listing all active PI accounts, including foundation accounts, indicating 
    • Current balances
    • Amounts being committed for the current request
    • Other existing short/near term commitments for available funds, if any.
• Optional Appendices (uploaded as PDF) may be uploaded.
  • • such as but not limited to; letters of support, termination notices, hiring contracts, references/sources or any other information in support of the application

Phase 1 Review Process

1. After submission, the request will be routed to Department, Center/Institute, and School/College leadership for review and approval. Unit leaders will need to sign off on action plans and financial commitments.
2. Requests will then be reviewed by the OVPR, along with a representative of the EMERGE committee in the case of Storrs and Regional Campus submission and HCRAC for UConn Health submissions.
   • All available accounts related to the request will be reviewed. For PIs, uncommitted fund balances above $10K (cumulative across all unrestricted accounts) must be put toward funding needs related to the terminated project.
   • Action and staffing plans will be reviewed to ensure that they are complete and well-justified.
3. Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begins once the application has been approved by unit leaders, as described above in #1.
4. Awards will be dependent on availability of EMERGE funding.

EMERGE Committee will be comprised of at least 5 members with representation from the following groups: OVPR Research Development, Center/Institute directors, Associate Deans for Research.

Applications may be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal, (you may be prompted to first log in and then to click the link again to access the application) and must include the following components:

Note: Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications may be submitted together, if desired; however, we recommend taking time to fully consider phase 2 plans before submitting a phase 2 application.

• Application Form – available on Quest Portal
  • Applicant Information
  • Background information regarding request
  • Financial contribution overview

• Request Details (*uploaded as PDF – no more than 3 pages). Please include the following sections:

• • Reason for request

• • Action Plans, with timelines
    • Proposed short-term research plan and milestones
    • Future funding plans to pursue new external funding
    • How this funding will help investigator(s) win future funding

• Budget Spreadsheet (uploaded as PDF) Note: we have not yet established a particular format for the budget spreadsheet.
  • Eligible Personnel costs, including university fringe benefit rates, broken down by individual
  • Other research-related costs (materials and supplies, equipment, animal costs, participant costs, facility use fees, etc).
  • Itemize contributions from PI, department, school/college, affiliated centers/institutes
  • Separate sheet listing all active PI accounts, including foundation accounts, indicating:
    • Current balance
    • Overlap with current request
    • Existing short/near term commitments for available funds, if any

• Optional Appendices (uploaded as PDF) may be uploaded.
  • such as but not limited to; letters of support, termination notices, hiring contracts, references/sources or any other information in support of the application

Phase 2 Review Process

1. After submission, the request will be routed to Department, Center/Institute, and School/College leadership for review and approval. Unit leaders will need to sign off on the merit of proposed research, the likelihood of future external funding, and all financial commitments.
2. Requests will then be reviewed by the OVPR, along with a representative of the EMERGE committee in the case of Storrs and Regional Campus submission and HCRAC for UConn Health submissions.
   • All available accounts related to the request will be reviewed. For PIs, uncommitted fund balances above $10K (cumulative across all unrestricted accounts) must be put toward funding needs related to the terminated project.
   • Research and future funding plans will be reviewed to ensure that they are complete and well-justified. OVPR will rely upon the judgement of unit leaders regarding the intellectual merit of the proposed research.
3. Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begins once the application has been approved by unit leaders, as described above in #1.
4. Awards will be dependent on availability of EMERGE funding.
5. EMERGE awards will be made for 6 month increments. Demonstration of progress is required to receive a subsequent allocation, if needed, and if funds are available.

EMERGE Committee will be comprised of at least 5 members with representation from the following groups: OVPR Research Development, Center/Institute directors, Associate Deans for Research.

As the purpose of Emerge is to temporarily stabilize emergency situations caused by grant terminations or other unanticipated actions related to federal funding policies, gaining access to new external funds to support the impacted work and personnel is a main expected outcome for EMERGE awards.  Therefore, if new external dollars become available to EMERGE awardees, they must work with the OVPR to determine how the new funds will be applied to offset EMERGE funds and to determine whether an emergency still exists. 

Emerge guideline language: If extramural grant funds (for the project in question) become available to the investigator during the period of the EMERGE award, any future unused funds must be returned. For example, it is expected that graduate student/staff supported by EMERGE funds would be transitioned back to external funding on a reinstated or new related award 

 Typically, “new external funding” can be broken down into two broad categories: 1) new funds freed up related to a terminated award and 2) new external awards (more details and definitions are supplied below). 

Action Steps 

Additional support related to the terminated award becomes available (i.e. carryover, additional costs covered by sponsor during closeout, etc.) 

• If an EMERGE-funded team receives word that new funds related to a previously terminated award may be available, they must email OVPR (research@uconn.edu) with CC to other contributors (Department, Center/Institute, School/College) as soon as possible. 

• Please share the amount of funding expected, when funds will be available, and if there are any expectations or limits from the sponsor on how the funds can be used.   

• It is expected that any additional funds related to the terminated award will be used to support EMERGE-funded activities, except as required by the sponsor. 

• Any such additional funds must be drawn from first to pay for costs related to EMERGE-Phase 1 and possibly Phase 2. (to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis) 

• EMERGE funds that are displaced by additional sponsor support will be returned to the OVPR so they can be reinvested. 

 New external funding awards are received  

• If an EMERGE-funded team receives new external funding awards, they must reach out to the OVPR (research@uconn.edu) with CC to other contributors (Department, Center/Institute, School/College) as soon as the official notice of award is received.   

• Please share the amount of funding expected and the anticipated start date of the award.   

• Please share a brief abstract of the project and a high-level overview of the personnel involved. 

• The EMERGE committee will review high-level information about the new award and advise on the next steps. 

• In most cases, the arrival of new external funds indicates that the emergency funding gap addressed by the EMERGE award has been alleviated, and the Committee will provide guidance on closing out the EMERGE award and transitioning personnel and activities to the new external funding source. 

• In rare cases, availability of new external funds may not fully alleviate the emergency conditions addressed by EMERGE.  PIs in these circumstances should reach out to the OVPR (research@uconn.edu) to discuss their options. 

After awards are made, midpoint progress reports are required in order to receive the second installment of funds for awards (if applicable) when the award period is 12 months. A final progress report is required once the project has been completed. The QUEST portal will notify awardees when a midpoint or a final report is due. If you have any questions, please contact research@uconn.edu.

The QuTech program is available to UConn/UConn Health faculty members, within the following parameters:

• IP: Projects should have intellectual property at their core. To be eligible, project-related UConn IP must exist and a UConn invention disclosure must be filed prior to applying.  Projects based on IP not developed at UConn are not eligible.
• Startups and License Options: If a startup related to the QuTech project exists at the time of award, an option agreement must be taken within 6 months of the award.  If a startup company related to the project is formed at any point in the future, an option agreement must be taken within six months of the startup creation.
• Effort and Salary:
  • The award does not pay for any PI salary or for time spent on the project
  • Although no minimum effort level is required for QuTech projects, a PI/Co-PI must have institutionally-funded research time available during the award period to lead and complete the project.
  • Research Professors / those whose positions are contingent on grant-funding (soft money positions) must include details about their institutionally-funded research time as part of the budget justification to confirm eligibility.
• UConn Primary Appointment:
  • PIs must be faculty or staff whose primary appointment is at UConn/UConn Health. Awards are available to tenure-track, tenured, Clinical, Research, and in-Residence faculty with Assistant Professor rank or higher.
  • Researchers with primary appointments to CCMC, Jackson Labs, or TIP or other startup companies are not eligible to apply.
  • Individuals who are not eligible to apply as a PI may be able to serve as a collaborator/consultant on an eligible PI’s project.
• Number of submissions: Eligible faculty may only submit one proposal as lead PI. Investigators may serve as collaborator on multiple projects.

Elements to include in the full application are as follows:

1. A one-paragraph abstract (type or copy/paste into a form on Quest).
2. Project plan document three page maximum, 11-pt font and 1” margins), including
   1. Problem/Unmet need: Describe the problem or unmet need that the innovation will address.
   2. Description of the innovation: Describe the innovation or technology concept.
   3. Estimate Market Size:
      1. Which industries are likely to adopt the technology? Why is this technology important for these industries?
      2. Please describe the total available market this technology addresses (TAM) and how much of the TAM this technology will address.
   4. Competing Products:
      1. Identify any currently available products/technologies and explain why they do not adequately satisfy the problem or unmet need.
      2. Explain how the proposed innovation is different from or better than those that are already available.
   5. Intellectual property (IP): Describe your IP position, and the competitive IP landscape. List your current patent applications or patents pending as well as any granted patents related to this project. If you currently have no patent applications, please mention plans for future invention disclosures.
   6. Commercialization Plan:
      1. Explain how the proposed de-risking activities will allow you to achieve the major milestones required to further develop the technology for market entry.
      2. Describe your plans for funding development of this technology beyond the QuTech grant (through SBIR/STTR, Angel and VC funding, etc).
   7. Preliminary evidence: Summarize any preliminary data available that substantiates the proposed innovation usefulness for the applications envisioned.
   8. Proposed work with project milestones: Outline the proposed scope of work approaches with timelines and a clearly defined set of objective milestones to be completed by the end of the initial award period.  Please include an analysis of how the proposed activities will sufficiently de-risk the innovation to allow for further commercial development.
3. Biosketches/CVs: Please include brief biosketches/CVs (formatted as appropriate for your field) for all PIs/Co-PIs (No more than 3 pages).  Include your most recent publications or those most relevant to the work proposed.  Also include current/pending support from external sponsors and UConn sources (including start-up funding).  Biosketches/CVs may be uploaded as one PDF or as separate PDF documents.
4. Budget: Provide a preliminary budget estimate and proposed use of funds. Please see Internal Funding Budget Guidelines for instructions and a budget template.
5. The budget spreadsheet should be converted to PDF format prior to upload.

Proposals will be scored based on the following criteria:

Market Need—does the innovation address an unmet need and is there evidence that there is a market for the proposed solution?

• Does the applicant make a strong case that there is a need/problem that needs to be met?
• Is the science/technology strong enough to evidence its success
• Does the proposal include data about how much of the market the technology may realistically capture?

Innovation and Novelty—Is the innovation novel and/or does it make a significant improvement over currently-available solutions?

• Does the proposal make a convincing argument that the innovation is novel and or makes a significant improvement over currently-available solutions?
• Is there existing or the potential for intellectual property protection?
• To what degree does the innovation solve the unmet need differently (e.g., better, faster, cheaper) than the current state-of-the art?
• If novel, is the innovation a disruptive technology, a platform technology, or an incremental improvement over the current state-of-the art?

Commercialization Plan—Is there a realistic path for commercializing the innovation?

• Does the proposal present a path to bring the innovation forward to market?
• Does the proposal present plans for future financing of the project, such as SBIR/STTR or industry investment?
• For future development, will this technology require regulatory approval?  If so, does the proposal address plans for successfully navigating the process?
• Does the applicant point to any obvious potential licenses / commercial partners for this innovation?

Approach and Feasibility—Are the activities proposed attainable in the proposed timeline and are they consistent with the high scientific/scholarly standards?

• Does the investigator/team have appropriate expertise and laboratory facilities available to conduct the work?
• Does the project include the involvement of a UConn core facility or a third party be required to complete the work (e.g prototype development)?  If so, have appropriate commitments been obtained?
• To what degree will the activities proposed de-risk and advance the development of the innovation?

• Lead faculty PI needs to be a UConn/UCH faculty member

• Faculty must be tenure-track, tenured, Research, and in-Residence faculty with Assistant Professor rank or higher with an active research program.  Investigators need to have institutionally-funded research time available to devote to the project.
• Faculty may only submit one proposal as lead PI. Investigators may serve as collaborators on multiple projects.

• Multi-PI, interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Faculty are encouraged to use the School’s website or Lincus, a search engine that will assist in identifying specific faculty expertise at all UConn campuses, including UConn Health. You can also reach out to OVPR Research Development Associate Quinn McAdam at mcadam@uconn.edu.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

Please be sure to read all the guidelines thoroughly. Each item/section should be prepared, labeled, and ordered as indicated below.  Some information will need to be entered into a form on the application site.  Other documents will need to be uploaded.  See below for details.

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the UConn Quest Portal by 4/6 and will require the following information:

Faculty Applicant Information Form (some information may pre-populate into the form)

• Submitting PI Name
• Home Department
• School/College
• Email
• Phone
• Faculty/Academic Rank
• Primary Employer
• Question - is your position contingent on grant funding?

MPS SEED GRANT APPLICATION FORM

Faculty Applicant Information

• Special Reviewer Expertise (optional): If your project requires reviewers to possess specific expertise within the context of your discipline (i.e. familiarity with a specialized approach or methodology), please specify.
• Size of Team: 0-8
• Key Personnel: Co-PIs, department affiliation, role on project
• Project Title:
• Total Amount Requested for Reagents and Chips: (not to exceed $25,000.00)
• Total Amount Requested for Reagents:
• Total Cost of Chips: (each chip costs $850.00)
• Project Abstract / Lay Summary: Succinctly state (for a non-specialist audience) the objectives, methods to be employed, and the significance of the proposed activity.
• Future Funding and/or Activities: The applicant should specify where extramural grant proposals will be submitted and/or the high-level disciplinary accomplishments that will result from the MPS Seed Grant Program award.
• Keywords: List 4-5 keywords relevant to project

Project Plan (PDF upload)

The Project Plan should be 2-3 pages in length (12-pt font and 1” margins). The Project Plan should address each of the areas below in sufficient detail using the headings provided. Proposals should be written in straightforward language, keeping in mind that reviewers will possess general content knowledge but not necessarily specialist expertise. Proposals should avoid the use of technical jargon. Acronyms that are not universally understood should be spelled out the first time they are used.  References should be included in the project plan document, but they do not need to be counted against page limits

Significance/Importance: Provide a clear and compelling scientific rationale for the proposed project and how using the MPS platform will accelerate research progress in your chose area of inquiry. Narratives should address both the significance of the scientific questions being explored and the significance of using MPS techniques in the project.

Approach and Feasibility: Describe the plan for carrying out the proposed activities, including research aims, design, work plan, and methodological approach.

Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies:

• • Identify the external funding opportunities you are targeting (sponsor, specific funding opportunity, targeted submission dates).
  • Briefly describe the team that you will gather for the external submission.
  • Describe other expected research products (publications, presentations, etc.) that you expect to emerge from the project.
  • Describe how the preliminary data produced using this funding will improve your competitiveness for external funding.

Biosketches/CVs (PDF upload, single document)

Please include biosketches/CVs (formatted as appropriate for your field) for all PIs/Co-PIs.  Include your most recent publications or those most relevant to the work proposed.  Also include current/pending support from external sponsors and UConn sources (including start-up funding). This may be appended to the end of the CV/biosketch or integrated within it, if your discipline format already provides space for current/pending.

Appendices (PDF upload, single document)

Additional information may be included when it is truly essential for adequate peer review of the proposal.

Review Process

All proposals will be evaluated by the OVPR for eligibility, then assigned to reviewers whose expertise aligns with the proposals.  The reviewers will in turn recommend proposal(s) for funding to the Faculty Co-chairs who will make final funding recommendations to the OVPR.

• The Faculty Co-chairs provide reviewer suggestions to be invited to review specific proposals. (2 reviewers for each proposal)
• The OVPR will invite reviewers based on disciplinary areas consistent with the proposal category, scholarly reputation, and expertise and specialization consistent with the proposal topic.
• Once the reviews are complete, the Faculty Co-chairs will review the recommendations by the reviewers, identify the strongest proposals for funding, and select the proposal(s) to be recommended for funding, keeping the review criteria in mind.

Review Criteria

Using a 5-point rating scale from 1 (Excellent) to 5 (Poor), reviewers will rate and evaluate 3 criteria (Significance, Approach/ Feasibility and Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies in alignment with the MPS Seed Grant Program mission to support innovative and collaborative research using Javelin’s MPS (organ-on-a-chip platform).

 Significance/Importance

• Does this study clearly address an important scientific problem in a way that successfully leverages the MPS platform?
• If the aims of the project are achieved, will scientific knowledge, technical capability, clinical practice, and/or social conditions be advanced in meaningful ways?
• Does the proposed project significantly contribute to the concepts, theories, methods, technologies, applications, treatments, outcomes, services, and/or preventive interventions?

Approach/Feasibility

• To what degree does the proposal outline a clearly articulated and well-reasoned plan of action that includes activities, research aims, design and work plan?
• To what degree are the proposed approaches appropriate for the aims of the project? Do they reflect intellectual rigor?
• To what degree is the project, as described in the proposal, achievable?  Are there any concerns about feasibility?
• Does the environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success?

Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies

• Are the identified external funding opportunities targets within the next year?
• To what extent are the selected funding opportunities appropriate for the proposed project?
• If the proposed project is successful, to what extent will the team’s competitiveness for the targeted external funding opportunities be improved? 

After awards are made and the project has been completed, the OVPR would like to evaluate project progress and to learn more about the impact on the work that has been done.  To this end, you will receive a link to a short survey asking questions about the outcomes and impacts of your project; publications, abstracts, external grant applications, patents, and awards related to the MPS Seed Grant Program once your project has been completed.