Please note for all proposals that must be submitted via Grants.gov,
the Office of University Research Services must have the final
complete proposal, with all required attachments, no later
than 48 hours prior to the agency deadline. Because of the
higher possibility of technical difficulties with this new
submission engine, the OURS cannot guarantee that proposals
received later than 48 hours prior to the deadline will be
submitted on time. Please direct any questions to the Office
of University Research Services, 4-2236 or ours@towson.edu.
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Institutional, University-Wide, or Multi-Disciplinary Opportunities
Agency: National Science Foundation
Deadlines: October 13, 2009
Creativity, design, and research all contribute new knowledge and artifacts. The CreativeIT program focuses on the commonality of these three processes and solicits proposals that bring creative practice and creativity research to play a role in transformative research in specific contexts of computer science, cognitive science, information technology, education, engineering design and science. The program considers design as a type of research in which the definition of the problem may change in response to the exploration and development of alternative solutions, leading to creative solutions and innovation. The program's objective is to bring together different disciplines associated with creative and scientific advances in a way that is mutually beneficial. This program encourages new ways of thinking about one discipline in terms of another, so that the interdisciplinary nature of the project is a means to an end rather than an end in itself.
CreativeIT seeks proposals for projects whose objectives are new models of creativity, new models for research and education, or creativity enhancing tools developed in the context of a specific discipline. A project may respond to one or more of the following types of advances :
- New Theoretical Models – the synergy of research in creativity and computer science can lead to new computational and/or cognitive models of creativity as ways of searching for problems and solutions.
- New Modes of Research – a focus on understanding the role of creative processes or creative professionals in research in computer science and information systems can lead to new modes of research. This understanding can be developed empirically through various social science methods applied in the context of solving a specific problem.
- Innovative Educational Approaches – creativity can be a focus for learning environments in computer science using models such as studio learning and problem-based learning that reward creative thinking.
- Creativity Enhancing Tools – innovation in information technology tools and infrastructure can support and enhance creativity in problem finding as well as problem solving.
The following research areas elaborate on these potential types of advances as guidelines for describing how the objectives of the project contribute to CreativeIT:
- Understanding Creative Cognition and Computation. Research in this area leads to cognitive models that serve as inspiration for computational models of creativity, support for human creativity, and approaches for educating people to be more creative. This research is typically done by adopting or adapting a model of cognition and evaluating its creative performance in different contexts, or developing a new model of creativity based on empirical or ethnographic studies.
- Creativity to Stimulate Breakthroughs in Science and Engineering. This area considers the role and performance of artists in developing new technologies, discovering new patterns in information, and in finding new ways of seeing, knowing, and doing computer and information science and engineering. NSF seeks to foster research conducted with groups of people from different backgrounds in which the creative synergy is focused on a specific context, problem, or perceived need.
- Educational Approaches that Encourage Creativity. This area considers a broad range of approaches to teaching that encourages creativity: multi-disciplinary teaching and learning, design studio teaching, skills development through making and doing, and open-ended problem-based learning.
- Supporting Creativity with Information Technology. This area both develops new software and user interfaces to support users in being more creative and evaluates their performance through user studies either in controlled environments with empirical studies or in the context of a complex problem or situation with ethnographic studies.
Synergies with other NSF programs are encouraged and provide opportunities for additional funding or co-review. Applicants are encouraged to review the full proposal announcement and contact the designated program officer to discuss their ideas.
There are two types of projects: Pilot and Major.Pilot Projects typically have a single PI and a single undergraduate or graduate student for a duration of one to three years. A Pilot project identifies a synergy from understanding creativity in a specific context in which a computing environment has the potential to lead to innovative and creative advances in one or more disciplines. Major Projects have one or more PIs and multiple undergraduate and graduate students for a duration of three years with a maximum budget of $800,000. A Major project brings together a group of people to develop a synergistic effect that can transform our understanding of models, computing environments or education relevant to CreativeIT. While the research may use a design approach in which the specifics of the problem and solution may change during the life of the project, the overall objectives and methods are well defined. This type of project is well founded on previous research in the individual or combined disciplines involved in the project. NSF anticipates making 15-20 awards. Cost sharing is not required
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf09572
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Agency: National Endowment for the Humanities
Deadlines: October 6, 2009
The Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants program is designed to encourage innovations in the digital humanities. By awarding relatively low-dollar grants to support the planning stages, NEH aims to encourage the development of projects that are particularly innovative and have the potential to make a positive impact on the humanities.
Proposals should be for the planning or initial stages of digital initiatives in any area of the humanities. Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants may involve:
- research that brings new approaches or documents best practices in the study of the digital humanities;
- planning and prototyping new digital tools for preserving, analyzing, and making accessible digital resources, including libraries’ and museums’ digital assets;
- scholarship that examines the philosophical implications and impact of the use of emerging technologies;
- innovative uses of technology for public programming and education utilizing both traditional and new media; and
- new digital modes of publication facilitating the dissemination of humanities scholarship in advanced academic as well as informal or formal educational settings at all academic levels.
Innovation is a hallmark of this grant category. All applicants must propose an innovative approach, method, tool, or idea that has not been used before in the humanities. These grants are modeled, in part, on the “high risk/high reward” paradigm often used by funding agencies in the sciences. NEH is requesting proposals for projects that take some risks in the pursuit of innovation and excellence.
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants should result in plans, prototypes, or proofs of concept for long-term digital humanities projects prior to
Two levels of awards will be made in this program. Level I awards are small grants designed to fund brainstorming sessions, workshops, early alpha-level prototypes, and initial planning. Level II awards are larger grants that can be used for more fully-formed projects that are ready to start the first stage of implementation or the creation of working prototypes. Applicants must state in their narrative which funding level they seek. The Endowment will be setting aside funds for each of the two levels and more awards will be made in the Level I category. Applicants should carefully choose the funding level appropriate to the needs of the proposed project.
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods up to eighteen months. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; and technical support and services. Up to 20% of the total grant may also be used for the acquisition of computing hardware and software. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to appropriate scholarly and public audiences. In order to facilitate dissemination and the maximum usage of the projects that are ultimately developed through the Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants, applicants are strongly encouraged to base their projects on open source and fully accessible software.
URL: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/digitalhumanitiesstartup.html
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Research Grant
Agency: American Educational Research Association
Deadlines: September 1, 2009
With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grants Program seeks to stimulate research on U.S. education issues using data from the large-scale, national and international data sets supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NSF, and other federal agencies, and to increase the number of education researchers using these data sets. The program supports research projects that are quantitative in nature, include the analysis of existing data from NCES, NSF or other federal agencies, and have U.S. education policy relevance.
Research Grants are available for faculty at institutions of higher education, postdoctoral researchers, and other doctoral-level researchers. Applications are encouraged from a variety of disciplines, such as but not limited to, education, sociology, economics, psychology, demography, statistics, and psychometrics.
The Governing Board for the AERA Grants Program has established the following four strands of emphasis for proposals. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals that:
- develop or benefit from new quantitative measures or methodological approaches for addressing education issues
- include interdisciplinary teams with subject matter expertise, especially when studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning
- analyze TIMSS, PISA, or other international data resources
- include the integration and analysis of more than one data set
Research projects related to at least one of the strands above and to science and/or mathematics education are especially encouraged. Other topics of interest include policies and practices related to student achievement in STEM, contextual factors in education, educational participation and persistence (kindergarten through graduate school), early childhood education, and postsecondary education. The research project must include the analysis of data from at least one of the large-scale, nationally or internationally representative data sets supported by NCES, NSF, or other federal agency, such as the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Institutes of Health. Additional data sets may be used in conjunction with the obligatory federal data set. If international data sets are used, the study must include U.S. education.
Awards for Research Grants are up to $20,000 for 1-year projects, or up to $35,000 for 2-year projects. In accordance with AERA's agreement with the funding agencies, institutions may not charge indirect costs or overhead on these awards. Approximately 15 Research Grants will be awarded.
URL: http://www.aera.net/grantsprogram/res_training/res_grants/RGFly.html
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