REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

COLORADO ADVANCED SOFTWARE INSTITUTE
Undergraduate Research Grant Program
September 30, 2001

Application/Proposal Due Date:  February 15, 2002
Funding Decision:  March 22, 2002

View or print RFP with attachments in pdf format

The Colorado Advanced Software Institute (CASI) promotes the development of technology and human resources in advanced software for Colorado business and industry. One way CASI achieves its goal of human resource development is through its Undergraduate Research / Development Grant Program.

CASI's Operating Board initiated the Undergraduate Research / Development Grant Program in response to the need of the Colorado business community for software-trained baccalaureate degree graduates.

CASI's Undergraduate Research / Development Grant Program is open to faculty at Colorado universities and baccalaureate-granting undergraduate institutions. It offers the opportunity for undergraduate students at non-research colleges to participate in research activities.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

CASI offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in research activities or in a sizeable, practical software development project. This program is offered to qualified undergraduate students and their faculty any state or privately funded baccalaureate degree-granting institution of higher education in the State of Colorado.

For research projects, the objective is to train an undergraduate student in how to do software related research, to prepare the student for graduate school and to attract the student to post-baccalaureate studies. For development projects, the objective is to train the student how to plan and execute a sizeable software project with practical value.

Projects may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

A faculty member, who then acts as supervisor of an undergraduate student applies for these research grants. The undergraduate student conducts the work under the faculty member's guidance. The student application packet is submitted at a later date; CASI approval of the selected student is required.

The research grant award is for up to $3,000 to be divided in the proposal budget between a stipend to the student and discretionary funds to the faculty member in support of the project in accordance with the regulations of the college or university. Depending on the accounting rules at the participating university, stipends may be paid as a lump sum or based on a student's number of hours worked. The budget cannot include indirect costs.

Proposals for this program are invited from faculty members at any state-funded or private Colorado university or baccalaureate degree-granting undergraduate institution. Proposals will be welcomed from any discipline area for any software project.

APPLICANT QUALIFICATIONS
To serve as supervisor of the software project, a faculty member must have a full-time faculty appointment. A person who has a staff appointment to do full-time teaching and/or research shall be considered a faculty appointment.

Application Form
To submit a faculty proposal for a CASI Undergraduate Research Grant, please complete the Faculty Application (Attachment 1). Submission of undergraduate materials (Attachment 2 and transcripts) are optional at this time.

Budget
The maximum budget for an Undergraduate Research Grant is $3,000. Please read the information contained in Section C of the Faculty Application concerning the proposal budget.

Project Duration
See Section D of the Faculty Application for a discussion of possible length of a project.

STUDENT PACKETS - Due June 7, 2002
Faculty selected for award will be notified before the end of April 2002 and will be requested to supply a Student Packet to CASI for their selected student no later than June 7, 2002. If, however, an extension of time is needed to identify the appropriate student, this may be accommodated with prior approval of the CASI Director.

The Student Packet is required to provide assurance to CASI that the student selected meets Selection Guidelines (see below). If a student meeting the guidelines cannot be found, the faculty award will be withdrawn.

Student Packets will comprise the following:

These materials will be reviewed by CASI no later than June 17, 2002.

Selection Guidelines
To qualify for this research grant, the selected undergraduate student must be a full-time student with undergraduate status at the institution of the supervisory faculty, must have at least a junior standing, and must have a grade-point average of 3.0 or above (B = 3.0). The selected undergraduate student must register for a minimum of one hour of special credit each semester or quarter of the grant period, the exact number to be at the discretion of the faculty supervisor.

In selection of a student, faculty members are cautioned not to consider the potential effect of the CASI award on the student's overall financial-aid picture but rather on the student's qualifications.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS - Due February 15, 2002
 The original and 5 (total = 6) copies of the application are due at CASI no later than 5:00 p.m., February 15, 2002. All proposals must be approved for submission by the submitting university or undergraduate institution's Office of Sponsored Research.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION
Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of the CASI Undergraduate Research Grant Selection Committee.

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Is this an applied research topic of importance to industry or a sizeable software project with practical value?
  2. Does the project have technical merit?
  3. Does the project have clear, achievable objectives?
  4. Is the project feasible for an undergraduate to accomplish within the time and budget constraints?
  5. Is there a plan and criteria to evaluate the results?
  6. Is the faculty member qualified to sponsor this project?
  7. Is there a plan for training the undergraduate student?
  8. If the funding requested covers only part of the project, is there additional funding to cover the rest of the project?
Evaluation criteria will also include submitters' qualifications and consideration of the set of awards as a whole with respect to overall balance in the projects' objectives and institutional representation. Financial need is not a criterion.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AWARDS
Selection of the awards will be made by the CASI Operating Board at its meeting on March 22, 2002. Selection results (subject to availability of state funding) will be available on Monday, March 25, from the CASI Coordinator (970) 491-7993. All proposers will be informed via e-mail of the selection result in April.

DELIVERABLES
A two- to three-page executive report of the project's achievements from the faculty/student team is required at the conclusion of the project.

Awardees will be invited to present their project's results at CASI's annual Research Symposium to be held in Denver in October 2003. This however, is not a requirement.

AWARD PAYMENT
A letter (pending approval of the selected student) will be sent from CASI to the institution in June once approval of the student has been made. Subcontracts between Colorado State University and the awardees' institutions will be drawn up as soon as the necessary documentation is in place. All funds expended on projects prior to receipt of the subcontract are spent at the institution's risk.

Attachments to this RFP:

  1. Faculty Application
  2. Student Application
  3. Terms and Conditions



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© Colorado Advanced Software Institute 2000
All material subject to change without notice; last update 05/Oct/01     by   CASI Coordinator