CITRIS UCSC Interdisciplinary Innovation Program FAQs
Q: What are the criteria by which you’ll be evaluating proposals?
A: CITRIS UC Santa Cruz Campus Seed Funding proposals are evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Feasibility: Can the stated goals be achieved within 12 months?
- Creates solution to a societal challenge: Is the societal problem and its scale clearly identified? Will the proposed project help to address this challenge?
- Potential for follow-on funding: Has this area of research been identified by federal agencies or other funders as an area of future investment? Will the CITRIS Seed Fund Award help the investigators make a stronger case for future external funding?
- Alignment with CITRIS mission and the charter of the Banatao Institute: Does the proposal contribute to solving a societal issue through the creation or application of Information Technology?
- Inclusion of pre-tenured faculty is highly encouraged but not required.
Q: If my proposal doesn’t meet one of the criteria will it be immediately rejected?
A: Ideally, we’d like you to hit all the categories we’ve outlined for the program, but if you only marginally meet one of them, but are strong in the others, we still encourage you to submit. Realize though that this is a competitive process and the funding is limited, so do everything you can to develop your proposal to meet the criteria.
Q: What if I have my appointment in one division and my co-PI has an appointment in that same division but also a dual appointment in a different division – does that still count as collaboration across divisions?
A: Technically, yes it does, but we’ll be considering the degree of cross-divisional collaboration in our deliberations, with two or more PIs from separate divisions as the highest degree. See the answer to the question above, though, and if your proposal is strong in the other categories we’ll be considering we still encourage you to submit.
Q: I can’t find a co-PI in another division, can you help?
A: Submit your information via our online questionnaire here and while we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to find a match, we’ll do everything we can to try and make some productive connections for you.
Q: I’d like to work with a researcher on campus, but they don’t have PI status, is there anything we can do?
A: In some cases the UC Santa Cruz Office of Research can grant an Exception to Policy (ETP) and give a researcher who meets certain criteria PI status. To find out if someone working on campus meets these criteria and to find the ETP form follow this link: https://officeofresearch.ucsc.edu/osp/award-mgmt/etp.html
Q: Is the CITRIS UC Santa Cruz Campus Seed Funding Program open to students?
A: No, this program is only open to faculty or other campus researchers with Principle Investigator (PI) status on UC Santa Cruz campus. Student collaborators are welcome as team members, but won’t count as Co-PIs. However, we launched another annual program in 2019 called Tech for Social Good, which will provide funding for student projects and events in line with the CITRIS mission. For more information visit this page: https://citris.ucsc.edu/tech-for-social-good/
Q: Is any campus overhead or other costs taken from the award amount?
A: No, since CITRIS provides the funds directly to PIs as operating funds via a 100% transfer with no overhead taken, thus it’s NOT necessary for PIs to enter their proposal information into Cayuse.
Q: Am I required to enter my proposal information into the campus Cayuse system?
A: No, as noted in the question above, since CITRIS provides the funds directly to PIs as operating funds via a 100% transfer with no overhead taken, it’s NOT necessary for PIs to enter their proposal information into Cayuse.
Q: If my proposal is selected for funding, how will the funds be transferred to me?
A: Funding is transferred directly from the CITRIS UCSC FOAPAL to the PIs designated FOAPAL. Our RA will work with yours to complete the transfer of funds.