Seed Grants For Data Science

Cover page (one page) contains the project title, 3-5 descriptive keywords, PI and
collaborator(s) name, affiliation, and contact information, total funds requested,
projected start and end dates, and an indication of whether this proposal has been submitted to the seed grant program before.

Project summary (one page): provide a one-page summary of the proposed work by
following the NSF project summary guidelines listed below. The project summary should
consist of three main sections:

• An overview includes a description of the activity that would result if the proposal were funded and a statement of objectives and methods to be employed.
• Intellectual merit of the proposed activity: should describe the potential of the proposed activity to advance knowledge and the contribution the proposed research will make to the related field and others.
• Broader impacts: should describe the potential of the proposed activity to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. For example, what are possible applications of your proposed research? Why would the general public care? Does it have any economic, environmental, and social benefits? What is the potential for disparate impacts of this research? How will you manage? Etc.

Project description in the format of a white paper aimed at a specific call or
agency (not to exceed 4 pages) The project description should address the following
points:

• Project overview: Provide a clear and concise explanation of (i) the target research problem of this funding request and its significance;
• Research Context and Core Issues: the research goals/questions and the proposed research activities for which the funding is requested; and (iii) what data will be collected from the project, if any. How will you use this pilot data in your
• Methodology: (i) the proposed research design and methodology, (ii) expected outcome of the project; (iii) the work plan and timeline of the proposed research.
• Potential implications for social good: describe how this research plan impacts broader social issues. These can be specific to the type of call you are aiming for—i.e. a MINERVA grant would need a statement for potential implications for national security.
• External Agency/Call Targeted: Identify proposed/target channels and dates for follow-up external funding application(s). Tell us precisely where the white paper will go and show us the link)

• Education, including the dates when degrees were awarded;
• work /artifacts most directly related to this grant.

Budget and justification: Provide itemized budget and budget justification required by
the project. All of the items listed must be reasonable, necessary to accomplish project
objectives, allowable in terms of the applicable federal cost principles, auditable, and
incurred during the grant period. Charges to the project for items such as RAs, travel,
contractual services, salaries, and fringe benefits must conform to the written policies and established practices of the University.

Acceptable budget items include graduate RA support (At least $5,000 budget;
required), dataset purchase expense, human subject compensation, software, small pilot
studies, and faculty summer salary, etc. that are directly related to carrying out the
proposed research.

The cost of project activities to be undertaken by a third-party contractor should be
included in this category as a single line item charge. A complete itemization of the cost comprising the charge should be provided in an attachment. If there is more than one
contractor, each must be budgeted separately on the form and must have an attached
itemization. Please note that fringe benefits do not apply to SDS seed grant.

Data: What data will be collected and/or generated during the proposed study? Are you willing to share them with the school (Encouraged but not mandatory)?

The awardees are highly encouraged to share data (after de-identification of users) collected from the awarded projects with SDS, if possible, which will be incorporated into a secured data repository for potential future use for research or teaching by other SDS faculty. Benefits of sharing your data may include, but not limited to, the following:

• Extending the value, discoverability, and impact of your data by hosting it in a secured repository.
• Making your data/research projects citable.
• Facilitating scientific advancement and reproducible research by enabling other researchers to build upon your work.
• Ensuring long-term preservation and accessibility of your data through the repository’s archival curation. 

The requests from UNC Charlotte faculty for access to any archived dataset will be reviewed and approved by the PI or co-PIs of the awarded project who created the original dataset(s) or by SDS upon agreement.

• Current and prior (the past 3 years) external funding support: What are the current externally funded projects of PIs and their focus?
• Have any PIs on this proposal received any prior seed grants from SDS in the past 3years? If so, please list the prior SDS seed grants received by any PI/Co-PIs of this proposal, including the project title, term/year funded, and results, which include, but are not limited to, and the external grant proposals resulting from the projects supported by prior SDS seed grants.
• Has the current proposed work been funded by any other internal or external funding sources?

Criteria for Proposal Review:

1. Intellectual merits:
   1) Novel and transformative ideas that involve cross-college or interdisciplinary
   collaboration around data science;
   2) Quality and coherence of the research design and detailed plan of activities;
2. Broad impact of the proposed research, including impact on our communities (especially the Charlotte region)
3. Potential for external grant funding
   1) Projects’ potential for leading to grant proposals that are more likely to be externally
   funded;
   2) Identified target funding agencies, programs, and dates for follow-on external funding
   application(s); and
   3) Funding agencies or organizations of national or international significance will be
   given priority over regional ones.
4. Qualification of the project team
   1) All faculty eligible for UNC Charlotte Faculty Research Grants are eligible for this
   award;
   2) Teams with at least a PI/Co-PI affiliated with SDS;
   3) All faculty involved in the project must be listed as PIs, co-PIs, or consultants; and
   4) To foster interdisciplinary research collaboration, faculty members on a proposal
   must come from at least two different colleges.
5. The results of previous projects funded by SDS seed grants (e.g., publications, grant proposals submitted and awarded, project reports)
6. Projects that best fit the research priorities of SDS.

Project Reports and Credit

Investigators are expected to provide a brief (2~3 pages) project report that summarizes this project (including motivation, research model and hypotheses, research method, and results) within one month after the ending date of the project term, including, but not limited to, the research activities conducted and the degree to which the project goals have been achieved, as well as a timeline to submission to external funding. The report should be sent to jwindett@charlotte.edu. Please acknowledge the support of the SDS seed grant(s) in the published papers resulting from the awarded projects. Failure to submit the project report by the deadline may result in the ineligibility of PI/Co-PIs for applying for future SDS seed grants. An update of this report should be submitted when a related grant proposal is successfully submitted for external funding in the future.

External funding must be sought for the “overall project” for which seed funding was requested within the indicated time frame. It is expected that PIs will credit the SDS at the time of submission and approval of the proposal through Niner Research.

Should you have any questions about this seed funding opportunity, please contact Jason Windett at jwindett@charlotte.edu