Faculty members are invited to an open forum today to brainstorm ideas for possible UNL submissions to a universitywide internal competition for major equipment purchases. The forum is 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union. The room will be posted.
The University of Nebraska system soon will conduct this open internal competition. The request for proposals has not yet been released but the purpose of this one-time competition is to enhance the campus research capacity and infrastructure. The Office of Research and Economic Development is sponsoring the session to discuss the process and seek ideas for potential proposals. Faculty are encouraged to consult their colleagues and bring their ideas.
More details will be available when the RFP is issued. What is known so far is that these one-time proposals must: 1) propose to acquire major equipment (minimum $500,000) in support of established campus core research facilities, and 2) demonstrate a concrete multi-user need, including a specific description of the project(s) that the equipment acquisition would facilitate. Lists of faculty potentially interested in the instrumentation will not be sufficient to demonstrate need.
UNL’s proposals will be submitted to the Office of Research and Economic Development and likely will be due around May 1. ORED will conduct a review process and, as requested by NU, rank UNL proposals by priority. The amount of funding available is not yet known, but NU is looking for major instrumentation requests. Multi-million dollar requests will be entertained, particularly where there is deep and broad impact.