Faculty Research Awards

Overview & Program Goals

The Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI) invites faculty members from all academic disciplines to apply for the 2025 Faculty Research Awards (FRA). FRAs provide funds (up to $10,000) in support of scholarship, creative activity, and quantitative or qualitative research for eligible applicants across the University of Oregon, fostering both productivity and career advancement.   

Examples of eligible projects include:

  • Book projects intended for publication 
  • Performances in venues
  • Creative work for exhibition
  • Projects that obtain pilot data, demonstrate the feasibility of an approach or method, or contribute to the development of a prototype
  • Travel to conduct fieldwork or conduct research  

Individuals are limited to submitting one application per funding cycle, though applicants may serve as unpaid collaborators or team members on additional projects. The aim is to provide funding to faculty who do not currently have a significant active externally funded research award (i.e., a major independent, investigator-initiated award for their discipline, such as NIH R01, NEH Fellowship, IES research grant, etc.). Priority will be given to projects where funding is significant to project launch or continuation. 

Note that proposed projects must be meaningfully distinct from prior FRA-funded work. In particular, proposals for research and writing of a book should describe how prior funding met the goals of the prior project and clearly describe how the new work being proposed differs. As with all seed programs, this award is designed to be a springboard to encourage and enable future support of faculty research through extramural funding.   

Timeline

  • November 15, 2024 - January 14, 2025: Research Development Staff can review drafts before submission
  • January 21, 2025, by 11:59 p.m.: Application deadline
  • Mid-February 2025: Proposal review
  • Early March 2025: Faculty applicants notified of the funding decision
  • July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026:  Project period; projects cannot begin until after July 1

Request for Proposals (RFP) and Template Document

Unit Head Approval Form (Fillable PDF)

Guidelines

Eligibility

Eligible Principal Investigators (PIs): Eligible PIs include all tenure-track faculty. Career research faculty with the classification of research associate, research professor, research scientist, research engineer, principal research scientist, librarian, or professor of practice (with primary duties in research) are welcome to apply, given they have at least 0.50+ FTE appointments during the academic year of the research award.   

Ineligible PIs:  

  • Faculty who received a Faculty Research Award within the past three award cycles 
  • Emeritus, retired, courtesy, visiting, instructor, and pro-tem faculty and postdoctoral scholars 
  • Recipients of any competitive award from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation who have not submitted a final report for their prior award(s)  

Faculty are only permitted to serve as the PI or Co-PI on one application per cycle. Applicants may serve as collaborators or team members on additional proposals.

Budget & Use of Funds

Amount: The Faculty Research Award provides up to $10,000 in support.

Length of Project: The project period begins July 1 and may not exceed 12 months.

Allowable Costs: Funds may be used for costs necessary to plan the research project (consistent with university and state rules) including:

  • Personnel
  • Travel
  • Equipment
  • Supplies
  • Contractual services
  • Core/shared user facility fees: Note that OVPRI funds will be transferred directly to the core facility, while funds for all other costs will be transferred to a faculty-managed departmental index for the award.
  • Salary for non-tenure track faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and/or technical personnel conducting proposed research
  • PI stipend during the summer months: The FRA provides $7,000 for two consecutive summer months of research and writing. Please note that stipends are processed through payroll and are subject to Other Payroll Expenses (OPE). The recipient’s unit must calculate the expected OPE and reduce the stipend award accordingly. The maximum request for a summer stipend is $7,000.
    • If you would like funds in addition to the full summer stipend, you may request up to an additional $3,000, with preference given to applicants who use this to support opportunities for student engagement in research. 

Unallowable Costs:

  • Replacing or funding tenure-line faculty salary during the academic year
  • Instructional release/course buyouts
  • Construction or facility renovation
  • Curriculum development or career development
  • Dissertation research costs

Application Components

Application: Applications must be submitted using the online submission form.

Application Form (online):

  • Basic information is to be provided in the form’s text boxes. (Note that the form cannot be saved part way through.) 

Proposal Documents: (single-spaced text, Times New Roman font in 11-point or larger, and 1” margins, use templates in RFP). 

  1. Proposal Narrative (3-page limit)
  2. References Cited (no page limit)
  3. Curriculum Vitae (2-page limit)
  4. Budget Justification (no page limit)
  5. Unit Head Approval Form: Provide a scanned copy or e-signature confirming your unit head approves of the proposed application, including the budget. 

Submission Instructions: Complete all components of the application and combine them into a single PDF in the order listed above, with each component on its own page. Save with the naming convention [Contact PI Last Name]_FY 25 Faculty Research Award.

  1. Fill out the basic information in the online application form.
  2. Upload the complete PDF. NOTE: If the Unit Head Approval Form has a digital/ e-signature, the PDF cannot be combined with the rest of the application, but rather must be uploaded separately (combining erases the digital signature).
  3. Submit the form.
  4. Each PI may complete the demographic survey described below (optional).

Optional Demographic Survey (online): The OVPRI is committed to creating an environment that fosters sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. The application form includes a section to disclose demographic information aimed at assessing the success of our activities towards this goal. Response to these questions is entirely optional and is not considered in award decisions. This information will not be seen by the review committee, but rather used by OVPRI leadership to ensure our internal granting programs are inclusive and equitable and serve diverse populations at UO. We welcome the submission of this information from all PIs on the project.

Review Process & Criteria

RDS will conduct an initial review to ensure that proposals comply with all guidelines. The UO Faculty Senate-appointed Faculty Research Awards Committee will conduct a peer review to evaluate the grant proposals and recommend proposals for funding to the Vice President for Research and Innovation, who makes the final funding decisions. Applicants are informed of whether they are selected or not for the award. Reviewer feedback will be provided to all applicants.

Criteria: See the review sheet as used by the review committee when scoring proposals.

  • Significance and Contribution (weighted at 30%): Is the project intellectually significant? What value does it offer to the faculty member’s disciplinary field and/or general audiences? If it is interdisciplinary, how does it contribute across fields?  
  • Concepts and Methods (weighted at 30%): Is the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project clearly articulated? Will the proposed methods answer the questions driving the research or enable the successful completion of creative work?
  • Work Plan/Budget Justification (weighted at 10%): Is the work plan and timeline feasible, appropriate, and supported by a well-justified budget?
  • Competencies, Skills, Access, and Support/CV (weighted at 15%): Is the applicant well-qualified to carry out the proposed work and have the means to do so if funded?
  • Final Product(s) and Dissemination (weighted at 15%): What is the likelihood of achieving the project's final product(s)? How strong is the dissemination plan for its intended audience(s)?

Reporting

A final report is required and due to Research Development Services no later than one month (30 days) after the conclusion of funding. RDS will supply awardees with a link to the final report form in the last quarter of their project.

Previous Award Recipients

2024 Awards:

  • Carlos Aguirre, Department of History, “Latin American Writers and the Cuban Revolution, 1959-1975”
  • Nancy Cheng, Department of Architecture, “Structuring Timber Circularity: building from scraps”
  • Diego Mauricio Cortes, School of Communication and Journalism, “Christian Fundamentalist and Indigenous Modernization in the Andes”
  • Anca Cristea, Department of Economics, “Organized Labor When Things Go South: Unions and the Labor Market Consequences of NAFTA”
  • Lance Gabrielsen, Department of Management, “Renewable Energy Deployment: For Climate Action or Financial Motivations?"
  • Brian Hsu, Department of Music Performance, “Franz Liszt Années de pèlerinage complete recording”
  • Leigh Johnson, Departments of Geography and Environmental Studies, “Digging in the Drylands: Labor and landform in nature-based solutions”
  • Abigail Lee, Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, “Vexed Spaces: Asianness and Blackness in Contemporary Cultural Production”
  • David Liebowitz, Department of Education Studies, “Who Are the Students Schools Frequently Suspend?”
  • Susanna Lim, Department of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, “Racing the Subempire: Race, Developmentalism, and Global Modernity in South Korean Culture”
  • Michelle McKinley, School of Law, “Bound Biographies: Transoceanic Itineraries and the Afro-Iberian Diaspora in the Americas, 1550-1750”
  • Danielle Mericle, UO Libraries’ Special Collections & University Archives, “To Heal a River, a photographic project to document the restoration of the Klamath River”
  • Judith Raiskin, Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, “Outliers and Outlaws: The Documentary Film”
  • Eleonora Redaelli, School of Planning, Public Policy and Management, “Invisible Cultural Policy in America: How Public Administration Shapes Culture”
  • Stephen Shoemaker, Department of Religious Studies, “Muhammad and the Beginnings of Islam: A Critical History”

2023 Awards:

  • Erin Beck, associate professor, Department of Pollical Science, “Ni Una Menos: Violence against Women and Access to Justice in Guatemala”
  • Lauren Cycyck, associate professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, “Maternal Input to Spanish-Exposed Toddlers With and Without Early Language Delay”
  • Stephen Dueppen, associate professor, Department of Anthropology, “Political Economies in Bambuk from the Ghana Empire to the Black Death Pandemic: Chronometric Analyses of Diouboye, Senegal”
  • Jean Kjellstrand, assistant professor, Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, “Parental Incarceration: Disseminating Information about Current Research and Potential Solutions to Support Incarcerated Parents and their Children”
  • Torsten Kjellstrand, Career Non-Tenure Track Faculty, School of Journalism and Communication, “Black Soil: A Documentary Look at Three Black Farm Families in the Bootheel of Missouri”
  • Colin Koopman, professor, Department of Philosophy, “Data Equals”
  • Ernesto Javier Martínez, associate professor, Department Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, “La Serenata (Feature Film)”
  • Katelyn McDonough, assistant professor, Department of Anthropology, “Archaeological Investigations of Indigenous Lifeways and Ecology during the Ice Age in Oregon”
  • Isabel Millán, assistant professor, Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, “‘Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls’: Queer Feminist Politics in Jacinta Bunnell’s Coloring Books”
  • Lanie Millar, associate professor, Department of Romance Studies, “Mário Pinto de Andrade: From Lusophone Negritude to African Nationalism”
  • Laura Pulido, professor, Department Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, “Monumental Denial: U.S. Cultural Memory and White Innocence”
  • James Schombert, professor, Department of Physics, “The Dark Matter-Baryon Connection”
  • Daniel Gómez Steinhart, associate professor, Department of Cinema Studies, “Cross-Border Hollywood: Production Politics and Practices in Mexico”
  • David Sutherland, associate professor, Department of Earth Sciences, “What lies beneath? Probing the subsurface environment of proglacial lakes”
  • Julie Weise, associate professor, Department of History, “Guest Worker: A History of Ideas, 1919-75”

2022 Awards:

  • Michael Aronson, associate professor, Department of Cinema Studies, “Klan Mouse: The Birth of a Nation Redux and White Cultural Nationalism in the 1920s Pacific Northwest”
  • Maram Epstein, professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, “Women’s Novels as an Affective Archive in Late Imperial China”
  • Abigail Fine, assistant professor, Department of Academic Music, “Sacred Traces: Composers, Relics, and Art-Religion in Practice.”
  • Lynn Fujiwara, associate professor, Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, “Queering Asian American Feminisms: The Sexual Politics of Representation in Resistance”
  • Andrew Lovering, professor, Department of Human Physiology, “Is SCUBA Diving-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension Related to Blood Flow Through Patent Foramen Ovale and Inflammation?”
  • Solmaz Mohammadezadeh Kive, assistant professor, Department of Interior Architecture, “Before Islamic Art”
  • Danny Pimentel, assistant professor, School of Journalism and Communication, “Vanport AR”
  • Xiaobo Su, professor, Department of Geography, “Unhomely Life: Modernity, Mobilities, and the Making of Home in China”
  • Kate Thornhill, associate librarian, Digital Scholarship Services, “Digital Stewardship on the Oregon Coast: Curation and Preservation Capacities and Infrastructures at Small Cultural Heritage Organizations”
  • Ilana Umansky, associate professor, Department of Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership, “A 50-State Review of Policies for Identifying Indigenous Students as English Learner Students”

2021 Awards:

  • Emily Beck, Assistant Research Professor, Data Science, “Threespine Stickleback Fish: A New Model for Mitochondrial Diseases”
  • Annelise Heinz, Assistant Professor, History, “Book project: Collective: How Lesbian Feminists Reimagined Society”
  • Maile Hutterer, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, “Architecture in the Medieval Imagination—Chapter 2, ‘Place’”
  • Masami Kawai, Assistant Professor, Cinema. Studies, “Feature Film: Valley of the Tall Grasses”
  • Wonkak Kim, Assistant Professor, Music, “Creating New Medium through Intercultural Collaboration: Performances, commercial CD, and videography, featuring original compositions for clarinet and chamber ensemble of Western and Korean traditional instruments”
  • Leah Lowthorp, Assistant Professor, “Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and National/Global Heritage in Kerala, India”
  • Drew Nobile, Assistant Professor, Music, “Voicing Form in Rock and Pop, 1991–2020”
  • Johanna Richlin, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, “Fear, Hope, and Potentiality: An Ethnographic Study of Vaccine Hesitancy in the Time of Covid-19”
  • Kory Russel, Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Studies Program, “Water and Sanitation Services in Homeless Encampments for Improved Environmental and Public Health Outcomes: A Pilot”
  • Yvette Saavedra, Assistant Professor, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, “Living La Mala Vida/Living the Bad Life: Transgressive Femininities, Morality, and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century California, 1800-1850”
  • Lawrence Sugiyama, Professor, Anthropology, “Traditional Ecological Knowledge Transmission among Foragers of the Gran Chaco”
  • Courtney Thorsson, Associate Professor, English, “The Sisterhood: Black Women's Literary Organizing”

2020 Awards:

  • Shankha Chakraborty, professor, Department of Economics, “Women, Work and the Family: The Curious Case of India's Female Labor Force Participation”
  • Tara Fickle, assistant professor, Department of English, “Behind Aiiieeeee!: A New History of Asian American Literature”
  • Scott Fitzpatrick, professor, Department of Anthropology, “On the Shoals of Giants: Archaeological Investigation of Threatened Prehistoric Sites in the Southern Caribbean”
  • Akiko Hatakeyama, assistant professor, School of Music and Design, “Original Compositions of Electroacoustic Music by Akiko Hatakeyama (CD release)”
  • Gina Herrmann, associate professor, Department of Romance Languages, “Rivesaltes: The French Concentration Camps and the Laboratory of 20th Century Internment”
  • Jina Kim, assistant professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, “Amplifying Voices: Auditory Texts in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945”
  • Patricia Lambert, professor, Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management, “Arts Education and Cultural Engagement for Creative Aging”
  • Henry Luan, assistant professor, Department of Geography, “How does socioeconomic inequality impact opioid overdose deaths in the U.S.?: A multi-scale Bayesian spatiotemporal modeling approach”
  • Audrey Lucero, associate professor, Department of Education Studies, “Crossing Borders: The Perspectives of Transnational Students in Oregon High Schools”
  • Kiersten Muechinger, associate professor, Department of Product Design, “Framing “Natural” Materials through Product Color and Finish”
  • James Muruthi, assistant professor, Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, “Secondary Data Analysis of Health-related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in Older Oregonian Caregivers: Gender Differences and the Impact of Social Support”
  • Hajo Neis, associate professor, Department of Architecture, “THE SUGAR IN THE MILK - A Refugee Pattern Language RPL Draft”
  • Jennifer O’Neal, assistant professor, Department of Indigenous, Race and Ethnic Studies, “Beyond the Trail of Broken Treaties: International Indigenous Activism, 1972-1980”
  • Dorothee Ostmeier, professor, Department of German and Scandinavian, “Singularity in Fiction and Virtual Technologies"
  • Jennifer Presto, associate professor, Department of Comparative Literature, "Adjacent Ecologies: Russian-American Artists in the Pacific Northwest"
  • Alan Rempel, professor, Department of Earth Sciences, “Experimental Validation of Premelting Controls on Subglacial Temperatures”
  • Stephen Rodgers, professor, School of Music and Dance, “The Songs of Clara Schumann”
  • Geovanna Rodriguez, assistant professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, “School climate and mental health outcomes in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)”
  • Hudson Sessions, assistant professor, Department of Management, “Motivated to Misjudge the Money: A Study of the Financial Perceptions and Outcomes of Ride-Share Drivers”
  • Samantha Shune, assistant professor, Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences, “Validation of the CARES questionnaire: Screening for dysphagia-related caregiver burden”
  • Matt Streisfeld, Department of Biology/Institute of Ecology and Evolution, “Modern genomic solutions to an old problem: the role of natural selection and genetic drift in adaptation”
  • Frances White, professor, Department of Anthropology, “Do Bonobos share more: does social and sexual intimacy mean more shared microbiomes?”
  • Juan Eduardo Wolf, associate professor, School of Music and Dance, “An Ethnographic Study of Afro-descendant Music-Dance Performance in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico”