Research Excellence Advancement Program

Dear Colleagues:

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development is pleased to announce the establishment of the Research Excellence Advancement Program (REAP).   REAP is designed to complement the OVPRED's recent establishment of the Office of Research Advancement.

Moreover, REAP is a direct result of the Realizing UB 2020 planning process and will provide mechanisms to catalyze innovation and creativity at UB.  Realizing UB 2020 also provides a unique framework for further expansion of UB's existing collaborative activities.

Today, we are pleased to announce two upcoming REAP funding opportunities. The first, the Innovative Micro-Programs Accelerating Collaboration in Themes (IMPACT), is designed as an interdisciplinary seed funding program that will encourage collaboration throughout the institution.  The second, Celebrating Arts, Creativity, Humanities and Engagement in Themes (CACHET), will be designed to support innovative initiatives that bring distinction to UB in the Arts and Humanities.   Brief descriptions of each program are provided below:

    *Innovative Micro-Programs Accelerating Collaboration in Themes (IMPACT)

One of the overarching concepts in Realizing UB2020 is to bring together researchers to work across the theme areas of Humanity, Justice, Innovation, Environment and/or Health. The IMPACT program is focused on funding innovative interdisciplinary projects where the goal is to develop preliminary data that can support external grant applications and directly demonstrate outcomes in these themes. IMPACT seeks to support exciting projects in areas of creative activities and scholarship not adequately addressed at UB and/or that foster new or unique collaborations. Projects of one-year duration or less can request up to $35,000. A call for proposals will be issued on December 16, 2013 with awards anticipated to be announced March 17, 2014.

    *Celebrating Arts, Creativity, Humanities and Engagement in Themes (CACHET)

CACHET aims to encourage new and distinctive work in many forms and is designed to support initiatives that engage new audiences through projects that impact UB, Western New York, or communities outside our region. This program will fund creative and innovative activities that go beyond traditional scholarly models in the application of knowledge and art created at UB. Over the coming months, a Faculty Steering Committee will be convened to develop recommendations on review criteria to be used in selecting projects for funding. Based on these recommendations, the OVPRED will release a call for proposals in March, 2014 for the distribution of up to $50,000 in awards.

These programs are designed to fuel new research, scholarship and creative activities of our faculty community. More details on these programs will be included with the call for proposals.

Sincerely yours,

Alexander N. Cartwright
Vice President for Research and Economic Development