The deadline for the 2008–09
DTI program has passed and awards have been made (see fy09 funded proposals). If you have questions regarding DTC programs, please contact Chris Dillon, DTC Assistant Director, at 612-625-4104 or cdillon@dtc.umn.edu
Description:
The Digital Technology Center is seeking proposals from
University of Minnesota faculty members for projects in the following areas
of digital technology:
- Artificial intelligence, distributed robotics, and vision
- Bioinformatics and computational biology
- Computer-human interactions
- Databases and data mining
- Digital design
- Graphics and visualization
- Storage architectures
- Networks and security
- Systems recognition and verification
- Wireless communications and signal processing
Proposals should promote and foster establishing and
enhancing communications and collaboration between University of Minnesota
researchers and industry through either multidisciplinary research in
digital technology or educating students and post-doctoral associates for
high-technology industries. This year, all proposals are required to include
some level of industrial participation. Preference will be given to
proposals that enhance these missions through either direct and substantial
industrial collaborations (i.e., contributions of either direct or in-kind
funding or staff time) or multidisciplinary collaborations with industry
that present strong opportunities for external funding.
The upper limit for support for research projects in digital technology is
$60,000 per project with priority given to those that involve substantial
industrial contributions. For projects without substantial industrial
collaboration, priority will be given to requests of $30,000 or less.
Grants can be used to support graduate students, research associates,
travel to facilitate collaborations, workshops related to the project,
equipment, and up to one-half month of faculty summer salary.
Funding for most projects or events will be available immediately upon
award. It is anticipated that awards through this program will total
$300,000. This year's DTI program requires all funded to proposals to
include some level of industrial participation.
Funds will be available through June 30, 2009.
These DTC funded grants will be made internally within the University. No
indirect costs will be charged on the amounts awarded. Funds not be spent
by June 30, 2009 will be returned to the DTC.
This is the fifth year of the Digital Technology Initiative awards program.
Grants made last year are listed at
http://www.dtc.umn.edu/programs/funded08.shtml. Twenty-seven proposals
were received. Of the twenty-seven proposals, nine were funded for a total
of $307,551.
The DTC will be hosting a workshop featuring status reports on previously
award DTI grants on February 12, 2008. Those interested in applying for
the current round of awards may be interested in attending this workshop
to learn more about the projects that received funding in the second round.
The schedule for the workshop will be made available at the end of
January.
Eligibility:
All proposals must be led by a University of Minnesota faculty member. Each
University of Minnesota faculty member is limited to submitting one proposal
as principal investigator. There is no limit to the number of proposals a
University of Minnesota faculty can be co-investigator on. Members of
industry may serve as co-principal investigators.
Proposal submission and deadline:
Proposals can be submitted as either pdf or word documents to Michael
Olesen (olesen@dtc.umn.edu). The deadline for submissions is Monday,
March 31, 2008. Each proposal should contain the following:
- Name of Principal Investigator, their department, and contact
information (i.e., campus address, phone number, and email address)
- Names of Other Investigator(s), their department(s), and contact
information
- Title of project
- Brief abstract (300 word limit)
- Description of project or event (2 page limit)
- Budget and budget justification (2 page limit)
- Current curriculum vitae (2 page limit)
- Aletter of support from the industrial partner(s). Letter should contain
specifics regarding the nature and level of the industrial support
The length limits will be strictly enforced.
Because these grants will be made internally within the University, no
indirect costs will be charged and proposals will not need to be submitted
through Sponsored Project Administration (SPA) (i.e., a PRF does not need
to be completed for these proposals.)
Review procedures:
Proposals will be peer reviewed by a panel appointed by the DTC Director
The review panel will include two or three University of Minnesota faculty
members and one member of industry who have not submitted or are not an
co-investigator on a DTI proposal in this round. Proposals will be reviewed
on the basis of the quality of proposed project, the impact of the proposed
project in promoting the DTC's mission, whether the project involves
industrial collaboration, the reasonableness of the budget, and the extent
to which the project involves interdisciplinary research or presents strong
opportunities for external funding, industrial collaboration, or
multidisciplinary projects in the future. Proposals requesting one-half
month of faculty summer salary should specifically address why summer
support is required for the project. This year's DTI program requires
all funded to proposals to include some level of industrial
participation.
Funding notification:
Funding notification will be made by May 7, 2008.
The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons
shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without
regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital
status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual
orientation.
