The University of Washington Innovation Awards - Research: Biomedical

Background

For more than 150 years the University of Washington has been a place where the imagination thrives. New discoveries are made every day in laboratories and classrooms across campus, where faculty, staff and students work together to tackle some of the most intractable problems we face. Many of the challenges confronting us today in areas such as climate, health care and education require fundamental discovery-based research and education that is novel in its approach and has the ability to break open new territory in a field. The University of Washington Innovation Awards will fuel innovative research and education that address problems of humanity.

The Innovation Awards will encourage, nurture, bring together, and celebrate creative thinkers in our midst. A second purpose of the Innovation Awards is to increase public awareness of academic innovation. We hope that the efforts seeded by this program will stimulate philanthropic support of additional innovation awards.

Award Opportunities

There are two categories of awards; each seeded through existing gift funds — including the President’s Fund for Emerging Priorities:

Innovation Research Awards (FY15)

Supports unusually creative early and mid-career faculty in health, natural, social and engineering sciences. The goal is to foster high-payoff work that promises to be transformational but for which other funding sources are limited.

• one award in biomedical sciences (up to $250K for each of two years)
• one award in the social sciences (up to $100K for each of two years)

Innovation Education Awards (FY15)

Fosters new levels of student engagement and understanding, especially through active learning. The goal is to encourage teaching innovations that are novel in approach, result in better student learning outcomes, can scale for broader impact, and add to the field of evidence-based teaching and learning.

• one award (up to $100K for each of two years)

Award Criteria

Innovation Research award criteria: highly innovative, potentially transformational research proposals. Preference will be given to Assistant and Associate Professors. Research Faculty are eligible to apply.

Innovation Education award criteria: educational proposals that show novelty of approach, efficacy on student learning, scalability or transferability for broader impact, and contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning. Full-time faculty members or teams with two years university teaching experience are eligible to apply.

Application Submission Process

Email the following materials as a single PDF to:research@uw.edu

• Project Summary (1 page maximum)

  Abstract

  Provide an executive summary of this project, including overall goal, methodology and significance for a well-educated lay audience. Indicate which of the innovation awards you are applying for.

  Unique Aspects

  Describe unique or distinctive aspects of this project. How will the project break open new territory in your field? How will it lay the foundation for a solution to a real world problem?

  Principal Investigator

  Provide a brief description of expertise.

• Project Description (3 page maximum)

  Overview

  Provide an overview of this field and the need for this project.

  Relevant Efforts

  Describe past and current efforts that are relevant to this project.

  Goals and Methodology

  State the major goals of this project and summarize the methodologies and time frame to be used in achieving them.

  Impact

  Describe the potential impacts of achieving these goals. How will results, resources, or best practices be disseminated?

• Three-page CV citing up to 10 most relevant publications and list of active grants
• One-page description of how your research accomplishments and/ or personal characteristics provide evidence of innovation or creativity.
• One-page budget that includes the following budget categories: salaries and wages; benefits; materials and supplies; equipment; travel; contractual services; other services. Indirect costs will not be charged on these awards.
• One-page budget justification
• A letter of Support from department chair

Finalists Invited for In-Person Interview with Selection Committee

• Innovation research awards selection committee
• Will include UW members of the National Academies
• Organized and run by Office of Research; chaired by Carrie Harwood, Associate Vice Provost and member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Judy Howard will co-chair Social Sciences awards committee
• Innovation education awards selection committee
• Will include UW Distinguished Teacher awardees, representatives of the Faculty Council on Teaching & Learning, and one or more directors of tri-campus centers for teaching and learning
• Organized and run by Office of Academic and Student Affairs; chaired by Jerry Baldasty, Senior Vice-Provost for Academic and Student Affairs.

Reporting Requirements

• Annual Report due one month after annual renewal date each year
• Final Report due one month after completion

FAQs

Can faculty members apply jointly for an award?

Yes, collaborative projects are encouraged.

How do you define a biomedical sciences project?

A project with clear relevance to human health.

Is a project that uses a model organism(s) as an experimental model appropriate?

Yes.

Is a clinical research project eligible for an award?

Yes, but preference will be given to a project that includes both basic and clinical components.

Can innovation award funds be used to support faculty salary?

Yes.

Can lecturers apply for an innovation award?

Yes.

Do the funds awarded need to be spent in two years?

No, the award can be spread over three years.

How do you define a “recently promoted” Associate Professor?

An Associate Professors who has been in rank no more than five years.

Does my application need to be routed through the Office of Sponsored Programs?

No, your proposal should be submitted directly to the Office of Research:research@uw.edu

Can the award go to extend an existing grant-funded project?

No.

Can the education award fund an approach that isn’t novel but is new to the applicant?

No.

Is the education award intended for an innovation that already has a track record or innovations that are still on the drawing board?

Both, as long as the track record is that of the applicant and the project takes the innovation to the next level.

Can the education award include a novel adaptation of an existing approach?

Yes. Novelty in a project may include achieving learning goals in new ways, using new modes, translating the advantages of one mode to another mode, applying an existing practice in a new way or to a new context, pushing the edge of scholarship on teaching and learning, or shifting the way a subject is taught.

In the Project Summary and Project Description for the education award, does “break open new territory in your field” and “provide an overview of this field” refer to the applicant’s discipline or to the field of education?

The field of education, including discipline-based education research. Applications may cite education research or theories of learning, human development, evidence-based pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment. Reference to common teaching practice will not be enough to show grounding in the field.

For the education award, can I use technology tools not widely available at the UW?

Yes, but preference will be given to projects that use either existing UW tools or tools that could easily be made available to all faculty without great expense.