Instrumentation Grants

Murdock Charitable Trust funding intends to support scientific research in the form of major scientific instrumentation. Proposals must make the case for cutting-edge instrumentation that will support basic science endeavors led out of the natural sciences, medicine or engineering. Proposed instrumentation should support lab- or field-based work and allow scientists to ask questions or conduct research that existing instrumentation does not allow for, advancing science in significant and novel ways. While Murdock’s primary focus through this RFP is to support scientific discovery, proposals may also describe applied elements or impacts.

Proposals must support major instrumentation that benefits multiple users, preferably spanning two or more departments and optimally more than one school or college. Proposals should highlight four to five core faculty users as well as have in mind the potential for specific secondary users and user groups. An explicit plan for maintenance of instrumentation, including the funding of service contracts and potential upgrades throughout the usable life of the machine is required. As such, coordination on the proposal with a UW shared research facility and eventual placement of the equipment in that recharge center is preferred. An individual with the capacity to lead a proposal agrees to serve as the PI on behalf of the core user group; a co-PI may also be identified; the core user group agrees to provide content to support the proposal and participate in a half-day site visit. The PI must commit to the submission timeline as well as to timely reporting back to the Trust.

The instrumentation should be supported by the PI’s school/college, viewed as an institutional priority, and preferably be made available for use to UW investigators outside that school/college. Please note if users external to UW (e.g., from the local research community) are anticipated.

Proposals should be scoped at $900,000 for the instrumentation itself.

Application Instructions

Please submit items 1-5 below (including the LOI prompts below that) to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, February 25 combined in a PDF. Late applications will not be considered.

1.    Answers to the Murdock letter of inquiry prompts below in 3 pages or less.

2.    CV of applicant including grant funding.

3.    Letter from Dean confirming support for the application, including space and matching considerations.

4.    Matching plan: The proposal group must be able to come up with the minimum 1:1 institutional match on the instrumentation (~$450K in total matching funds). Matching funds typically comprise one-third from the institution(s) associated with the PI and co-investigator team (i.e., Seattle, Tacoma and/or Bothell campus), one-third from the associated school(s)/college(s), and one-third from the associated department(s) — approximately $150K each for the typical proposal. Other distributions are possible, though institution-level support is limited to one-third. Only proposals with documented matching commitments will be selected.

5.    An explicit plan for maintenance of the instrumentation throughout its usable life is required. Inclusion of a UW Shared Research Facility in this plan is preferred and should be documented with a letter of support from the Facility Director. To find a related shared research facility, please visit UW’s Shared Research Facility Directory or contact Adam Wojno (wojno@uw.edu), Assistant Vice Provost for Shared Research Facilities.

6.   If the equipment will be housed outside of an existing shared research facility, please include the location and appropriate approval (chair, dean, etc…).

Murdock letter of inquiry prompts (see item 1 above)

Principal Investigator: 

Co-principal Investigator (if applicable):

Project Description

Project Title: 

For Equipment Requests, Number of Users:

Anticipated Date of Application Submission:

Project Summary

Tell us about the project for which you are requesting Trust support:

Summary of Project Budget

Total Project Cost:

Amount Requested: 

Describe how Trust funds will be used, including the cost share:

Describe why this work/project cannot be completed using existing UW instrumentation:

Anything else we should know: