Find support for your research, creative or scholarly activities, or high quality
projects not likely to receive external funding.
Are you eligible?
Only tenured or tenure-track faculty members (i.e., assistant professor, associate
professor, professor, distinguished professor) are eligible for awards.
Eligibility: Have you previously received a grant?
If so, please note the following rules and conditions:
Faculty members will not be funded for more than one project per academic year.
A minimum of one year is required between completion of projects and the application
date for new submissions.
The one year minimum between projects is defined as 1) closing out the previous faculty research grant budget and 2) submitting a final report. The grant is considered closed on the date the last
item was completed (budget closed or final report submitted).
Before you submit your faculty research grant application, please note the following
dates (as the committee cannot make an exception to this rule):
If you are submitting an application for the February 1st due date: Your previous faculty research grant budget has to have been closed out and a final
report submitted before January 31, 2026 for SP2027 applications.
If you are submitting an application for the October 1st due date: Your previous faculty research grant budget has to have been closed out, and a final
report submitted beforeSeptember 30, 2025 for FA2026 applications.
Please note that the same project can not be funded by another internal grant source.
In addition, a faculty member cannot submit an application for a faculty research
grant and a summer faculty fellowship during the same academic year.
Faculty accepting awards must be returning to the university the following year.
If there is a termination of future employment, the grant will be immediately terminated
and no additional expenditures will be approved.
If you have previously received a faculty research grant and have questions about
your eligibility to submit a new grant application, please contact the Graduate College.
This restriction applies to all authors of a multiple-authored proposal.
Research grants for those who are eligible
How and when to apply
Application deadlines:
The spring deadline for submission of proposals is February 1st.
The fall deadline for submission of proposals is October 1st.
Note: If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, applications will be accepted
the following working/business day.
To apply:
Limit your proposal to the space allotted or page limit noted in the Faculty Research
Grant application form that you will download from the Faculty Research Grant Brightspace Community.
Submit your vitae as an attachment (combined with application and all other materials
- do not upload as separate attachment). Limit it to no more than 5 pages (12 point
font, 1 inch margin) with emphasis on recent activity that support the proposal.
Upload references as an attachment to the application (combined with application and
all other materials - do not upload as a separate attachment).
Once you have completed all components of the application, convert all attachments
and combine into one PDF (Word documents or JPG/PNG files must be converted to PDF).
All questions/fields are required and incomplete applications will not be reviewed by the committee. If a question/field is "not applicable" please mark
as "N/A".
Specific instructions for preparing proposals for consideration for faculty research
grants are available below.
Find out the details for completing, submitting, tracking and fulfilling grant requests.
A final, written report must be submitted to the Graduate College within 30 days of
project completion. There is no specific format for the final report. An example
of a final report is on the Faculty Grants Brightspace Community.
A short overview explaining what was accomplished during the period of the grant is
sufficient.
Failure to submit such a report will disqualify applicants from obtaining future faculty
grant funding.
Grant requests must not exceed $7,500.
Faculty grant proposals may request funding for:
Personnel which may include student help, graduate assistants* and services not found
at Missouri State University. However, faculty supplemental pay is not provided in
faculty research grants.
Equipment.
Travel to gather data or research for the project is allowable. However, travel to
meetings for presentations of research results and publication costs will not be funded.
Supplies.
Services.
And various other costs.
The rationale for all budget requests must be provided and supported by appropriate
justification.
*Faculty research grant proposals that include requests for graduate assistants must
make sure the graduate assistant stipend for the period that the GA will assist with
the research is covered in full. This includes costs for both the stipend and the
tuition-fee waiver (TFW). You may request from the Dean of your College to use one
of the allocated TFW's that your College is granted each year. The commitment for
the TFW must be in writing and attached to the application.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to track and make sure that their faculty
research grant application is reviewed by both the academic unit leader (department
head/director) and dean and is approved and submitted through Dynamic Forms-Faculty Research Grants Signature Form prior to application deadlines.
Failure to obtain all signatures and submit by the deadline will result in the application
being rejected/denied. Late applications will not be considered.
Proposals failing to comply with the guidelines will not be considered by the committee.
All funded projects must be completed within one (1) year of award.
Grant proposals are evaluated by the Faculty Grants Committee with this committee
making funding recommendations to the Dean of the Graduate College.
Grant applicants should be aware that:
Gaining funding is a competitive process since more proposals are received and more
dollars are requested than the funds available.
Selection is based on the quality of the proposal.
Priority is given to new faculty, to faculty who have not received previous funding,
and projects that include student involvement.
These awards should act as seed funds to better position the investigator to apply
for external grant funding.
Applicants are encouraged to attend grant-writing workshops that are offered by the
Office of Research Administration.
Respect for the peer review process and a collegial attitude toward the work of the
committee are integral parts of the success of the Missouri State University internal
grant award system.
Expenditure of funds can begin as soon as grant accounts are established by Financial
Services. All expenditures are approved by the Operations Administrator, in the Graduate
College.
Please note that:
Funds will not be used to reimburse an individual who has already spent or obligated
money for a project prior to receiving written notification from the Graduate College
of the grant award and budget accounting process.
No expenditure of funds can be made unless proper institutional authorization has
been received by the Graduate College (i.e., IRB, Animal Care).
The maximum amount that can be given to each participant, in each FRG, is $100. The participant cannot donate the incentive payment to a charity.
MSU employees (staff, faculty, non-student part-time and graduate assistants) may
receive an email advising that the amount given to them for being a participant is
taxable income. Please note the following:
Infrequent non-cashawards and gifts of nominalvalue given to employees are not reported as taxable compensation.
Cash and/or gift certificates (includes gift cards) are always reported as taxable
to the employee on Form W‐2 or 1042‐S, regardless of the value.
Gifts may only exceed $100.00 if given as a campus-wide program or if appropriate
approval is received
Prizes, awards, and gifts given to non‐employees are generally considered reportable
as taxable income if cumulative gifts in a calendar year equal or exceed $600.00.
The University will file a Form 1099‐MISC or 1042‐S to report the gifts when the value
of cash and the fair market value of non-cash awards to individuals total $600.00
or more in a calendar year.
The Faculty member awarded the Faculty Research Grant is responsible to advise the
participants of these guidelines as they are rules established by the IRS.
Grants which result in materials which may be patented or copyrighted or which otherwise
have commercial value are subject to the University policies and procedures with regard
to intellectual property.
Projects/investigators funded under these programs are subject to the Missouri State
University policies/guidelines for integrity in research, financial interest disclosure,
human subjects review, animal care and use procedures, biosafety, export control,
intellectual property, and use of space.
Expenditures will not be allowed until proper approval is obtained.
