Frequently Asked Questions (FY2025 cohort)

The original idea for support for interdisciplinary research emerged from the FY21 Academic Affairs retreat discussions.  In the subsequent years, the program and accompanying objectives respond to the priority areas identified in Excellence by Design: Illinois State University’s Strategic Plan for 2024-2029 , specifically Strategic Direction III, Goal A: Increase the impact of our scholarly and creative productivity.

Illinois State has an opportunity to take bold steps to synergize interdisciplinary research, enhance competitiveness and potentially foster the emergence of areas of research excellence. The goals for the program are outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, but explicitly:

1. Create a mechanism that encourages researchers and scholars at Illinois State to self-organize around defined research themes that they identify. Ideally, these research themes will align with Illinois State faculty's research strengths and interests and indirect-generating external funding opportunities at major research sponsoring agencies such as NSF, NEH, NIH, DOE, USDA, and/or other national foundations, including corporate foundations.
2. Provide internal seed funding to support the research themes identified by faculty with the expectation that they will transition from dependence on internal support to external funding and become self-supporting.
3. Accelerate interdisciplinary research and creative activities at Illinois State. The ARCS program will support groups organized around interdisciplinary themes to solve the world's most complex problems.
4. Increase the competitiveness and innovation of research and creative activities at Illinois State through greater coordination, alignment, and strategic investments.
5. Develop a brand identity by amplifying the university's core strengths and expertise areas.

Similar programs at other institutions have taken a top-down approach in deciding topics to pursue. In this second award cycle, we have intentionally resisted pre-ordaining which teams and areas for projects/topics in favor of allowing faculty to self-identify through a grassroots approach. An analysis of the areas of research strength for ISU shows we have many areas of promise.

Given the scope and budget, it is anticipated that up to 4 awards will be made for each cohort in Track I. Track II is not yet determined, but will be based on the number and quality of submissions and available funds.

The expected outcomes are to create an improved infrastructure for interdisciplinary research and to have at least 1 team in each cohort of funding have become self-sustaining. Collaborative teams will form and should show acceleration in the quality and prestige of their work over what had been possible without the program. At least 12 significant proposals for external funding are expected. Secondary benefits will include increased cross-campus collaborations and professional development offerings in research and creative scholarship areas. Each of these should raise the excitement surrounding the excellent research happening at ISU.

The audience should be written to be understandable by the reviewers. Reviewers for the proposals will include interested administrators internal and external to ISU. Most will be non-experts, but disciplinary experts will be sought for reviewing to ensure technical competence.

Not at this time. In this second award cycle, we have intentionally resisted pre-ordaining which teams and areas for projects/topics in favor of allowing faculty to self-identify through a grassroots approach. An analysis of the areas of research strength for ISU shows we have many areas of promise.

The literature on interdisciplinary research shows that the definition can be broadly interpreted. Broadly defined, then, we define it as bringing together a team with a diversity of perspectives, experiences, expertise, and backgrounds to address a problem not sufficiently addressed by any one discipline alone.

The program is intended to last for several years. This is the second cohort. Currently, we anticipate at least 1 future cohort of Track I proposals.

The original conception of the program called for cohorts to be every 2 years to allow for the development and modifications of the fledgling program. This is the second cohort. A minimum of one future cohort for Track I is expected.

For cohort 2, Letters of Intent will be due January 13, 2025, and the deadline for full proposals will be March 17, 2025. Proposals will be reviewed in the 60 days following that and work may begin following the award. Tentatively, summer 2025 is the earliest for start of the work, with the intended start date of October 1, 2025.

Letters of Intent are a common feature of large, complex proposals for Federal agencies and the norm for many foundations, where full proposals are by invitation only. Many Federal agencies also use the Letter of Intent to gauge the interest in the competition and to assist with finding appropriate reviewers, if not as a vetting stage. For ARCS, the LOI stage will further allow for the collection of interest areas to share with the Research Coordinators on campus to help with future team creation.

No.  The LOI stage will allow us to gauge the interest in the competition and to assist with finding appropriate reviewers, if not as a vetting stage. For ARCS, the LOI stage will further allow for collection of interest areas to share with the Research Coordinators on campus to help with future team creation.

Reviewers for the proposals will include interested administrators internal and external to ISU, e.g. Chief Research Officers from comparator institutions. Most will be non-experts, but disciplinary experts will be sought for reviewing to ensure technical competence.

Minimal feedback will be provided on Letters of Intent during the current cycle. We expect to provide feedback on full proposals.

All expenses to be used for the program must be allowable under by general University and ISU Foundation policies. Additional stipulations:

1. Graduate and undergraduate student stipends and the associated fringe benefit costs. If appropriate, graduate students funded through this program will be eligible for scholarships or tuition waivers (but not both).
2. Research expenses, including fieldwork, data, laboratory analysis, archival search, travel, publication costs, equipment, supplies, and materials related to the proposed research and creative scholarship activity.
3. Strategic, well-rationalized course buyout (and associated fringe benefit costs) for team members.
4. Post-doctoral fellowship support.
5. Reasonable team meeting expenses.
6. Pilot sub-grants to support collaborative interdisciplinary work.

Yes, with appropriate approvals and within University and Foundation guidelines.

Yes, with appropriate approvals and within existing University and Foundation spending allowances.

No. Only individuals whose primary appointment is as a graduate/undergraduate student may be compensated to work on the project.

Allowed vendors may be paid. Otherwise, no.

Yes. A well-justified course buyout for the lead-PI is allowed as part of the proposal outside of the budget funds, but any other proposed course buyout must use budgeted funds. A letter of support from the Chair/Director/Supervisor must accompany such a request and the Chair/Director/Supervisor should be consulted to determine the appropriate cost.

Yes. It is reasonable that the areas of focus may shift over the length of the grant. In such a case, please include a letter of support from each Chair/Director of an individual requesting a buyout.

No.

Yes. The maximum request per any given year for Track I is $100,000 and $200,000 total, but lesser amounts can be requested. Track II proposals can be for a maximum of $7,500.

Yes, but the requests must be for allowable expenses and cannot duplicate requests.

Yes. Many major funding sources do no require matching funds (and some explicitly forbid them), but the funds may be leveraged for additional requests for support where appropriate/allowed/required.

The budget year has been chosen to align with the Federal fiscal year, October 1-September 30. For the first year, the budget year may exceed 12 months if an earlier start date is chosen, e.g. 01JUL25-30SEP26.

No. Only ISU tenured/tenure-track faculty may be the lead-PI.

Yes, but not as the lead-PI.

Yes, but not as the lead-PI.

No. The data on collaborative research do not show past performance in individually-funded work to be a good correlative indicator of success in collaborative research. A record of past success in collaborative work is beneficial, but not a requirement.

Yes, but they may only be the lead-PI for one proposal. Team composition and capacity is part of the calculus of review. If more than one proposal is funded, any issues in scope and contribution will need to be addressed before the work begins.

One goal of the program is to build on the core strengths that exist among our faculty and staff. Based on examination of inspirational and comparator programs, the team size of five was chosen to be smaller than many, but still large enough to make an impact.

Yes. The only limitation is on a minimum. We saw plenty of other example programs with larger team requirements but settled on 5 as the “required” size for track I to make sure the team was large and diverse enough to make an impact on a complicated project. There are no restrictions for Track II.

If the team for a track I proposal does not include five (5) full-time ISU employees, please include a supplemental one page plan of how the team intends to grow to that size during the scope of the work. It is assumed that individuals known by name would be included as part of the team in the proposal (with inclusion of ½ page bio, etc.) so expertise/department is an appropriate way to identify future needs.

Not at this time. Tenure-track hire requests/proposals must be made as part of the regular request process.

For track I proposals, a minimum of two (2) tenured/tenure-track faculty members must be identified and the minimum team must include three (3) members. If the team does not include five (5) full-time ISU employees, please include a supplemental one page plan of how the team intends to grow to that size during the scope of the work.

Track II proposals do not have such a minimum.

Yes. There is nothing that necessarily precludes the ability to form an interdisciplinary team from a single Department/School. It would be incumbent on the applicant to convince the reviewers on this aspect of the strength of the proposal.

A post-doc who is an ISU employee can count towards the core team.

Yes, but not as the lead-PI.

Although many are not full-time employees, ISU graduate students may be considered as part of the team of 5 ISU core members.

No

There are a number of mechanisms to find possible funding for projects. Many available to ISU can be found with the Funding area of the Research and Sponsored Programs website (https://research.illinoisstate.edu/funding/). Pivot-RP is a powerful tool that can be customized for the profiles of scholars.

Interdisciplinary proposals are welcomed in any area, as long as they represent areas of faculty strength and external funding programs exist in that area.  Although far from exhaustive and certainly not prescriptive, examples of current major funding emphases that align with demonstrated areas of ISU faculty strength include, inter alia, artificial intelligence (including impact, deployment, and ethics) with major opportunities from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense;  cybersecurity from many federal agencies in a variety of contexts, and the Department of Agriculture’s emphases on smart agriculture and advancing racial justice, equity, opportunity, and rural prosperity.

A non-exhaustive illustrative list as of 12DEC24 includes:

• National Science Foundation (NSF): NSF has a very informative website that lists 14 NSF-funded interdisciplinary research programs, including in topics such as cybersecurity and AI, as well as how to submit an unsolicited proposal for interdisciplinary research. https://new.nsf.gov/funding/learn/research-types/learn-about-interdisciplinary-research
• Department of Defense (DoD): The DoD Minerva Research Initiative brings together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars and supports interdisciplinary and cross-institutional projects to improve DoD's basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S. https://minerva.defense.gov/ 
• Department of Defense (DoD): The DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) Program involves teams of researchers investigating high priority topics and opportunities that intersect more than one traditional technical discipline. For many military problems this multidisciplinary approach serves to stimulate innovations, accelerate research progress and expedite transition of results into naval applications. A list of eligible topics is posted annually by the Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Army Research Laboratory. https://www.onr.navy.mil/education-outreach/sponsored-research/university-research-initiatives/muri; https://arl.devcom.army.mil/collaborate-with-us/opportunity/muri/
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): NEH launched a new agency-wide research initiative, Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, to support research projects that seek to understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. https://www.neh.gov/AI 
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): The NIH Common Fund is a funding entity within NIH that supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. These programs create a space where investigators and multiple NIH Institutes and Centers collaborate on innovative research expected to address high priority challenges for the NIH as a whole and make a broader impact in the scientific community. https://commonfund.nih.gov/
• Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H): ARPA-H provides research funding to build high-payoff capabilities or platforms to drive biomedical breakthroughs – ranging from the molecular to societal – that will provide transformative solutions for all individuals. Awards are made to multidisciplinary teams of performers. https://arpa-h.gov/research-and-funding/programs
• Department of Energy (DOE): Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) is a basic research program funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) that brings together creative, multidisciplinary, and multi-institutional teams of scientific researchers to address the toughest grand scientific challenges at the forefront of fundamental energy science research. https://science.osti.gov/bes/efrc
• USDA: The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Request for Application has crosscutting program area priorities that address two or more of the AFRI priority areas. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/agriculture-food-research-initiative/afri-crosscutting-programs

Teams are encouraged to explore the funding space and possible collaborations of interest to them before reaching such a conclusion. That said, the ARCS program is intended for teams that anticipate seeking significant funding. Track II may be more appropriate in the early stages. Additional programs with different intended outcomes are under development.

Team creation and building is one of the challenges of any collaborative project, let alone an interdisciplinary one. Letters of Intent will be shared with College Research Coordinators and programming and events will be hosted to bring people together.

Yes. A secondary benefit of the program will be to create a series of events and programs to help further the goals. Track II applicants will be specifically invited to participate in these events.

In the context of ARCS, we are using capacity building to mean taking team from where they are to where they need to be to be successful for future external funding support. Some teams will need to grow in size and capacity to work on complex interdisciplinary problems, others are refining the idea itself. And others.

No. The funding is capped at $100,000 per year maximum in the current call.

The budget year has been chosen to align with the Federal fiscal year, October 1-September 30. For the first year, the budget year may exceed 12 months if an earlier start date is chosen, e.g. 01AUG25-30SEP26.

Not at this time.

The program was modeled on aspects of many similar programs across the nation to promote interdisciplinary research from institutions of all sizes and the feedback from our ISU groups and chief research officers from institutions similar to ISU. Initial model programs included: Western Michigan, Lehigh, North Florida, Tennessee, Rutgers, Maryland, Oklahoma, Indiana, UCLA, Nebraska, Johns Hopkins.

It is common with Foundation funding and some federal agencies that the grantee agree to participate in progress report conferences or other presentations to present the outcomes of the grant. The spirit of the expectation is to have successful teams commit to sharing their progress with our ISU community and stakeholders. As an example, for the first cohort, our ARCS teams provided slides for inclusion in presentations to the Board of Trustees and were offered the opportunity to present to the community at the University Research Symposium.

For track I proposals, a minimum of two (2) tenured/tenure-track faculty members must be identified and the minimum team must include three (3) members at the outset. If the team does not include five (5) full-time ISU employees, please include a supplemental one page plan of how the team intends to grow to that size during the scope of the work. There is no specific due date, but a competitive proposal is likely to have a plan that addresses building a team that can meet the demand of the project by the end of the 2nd year at a minimum, but presumably sooner.

Please adhere to the two (2) page total page limit for the LOI.  Please be sure to include the lead PI and their contact information, but the list of keywords and other required information should assist in deciding on reviewers if your team is already so large.  The full team will still need to be included in the full proposal, with all of those limitations.

A non-exhaustive illustrative list as of 12DEC24 includes:

• National Science Foundation (NSF): NSF has a very informative website that lists 14 NSF-funded interdisciplinary research programs, including in topics such as cybersecurity and AI, as well as how to submit an unsolicited proposal for interdisciplinary research. https://new.nsf.gov/funding/learn/research-types/learn-about-interdisciplinary-research
• Department of Defense (DoD): The DoD Minerva Research Initiative brings together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars and supports interdisciplinary and cross-institutional projects to improve DoD's basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S. https://minerva.defense.gov/ 
• Department of Defense (DoD): The DoD Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) Program involves teams of researchers investigating high priority topics and opportunities that intersect more than one traditional technical discipline. For many military problems this multidisciplinary approach serves to stimulate innovations, accelerate research progress and expedite transition of results into naval applications. A list of eligible topics is posted annually by the Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Army Research Laboratory. https://www.onr.navy.mil/education-outreach/sponsored-research/university-research-initiatives/muri; https://arl.devcom.army.mil/collaborate-with-us/opportunity/muri/
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): NEH launched a new agency-wide research initiative, Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, to support research projects that seek to understand and address the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. https://www.neh.gov/AI 
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): The NIH Common Fund is a funding entity within NIH that supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. These programs create a space where investigators and multiple NIH Institutes and Centers collaborate on innovative research expected to address high priority challenges for the NIH as a whole and make a broader impact in the scientific community. https://commonfund.nih.gov/
• Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H): ARPA-H provides research funding to build high-payoff capabilities or platforms to drive biomedical breakthroughs – ranging from the molecular to societal – that will provide transformative solutions for all individuals. Awards are made to multidisciplinary teams of performers. https://arpa-h.gov/research-and-funding/programs
• Department of Energy (DOE): Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) is a basic research program funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) that brings together creative, multidisciplinary, and multi-institutional teams of scientific researchers to address the toughest grand scientific challenges at the forefront of fundamental energy science research. https://science.osti.gov/bes/efrc
• USDA: The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational and Applied Science Request for Application has crosscutting program area priorities that address two or more of the AFRI priority areas. https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/agriculture-food-research-initiative/afri-crosscutting-programs