Proposal Support

For faculty pursuing research funding, the ERO offers a variety of support and services to help reduce the administrative burden of Principal Investigators. The ERO team will work directly with the PI and research team to develop and refine submissions to be responsive and competitive.

Here are a few ways our team can support your research initiatives:

• Search and Identify research funding opportunities
• Facilitate the formation of a research team - identify internal and external partners
• Develop a proposal schedule and manage development tasks
• Review of required proposal sections (e.g. Executive Summary, Management Plan, Data Management Plan, Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan, Biosketches, etc.)
• Draft and coordinate letters (e.g., VPRI, Department Chairs, Dean, industry)
• Coordinate graphics support with AVPR’s office
• Coordinate external review with AVPR’s office
• Ensure the budget aligns with project goals/tasks
• Review proposal against sponsor merit evaluation criteria
•  Interface with Sponsored Projects staff to ensure on-time review and submittal of proposal documents to the Sponsor

Please contact the ERO to discuss any of these services or inquire about additional support during the proposal development period.

Technical editing assistance is available to all faculty in the College of Engineering for proposals, pre-proposals, letters of intent, and other written submissions related to funding. This service includes line-by-line editing and proofreading technical narrative, reviewing against solicitation guidelines, editing support letters, facilities descriptions, etc., and identifying resources for proposal narrative sections.

For help with the structure and content of your proposal—ensuring that your argument is logical and that your proposal answers the solicitation and is presented as strongly as possible—contact the editor at least two months before your intended submission date. A draft is not necessary at this point, but contact must be made to ensure space on the editor's schedule.

For help polishing your proposal — proofreading for copy errors and word choice, and shortening if needed — contact the editor at least one month before your intended submission date. Again, you do not need a draft this far in advance, but contact must be made to ensure space on the editor's schedule.

At times, you may need additional assistance in developing needed graphics to include within the proposal narrative or appendices. The AVPR’s office contracts with a graphic designer to provide this assistance and may be able to partially assist with those costs (up to a predetermined limit). Please contact the ERO should you need additional information regarding graphics support for proposals, reports and/or presentations.

The Engineering Research Office can help facilitate getting your proposal reviewed by an external consulting firm with extensive expertise via services offered by the AVPR’s office. For more information, please contact the ERO or access more information directly through the AVPR’s office.