Competitive Applications Resubmission Incentive (CARI)
Purpose
The CARI program supports resubmissions of highly competitive external proposals with total direct costs of at least $100,000 that show significant potential for external funding, that require funding to address critical feedback, and that support the mission of departments, schools/college, and/or the University.
Deadlines
- Application deadline: Aligned with relevant external submission cycle and deadline
- Deadline to submit external proposal: Within one year of CARI award date
Eligibility
A “highly competitive external proposal” for the purposes of this program is a full proposal that was submitted to an external funding agency and received high ratings from the funding agency (i.e., primarily “very goods” and “excellents” from NSF-type proposals and an estimated score of 35 and lower in NIH-type proposals).
CARI support is available once per project; resubmissions to the CARI program for the same project are not allowed.
All applicants (i.e., PIs and Co-PIs) must have met all requirements for any previous internal award in compliance with University and ORP guidelines/policies related to routing and compliance (including but not limited to submitting all final reports and external submissions as outlined in the internal award guidelines). For the PI and co-PIs who are previous recipients of the CARI, these requirements include the resubmission of the external proposal for which CARI funding was received.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply, including minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and protected veterans. Applicants with disabilities desiring accommodations in the application process should contact the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access at (618) 650-2333.
Award Description
Maximum funding will be $6,000 per application and will be provided for a maximum of one year. The following line items are allowable and must be fully justified in the budget justification: RA support; undergraduate student support; commodities, contractual services, equipment, and travel.
How to Apply
First, contact the Graduate School’s Office of Research and Projects at [email protected] to confirm eligibility.
Eligible applicants submit their application materials in Kuali Build.
Application Inclusions
To obtain the funding agency’s perspective on the reviewer comments and priorities for changes, applicants must contact the funding agency (e.g., program officer) prior to submitting a CARI proposal in Kuali Build.
The following information is required to be included in the Kuali Build application. Failure to comply with page limits will result in the application being denied.
- Narrative (Max 5 pages) Ensure your narrative addresses the following.
- What are the proposed activities and how do they address the program officer's and review panel's comments and concerns to improve the likelihood of funding upon resubmission?
- If the activities do not address all the comments, how will those comments be addressed?
- Timeline with major milestones, including the resubmission
- Agency Correspondence Include emails or a summary (with dates) of all communication with the funding agency's program officer regarding the original proposal and opinion regarding competitiveness of a resubmittal.
- Original Review Comments from Agency
- Budget and Budget Justification The following line items are allowable and must be fully justified in the budget justification: RA support; undergraduate student support; commodities, contractual services, equipment, and travel.
Terms and Conditions
All awarded budget line items must be expended as outlined in the award letter. Any unspent funds will be forfeited. The resubmission of the revised proposal to the funding agency is required.
These terms and conditions must be met by all awarded CARI PIs and Co-PIs before they can be eligible for any future funding from the Graduate School.
Review Process and Criteria
Applications will be reviewed by the Graduate School; ad hoc reviewers may be used. The following criteria will be used:
- type and level of external reviewer scores, reviewer comments and agency program officer feedback
- how well the proposal addresses the external agency feedback and improves the likelihood of funding upon resubmission
- feasibility of the scope and timeline of the CARI project plan
- appropriateness of the budget to address critical feedback.
A written response to the internal review will be considered only when an applicant believes that the review missed important points that would impact the final decision.
Program Contacts
Direct questions concerning eligibility, final report, and resubmission requirements to [email protected].
Direct questions concerning awarded funds transfers and financial reports to [email protected].
