The Department of Education (Department) is issuing a notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2023 for the Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities (TCCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) Research and Development Infrastructure Grant Program (RDI) grant program.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Education
State: All States
County: All County
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/02/2023
Size of the Grant: $5,000,000
Grant Duration: 48 months
Details:
The RDI grant program is designed to provide four-year HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs including Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and/or Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), or consortia led by an eligible institution of higher education (institution), with funds to implement transformational investments in research infrastructure, including research productivity, faculty expertise, graduate programs, physical infrastructure, human capital development, and partnerships leading to increases in external funding.
For HBCUs and MSIs, the RDI grant program will support institutions in increasing their level of research activity in alignment with the Carnegie Classification designations. Grant funds can be utilized by HBCU and MSI institutions with a Doctoral and Professional Universities (D/PU) classification to move toward the Doctoral Universities with High Research Activity (R2) classification, and by Doctoral Universities with High Research Activity (R2) to move toward a classification of Doctoral Universities with Very High Research Activity (R1). For TCCUs, which have their own Carnegie Classification designation and cannot be classified as R1, R2, or D/PU, this program seeks to support an increase in research activities, undergraduate research opportunities, faculty development, research development, and infrastructure, including physical infrastructure and human capital development
Priorities
This notice contains three absolute priorities and one competitive preference priority.
Absolute Priorities
These priorities are:
- Absolute Priority 1—Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ Research and Development Infrastructure.
- Absolute Priority 2—Funding for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities’ Research and Development Infrastructure
- Absolute Priority 3—Funding for Minority-Serving Institutions’ Research and Development Infrastructure.
Competitive Preference Priority
- Within this absolute priority, they give competitive preference to applications that address the following priority.
- The priority is: MSI Pell Grant Percentage (0 or 2 points).
- Lead applicants whose Pell Grant recipients account for 50 percent or higher of their undergraduate student enrollment, as measured by the Department using the most recent data available in the Integrated
Funding Information
- Estimated Available Funds: $49,500,000.
- Applicants under Absolute Priority 1 or Absolute Priority 3: $5,000,000 for a 48-month project period.
- Applicants under Absolute Priority 2: $2,000,000 for a 48-month project period.
Uses of fund
- Providing for the improvement of infrastructure existing on the date of the grant award, including deferred maintenance, or the establishment of new physical infrastructure, including instructional program spaces, laboratories, or research facilities relating to the fields of science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, health, agriculture, education, medicine, law, and other disciplines.
- Hiring and retaining faculty, students, research-related staff, or other personnel, including research personnel skilled in operating, using, or applying technology, equipment, or devices used to conduct or support research.
- Supporting research internships and fellowships for students, including undergraduate (Absolute Priority 2 for TCCUs only), graduate, and postdoctoral positions, which may include providing direct student financial assistance to such students.
- Creating new, or expanding existing, academic positions, including internships, fellowships, and postdoctoral positions, in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.
- Creating and supporting inter- and intra-institutional research centers (including formal and informal communities of practice) in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program, including hiring staff, purchasing supplies and equipment, and funding travel to relevant conferences and seminars to support the work of such centers.
- Building new institutional support structures and departments that help faculty learn about, and increase faculty and student access to, Federal research and development grant funds and non Federal academic research grants.
- Building data and collaboration infrastructure so that early findings and research can be securely shared to facilitate peer review and other appropriate collaboration.
- Providing programs of study and courses in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.
- Paying operating and administrative expenses for, and coordinating project partnerships with members of, a consortium as described in this notice on behalf of which the eligible institution has received a grant under this program. A grantee under this competition may not pay for expenses to R1 institutions that are members of the consortia.
- Installing or extending the life and usability of basic systems and components of campus facilities related to research, including high-speed broadband internet infrastructure sufficient to support digital and technology-based learning.
- Expanding, remodeling, renovating, or altering biomedical and behavioral research facilities existing on the date of the grant award that received support under section 404I of the Public Health Service Act.
- Acquiring and installing furniture, fixtures, and instructional research-related equipment and technology for academic instruction in campus facilities in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.
- Providing increased funding to programs that support research and development at the eligible institution that are funded by National Institutes of Health, including the Path to Excellence and Innovation program with the National Institutes of Health.
- Faculty professional development.
- Planning purposes, for TCCUs applying under Absolute Priority 2 only.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants are four-year institutions of higher education (as defined in this notice) that are HBCUs (as defined in this notice), TCCUs (as defined in this notice), and MSIs (as defined in this notice). Eligible applicants may apply individually or as lead applicants of a consortium with other eligible applicants and/or other partners such as an institution of higher education with an R1 Carnegie Classification, community colleges, or non-profit, industry and philanthropic partners. The lead applicant must be an eligible applicant under the absolute priority under which it is applying.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
