Bridge Funding Program and Policy

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Beginning in January 2021, the Office of Research (OOR) is pleased to offer a Bridge Funding Program to support KSU faculty in maintaining crucial research projects/programs.

Bridge Funding provides short-term limited financial support to sustain an existing research project/program during a gap in external funding. The funds are to maintain that program at a minimal “essential” level of viability for a limited time, primarily to facilitate success in securing new external funding. Bridge funds are not intended to replace external funding or to support new seed projects.

For questions about the Bridge Funding Program, please contact Scott Nowak, Associate Vice President for Research (snowak@kennesaw.edu or 470-578-7777) 

Further details can be found in the following sections:

    • Any KSU PI who has received external research grant or contract funding for at least two consecutive years (not counting no-cost-extensions) for the same, or related, project(s) is eligible. Funding gaps associated with demonstration projects, or PI training programs, are not eligible for Bridge Funding from OOR.
    • Up to $30,000 (as the sum of OOR funds and matching College funds) can be requested to maintain a competitive project/program for a period of one year or less.

    • Obtaining Bridge funds will be competitive and not all applications will receive funding.

    • Funding decisions will depend on the availability of funds and are made at the discretion of the Associate Vice President for Research, in consultation with others.

    • Selection criteria include the project’s strategic importance to KSU’s mission, funding necessity to sustain the project until new external funding is secured, potential for securing future external funding, and the PI’s external funding record.

    • Requests should be limited to the minimal essential funding necessary to maintain the defined project/program over a duration of one year or less. Bridge funding is not meant to support the costs of either an entire research project or an entire research lab.

    • The PI is not eligible for bridge funding if his/her externally funded project had ended and the PI did not submit either a renewal application to the external agency or a new external application for continued project funding either before the grant expired or during the one year following that externally funded project’s expiration.

  • Bridge funds may be used to support the following types (non-exhaustive list) of expenses, if adequate justification is provided:

    • salary and benefits for research technical personnel (including postdocs, student assistants, technicians)
    • research supplies
    • minor research equipment (< $5,000)
    • testing/sample analysis fees
    • travel to research sites

    Bridge funds may not be used to support the following types (non-exhaustive list) of expenses:

    • faculty salaries during the academic year
    • graduate tuition or fees
    • travel to meetings or conference registration costs
    • major research equipment (≥ $5,000)
    • office equipment or computers
    • budget reductions from existing awards
    • cost overruns from previous awards
    Cost of Attendance
    • Bridge funding provided by this program needs to be equally financed by the PI’s College and the OOR.
    • If the PI receives external funding for the project/program during the bridge funding period, those bridge funds allocated by the OOR but unencumbered as of the new externally funded project’s start date shall be returned to the OOR.
  • The PI’s college (typically, its Assistant/Associate Dean of Research) will submit a Bridge Funding application on behalf of the PI to OOR and include letters of endorsement (see below) from both the department and college. The department and college letters will address the criteria of strategic importance and funding necessity.

    The application package should include the following materials and be submitted electronically for consideration by the Associate Vice President for Research, in consultation with others. Applications should be submitted ideally at least two months, but no later than one month, prior to when the funding is first needed to allow for review and processing time.

    Required materials from the PI:

    • description of the research project/program, and an explanation of its need for bridge funding (limit of 3 pages);
    • proposed duration, and detailed budget and budget justification for entire amount, of bridge funding;
    • what efforts are underway to secure external funding to sustain the project/program, including specific targets of external funding, agencies, and planned dates of submission;
    • PI’s brief biosketch (limit of 2 pages)
    • copy of external review panel summary statements and scores from previous funding applications related to the Bridge Funding request (if available)

    Required materials from the PI’s College:

    • A letter of endorsement from the Department Chair, including an assessment of the proposed budget’s appropriateness for bridge funding.
    • A letter from the College Dean endorsing the application.

    Completed applications should be sent via e-mail to snowak@kennesaw.edu with the Subject as Bridge Funding Program application. 

    • OOR will prepare an MOU for signature by the Dean.
    • A separate account will be set up and the agreed-upon funding by the OOR and the PI’s College will be transferred to this account for use by the project PI.
    • Allocated funds must be spent according to the approved budget. Any changes in usage must be approved in advance by OOR.
    • The PI agrees that the bridge funding is for a maximum period of 12 months (inclusive of any approved extension) only, and if the account has funds remaining after the period ends, those remaining funds allocated by the OOR will return to the OOR.
    • The college will be responsible for any overages posted to the account.
  • For questions about the Bridge Funding Program, please contact Scott Nowak, Associate Vice President for Research (snowak@kennesaw.edu) or 470-578-7777.

 

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