FY22 Sponsored Postdoctoral Researchers

The Office of Research (OoR) invites proposals from tenured and tenure-track faculty to support postdoctoral researchers to work on research projects that should lead to external funding. Funds will be awarded to support salary and benefits for postdoctoral researchers for one year, potentially renewable for a second year upon successfully reaching project milestones, after which external funds are expected to support the postdoc.

• Instructions

  Proposals should be submitted by 11:59pm on Monday, March 8, 2021, as a single PDF file to sponprog2@kennesaw.edu, with the Subject as “Postdoctoral Researcher Awards 2021-2022.” And the proposal should include the following required information in the listed sequence/order:

  1. Funding request: Please indicate clearly if the request is for a postdoc with 0, or 1, or 2, years of experience, and also the percentage of time/effort to be funded (e.g., 100% or 50% or …). This request should be appropriate to the postdoc’s involvement and responsibilities on the proposed project.
  2. If the project PI had received financial support from the OoR for a postdoc within the past three (3) years, then provide a brief description of the extent (dollars, years) and outcomes (papers, grants, etc.) of that support.
  3. Brief narrative of the project on which the requested postdoc will work, including assurance that necessary resources beyond the postdoctoral salary to pursue the project are in place.
  4. Plan for pursuing external funding including timetable and proposed milestones. In general, it is expected that the PI will by the end of one year of support, have submitted a project grant proposal that if funded, will contain sufficient funds to fully support the postdoc and pursue the project. It is strongly encouraged that more than one proposal be planned and that the plan include pursuit of funding for the postdoc as an individual, e.g., an NIH F32, an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, or another postdoc funding source.
  5. A Postdoctoral Mentoring Plan, similar to what is required for NSF proposals that request funding to support postdoctoral researchers, must be included.
  6. If a candidate has been identified, then a CV or biosketch appropriate to the funding mechanisms to be pursued should be provided. Otherwise, a plan for recruiting the postdoc should be included.
  7. A biosketch in either NSF- or NIH-specified format for the proposing faculty member.
• Proposal Format

  Excluding the biosketch for the proposer, and (if applicable) the CV or biosketch for an identified postdoc candidate, the proposal should be no more than 5 pages in length, with 1” margins, single-spaced, and using 12-point font.

• Other Considerations

  Other salary arrangements will be considered, e.g., partial funding. In that event, timetables and milestones may be more flexible. For example, an investigator with an NIH R15 award that includes funding for a postdoc may request two years of 50% support from OoR with the other 50% coming from the grant.

  Similarly, teaching postdoc proposals are encouraged where appropriate to the work, the PI and the postdoc’s career development. Arrangements may be made wherein, e.g., the PI’s department or college provides partial salary in exchange for the postdoc taking on teaching duties. In no circumstance should the postdoc teach more than a 2:2 load.

• Evaluation Criteria
  Evaluation criteria: Well thought-out and articulated plans for the project, and for the postdoc’s development and eventual support by external funding, will be the key criteria in scoring these proposals.

Note: The OoR aims to cultivate a culture for postdocs and mentors at KSU, by providing appropriate events and support, which would make this university an attractive destination for top-notch postdoc candidates. Efforts to stage these events and provide these resources will be announced to the faculty mentors and postdocs at the appropriate time.

Questions should be directed to Bill Diong, Associate VP for Research; at (470) 578-5574 or bdiong@kennesaw.edu.