Resources
Virginia Tech provides resources to help faculty, staff, and students identify, pursue, and win sponsored research awards. Through these resources, researchers can develop and explore new ideas through seed funding, prepare proposals for an identified opportunity, and execute research through unique shared research facilities.
Cost Sharing is a financial commitment by Virginia Tech to share in the funding of a sponsored activity. The university will make a cost-sharing commitment only when required by the sponsor or by the competitive nature of the award and only to the extent necessary to meet the specific requirements of the sponsored project. University funds are limited and unnecessarily large cost share requests reduce funds available for other proposals and limit the impact of the university’s programs.
Research and development are the foundation of technology development and commercialization. Sponsors increasingly look to researchers to ensure the impact of their discoveries. Partner with LICENSE: The Center for Tech Commercialization, to make a plan for commercializing the results of your research.
The integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) is a transformational cross-Commonwealth collaboration that leverages the latest advances in data science to accelerate innovation in health-related research and facilitate team science. Partners within iTHRIV include Carilion Clinic, Inova Health System, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech, and affiliates such as the Center for Open Science and the University of Virginia’s Licensing and Ventures Group.
iTHRIV is an National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award Program Hub and offers Virginia Tech faculty:
- The iTHRIV Research Concierge Portal provides a single online entry point to essential clinical and translational research resources and information
- The iTHRIV Scholars Program is a mentored, career development award over a two-year period
- A variety of pilot and seed grants to advance research
The University Libraries provides research support services for faculty at every stage of the research lifecycle including data management planning, systematic reviews, meta analyses, publishing, and research impact services.
Limited Submission funding opportunities refer to projects for which the sponsor has requested that an institution only submit a limited number of proposals, typically one. The sponsors expect the university to internally select their best proposal and ensure that it is the only one submitted.
When identified, opportunities with limited submission requirements are placed into the limited submission calendar, and plans for internal competitions, as necessary, are developed.
If a researcher is interested in an opportunity that is believed to be a limited submission, but has not been placed on the internal calendar, connect with Janet Webster and the Office of Sponsored Program's Pre-Award unit to have it incorporated into the limited submission calendar.
Several organizations across Virginia Tech offer seed funding opportunities for faculty to develop preliminary data, plans, or other necessary steps to prepare to pursue external funding. For up-to-date information on seed funding, please visit the organizations’ website:
Departments, colleges, and institutes across campus house specialized facilities, laboratories, instrumentation, and other capabilities that are accessible to Virginia Tech researchers. These resources are typically available for use on a cost reimbursable basis. Training for tool usage and data analysis are frequently available.
Virginia Tech Faculty Activity Support Team
The Virginia Tech Faculty Activity Support Team (VT-FAST) is a virtual team of Virginia Tech faculty and staff who support researchers in all aspects of proposal development with the goal to facilitate proposal submission, allowing faculty to focus on the research plan. VT-FAST supports ranges from single-investigator proposals to larger, more complex proposals involving teams with external partners, in both pre-award and post-award activities.
Proposal Development Institute
The Proposal Development Institute provides a variety of experiences that collectively enhance the ability of Virginia Tech tenure-track faculty and research assistant professors to successfully pursue externally funded grants and contracts to support their research and scholarly activities.
Contact
For questions related to the Faculty Research Incentive Plan (FRIP) program, please contact Lynn Byrd, Senior Human Resources Manager, at byrd@vt.edu
or 540-231-8233.
Submitting forms:
If you are using the printable version of the forms, submit them to your dean or department head for signatures. If you are using the digital version of the forms, submit them to ovpr-hr@vt.edu when all signatures have been obtained.
Form Downloads
Intention to Participate in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan form
Certification of Salary Recovery form
Faculty members are encouraged to support academic year research programs through sponsored projects. Faculty on regular appointments who are principal or co-principal investigators and whose base salaries are supported by E&G funds may receive an incentive for doing so. The research incentive payment is a one-time annual supplement to the recipient’s regular annual compensation.
Faculty members on regular appointments who are principal or co-principal investigators and whose base salaries are supported by E&G funds may qualify and may be approved for an annual one-time research incentive payment. Faculty members with primary appointments in a research institute are not expected to participate.
The faculty member qualifies for a salary payment when (a) more than 10% of the faculty member’s E&G-funded salary has been charged to a competitively awarded sponsored grant or contract during the prior fiscal year, and (b) when the faculty member’s assignments have not changed. Salary recovered due to a teaching buy-out or relief from service or other assignments is not included in the FRIP.
Departments with existing salary recovery plans will work with the Office of Research and Innovation to integrate the existing plan with the FRIP.
Research incentive payments must be approved by the department head or chair, the dean, and the provost (or the appropriate administrators based on reporting structure); all disapprovals must also be reviewed by each management level.
The research incentive payment is a one-time annual supplement to the recipient’s regular annual compensation. It is not included in the retirement base salary. The incentive payment is subject to the applicable federal and state taxes and FICA withholdings. The incentive payment does not affect a recipient’s eligibility for merit or other salary increases. Sponsored research funds cannot be used for research incentive payments; only university funds may be used for this payment. Participation is for the full fiscal year and not eligible for partial fiscal year engagement.
The FRIP will be evaluated annually to determine whether to renew, modify, or discontinue the plan.
Questions? See contact information at the bottom of this page.
A faculty member must indicate his/her participation in the FRIP during the first two months of the fiscal year by completing the Intention to Participate in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan form and submitting it to the appropriate department head/chair or director by the deadline established on the Intention to Participate in the Faculty Research Incentive Plan form.
Departmental administrators will prepare documentation of the recovered salary savings and initiation of the salary recovery payment within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year using a standard form.
PIs and Co-PIs are responsible for timely salary charges to their eligible grants and contracts. Charges posted later than 90 days after the end of the fiscal year will not be considered. Likewise, all salary charges considered in the calculation of the incentive payment must have been previously certified through the PARS process.
Only externally funded, competitively awarded grants and contracts qualify for this compensation program. Noncompetitive grants and contracts (e.g., earmarks) do not qualify for the program. The Vice President for Research and Innovation has the final authority to determine which grants or contracts are eligible for inclusion in the program.
The amount of salary support recovered from the grant or contract should match faculty effort. Salary recovery charges to an external grant or contract may not exceed actual effort expended.
Under no circumstances are salary recovery payments charged directly to an extramural grant or included in the faculty member’s academic base salary that is represented in the proposal. The research incentive payments are paid from released E&G salary savings when faculty effort has been charged to the grant.
- The faculty member must fund 10% of the AY salary on competitively awarded grants and/or contracts to be eligible for the FRIP.
- The faculty member may fund additional AY research time/effort on grants and/or contracts, thus releasing E&G salary that had been supporting unfunded research time/effort.
- The research incentive payment equals 50% of the E&G salary recovered based on the percentage of salary funded on grants/contracts above the 10%. Recovered E&G salary that is associated with a reduction in responsibilities (e.g., teaching, administrative service) is excluded from the research incentive calculation.
- The department/college retains the 10% salary recovered, along with 50% of the additional salary recovered.
- AY faculty members may fund additional research time/effort on grants and contracts during the summer, following current university rules and regulations.
- A faculty member on a CY appointment who has all or part of the CY salary funded by E&G funds may also participate in the FRIP.
- A faculty member whose Terms of Faculty Offer requires a percentage of base salary to be funded by external research grants/contracts as an expectation of the appointment is not eligible for a research incentive payment for this portion of the recovered E&G salary. (This expectation is usually associated with faculty members who are appointed to university institutes and centers.)
- The faculty member must fund 10% of the CY salary on competitively awarded grants and/or contracts to be eligible for the FRIP.
- The faculty member may fund additional CY research time/effort on grants and/or contracts, thus releasing E&G salary that had been supporting unfunded research time/effort.
- The research incentive payment equals 50% of the E&G salary recovered based on the percentage of salary funded on grants/contracts above the 10%. Recovered E&G salary that is associated with a reduction in responsibilities (e.g., teaching, administrative service) is excluded from the research incentive calculation.
- The department/college retains the 10% salary recovered, along with 50% of the additional salary recovered.
- A faculty member on an RCY appointment, whether it is a 10-, 11-, or 12-month research extended appointment, must be in compliance with Policy 6200 to participate in the FRIP.
- The faculty member must fund the required percentages associated with the conversion (i.e., 10-month = 11%, 11-month = 22%, 12-month = 33%) and distribute the funding to remain in contract compliance.
- The faculty member must fund an additional 10% beyond the conversion percentage to be eligible for the FRIP.
- The faculty member on an RCY appointment can participate only to the extent that E&G funds are recovered.
- The research incentive payment equals 50% of the E&G salary recovered based on the percentage of salary funded on grants/contracts above the 10%. Recovered E&G salary that is associated with a reduction in responsibilities (e.g., teaching, administrative service) is excluded from the research incentive calculation.
- The department/college retains the 10% salary recovered, along with 50% of the additional salary recovered.
The Office of Research and Innovation has identified sponsor-specific resources to assist Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students in their pursuit of funding research projects.