Junior Faculty Opportunity Award

In summer 2014, the College of Public Health implemented a new program to support junior faculty in developing their research. All assistant professors and tenure-track associate professors without tenure are eligible. All applicants are required to have a primary appointment in the College of Public Health. The goal of the program is to promote junior faculty success.

The Junior Faculty Opportunity Award is a flexible and expedient way of facilitating the research agenda of junior faculty within the College. The Award will typically be for $5,000 or less. Faculty may apply for multiple or repeated awards over time not to exceed a total of $10,000. Requests that incorporate cost sharing by the home department, a center, or a senior faculty member, would be viewed as having the support of the senior faculty providing the cost sharing and would be a positive indication in the review. Two junior faculty members could apply for a joint project by each submitting an independent, but closely related application.

A non-exhaustive list of possible purposes for the awards:

  • Support for a short trip (such as one week) to visit a mentor elsewhere to collaborate with or advise the junior faculty member (and possibly financial support for a TA to substitute teach).
  • Support for short visits to the college (such as one week) for a mentor or collaborator from elsewhere who will collaborate with or advise the junior faculty member.
  • Support for a TA or adjunct to teach or assist with a course, or part of a course, taught by the junior faculty member, to release time for the junior faculty to complete a specific research project (proposal or manuscript for example).
  • A GRA for a semester to contribute to the research supervised by the junior faculty mentor.
  • Funds to purchase research reagents, supplies or pieces of equipment that are not currently available in the college and funds to support the use of University core facilities.
  • Travel support for junior faculty to attend workshops for current topics related to their research.
  • Support for junior faculty involved in community-based or community-based participatory research, such as staff or GRA assistance for partnership establishment or maintenance.
  • Support to pay a technical writer to help with a proposal or paper.
  • Support to help pay expenses to speak or attend a research conference or workshop.
  • Funds for a biostatistical consultant.

Even in the case of attending a conference, a plan should be provided for a research product (such as a paper or a grant proposal) the completion of which will be facilitated by attending the conference.

Requests will be evaluated by considering the likelihood that the project will help establish and/or develop the junior faculty member’s independent research agenda.

Requests can be submitted at any time. Requests will be scheduled for review on the first working day of each month, at which time a decision date will be provided to all applicants. The goal of the review committee is to provide timely and constructive reviews.

For answers to additional questions, contact your DEO.