MSU Center for Water Sciences

Infrastructure Support Grant Program

CWS supports laboratory infrastructure to meet its mission of advancing scientific research and knowledge for understanding, protecting, and restoring water resources and their sustainable use by humans and ecosystems around the Great Lakes and the world. The purpose of the Infrastructure Support program is to build capacity on campus and provide services to the MSU community and the state of Michigan.

Eligibility Requirements
Type of Award
Submission & Review Process
Due Date
Review Criteria
Agreement for Funding
Program Contact

Click for a copy of this RFP and the proposal application: pdf / Word

Eligibility Requirements

  1. One or more of the investigators must have faculty membership status in the CWS. (Faculty members are those listed as interdisciplinary collaborators by CWS; please see cws.msu.edu for more information.);
  2. PI’s lab offers fee-for-service analyses to CWS faculty, MSU, and outside community;
  3. Lab is on list of CWS laboratories (see cws.msu.edu for more information); and
  4. PI provides price list for CWS to post on the Center website.
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Type of Award

CWS offers up to $60,000 in infrastructure support funds for a 2-year period to support technician salaries and benefits. This competition is designed to support technicians in a laboratory; equipment expenses are not eligible. CWS requires at least a 50-50 match for technician salaries and benefits from the PI. This must result in full-time support for a technician for 2 years. These funds are not eligible for support of graduate students. They are intended to develop sustainable technical infrastructure within CWS and MSU. CWS expects to award up to two infrastructure support grant during this 2007 funding cycle.

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Submission and Review Process

Proposals should be submitted electronically using the form provided by CWS to Erin Dreelin (dreelin@msu.edu). Proposals should be written for a general scientific audience. Proposals will be distributed to reviewers suggested by the CWS Advisory Committee and/or CWS faculty for review. Proposals will be reviewed based on criteria below and recommendations for support or no support will be submitted to the co-directors, who will decide upon funding. 

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Due Date

Proposals are due February 1, 2007.

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Review Criteria

All funding applications should support the mission of CWS. In addition, CWS will use the following criteria to review proposals:

  1. Plans and ability of the laboratory to support CWS projects.
  2. Faculty expertise to guide the quality of the lab work.
  3. Possibility of external grants that the PI and collaborators will generate as a result of increasing lab capacity.
  4. Likelihood of sustaining long-term support for the technician through intramural and extramural contracts and grants.
  5. Relation to priority research areas of CWS, which include:
    • antibiotics in water and development of microbial resistance;
    • viral pathogens and waterborne disease;
    • effects of stressors with global origins (e.g., atmospheric nitrogen, mercury deposition and invasive species);
    • ecosystem services and human activities in lakes and their watersheds;
    • microbial biodiversity and biogeochemical processes in complex aquatic landscapes;
    • watershed influences on coastal ecosystems of large lakes;
    • algal toxins and water supply;
    • perfluorinated organic compounds; and
    • international programs investigating effects of climate, landscape, and cultural diversity on the coupling of human and ecological systems.
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Agreement for Funding

Faculty receiving funding will be expected to:

  • Submit a one-page annual report beginning 12 months after funding is awarded. Reports should include any/all publications, including abstracts presented at national and local meetings that are derived from the project.
  • Acknowledge CWS in all publications that result from work supported or partially supported with CWS resources such as: “This material is based upon work supported in part by the Center for Water Sciences at Michigan State University.”
  • Participate in Center activities, such as review committees, seminars, and workgroup meetings.
  • Provide a summary of project results to CWS to be posted on the Center web site
  • Agree to add data sets or information on new methods or techniques to CWS resource database
  • Provide price list for services to post on the CWS website.
  • Agree to provide services for CWS projects that would not exceed more than 25% of the total time for the technician (i.e. 50% of CWS’ portion of funding or the equivalent of 6 months).  This assignment can be negotiated with CWS Directors.
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Program Contact

For questions regarding this program, contact:

Dr. Erin A. Dreelin, Associate Director
Center for Water Sciences
301 Manly Miles Building
1405 S. Harrison Rd.
East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: 517-353-7746
Fax: 517-432-1699
Email: dreelin@msu.edu

 

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