PRIME at a glance

• Funding of up $20,000 per team for 1 year projects
• Projects must include student involvement (minimum of 2) working hands-on in the scholarly activity
• Multi-disciplinary focus
• Minimum of 1 quantifiable deliverable (publication or equivalent such as an art display, or substantive preliminary data set)
• Synopsis of project and achieved outcomes will be published on the PRIME website and other NMU marketing products
• Participation in the annual symposium
• Submission of a proposal to an external funding agency within 1 year of PRIME project completion

Benefits to NMU

• Increased collaboration among faculty/staff, which will facilitate larger-scale projects resulting in greater external funding potential.
• Additional opportunity for student involvement in scholarship projects, offering intensive, hands-on experience in their chosen discipline and related disciplines.
• Production of preliminary data with the potential to lead to substantial external funding and impactful, long-term projects. Extensive opportunity for marketability of NMU’s (1) highly qualified scholars, (2) advanced hands-on experience for students at all levels, and (3) insightfulness in embracing a cutting-edge approach to research in a competitive environment while providing a platform for fundraising and administration of interdisciplinary projects.

A novel internal funding mechanism called the Northern PRIME fund addresses challenges related to current funding trends by offering a) greater seed money for proposed projects with potentially impactful and high likelihood of success in external competitions and b) extensive opportunity for networking and cross-disciplinary collaboration that can facilitate tackling of substantive concepts.

Modelled after a highly successful effort at University of Michigan called MCubed, the PRIME fund is an example of cutting-edge efforts to ensure NMU investigators can compete for significant external funds. The key components of PRIME are:

• up to $20K for each one-year, multi-disciplinary project;
• A high-visibility scholarship symposium to celebrate multi-disciplinary projects; and
• An interactive website managed by the Grants and Contracts Office that publicizes PRIME projects, investigators and students, and facilitates networking and collaboration campus wide.

Teams of two or three faculty and/or staff, from different disciplines or professional areas, can request funding for up to $20,000. Each project will involve at least two students, must result in a minimum of one quantifiable deliverable (publication in a relevant and reputable journal or equivalent per such as an art display, or substantive preliminary dataset) and be used as leverage to develop substantial proposals to external funding agencies.

The Grants and Contracts Office will be facilitating the publicity, proposal submission and award management process. A review committee will review all submitted proposals, due by 8 a.m. 1 JUL 2015. Award announcements will be made no later than 1 SEP 2015, with the expectation that project start date(s) will be no later than 1 NOV 2015.

See associated Northern PRIME guidelines for information regarding submission.

See FAQs for more information.