[CCoE Notice] Large Equipment Grants Program

[Hutchinson, Inez A]

Dear Colleagues,


As many of you know, the DOR has recently assembled five working groups to identify equipment for new Campus Core facilities, with a budget of around 20 million dollars. The goal is to enhance the capabilities and productivity of research-active faculty. Our Committee is the (life sciences-leaning) Scanning, Imaging, and Analytical Instruments Core group; we are looking for large-equipment (or, newly, thematic core) proposals (for large amounts, $400kish+) from motivated researchers that will enhance research productivity on campus.

We are hoping to promote the formation of groups of researchers interested in a single large instrument or coherent core that an individual department or college might be unable to afford, and the cost is greater than existing internal funding mechanisms (e.g., the
Best Regards,
Inez Hutchinson
Communications Manager
Cullen College of Engineering
Engineering Building 2, Suite E311
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4007
(713) 743-7593<tel:(713)%20743-7593> – iajackso at central.uh.edu<mailto:iajackso at central.uh.edu>



Large Equipment Grants Program, which provides up to $250K with the possibility of matching funds from colleges and/or departments). We have recently learned that an alternative approach to a single large instrument would be to propose several related smaller pieces of equipment that would be grouped together to constitute an entirely new Core Facility.  Our Committee would like to see like-minded researchers get together to write these proposals, so if you know of others who are interested in the same equipment that you are, please communicate with them as soon as possible.


The best way for these ideas to prosper is for a community of interested people to make a short solid pitch (3-5 pages) for the equipment/core they want, and send that pitch to us so that we provide compelling recommendations to the University for purchase.


Not every pitch is going to be a winner, but we hope yours will be. We have developed a short list of items that we think will make a compelling case for your dream-equipment core proposal. Your proposal doesn’t need to be very long (A 4-5 page proposal is perfect), but it does need to make a reasonably strong case.


Structure of a Strong Pitch


Overview

A short introduction to the equipment or core

Abstract covering key points you want to make

The Need for On-Campus Equipment

Are there examples of equipment at surrounding institutes that are currently used?

It is critical to explain why equipment from surrounding institutes doesn’t address the need for on-campus equipment. What are the problems, barriers, and critical gaps (aging, logistics, costs, accessibility, capabilities) this equipment or core will fill?

Faculty Users, Their Research Programs, and Impact

It is critical to provide a list of at least 5 like-minded active faculty researchers at UH, preferably from multiple colleges, who can explain why the equipment is important to them. The list of users should include their name, area of research / discipline, and a highly-justifiable estimate of their anticipated use. If you can get a letter or paragraph that can be included in an appendix, that’s even better

Anticipated impact on collaborations, and how this will improve funding and research outcomes

Equipment Specifics

Description

Specific make and model of each instrument. Why this one? Please be very specific.

A description of capabilities.

Costs associated with the instrument(s)

Installation requirements

Purchase costs

Operating & maintenance costs

Staffing requirements

Suggested location

If you have an idea where the instrument could/should go, please provide this information


We will collect your pitches into a report that will go up the chain, and be critically evaluated by people above our pay grade. We will need the pitches in some rough form by January 3rd, and they should be in pretty good shape by January 7th for them to have the best chance. We know this is a very tight timeline – we didn't set the schedule.


Appendix 1: A strong case will need (in addition to the information above) a large number of prospective users stating their rationale for wanting it in several sentences each, and giving realistic (defensible under questions) estimates of their likely levels of use.   External users won't hurt, but seem unlikely to be a main focus.


Appendix 2:

If possible, a financial projection into the future


Here are some things we’ve heard people express interest in so far:


TEM as the centerpiece of the new imaging core facility (also for advanced materials)

Auger/XPS/UPS as part of the materials analysis core facility (also for advanced materials)

Solid-State NMR as part of the NMR core facility (also for advanced materials)

High-field NMR for metabolomics and structural biology

Small-animal MRI Scanner as the centerpiece of a new animal imaging core facility

Liquid helium recapture system to augment cryogenic research (also for advanced materials)

timsTOF SCP Mass Spectrometer for single-cell quantitative proteomics, structural proteomics, and interactomics as part of the mass spectrometry core facility

Super-Resolution Microscopy for biological and materials analysis

Multispectral Imaging System for multiplex biological and materials imaging

Single-cell imaging flow cytometer (Luminex) for mammalian cells

Preparative HPLC with Mass detection system

Flow cytometry apparatus intended for use with for non-mammalian cells

Long-read DNA sequencing

Two-Photon microscopy for biological and materials research

Multi-instrument Rheometry Core



Best regards,



Richard Willson, willson at uh.edu<mailto:willson at uh.edu>

Randy Lee, TRLee at uh.edu<mailto:TRLee at uh.edu>

Jason Eriksen, jeriksen at central.uh.edu<mailto:jeriksen at central.uh.edu>




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