Research Opportunities at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo

Extramural and Intramural Funding

The University of Hawai’i at Hilo has an Office of Research, directed by the Interim Vice Chancellor for

Research and Economic Development. This office seeks to help faculty with their research and

scholarly activities, and also seeks to foster hands-on student training through their participation with

faculty research projects.

Research funding is divided into two sources:

intramural and extramural

Extramural funding refers to all grants, contracts, etc. that support research from sources outside the

university. This can include federal agencies, private foundations, and state or

county agencies.

UH Hilo has its extramural research administered by the Research Administration and Program

Development (RAPD) office, which until 9/1/12 was part of the Research

Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH). It is now a division of the UHH

Research Office.

The Office of Research helps researchers both with pre-award (preparation and submission of

proposals) and post-award (processing of paperwork to

spend your money!) services.

UH Hilo has a staff to help investigators administer their

grants and contracts. They are located in PB-14, in the office that serves both as the Office of

Research and the Graduate Division for UH Hilo.

UH Hilo also has a Research Council. This is a group of

senior faculty representing the major academic units at the

university. The Council advises the administration about research

policies, and administers some intramural programs.

The Research Council is chaired by Dr. Ken Hon,

Professor of Geology.

At UH Hilo, research is a growth industry. While we concentrate

on our primary mission of undergraduate education, we also

are committed to scholarship.

Grant Activity at UH Hilo

External (extramural) grants come with two kinds of money

usually:• Direct funds – specified in the grant to

carry out the program activities (research and/or training).

• Indirect funds – A percentage of funds in addition to direct funds are provided by many sponsors to help the university administer research.

Intramural funds for research are supplied by UH Hilo, through its Research Council. Funds for these programs are budgeted by the administration from indirect

funds that have come from extramural grant activity.

The UH Hilo Research Council has established three major

intramural programs:

• Travel Awards

• Research Relations Fund

• Seed Money Grants

Travel Awards

Untenured TT faculty may be awarded only one travel award per

year; others are limited to one award every other year. These are designed to fund travel to conferences for the presentation of scholarly research or

creative activities, and have a maximum of $2200.

Travel awards are granted year-round, as different conferences meet

at different dates.

Research Relations Fund

This fund was established to provide small (less than $5000) competitive

grants to faculty in fields, such as the Humanities, where extramural funding is scarce or absent.

Applications for Research Relations Fund grants are due in early April, and awards are made once a year, with the grants good for one year.

Seed Money Grants

These competitive awards fund one year projects that are likely to lead to

extramural grant proposal submissions in the near future. The

maximum award is $15,000, but usually quite a bit less, with

applications due in early April.

“But I don’t have time/resources to do research”

• Grants can include assistants (students

or others) to help you with your work• Grants can often include “buyout” where some of

your salary is paid for by the grant, and thus teaching load is reduced. This requires prior approval of your department and Dean

• All tenure-track faculty at UH Hilo have 25% of their time devoted to research and service

For more information, see our web site:

http://hilo.hawaii.edu/research/

Or, go to the UHH home page, click on “Academics” and then click on

“Research Programs.”

Or contact me and I’ll try to help:

dbrown@hawaii.edu

Dan Brown933-2975PB-14-8

Research enhances teaching as well as scholarship!