Finding Funding

If you are looking to generate pilot data or to get proof of concept, you might consider an NIU Internal Competition such as the Research and Artistry or the Great Journeys Assistantships.

For external funding, these programs may be of particular interest to investigators:

• National Institutes of Health's New and Early Stage Investigator Grants
• National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development Program
• Department of Defense's Young Faculty Award
• Department of Energy's Early Career Research Program
• NASA's Early Career Faculty Grants

Different agencies list different criteria for who qualifies as a new investigator, so be sure to check that you meet the criteria.

Some research projects involve an especially high degree of innovation and novelty, making it difficult to judge their potential impact through more traditional mechanisms. Projects in this category may lack preliminary data establishing feasibility, but simultaneously have the potential to create conceptual or technological breakthroughs. Although foundation funding does exist for such projects, it is likely to be most helpful to start your search by using grants.gov.

Particular programs to look for:

• NSF Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER): Information on the NSF EAGER program is available in the most recent Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG). See Part I (Proposal Preparation and Submission Guidelines), Chapter II (Proposal Preparation Instructions), Section F (Other Types of Proposals).
• NIH R21 mechanism

Specific programs to consider are listed below. At least some of these funding opportunities limit the number of proposals that may be submitted. See the ORD Limited Submission Funding Opportunities webpage for information on applying to limited funding programs.

• Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) - provides funds for equipment acquisition for research projects in areas that will benefit national defense.
• NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI) - provides funding for either acquisition or development of equipment too costly for funding through other NSF programs.
• NSF Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1 Program (Mid-scale RI-1) - supports the design and implementation of research infrastructure, the cost of which exceeds the MRI program funding cap but is under $20 million.
• NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) - provides funds for resource development and acquisition through various funding announcements.

The Small Business Innovation Research SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs provide federal agency funding to support partnership between small businesses and institutions of higher education to develop and commercialize technology. Unique to the STTR mechanism, the small business must partner with research institutions but will retain the rights to the technology they develop and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.
Resources for SBIR/STTR opportunities:

• SBIR/STTR website

Contact the Office of Innovation for additional support to collaborate with industry partners.

The Division of Research and Innovation Partnerships has invested in SPIN, a robust grants search engine that will allow you to do your own searches whenever it is convenient for you. Moreover, you can save key search terms and SPIN will automatically search grant announcements for you and send the results to your email.

Log-In Information

Current NIU faculty, staff, and students can log in to SPIN with your NIU enterprise credentials. The best way to access SPIN is to log in to InfoEd using your NIU credentials and then click “SPIN” from the navigation menu. For assistance or troubleshooting, send an email to erahelp@niu.edu.

Conduct a Basic Search

• Click on the Search button at the top of the page.
• From the dropdown menu, select Basic Search.
• Enter your keywords, click Locate Funding, and review your results.
  • Use keywords for only one research interest per search. You can save multiple searches for your different interests.
  • When you view a result, refer to the Keywords at the end of your Opportunity. Use those keywords to better refine your results.
  • If some terminology yields few results, consider alternative terminology for your line of research; if "homelessness" yields too few results, try a broader term such as "poverty".
• If you like the results (not too many false positives and a non-zero number of solid results), then select SAVE.
• A dialogue box pops up, offering you the opportunity to automate the search. You will need to name the search, indicate how you want to see the email (plain text or HTML), and the frequency you prefer.

Tip: You must choose to receive either plain or HTML email messages. If you choose neither option, the software will still perform the search but will not email it to you. It will be saved online for your review, but you would be missing out on an important convenience feature of this new search engine.

• Click Save Changes, and you should start to see results in your inbox shortly. They will appear in your inbox as SMARTS Mailer: SMARTS Results: "your named search".

There is no limit to the number of saved searches you can automate.

Conduct an Advanced Search

If you are getting too many results with the basic search, you can switch to the Advanced Search. Doing so will set additional limits on your search. For most people, this type of search is the non-intuitive part; the interface is so minimalist that you may not necessarily see right away what you should do.

• Click on Search in the top banner
• Choose Advanced Search from the dropdown menu.
• Click on the box with the + sign to "Add Expression." The default is to find the keyword in the Program. This works for most beginning searches.
• Click on the yellow box and choose your AND-OR Boolean operators.
• Now add your search terms.
• Click on Locate Funding

Adding filters

If you know that you want to restrict your results in some way (project type, citizenship, sponsor type, etc.), you can add a filter to your search.

• Click Preferences in the top banner.
• Review your options and determine which ones apply to you or to your project.
• Select the filters you want to be applied to your search.
• Save.

Additional Resources

Click the “Help” menu on the SPIN database web portal for user guides, videos, and more support for using SPIN. For technical assistance (e.g., access/log-in issues or other technical problems), send email to erahelp@niu.edu and include “SPIN” in the subject line.

Funding Institutional

The NIU Libraries are now providing access to the Funding Institutional database. Funding Institutional sources data on active funding opportunities, awarded grants and funder profiles and combines it in such a way that, whatever role you play as an institutional stakeholder, you can apply it directly to your work, responsibilities and workflows.
NIU users have access to Funding Institutional via their NIU credentials. Registration is mandatory. How to register:

1. Click on the hyperlinked Funding Institutional title.
2. In the new browser tab, click on SIGN IN.
3. Click on “Sign in via your institution”
4. Start typing “Northern”, click on Northern Illinois University when it appears.
5. Enter your NIU email alias (e.g., alias@niu.edu) (email addresses ending in @mail.niu.edu, @students.niu.edu and non-NIU email addresses will not work)
6. Click “Continue”
7. After a confirmation email from “Elsevier Identity” has been received, click on “Get Access” (check your junk folder if you do not receive a confirmation email.

Contact Gwen Gregory, associate dean of University Libraries, for assistance at ggregory@niu.edu.