University of Kentucky

Office of the Vice President for Research Equipment Competition

Background: The University of Kentucky (UK) Strategic Plan for research includes as a major initiative to improve the quality of the research infrastructure across campus.  As an implementation strategy for this initiative, the Office of Research has invested in high-end equipment that is located within institutional research cores under the supervision of technical experts. These new instruments augment the infrastructure of general use research core facilities.

In addition to institutional research cores, we recognize that investigators rely on dedicated essential equipment, as well as equipment within shared use facilities (e.g., on a floor or in a department) for day-to-day performance of laboratory bench-based research. It is important that when allowed, investigators include equipment costs  within the budgets of grants and contracts.  However, replacement of essential pieces of work-horse equipment, as well as equipment which services several laboratories through common equipment areas, can be challenging.  Therefore, the purpose of this equipment competition is to:

• Enable investigators to replace essential pieces of dedicated equipment within individual laboratories or in shared-use equipment facilities.
• Enable investigators to obtain new equipment essential to their research program(s).
• Provide matching institutional support for inclusion of equipment within the budget of a submitted grant proposal.

Description: The following rules apply to this competition:

• Equipment can be requested with costs ranging from $5,000 - $75,000.  For equipment that costs more than $50,000, matching funds (up to 25%) from other sources will be required.  Matching funds for equipment under $50,000, while not required, if available, will maximize the use of funds for this competition.
• Equipment requests can be for dedicated use within an individual laboratory or for shared-use. While not required, shared-use equipment facilitating research of several investigators will be given higher priority during the review process.
• For dedicated equipment within an individual laboratory, only one proposal (and one piece of equipment) may be submitted per applicant.
• Equipment maintenance, installation costs, remodeling or renovation requests will not be considered.
• Anticipating a need for this type of equipment, we have purchased several Thermo Scientific TSX series ultra-low freezers (28.8 cubic feet, 115V) to reduce purchase costs and to enhance efficiency (e.g., reduce energy costs).  If a freezer is requested, as much as possible, shared-use should be included in the justification. Also, for freezer requests, old freezers must be surplused if an award is made for a new freezer.
• Proposals should be submitted electronically to vprgrants@uky.edu by February 8, 2017.

ProposalFormat: The equipment application (11-point type, single spaced) will consist of a 1-page proposal, biosketch of PI (5-page limit, which includes other support), and price quotation from VWR, the university’s preferred vendor. If the equipment cannot be obtained through VWR, this must be stated in the proposal and a quote from the appropriate vendor included. The 1 page proposal should address: