Purpose:
The ASHRAE Innovative Research Grant was established to provide seed funding for novel research deemed to have the potential to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration engineering. The idea is to encourage out-of-the-box research to complement the research proposed and guided by technical committees.
Description of the Grant:
The award carries a base grant of $50,000 per year for two years, with an additional $25,000 available in the third year if it is matched by an industrial contributor. The maximum award from ASHRAE would be $125,000 and the maximum available to the recipient would be $150,000. The industrial support must be from industries engaged in activities related to ASHRAE's areas of interest.
The intent is to fund one (1) award each year subject the following conditions:
- Suitability of Proposals - A competitive process will be used to evaluate research proposals. If, in a given year, there are no proposals that meet the criteria for the award, an award will not be made.
- Funding Constraints - The amount of research funding available for initiating new research projects is highly variable from one year to the next. When research funds are limited, ASHRAE’s Research Administration Committee (RAC) may opt to forego requesting proposals for this grant.
The grant will have very little oversight from ASHRAE and is intended to enable the investigator to perform enough work to complete an initial evaluation of the feasibility of a new concept, process, methodology, technology, etc. Projects producing promising results could lead to additional research on a larger scale through a URP or a TC-sponsored RTAR and work statement.
Selection Process:
A two-phase process managed by RAC will be used to select grant awardees. The initial phase will entail the evaluation of pre-proposals consisting of a two-page whitepaper and a two-page curriculum vitae for the principal investigator. Pre-proposals will be invited once a year when funding is adequate to support the award. The evaluation of pre-proposals will be organized through RAC’s Research Planning Subcommittee and will be performed in conjunction with the RAC Fall meeting held each year.
Full proposals will be invited from five or fewer individuals each year, and the possibility exists that there will be no invited full proposals if the pre-proposals fail to identify a project of sufficient novelty and merit. Evaluation of the full proposals will be organized through RAC’s Research Activities Subcommittee and will be performed in conjunction with the RAC Spring meeting each year. As in the case of the pre-proposals, the possibility exists that all of the invited full proposals could be rejected, in which case there would be no grant awarded in that particular year.
Selection Criteria:
The criteria for selecting projects for funding consists of the following: 1) novelty of the research; 2) importance of the problem; 3) potential for success; 4) student involvement; and 5) cost sharing.
Schedule:
Pre-proposals are due September 1 and should be submitted to ASHRAE’s Manager of Research & Technical Services, 1791 Tullie Circle, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329. Full proposals are due March 15.