Mission Statement

Each year, more than $30 billion is allocated by the U.S. Congress to fund educational, behavioral, biomedical, and health sciences research. Such grants, which range from relatively small amounts of money for exploratory research to millions of dollars for huge multi-year projects, can be used to "purchase" release time from classes, fund summer employment, and support travel for data collection and conference attendance, in addition to covering basic research costs. Minority institutions, which are seriously under-represented among grant recipients, are strongly encouraged to apply for these research funds.

Purpose of the RDO

The Research Development Office (RDO) was established by a three-year renewable grant from the National Institute of Health to facilitate and increase grantsmanship and research activity among CSU faculty. The goal of the office is to increase the number of research proposals submitted to and funded by government and private sources. The primary focus of RDO is to promote research in the sciences, math, engineering and technology (especially biomedical, behavioral, and health-related disciplines). However, collaboration across all disciplines is strongly encouraged.

Activities of the RDO

The Research Development Office (RDO):
Provides funds for
• Pilot studies
• Re-assigned time for proposal development
• Travel related to proposal development
• Identifies and disseminates information on funding opportunities.
• Provides assistance on research and proposal development.
• Supports a web page that provides information on funding
• Institutional and community information for proposal development
• Maintains a resource office in HWH – 335 with published and computerized information on funding opportunities.
• Works to identify and remove barriers to faculty research.

Faculty are Encouraged to:

Attend RDO sponsored workshops to improve proposal writing
and submission skills.

Use our office for assistance to help develop ideas, discuss feasibility
of projects, identify funders.

Read our newsletter.

Develop and submit proposals.

Think collaboratively, within and between departments.

Tell us how we can help you.

The task of writing a major research proposal, which may or may not
be funded, can be daunting. However, keep in mind that receiving research funding is most often a process-- of submission, receiving feedback, revision and resubmission. One-half of all projects are funded by their third submission, and once funded, the prospects for continued support are substantially improved.

The rewards of funded research are considerable. There are some immediate benefits, such as guaranteed summer employment and course release time. However, most importantly, funded research is usually superior simply because the needed resources are available. Whatever your area, quality research is important to your future and satisfaction as a scholar.