Equipment Enhancement Fund

Award Cycle: Annual
Limit on Proposals per PI: An individual may participate as PI on one EEF per cycle.
Next Due Date: December 11, 2024 - note Extended Deadline
Award Period: Instruments must be purchased and received by June 30, 2025
Applications: Proposals are accepted through Arizona Cultivate, direct link here.

FY25 Solicitation 

These grants are designed to add or augment research capacity through the acquisition of equipment for use by multiple investigators in shared facilities or approved university core facilities.

The proposed equipment should be located in an approved U of A Core Facility or in a shared, accessible space and should have multiple committed users from at least two departments and preferably, from at least two different colleges. In extremely well justified cases, a single department request may be considered. Additionally, well justified infrastructure refreshes, e.g., replacement of critical components, to avoid loss of current capability, will also be accepted. Preference will be given to multi-department/multi-college equipment with a priority for equipment located in the RII Core Facilities.

If the equipment is located in an RII core facility, the proposed core must be clearly identified, and the RII Core Facility Manager must be listed as a Co-PI or PI of the EEF. Equipment must add new capacity or refresh existing capacity to enable competitiveness for new, clearly identified extramural funding opportunities. RII expects to make awards depending upon competitiveness of the proposals and availability of funds.

Investigators may request in the range of approximately $50,000 to $150,000 in equipment. Requests below $50,000 may be considered, but will not be priority for funding.

For all equipment proposed for placement within a RII Core Facility, an additional $30,000 in U of A Core Facility use credits may be requested to stimulate use; core facility use credits may only be used to cover approved user fees in the RII core facility.

Investigators should make a compelling case for how the acquisition of this equipment will enhance the capabilities of the core or shared use facility, how this acquisition enhances research capacity across departmental and college boundaries, and how this acquisition increases competitiveness for new extramural funding.

Proposal preparation guidance is provided below and supersedes the Proposal Preparation Guide. Submission, award, and processing information is available in the RII Proposal Preparation Guide (PPG) v10, which is downloadable in the Arizona Cultivate competition. 

Full Proposal

You will be required to submit the following sections: Cover Sheet, Proposal Narrative, and Required Supplemental Documents.

Full Proposal Sections (including step-by-step upload into the submission system): 

a)      Cover Sheet: The following information will be copied into text boxes within the system. Special characters are discouraged.

i)     Principal Investigator: Name, Department, College, Rank, Contact Information, ORCiD ID (if applicable)

ii)    Co-Investigators (up to four Co-Is may be listed): Name, Department, College, Rank, Contact Information, ORCiD ID (if applicable)

iii)   Business Manager or Research Administrator: Name, Email Address, Phone Number   

iv)    Proposal Summary: Include a 200-word summary of your proposal. A self-contained description. Include the significance and potential impacts. This should be understandable to a scientifically or technically literate reader but one that is not in your field.

v)    Proposed External Funding: 200-word limit. Include the targeted solicitation (including funding level and deadline) and/or sponsor. If you do not have a solicitation, discuss fit to the potential sponsor or how the equipment enhances competitiveness.

vi)     Keywords/Key phrases: Include up to five keywords or key phrases.

vii)    Proposal Specific Sections:

(1)    Identification of relevant compliance areas including human subjects, animal research, inclusion of Native Americans or international indigenous groups in the proposal, etc.

(2)    Budget amount requested (round up to the nearest dollar)

(3)    Identification of primary TRIF initiative (see below for details) or select “none”

(4)    Identification of Co-Reviewed TRIF initiative

(5)    Optional: Connection to Federal Land Grant and HSI Mission (250 words max)

(6)    Optional: Connection to Inclusive Principles and Practices (250 words max)

b)      Proposal Narrative: The proposal narrative is limited to two-pages. The narrative should include the following sections:

i)       Brief description of the need and research equipment capabilities

ii)      Intended instrument location

iii)     Research activities to be enhanced

iv)     Management plan: for RII cores, this may include a statement on integration with the existing core management and administrative framework. For shared facilities include how and by whom the requested equipment will be operated and maintained, and how users will have access to the equipment (e.g., time allocation)

v)      Brief description as to why the PI and/or team is uniquely positioned to be competitive and how the RII grant will increase competitiveness

vi)     Brief statement connecting the proposed equipment purchase and related research to TRIF funding priorities and/or institutional strategic priorities    

c)       Required Supplemental Documents

i)       Table of confirmed collaborators, including their title, department, and college; a minimum of three users is required

ii)      References cited (no more than one-page) using the discipline-specific reference standard, i.e. the reference style you would use when submitting a journal article in your field

iii)     PI’s CV or agency-specific biographical sketch

(1)    NIH biographical sketches are exempt from the 1” margin requirements as detailed above and may be a maximum of five-pages per NIH guidance

(2)    CV’s should be no longer than three-pages

iv)     Vendor quote (preferably in USD) to include all applicable shipping and tariffs, preference for quote valid through June 30, 2025

v)      Estimate of installation costs including plumbing, electrical, and other facilities management related charges

vi)     Budget and Budget Justification using the budget template provided in the submission software

vi)    Applicant driven routing step for budget approval (comes after the supplemental documents)

d)      Supplemental Documents, if Applicable

(1)     Up to four Co-I CV(s) or agency-specific biographical sketch(es), proposal formatting and limitations described above in PI CV section apply

(3)     Letters of Support, including in-kind support or match, i.e. letters committing financial resources.

(a)   Dean’s, Department Head, or Director’s letters are only required if there is some form of institutional commitment associated with the proposal or to justify why proposed equipment may not be housed in a Core Facility. Commitment is defined as resources that would otherwise not be available to you, e.g., additional funds for travel, in-kind support from existing personnel, etc. 

(b)   If there is a collaborating institution, a letter of support indicating the institutional commitment of the collaborating institution must be provided. That is, collaborating institutions must provide support for their faculty, this letter should document that support (see Budget Preparation section for additional information on allowable costs)

        (4)      Resubmission Statement: If your Research Advancement Grant proposal requests funds to enhance the competitiveness of a recently declined extramural proposal, include a one-page (maximum) description of how you plan to address the reviewer comments. Attach this statement to the reviewer comments (e.g., NIH Summary Statement or NSF Panel Summary) and upload as one PDF document.

        (5)       If you have an existing protocol, upload a PDF of your current approval letter only (not the full protocol) related to human subjects or animal research. Any items proposed in the grant that do not fall under the approval will be submitted as an amendment upon award recommendation. Note that all funded proposals are expected to comply with applicable institutional research policies, including but not limited to, human subjects, animal research, conflict of interest, HIPAA, export control, and laboratory safety.

Please note there is a new budget approval process that utilizes an applicant driven routing step after submission. Applicants will input the email address of their business officer or award/research administrator when prompted at the end of the application prior to submission. The email address should be for the person who has authority to create, review, and approve the budget. The system will send a link for approval via the email listed to the business officer or award/research administrator where they may confirm they reviewed and approved the submitted budget. This approval step is required before an application is accepted for compliance checks and formal review. The deadline for business officer or award/research administrator is December 13, 2024 at 5:00 pm. so it is recommended to communicate with this individual about your budget and this process in advance.

Questions: resdev@arizona.edu

Updated: Feb 21, 2025

2023-2024

• Belmecheri Soumaya, Science, Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, Launching new UArizona capacity for high-resolution bioenvironmental research and training
• Craig Stuart, Engineering, Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, Aero-optical measurement system for the hypersonic wind tunnel complex

2022-2023

• Craig Aspinwall, Science, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Acquisition of a dual modality scanning probe microscope
• Patrick Bunn, Science, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, Cluster Expansion for the University of Arizona’s Weather and Power Forecasting
• Jon Chorover, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Environmental Science, Acquisition of a high-throughput tandem mass spectrometer for high demand PFAS analyses
• Goggy Davidowitz, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Entomology, Improvements to passive solar dryer to repurpose food waste
• Ivan Djordjevic, Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Quantum Networking and Sensing Testbed
• Nancy Horton, Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Acquisition of a Mass Photometer for Native Molecular Weight Determination of Macromolecules
• Dante Lauretta, Science, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Acquisition of Probe for EPMA and Probe Image Software for the CAMECA SX100 Electron Microprobe in the Kuiper Imaging Facility
• Oliver Monti, Science, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Depth Profiling for Chemical Analysis of Buried Interfaces and Stratified Samples for Defense, Health and Energy Sciences
• Helena Morrison, Nursing, Biobehavioral Health Sciences Division, Advanced widefield fluorescence microscope with high-speed scanning and confocal-like image capture capabilities
• Pratik Satam, Engineering, Systems and Industrial Engineering, Future Factory: a cyber-physical testbed environment to address research challenges and workforce development gaps posed by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR)
• Andrew Wessman, Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, E-Beam Evaporator System for Nano Fabrication Center
• Amanda Wilson, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Community, Environment & Policy, The Invisible is Visible: GRIMM Aerosol Think Equipment for Indoor and Outdoor Monitoring Applications
• Russell Witte, College of Medicine-Tucson, Medical Imaging, Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Contrast Imaging: HFUS Core Facility Upgrade

2021-2022

• Christopher Banek, College of Medicine-Tucson, Physiology, High-Throughput Mulvany Wire Myography System to Measure Vascular Function Ex Vivo
• Michael Brown, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Sample Accessory Upgrade for Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Analysis in the W.M. Keck Center for Nano-Scale Analysis
• Bryan Carter, Humanities, Africana Studies, Enhancing Volumetric Capture Capability
• Christopher Castro, Science, Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, Using GPS to infer impacts on weather extremes, water mobility, and carbon cycling in semi-arid to arid environments
• Amelia Gallitano, College of Medicine-Phoenix, Basic Medical Sciences, Essential Equipment to Advance Neuropsychiatric Research
• Pierre Haenecour, Science, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, Acquisition of an Environmental Low-voltage Tabletop Secondary Electron Microscope
• Nancy Horton, Science, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Augmenting Research Capability in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Department
• Elizabeth Hutchinson, Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Specialized MRI coils to enhance mouse imaging in the TBIR 7T pre-clinical MRI core
• Oliver Monti, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, High Frequency and Precision Electronics Work Station for Electronics Shop
• Jeffrey Pyun, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Acquisition of a High Throughput Size Exclusion Chromatography Instrument (SEC) for Molecular Weight Characterization of Advanced Polymeric Materials
• Erin Ratcliff, Engineering, Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Multimodal mapping of opto-electronic and biological materials for energy and defense at the micron scale
• Scott Saleska, Science, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, A “Local” Remote Sensing capability to enhance the science of Landscape Terraformation at UArizona’s Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) at Biosphere 2
• Travis Sawyer, Optical Sciences, Optical Sciences, Polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography for tissue analysis and material assessment.
• Mohammed Shafae, Engineering, Systems & Industrial Engineering, Advanced Sensing and Monitoring System for Metal Additive Manufacturing
• Tyson Swetnam, Agriculture & Life Sciences, BIO5, MILaGRO: Multi-instance Learning and GPU Resources Online
• Thomas Tomasiak, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Acquisition of shared scintillation counting instrumentation for high-throughput protein characterization and drug discovery

2020-2021

• Maria Altbach, College of Medicine-Tucson, Medical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Elastography Equipment for Quantitative Assessment of Tissue Stiffness in Humans
• Greg Book, RII, Atomic Layer Deposition
• Nathan Cherrington, Pharmacy, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Proteomics Upgrade of the Exploris 480
• Jon Chorover, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Environmental Science, Acquisition of a Total Organic Fluorine Analyzer for UA Researchers
• Ying-hui Chou, Science, Psychology, Request for MRI-Compatible Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) System: Development of a Novel Concurrent TMS-fMRI Method to Reveal Real-Time TMS-Induced Brain Activities
• Barbara Fransway, RII, Genetics Core Equipment Upgrade and Novel Instrumentation
• Christopher Frost, RII, BIO5, A Shared Agilent Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer to Enable Plant Metabolomics for Ecological, Agricultural, and Biomedical Advances
• Pierre Haenecour, Science, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, Acquisition of a BSE Detector and In-situ Heating Holder for the Hitachi 4800 SEM in the Kuiper Imaging Facility
• Elizabeth Hutchinson, Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Receiver and coil upgrade from 4 to 8 channels for the TBIR 7T pre-clinical MRI core
• Michael Marty, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Replacing the Autoclave in the Chemical Sciences Building
• Helena Morrison, Nursing, Biobehavioral Health Sciences, Imaging Core Marley: Maintaining a State-of-the-art facility
• Ghassan Mouneimne, College of Medicine-Tucson, Cellular & Molecular Medicine, NIKON Super-resolution Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscope (STORM)
• Thaddeus Pace, Nursing, Nursing, Upgrading rtPCR capacity at the Biological Core Lab of the College of Nursing
• Krishna Parsawar, RII, Triple quadrupole (LC-MS/MS) instrument for targeted metabolomics and Drug Discovery research (DMPK)
• Jeanne Pemberton, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Acquisition of a Park NX20 Atomic Force Microscope
• Paulo Pires, College of Medicine-Tucson, Physiology, Purchase of laser speckle contrast imaging for high-resolution, real-time assessment of micro- and macro-hemodynamics
• Jeffrey Pyun, Science, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Acquisition of a Modulated Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) for Thermal Analytical Characterization of Advanced Materials
• Peter Reiners, Science, Geosciences, Acquisition of IR laser heating system for noble gas geochronology
• Benjamin Renquist, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Animal & Comparative Biomedical Science, Electrophysiology and Fiber Photometry Equipment to Assess Peripheral Nervous System Activity in the Non-anesthetized Rodent
• Gregory Rogers, College of Medicine-Tucson, Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Upgrades of the Zeiss Elyra S.1 microscope workstation and post-processing workstation
• John Paul SanGiovanni, Agriculture & Life Sciences, Nutritional Sciences, Ocular Coherence Tomography-Angiography System for Retinal Biomarkers of Age-Related Cognitive Impairment
• Suchol Savagatrup, Engineering, Chemical & Environmental Engineering, UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer: A vital tool to measure optical properties of thin films and bulk materials for sensing and energy applications
• Yana Zavros, College of Medicine-Tucson, Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Leica ASP300 S Automated Tissue Processor for the Tissue Acquisition and Cellular/Molecular Analysis Shared Resource