LabSpace Program at the College of Liberal Arts

Call for Project Lab Proposals

Conceptual Drawing - The New Liberal Arts Building (CLA) on the East Mall

The College of Liberal Arts is pleased to announce a new program – LabSpace – to provide first-rate research facilities and technical support to Liberal Arts faculty members engaged in externally funded research. While limited space is available now, most lab space will become available in January 2013 with the opening of the new Liberal Arts Building (CLA) on the East Mall. Available lab facilities in CLA will include finished offices, office-style labs, and wet labs, as well as a significant amount of unfinished “shell” space for building out specialized labs.

Labs will be awarded to researchers through a competitive proposal process. Awards will include specific terms of use and a set time period for space assignment. Researchers will be able to request extensions for renewal at the end of the assignment period. A committee of Liberal Arts faculty members and administrators will review submitted proposals.

LabSpace Program, Proposal, and Award Details

This is an open call without a deadline. However, proposals submitted before December 1, 2011 will be reviewed by January 15, 2012. Labs approved during this time period can be fitted out as part of the CLA construction project for use in Spring 2013.

The LabSpace proposal form is available online at: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/labspace/home

Contact Joe TenBarge or Emily Cicchini for more information.

Eligibility and Participating Departments

Faculty members with an active tenured or tenure-track primary appointment in participating departments in the College of Liberal Arts are eligible to submit LabSpace proposals. All Liberal Arts Departments and Centers are currently participating in LabSpace, except for the Department of Psychology and the Population Research Center (PRC). Psychology and PRC continue to manage lab space internally. Psychology faculty members should work with their department chair to arrange research space. PRC affiliates who plan to manage external grants through the PRC should contact the PRC director about space needs. Collaborative projects involving Psychology faculty members or PRC affiliates, along with faculty members from other Liberal Arts departments, may be eligible for LabSpace awards.

Contact Joe TenBarge if there is any question of eligibility.

Two Types of Labs

LabSpace manages two, distinct types of labs – Project Labs and Program Labs.

Project Labs are for externally funded research projects conducted by Liberal Arts faculty members. A Project Lab award generally will have a well-defined scope and term that match the scope and term of the external grant award or gift. LabSpace temporarily assigns Project Labs directly to faculty members, not to home departments. Acting for the college, Liberal Art Instructional Technology Services (LAITS) retains institutional ‘ownership’ and management rights and responsibilities for Project Labs.

Program Labs are for departmental, programmatic research and instructional needs. Examples may include: instructional lab-classrooms, labs for student research, facilities with specialized equipment shared by a department or area faculty, and labs dedicated to a strategic research area or method that are shared by a number of projects and researchers. The respective department chairs control access to assigned Program Labs. A request for a Program Lab must come from a department chair. Details governing the assignment of Program Labs will be published soon. Interested departments should contact Joe TenBarge for details.

Chair Recommendations

After an online proposal is submitted, the proposer's department chair will be asked to provide a short statement of support to the LabSpace Faculty Advisory Committee, including an explanation of why the research should be housed in LabSpace — rather than the department's existing research labs. The chair will automatically receive an email notice when a faculty member submits a LabSpace proposal. The notice will include a request to the chair for a statement of support, and a web link to instructions for submitting the statement. The proposer is responsible for following up with the chair to confirm the submission of the statement of support.

Available Facilities and Lab Types

LabSpace has been designed to coincide with the opening of the new Liberal Arts Building (CLA) under construction on the East Mall.

The college opened CLA Phase 1 (levels 4 & 5 of the Student Activity Center) in January 2011. Two small office-style (or dry) labs are available now. Contact Joe TenBarge or Grant Barger for details.

CLA Phase 2 (the new Liberal Arts building) will open in January 2013. Research space constitutes a large and important part of this 250,000 square foot complex. CLA Phase 2 will have infrastructure for wet labs, recording and interview rooms, computational labs, office-style (dry) labs, conference rooms, and offices. (NOTE: CLA cannot support labs housing animals.) We recommend that you meet with Facilities Manager Grant Barger to discuss possible space configurations before submitting your proposal.

If a requested lab will require construction of unfinished “shell” space, the proposal should identify funding sources for construction costs. Proposals may request LabSpace funding for construction of shell space, but available funding is limited and will be reserved for projects that have secured large, external research grants.

Following the move of nine Liberal Arts units to CLA in January 2013, space in other buildings around the college will become available through LabSpace. Some of this space will be available beginning in Summer 2013. Contact Joe TenBarge if you have a question about potential space in a building other than CLA.

Eligible Costs

There is a strong presumption that external grant funding will be used to support the research carried out in LabSpace Project Labs. Project Lab proposals may request:

• Laboratory space for a set period of time in a suitable facility for research. (Researchers may request extensions and renewals of the assignment period.)
• Funding for construction of unfinished “shell” space. This funding will be limited and reserved for projects attracting major, external research grants or gifts. Contact Joe TenBarge or Grant Barger if you have questions about availability of finished labs or funding for “shell” space construction.
• Seed funds for pilot data collection if they increase the likelihood of obtaining major, external grant awards. Examples may include: travel, research assistant stipends, equipment, and supplies. LabSpace seed funding awards will be small and activities receiving seed funding must be directly related to the research proposed for the Project Lab.
• Computers, furniture, and other office equipment that cannot be purchased with external funds.
• Research expenses not allowed under external grant programs. Awards will be extremely limited and reserved for projects attracting major external research grants or gifts.

Review Criteria

The LabSpace Faculty Advisory Committee evaluation will include:

• The design and methodology of proposed research projects
• The expected productivity of the proposed labs
• A detailed justification of the project’s need for space
• The research and publication records of the Primary Investigator(s) and collaborators
• Past grant support
• Anticipated student involvement in research
• Publication plans for the proposed research
• Quantitative and qualitative evaluation metrics

A high priority will be placed on research with external funding. Researchers who do not currently have an external grant — but plan to apply for one — may be awarded a lab contingent on receiving the outside funding.

Award Terms

LabSpace proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by Liberal Arts faculty members who comprise the LabSpace Faculty Advisory Committee. The committee will make recommendations to Dean Randy Diehl and Assistant Dean Joe TenBarge. In consultation with Dean Diehl, TenBarge will determine award details and communicate award decisions to proposal authors.

Liberal Arts LabSpace Faculty Advisory Committee:

• Kim Fromme, Department of Psychology
• Richard P. Meier, Department of Linguistics
• Samuel M. Wilson, Department of Anthropology
• Debra J. Umberson, Department of Sociology
• Kenneth R. Young, Department of Geography and the Environment

Labs will be assigned for a specific term set at the time of the award. The award term will generally match the term of the external grant funding the research. Researchers may apply to renew lab assignments for any number of additional terms. Proposals for renewal of lab assignments will be evaluated under the same criteria as new awards.

Researchers may request lab space before external grants or gifts. In such case, awards may be made contingent on the success of the external fundraising. The space will then be assigned when the external funding is received, contingent on the continued availability of space.

Limited term bridging awards will be considered at the end of an assignment term when there is a high probability of renewed outside funding.

All award terms — lab assignment term, support levels, and funding — will be based on the committee’s recommendations and will be specified by the college at the time of the award.

Support for External Grant Administration

It is intended that post-award administration for external grants funding research conducted in LabSpace Project Labs will be managed by LabSpace staff, rather than the PI’s home department. Indirect costs returned will be divided between LabSpace and the PI’s home department. LabSpace will use its portion of indirect costs returned for grant administration and support of LabSpace labs. Contact Joe TenBarge for information about the distribution of returned indirect costs.

Assistance with Finding Grant Opportunities and Preparing Proposals

LabSpace, Liberal Arts, and Liberal Arts ITS staff is available to assist with researching grant opportunities and preparing proposals. Contact Emily Cicchini for information.

Liberal Arts ITS Support

LabSpace awardees may request a variety of assistance from Liberal Arts ITS after the receipt of their award. These services may include equipment purchasing and setup, facilities planning and design, computer and network management, server and database administration, and other administrative and technical activities. Liberal Art ITS will provide any reasonable assistance to help get labs up and running and allow investigators to focus on research.

Please contact Joe TenBarge or Emily Cicchini with any questions regarding the proposal, review, and award process. For technical assistance with the online proposal form, contact Program Officer Emily Cicchini.