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ERGP Policies and Guidelines
General press release guidelines
(effective Dec. 1, 2024)
The Next-Gen K-State Engineering strategic plan outlines eight priorities to propel the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering toward its vision. To exhibit the college’s progress, press releases in regard to grants and sponsored projects awarded will follow these guidelines:
- To qualify for a general press release, the amount awarded should be $500,000 or more, and be fully executed by K-State as confirmed through Cayuse SP, K-State’s sponsored programs processing system. An exception to this is if it is a more prestigious/significant award such as NSF CAREER, NIH, etc., and/or is the first phase of an award that may involve incremental future funding, then an amount under $500,000 may also qualify for a release. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis. The ERGP office is the contact point for requesting a release based on the above guidelines.
- When the above confirmation is complete, the ERGP office will email a press release form/questionnaire to the lead PI on the project, requesting the completed information be sent to Engineering Communications for preparation of a news story.
- If an award is $1M or more, and/or comes from a significant granting agency such as DOE, DOD, DOT, etc., and said granting agency has already announced recipients of the award through a press release of its own, K-State’s Division of Communication and Marketing (DCM) will accept and distribute a release at this early stage as long as the wording is clear and accurate that the agency/department is announcing the award and not the university. For example, the following wording would be allowable: “The U.S. Department of Defense has recently announced that the Kansas State University Department of Civil Engineering has been named as a recipient of a $2M grant for bridge research . . . “; thus, the university/college is not announcing the grant but the granting agency.
- For individual or department submissions to K-State Today that do not meet the above requirements, DCM will confirm with the VPR’s office that said award has been executed and can move forward for a news item.
GRA tuition policy
Tuition costs for graduate research assistants (GRAs) shall be included as direct costs in all grant and contract proposals, unless tuition is specifically not allowed by the sponsor. Tuition and other associated fees to cover a minimum of 18 credit hours per academic year (21 credit hours for the department of chemical engineering to include 3 summer hours) are required.
Project account overdraft
Financial risk for all overdraft requests in advance of K-State’s acceptance of a sponsor award and overspending of sponsored project accounts are solely the responsibility of the department unless special arrangements are made with the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs.
Requests for matching support for research proposals
The associate dean of research and graduate programs (ADR) manages all requests for cost sharing in the form of hard dollar match commitments (or “matching”) for the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering. Faculty must initiate requests with the ADR for proposal matching from the college. It is best to contact the associate dean early in the proposal development process to allow time to develop best match strategies and maximize resources. Hard dollar matching support for research proposals is determined on a case-by-case basis, using the criteria and internal submission process. Note: Requests for hard dollar match to support GRA or postdoc salaries, in most cases, will not be considered.
Research incentive plan
Faculty of the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University have the opportunity to receive an annual cash bonus incentive from extramurally funding a portion of their salary.
Special programs to support graduate student travel to professional events
The ERGP office supports graduate student travel for engineering master's and doctoral students to professional events. Participation in these events provides students with opportunities to advance their research, network with colleagues, and enhance the graduate student experience at K-State, as well as promote the visibility of the university as a whole. This funding is done in conjunction with the Graduate Student Council Travel Awards process with additional funding being provided by the supervising faculty member and the department. These travel awards are intended for engineering students that do not have research funding that will cover the expense of the trip to present their research findings at a professional conference.