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ERGP Policies and 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.
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.
The university allows a principal investigator (PI) to request an overdraft account when the PI and their department or unit head determine that the project’s funding risk is minimal (Per PPM 7010.140 Overdraft Requests). To manage college-level risk, additional internal authorization processes are required.
Financial risk for all overdraft spending requests in advance of K-State’s acceptance of a sponsor award and overspending of sponsored project accounts is solely the responsibility of the project departments and/or units unless special arrangements are made with the college’s Associate Dean for Research (ADR).
The university allows a Principal Investigator (PI) to request overdraft accounts when the PI and the PI’s department or unit head consider a project's funding risk minimal per PPM 7010.140 Overdraft Requests. Additional processes are required for college overdraft authorization to best manage college risk.
Overdraft requests for both New and Continuing Accounts will be authorized on a month-by-month basis, and department or unit heads affiliated with each project personnel’s expenditures, as defined in the approved overdraft budget, must agree to the following.
- In the Cayuse Overdraft Spending form, enter a temporary end date no longer than one month from the anticipated overdraft period start date.
- Overdraft budgets will consist only of mission-critical line items, with priority given to Graduate Research Assistant and term staff personnel positions.
- Department and unit heads are responsible for all costs should the project not become active, including full salary and fringe paid out from the overdraft account.
- All salaries must be funded by the appropriate department or unit for project personnel, as outlined in the college-approved overdraft budget and internal college agreement, if applicable.
- Expenditures will be limited to the college-approved overdraft budget, which will accompany the Cayuse overdraft request. To ensure timely account setup, it is recommended that the college research office review the overdraft budget in advance.
- Equipment purchases will not be allowed without ADR approval while a project is in overdraft.
Situations outside the scope of this policy that are not covered by the standard procedures will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
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.
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.