The University of Idaho is investing an additional $3 million of institutional funds annually in its efforts to increase research productivity and expand the number of doctoral degrees awarded. This funding, enabled by a public-private partnership on the university’s energy infrastructure, is named the P3-R1 Initiative. Approximately $1 million will be invested in new doctoral research assistantships and $2 million will be invested in postdoctoral fellowships.

P3-R1 funding will be deployed through three mechanisms:

Matching competitive externally funded grants
Matching new, externally funded endowed fellowships raised through advancement
Strategic initiatives

The purpose of this investment is to incentivize change and incentivize actions that will:

Significantly increase the award of research/scholarship doctoral degrees at U of I
Significantly increase the amount of externally funded research at the U of I
Increase the effective F&A rate of externally funded research at U of I

The P3-R1 Grant Matching Program

The bulk of P3-R1 funding will be deployed as a match on newly awarded (after January 25, 2021), externally funded grants, as described below.

All matches on new awards will be initiated by a request from the lead PI on the award to ORED, by filling out the P3RI Award Form on InfoReady Review.
The R1 Committee (Chris Nomura, Brad Ritts, Jerry McMurtry, Ginger Carney, Michael Parrella, Dennis Becker, Philip Scruggs, Larry Stauffer and Sean Quinlan) meet monthly to approve match distribution.
R1 Committee will consider adjustments to the programs, such as match ratios, as the program progresses.
Matches will be made on first-come basis until funds are committed.

Doctoral Research Assistantships

One (1) RA is provided for every two (2) RAs funded on a single new external award.
Grant must include full federally negotiated on-campus, industry, or Ag/Forestry experiment station F&A; grants with off-campus and reduced F&A rates are not eligible.
Externally funded RAs must include full stipend (at normal departmental rates) and tuition in order to be matched.
1. Graduate support funds in grant cannot be re-allocated or re-budgeted to other categories over the life of the award, or internal funds (P3-R1 funds) provided must be repaid by department.
Match will occur at the same stipend level paid in the grant.
Institutional match may only be used to support Ph.D. students.

Postdoctoral Fellowships

One (1) Two-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship is provided to all NSF CAREER grant recipients as well as other prestigious early-career grants (such as DARPA Young Faculty Awards).
One (1) Two-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship to all PIs who receive an NIH R01 as an Assistant Professor or within one (1) year of promotion to Associate Professor.
One (1) Postdoctoral Fellowship for every fully funded externally funded postdoctoral fellowship.
1. Grant must include full federally negotiated on-campus, industry, or Ag/Forestry experiment station F&A; grants with off-campus and reduced F&A rates are not eligible.
One (1) Two-Year Postdoctoral support for PIs with at least 4 fully funded Ph.D. students on a single new grant award, such as a large training grant.
1. Grant must include full federally negotiated on-campus, industry, or Ag/Forestry experiment station F&A; grants with off-campus and reduced F&A rates are not eligible.

Match Examples

The following examples are indicative of the matches that may be made in certain scenarios, while funding is available:

Three-year grant with two (2) fully funded RAs throughout all three years of grants = commit one (1) RA for three years
Three-year grant with one (1) fully funded RA throughout all three years of the grant = no match
Three-year grant with two (2) fully-funded RAs throughout first two years of the grant = commit one (1) RA for two years
Two-year grant with five (5) fully-funded RAs throughout both years of the grant = commit two (2) RAs for two years and one (1) post-doc for one year

Questions or inquiries can be addressed to the Sr. Assoc. VP for Research at ritts@uidaho.edu