Research & Development Engagement Program Overview

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), Medtronic Leadership Development Program, is proud to announce the Research & Development Engagement Program, supporting innovation, ideas, and solutions in STEM, Medical Technology, and Business research at select HBCUs. 

 

This program will award five grants of $40,000 to faculty members at our TMCF member schools with a focus in the following areas:

  • Innovative academic support program that will meet the specific academic needs of STEM, Medical Technology, and/or Business students.
  • Enhanced academic-related innovation on campus and/or the community to support adequate resources to enable the completion of groundbreaking research and development in STEM, Medical Technology, and/or Business.
  • Other creative ideas for capacity building within Medtronic-aligned fields, as deemed necessary on your campus. 

Grant proposals should be no more than ten (10) pages, and include the following elements:

  1. Project Title
  2. Project Summary (350 words)
  3. Project Narrative, no more than six (6) pages, single spaced, 1” margins, 12-point font. The Project Narrative should include:
    1. Description of Need for Research/ Rationale, including how the proposed research fits into the above research parameters as well as the anticipated impact of the research and estimated outcomes.
    2. Proposed Research, including a question or hypothesis
    3. Description of how the research fulfills the scope of the RFP
    4. Research methodology
    5. Key research personnel, including description of past research experience
    6. Proposed dissemination process for research results
  4. Budget Narrative (included in 10-page limit)
  5. Project Timeline (not included in 10-page limit)
  6. Project Budget (not included in 10-page limit).  Note:  Within research proposal budgets, indirect costs are generally incurred unless the fee is waived, according to each university’s policy.  Due to the size of the grant being $40,000, TMCF prefers indirect fees to be waived.  However, due to university policies, if an indirect allocation is required for grant funded research projects, TMCF is recommending an negotiated de minimis indirect cost/rate of no more than 8%.  If the indirect fees have been waived by a university, we will accept documentation to reflect the waiver.

Scoring Rubric

The following scoring rubric will be used to review and assess

submitted HBCU faculty grant proposals:

Possible Points

Item

Proposal Format

5

Budget (1 = unjustified; 5=justified)

5

Scope of research identified

5

Alignment with Program Goals

10

Evaluation and accountability

10

Measurable outcomes identified

10

Feasibility of completion

10

Research focused on targeted issue to inform solutions to

increase opportunity for fragile communities

30

Timeline (1=unattainable; 5=attainable)

5

Prior Research Experience

10

TOTAL

100

 

*Topic must be within the scope of the RFP in order to be scored

Please submit your proposals by February 27, 2023 for consideration.