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Research & Grants Resources

Sponsored Projects Resources & Links

The HCDE Grants Office, staffed by Susan Carpenter-Brandt is available to assist faculty with budget and administrative issues associated with grants, so that Principal Investigators can spend more time working on the scientific and technical aspects of sponsored research.

Listed below are the services and resources the Grants Office can provide to HCDE faculty:

  • Maintain current and pending grant lists
  • Maintain boilerplate info for proposals on Facilities, Computing Resources, Offices, and Administrative Support (available on the HCDE Facilities and Equipment Descriptions page)
  • Provide reminders for Annual Report deadlines for NIH, NSF and other sponsored awards
  • Hold one-on-one monthly budget meetings to go over budget projections of expenditures and funds remaining (on all Faculty budgets inclusive of grants, start-ups, and gifts)

The links below provide useful information related to grant proposal deadlines, common verbiage that can be used in proposals, and general resources to assist with the administrative aspects of sponsored research.

Proposal Resources

Rates to use for Proposal Budgets (rates are subject to change)

Questions regarding this information should be addressed to Susan Carpenter-Brandt, sbrandt2@uw.edu, 206-543-5342.

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HCDE Sponsored Projects Deadlines

The HCDE Grants Office is available to assist faculty with budget and administrative issues associated with grants, so that principal investigators are able to spend more time working on the scientific and technical aspects of proposals.

In order to be of the greatest assistance it is important that preliminary proposal details be submitted to the Grants Office in as timely a manner as possible.

To clarify some of the deadline needs for proposals and to help make the proposal process go as smoothly as possible, we have outlined the following internal deadlines. Although staff will always try to be as accommodating as possible, please remember that if you are not able to meet these deadlines there is a chance we might not be able to assist with your proposal preparation.

Sample Calendar of Grant Due Dates Timeline

Sample Calendar of Grant Due Dates Timeline

(Click to view at full size)

Below is detailed deadline information.

As Soon as You Know

Please alert the Grants Office ASAP if you will be submitting a proposal and any information that will help to get started. A response with the due dates for more specific information will be sent. Below is a detailed list deadline items:

15 business days (or EARLIER) in advance of sponsor due date:
Please send the Grants Office (via online grant form) or email the required information listed below:

  • Title of project
  • Announcement or solicitation info (i.e. number and title, or web address)
  • Number of years of your proposal
  • Total budget amount for each year, or total years, and:
    • staff—who/what role and approximate amount/months per year
    • other expenses—travel, supplies, etc., per year
  • Human subjects: Yes or No

Once these details are received, the Grants Office will follow up to continue.

8 business days prior to sponsor due date: All final budget/admin elements.

  • Abstract
  • Final budget and justification
  • List of personnel
  • Draft scope of work / description of the project
  • Biosketches
  • Additional material if needed—varies with type of proposal:
    • Face Page/SF424 Form (grants.gov)
    • Narrative & Checklist (grants.gov)
    • Needed compliance Approvals
    • Required additional information

4 business days prior to sponsor due date: Complete final proposal must be "Ready to Submit," which is the full and complete application in final format ready for submission to the sponsor.  OSP will check over for any fixes, or needed details then will submit to the sponsor (or sign paper documents) 3 days in advance of sponsor due date.

Important: All proposals, both paper and electronic, received by OSP after 5pm, 3 business days prior to the sponsor deadline will be returned to the PI and department contact and will not be submitted to the sponsor unless a waiver to the deadline is granted by the Assistant Vice Provost for Research. Please see GIM 19 for more information.

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Sponsored Projects Form

When you are ready to initiate the grants process, please complete the HCDE Sponsored Projects Form to notify the HCDE Grants Manager. This form must be completed at least 15 days prior to the sponsor deadline.

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NSF Grant Proposal Documents

The components listed below are common documents required for each NSF proposal submission. Current NSF Proposal Preparation Instructions are outlined in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 18-1. Note: Requirements are subject to change depending on the specific NSF Program Solicitation so, it is very important to read through the preparation and submission instructions each time.

  • Project Summary (1 page)
  • Project Description (Small and Medium proposals, up to 15 pages; Large proposals, up to 20 pages)
  • References Cited
  • Biographical Sketch (2 pages)
  • Budget and Budget Justification
  • Current and Pending Support
  • Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources
  • Data Management Plan (2 pages)
  • Collaboration Plan (if applicable; Medium and Large proposals, up to 2 pages)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan (if applicable; 1 page)
  • Letter(s) of Collaboration (if applicable; use NSF recommended format)
  • Collaborators & Other Affiliations (COA) Information

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Other Proposal and Supplement Opportunities

Additional Types of Proposals

Supplemental Funding Opportunities

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Facilities and Equipment Descriptions

The Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) is one of ten departments in the College of Engineering, with Bachelor's, Master's, and PHD degree programs. Its mission is to "research, design, and engineer interactions between humans and technology, putting people first." HCDE research (1) considers the role of communication and technology in human activity; (2) prioritizes the needs, desires, and behaviors of people and communities who interact with technical systems; and (3) addresses the specifics of design by working with interdisciplinary communities of researchers to build innovative technological solutions.

Facilities

HCDE is located on the first, second, third, and fourth floors of Sieg Hall, and the third floor of the Engineering Annex Building, on the Seattle Campus of the University of Washington. Sieg contains the HCDE main office as well as faculty and staff offices, shared faculty research labs and a department lounge, as well as one large main conference room and two smaller meeting rooms, and shared departmental labs, including a virtual reality lab, a make lab, and a design lab.

The department's main office is located in room 428 Sieg. HCDE students, faculty, and staff are welcome to use the refrigerator and microwave in the HCDE lounge, located in room 422 Sieg.

The main HCDE conference room in Sieg 129 is available to HCDE faculty and staff for meetings related to HCDE projects; this space can be reserved by contacting the HCDE main office. HCDE also maintains additional small meeting spaces in rooms 314 and 427 of Sieg Hall. These spaces can also be reserved online here, or by contacting the HCDE main office.

HCDE has a robust research agenda, with faculty running research labs and centers. The Virtual Reality Lab, the Make Lab, and the Design Lab comprise HCDE's Educational Labs (Ed Labs), shared spaces to be used by HCDE students and faculty for teaching, learning, and research activities.

The Virtual Reality Lab is located in room 129A and contains installed components of an HTC Vive and a high performance desktop. An Oculus Rift is also available for check out. The Make Lab in room 313 of Sieg Hall contains tools and materials for hard prototyping (drill press, soldering, as well as many other tools and parts) on movable tool benches that can be ported to classrooms, and is available by appointment.

The Design Lab is located in Sieg 233 and includes movable tables and chairs of different sizes and kinds, wall-mounted and movable white boards, and movable carts with an assortment of prototyping supplies. The space is able to accommodate up to 40-person classes and features ceiling-mounted projectors, screens, speakers, and white board walls. The motivation for creating the Design Lab was that much of our work is highly collaborative, with many courses and research efforts employing project-based models for teaching and learning that have our students working in groups. This group work requires a different kind of space than the typical classroom for an effective practice. The work takes many different forms, depending on the specific project or phase of the project. Examples are brainstorming sessions, design meetings, group discussions, prototyping, presentations, and exhibits.

Computing Resources

Standard computer facilities and common computing services such as internet access and printing (including 3D printing) are available to members of research teams through facilities available across the University of Washington campus. The Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering employs a full-time Computing Manager who provides dedicated IT support to faculty research endeavors and the department.

Offices

PIs, Co-PIs, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate student RAs working on projects are provided with standard office space and basic services such as telephones, internet access, and mail service.

Administrative Support

The Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering makes available appropriate administrative, financial and computing support staff resources to assist PIs, senior personnel, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students involved in research.

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Estimated Quarterly Cost of HCDE GRAs

See below for the estimated quarterly cost of a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at a standard appointment of 50% FTE (20 hours per week).

Pre-PhD Candidate Student

 Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Total Qtr
Salary (50% FTE) $2,744 $2,744 $2,744 $8,232
Fringe Benefits (22.4%) $615 $615 $615 $1,845
IDC (55.5%) $1,864 $1,864 $1,864 $5,592
Tuition $6,031     $6,031
One Qtr GRA Cost $11,254 $5,223 $5,223 $21,700

PhD Candidate Student

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Total Qtr
Salary (50% FTE) $2,948 $2,948 $2,948 $8,844
Fringe Benefits (22.4%) $660 $660 $660 $1,981
IDC (55.5%) $2,002 $2,002 $2,002 $6,007
Tuition $6,031     $6,031
One Qtr GRA Cost $11,641 $5,610 $5,610 $22,863

 

Notes

  • Salary, Fringe Benefit and Indirect Cost (IDC) rates are effective 7/1/2020-6/30/2021.
  • The IDC rate for your sponsor may differ from the rate noted here.
  • Tuition rate listed is for AY 2020-2021.
  • Tuition rate for MS will cost $860 per credit for AY 2020-2021. HCDE MS Tuition and Fees.
  • Reminder: If a PI hires a non-HCDE student, the student's home department rate is applied.

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Research with Human Subjects

Information for Researchers

Faculty and students in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) who plan to use human subjects in their research (e.g., interviews) and disseminate their results beyond classroom use, will generally require approval from the university's institutional review board (IRB) through the duration of the research activity. Please refer to the UW Human Subjects website for information that will help in determining whether your research activities require IRB review. If you do need IRB review, you will be required to fill out a form ("protocol") in Word, upload to a database ("Zipline SmartForms"), and will usually be required to assign your supervising faculty as ancillary reviewer ("Study Roles Addendum"). All needed reviews and sign-offs take place within the Zipline database.

You may find it helpful to ask the faculty you are working with to provide you with examples of forms they have used in earlier studies and to ask questions of coordinators at the Human Subjects Division.

If your study requires IRB approval, you may NOT begin to conduct of the human subjects research until you have received that approval.

HCDE manages a docusign account if you need to send consent forms to research participants. If you would like to access to docusign please submit a request to hcde-it@engr.washington.edu

Information for Research Participants

Researchers occasionally ask students* in HCDE classes to participate in user-centered design experiments. You may be asked, for example, to perform a task on a computer or to read text passages and take a reading comprehension test. You will be asked to expend no more than two hours of your time in any one quarter (one of these hours might occur during class time).

*If you are under 18, Federal and University regulations require parental permission before you can participate in any aspect of the subject pool. Please ask experimenters for more information.*

Not all sections of all HCDE courses will have the opportunity to participate in these experiments every quarter. If, however, your class is chosen, your participation in some form may be part of your course requirements. You may fulfill the course requirement in several different ways.

  1. You may participate by performing the exercise requested by the experimenter.
  2. You may participate by showing up at the appointed time, listening to the experimenter present the goals of the study, and examining the materials. You may then decide not to complete the task.
  3. If your class section is chosen to participate and if you do not wish to participate in a research setting, you may fulfill the course requirement for participation by writing a 2-page paper on a topic suggested by your instructor. This paper should be submitted to your class instructor before the final day of classes for the given quarter. The paper will not be graded.

We have found HCDE experiments to be rewarding experiences for both participants and the experimenters. However, you are free to withdraw from an experiment at any time. 

When you participate in an experiment, you should be given a consent form to sign. (With some online experiments, consent forms are part of the online instructions and the participant gives consent by completing the study versus closing the browser and withdrawing from the experiment.) With in-person experiments, if the experimenter does not give you a consent form, do not participate in the study. Additionally, some experiments may use a sign-up form, which may be passed around in class and then posted outside the experimenter's office. You can sign up, cancel, or re-schedule on this form. If the experiment is not conducted in class, you should go to the experiment location 5–10 minutes before the experiment. Please wait 10 minutes past the assigned time for the experimenter to show-up; if he or she does not show up, you may leave and still receive credit for participation.

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Collaborating with Industry Sponsors on Directed Research Groups

HCDE values student participation in research groups, the purpose of which is to further the intellectual growth of HCDE students. HCDE recognizes that opportunities arise when members of the HCDE Corporate Affiliates Program (CAP) are interested in working with an HCDE faculty member to offer a directed research group (DRG). Such offerings can be mutually beneficial to our students, faculty, and CAP members.
In order to ensure that such collaborations succeed, this document describes the responsibilities for running collaborative research groups.

Getting Started

If a CAP member is interested in collaboratively offering a DRG, that individual should communicate with HCDE faculty and ask them to meet and discuss possible DRG topics. After finding an HCDE faculty sponsor who is willing to sponsor the research group, the CAP member should work with the faculty sponsor to draft a detailed plan of how the research group will work. The faculty sponsor and the CAP member will then submit a title/description/time of the research group to the HCDE Academic Services Manager at least 6 weeks before the start of the academic term for the research group. (This will permit HCDE to announce the research group alongside other research groups and ensure adequate student registration.)

Responsibilities of the CAP member

The CAP member should work with the sponsoring faculty member to define expectations, roles, and responsibilities related to leading the group. These arrangements should define:

  • Who will attend which research group sessions
  • Who will coordinate student activities, respond to student requests/concerns, etc.
  • How student activities will be tracked in order to ensure that credit can be appropriately assigned to students by the faculty sponsor
  • How the CAP member will participate with the research groups
  • How intellectual property will be handled for the work generated by the research group (please note that the C4C http://depts.washington.edu/uwc4c/ is available to address related questions)

Responsibilities of the HCDE Faculty Sponsor

The faculty sponsor working with the CAP member is responsible for:

  • Working with the CAP member and communicating with them regularly throughout the quarter
  • Ensuring that the DRG’s activities align with the educational mission of HCDE and the university
  • Attending weekly class meetings
  • Reviewing and approving/denying requests from students who seek to join the group
  • Gathering the class list and forwarding it to the research group leader
  • Ensuring that student credit hours align with DRG work requirements
  • Submitting the students’ final grades

Who Can Enroll in HCDE Directed Research Groups

Participation in a DRG is restricted to students who have been approved to do so by the faculty sponsor. They include students in HCDE matriculated programs (i.e., BS, MS, and PhD programs). UW Catalog description of a *Directed Research Group (HCDE 496/596): Students, working in teams under the supervision of individual faculty members, review relevant literature, pose research questions, design and conduct studies, and present the results in papers prepared either for submission to a professional journal or for presentation at a professional conference. Credit/No Credit only

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