Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) -
UC MEXUS Small Grants Program
The Application Process:
- Am I eligible to apply?
- Whom can I contact for information about the application process or if I have questions regarding my current grant?
- May I send UC MEXUS a draft of my proposal before the deadline for pre-review and comments on how to make it stronger?
- How many copies should I submit?
- Can I send you my proposal as an email attachment or just fax it to you as a placeholder on the day of the deadline?
- When will I be notified of the results of the competition?
- How are the proposals reviewed?
- Can I get a critique of the proposal back after the competition is over?
Grants Administration:
- Why won't you give me any information about the status of a specific grant?
- May I postpone a grant from one year to the next?
- How are the grants administrated for UC P.I.s? Do I need to submit receipts to UC MEXUS?
- How long does it take to get grant funds after the final decisions are made?
- Can I change the budget or extend the project period after the grant commences?
- If the Principal Investigator moves to another institution, can the grant move with him/her?
- Is it possible to change the Principal Investigator for the project?
- If I have funds left over after the project is finished, may I use them toward something else?
- What are the final reporting requirements?
The Application Process:
University of California faculty and researchers who meet UC requirements for Principal Investigator status are eligible to apply. Please check with your department administrator and/or campus research office (or sponsored projects office) if you have any questions regarding your eligibility. The requirements are included in the program description under "Eligibility."
Lecturers, postdoctoral researchers, and students are not eligible.
2. Whom can I contact for information about the application process or if I have questions regarding my current grant?
Andrea Kaus (andrea.kaus@ucr.edu; tel: 951-827-3586) or Martha Ponce (martha.ponce@ucr.edu; tel: 951-827-4773).
3. May I send UC MEXUS a draft of my proposal before the deadline for pre-review and comments on how to make it stronger?
UC MEXUS does not become involved in proposal preparation, including the pre-review of proposals. As the funding organization and office responsible for overseeing the review process, any participation in individual proposal development represents a conflict of interest. UC MEXUS does not encourage specific research emphases or disciplines in these competitions and any individual guidance would create an unfair advantage or unrealistic expectation of funding.
4. How many copies should I submit?
Submit only one original to us, but also provide copies simultaneously to your department administrator, department chair, and research office.
5. Can I send you my proposal as an email attachment or just fax it to you as a placeholder on the day of the deadline?
There is no electronic submission process for this program. Hard copies of the proposals with all the required signatures must be submitted by the deadline. No faxes, email attachments, or late proposals are accepted.
6. When will I be notified of the results of the competition?
The final decisions are made within a month of the application deadline. Information is given out ONLY to the Principal Investigators named in the project. No results are released to students, additional academic participants, or colleagues. Once all the notifications have been sent out, a list of the grant recipients will be placed on the UC MEXUS website under Program Results.
7. How are the proposals reviewed?
The proposals undergo an initial administrative review for eligibility and completeness. They are also reviewed by the program officer for their fit to the goals of the program and may be sent out for additional outside peer review. The proposals are then forwarded to the UC MEXUS director for a final review and decisions based on any reviewer recommendations, available funding, and program objectives.
8. Can I get a critique of the proposal back after the competition is over?
UC MEXUS does not provide any post-review comments or critiques. Our best suggestion is to look at the program guidelines and grant-writing suggestions specific to this program to determine if your proposal can be strengthened in any one of the areas. These suggestions are posted on the UC MEXUS website on the research page.
Grants Administration:
9. Why won’t you give me any information about the status of a specific grant?
UC MEXUS provides information about an individual grant, its status, its budget, any changes, etc. only to the Principal Investigator, the person responsible for the project. We consider this information confidential for the P.I. and the right of the P.I. to decide who should or should not know about specific details regarding the grant. As a result, information about individual grants is not given out to students, additional participants, or colleagues unless it is with the expressed, written permission of the P.I. Once every applicant has been notified, the final results are posted for public viewing on the UC MEXUS website.
10. May I postpone a grant from one year to the next?
No. Grants may not be deferred to a subsequent year. UC MEXUS can only hold the funds for a year.
11. How are the grants administrated? Do I need to submit receipts to UC MEXUS?
After all the appropriate signatures for the terms and conditions of a grant award have been received at UC MEXUS, the funds are transferred directly to the P.I.’s department for administration there according to individual departmental and campus policies. The receipts should be submitted as required by your department or campus administrator responsible for managing your grant account. At the end of the project, the P.I. and the administrator submit a final narrative and financial report to report what the project accomplished and how the funds were spent in relationship to the approved budget (the guidelines are available on the UC MEXUS website). We strongly recommend that P.I.s discuss what is required with their department administrators before they begin to spend the funds.
12. How long does it take to get grant funds after the final decisions are made?
After the final decisions are made and any budget issues are resolved, the award packets are sent out with the official letters of award, the terms and conditions of the award and a departmental transfer form. The latter two must be sent back to UC MEXUS. The time from notification to transferring the funds depends on how fast the P.I. can clarify any budget issues for the final budget approval and subsequently get the required forms back to UC MEXUS. Once the forms are received by UC MEXUS, it can take 4-6 weeks for the paperwork to work its way through the systemwide University administration and the funds may not show up in your campus account for up to 3 months. With this in mind, most departments will advance the funds once they receive the transfer information and the account structure is established in your department. Funds can be applied to anything in the approved budget that postdates the start date of the award.
13. Can I change the budget or extend the project period after the grant commences?
UC MEXUS recognizes that unforeseen circumstances or opportunities may require some adjustments in a project’s budget, agenda, or timing and some allowances can be made if the overall project retains the same basic goals and structure as those evaluated by the peer review committee.
Only the Principal Investigator may request a change, and the letter of request must include the P.I.’s original signature.
For budget revisions, refer to the instructions in the conditions of award, item 5, under Project/Budget Modifications. This part of the contract states that you will expend the funds according to the approved budget. You must ask for a budget revision for changes exceeding 10% of any budgeted line item (e.g., salaries, travel, supplies and services, etc.). Requests for budget revisions still need to follow the policies for allowable expenditures and cannot include purchases of equipment, academic salaries (except for student research assistants), indirect costs, or institutional overhead. Send a brief letter of explanation/justification and a revised budget to the address below. Be sure to indicate from where in the old budget the funds will be moved. The request must be received by UC MEXUS at least 30 days prior to the planned expenditure.
For project extensions, send a brief letter of explanation requesting a "no-cost extension" to the address below. You must send this letter at least 30 days prior to the end of the project period. Send all requests to:
Mr. David Kropf
Assistant Director, UC MEXUS
3324 Olmsted Hall
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521
Send hard copies only. E-mails or faxes will not be accepted.
14. If the Principal Investigator moves to another institution, can the grant move with him/her?
If the P.I. moves within the UC system, the grant may be moved as well, provided that he/she can provide a new Institutional Approval Form from the new campus’ research office . In this case, the P.I. needs to write a letter of request and include the Institutional Approval Form from the new campus or department. Send the letter of request and form to:
Mr. David Kropf
Assistant Director, UC MEXUS
3324 Olmsted Hall
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521
UC P.I.s who move to another institution outside the UC system are no longer eligible as P.I.s and cannot take the grant funds with them. In this case, the grant is terminated and the funds must be returned to UC MEXUS.
15. Is it possible to change the Principal Investigator for the project?
If the P.I. is unable to continue as director of the project, perhaps due to a move to another institution or personal reasons, a new P.I. can be appointed. This requires a written request from the "old" P.I., indicating the reason for the change and a letter (with a curriculum vitae) of acceptance from the new P.I. with co-signature from the campus research office . The new P.I. must meet the eligibility requirements of the program. Both letters should indicate that the original structure of the project will not be altered. Send the two letters and the new P.I.’s c.v. to:
Mr. David Kropf
Assistant Director, UC MEXUS
3324 Olmsted Hall
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521
If the new P.I. is at another UC campus, the two departments (the "old" and the "new") will need to determine how to transfer the funds to the new P.I.s department.
16. If I have funds left over after the project is finished, may I use them toward something else?
Any funds leftover after the project period ends must be returned to UC MEXUS, as per the conditions of award. Before the project period ends, i.e., at least 30 days prior to the end date of your award, you may anticipate that you will not spend all the funds in your approved budget and might wish to direct them to another part of your project. In that case, you can request a rebudget and no-cost extension. Address requests to:
Mr. David Kropf
Assistant Director UC MEXUS
3324 Olmsted Hall
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521
E-mail requests and faxes will not be accepted.
17. What are the final reporting requirements?
A final narrative and financial report is required three months after the project period ends. There is no standard format for the final report, but we do provide guidelines on our website - look at the bottom of the page and use the faculty grant guidelines. The guidelines are not intended to be forms to fill in but more to indicate what are key points to cover. Keep in mind that we are interested in how the project reached its own goals, how the funds were spent in accordance to the approved budget, and how well the results of the project met the UC MEXUS goals in terms of providing seed funding for research and/or collaboration.