Community-Engaged Research Core Faculty Fellowship Program

An early-career investigator at any Penn State campus approved to submit external grant proposals as principal investigator, is interested in advancing their CER knowledge and skills, and has a mentor experienced in CER is eligible to apply.

The application (points 1-5 below) should not exceed four, single-spaced pages (at least 11-point size font, at least 0.5-inch margins) and include:

1. Title of project
2. Abstract
3. Applicant’s goals for the fellowship
   • Describe the research area, its significance and how community partners will be involved. Explain the need for increased community partner involvement in this research.
   • Describe prior/existing relationship (if any) of the applicant, mentor and/or Penn State with the community relevant to the proposed research.
   • Explain why the fellowship is needed to advance the applicant’s expertise and research program, and how the mentor will assist with it.
4. Activity plan
   • Describe the activities planned to be undertaken during the fellowship, how these activities will advance the goals of the fellow and the CER fellowship.
   • Describe the deliverables planned to be accomplished during the fellowship, including at minimum these three deliverables: presentations, publications and external grant proposals, and their timeline. Explain how the fellowship will lead to a proposal for external funding.
   • Mentorship plan: Describe the prior/existing relationship between the applicant and the mentor, and plans for its continuation beyond the fellowship’s duration. Describe the actual activities the mentor and mentee will engage in and alignment between the mentee’s research and mentor’s expertise.
5. Budget
   • Submit the cost of two course buyouts (or equivalent) at campus-established, in-state rate or, where appropriate, particularly for clinicians, cost of 0.1 FTE (not to exceed the current National Institutes of Health salary cap of $221,900) plus fringe at the institutionally approved rate for an entire fiscal year (12 months). Departmental matching is encouraged but not required. The total requested budget and commitment to applicant’s protected time for the CER Fellowship activities should be confirmed in the letter of support from the applicant’s department chair or other institutional leader.
   • Funds of up to $3,000 are available to support mentor’s efforts. These funds can be used toward mentor’s protected time or as discretionary funds (e.g., to cover the cost of travel to a professional meeting or conference registration). These funds cannot be used to support the mentor’s or awardee’s research projects.
6. Additional application attachments (not included in the four-page limit)
   • Applicant’s NIH Biographical sketch (up to five pages, following the current NIH guidance).
   • Mentor’s NIH Biographical sketch (up to five pages, following the current NIH guidance).
   • Mentor’s Letter of Support. This letter should affirm the applicant’s proposed training and mentoring plan, and deliverables, and indicate the mentor’s expertise relevant to CER and willingness to serve as a mentor, and if they request financial support (up to $3,000 designated for mentor’s effort).
   • Letter of Support from the applicant’s department chair or institutional leader (see point 5, first bullet, for the required components of this letter).

• Merits of the proposal, including its innovation, significance and relevance to CERC’s mission.
• Community-engaged research focused on communities within PA commonwealth; applications focused on working with Penn State CERC-established community-partners (e.g., Schuylkill County, northern Dauphin County, Harrisburg, etc.) are highly encouraged.
• Clarity, rigor and feasibility of the work plan.
• Likelihood of an external proposal resulting from fellowship
• Qualifications, commitment and clarity of roles for the applicant and the primary mentor; priority will be given to ESIs who require additional training and/or pilot data to advance their scientific careers.
• Strength of institutional/departmental and primary mentor support and commitment.

Awardee is required to provide a progress report mid-year (by Dec. 1, 2025) and a final report no later than 30 days after the end of the Fellowship, describing progress made, accomplished deliverables, including the plan and timeline for an external grant proposal.

Interested eligible researchers should submit their application via InfoReady no later than 11:59 p.m. ET (Eastern Time) on Oct. 1, 2024. Proposal must be complete when submitted and include all items noted above.

Submit the full application as a single PDF file using the following naming convention: Last name of the PI-CER2526-SubmissionDate (e.g., Smith-CER2526-12202023) through the InfoReady platform, using the InfoReady link. For additional information regarding the InfoReady platform, please see below.

The selected awardees will be notified by Dec. 10, 2024. Projects are expected to begin on July 1, 2025.

Apply now

PSU InfoReady guidance for applicants

To submit applications through PSU InfoReady, applicants must first login to InfoReady using their Penn State credentials and complete the authentication process through Penn State’s Single Sign-On (SSO) at least one time prior to submission. InfoReady requires this one-time log in/SSO process to authenticate applicants as affiliates of Penn State. Once authenticated, applicants can submit a proposal on their own OR designate a proxy who can submit proposals on their behalf. All users are reminded to use only PSU access ID email accounts (e.g. xyz123@psu.edu), not an alias PSU email, when using PSU InfoReady. PSU InfoReady does not recognize applicant submissions associated with other email domains.

Designating a proxy
Proxy submitters are individuals designated by the PI to submit a proposal on their behalf. Typically, a proxy is a department research administrator that supported the applicant’s submission. InfoReady provides step-by-step Instructions for Designating a Proxy. Both the proxy and applicant will receive all competition notifications.

Save as Draft
InfoReady allows users to Save as Draft and return later to complete an application. Access your draft applications through the Applications tab on the home navigation bar. Clicking ‘Apply’ more than once for a particular opportunity may create multiple submissions in the competition. Delete any old or duplicate drafts by clicking the trash can icon to the right of the desired application.

Editing a Submitted Application
Prior to the submission deadline, InfoReady administrators are able to return applications to applicants for edits. There is no need to start a new application. Please contact Kelsey Stoltzfus (kstoltzfus4@pennstatehealth.psu.edu) if you need to recall a submitted application. The applicant and/or proxy submitter will receive an email notification with a link to the application, which will return to draft status in the Applications tab. The applicant will be able to make edits and re-submit.

Once the submission deadline has passed, only an InfoReady administrator can make edits to a submitted application.

Questions or Concerns?
If applicants or administrators encounter any technical issues with InfoReady, they are encouraged to submit a ticket for technical support by emailing InfoReady at support@inforeadycorp.com.

InfoReady’s support team is available from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (EST) and is very responsive.