Major STC Research Grant Program Announced

By Sandi Harner, Assistant to the President for Academic and Research Programs, Fellow, and Faculty Advisor for the Cedarville University Student Chapter.

In January 2003, the STC board of directors voted unanimously to make research one of its highest priorities. Since that time, the research grants committee, under the direction of Judy Ramey (2003-2004) and Rachel Spilka (2004-2005), has worked hard to put a research grants program in place.

During those two years, two proposals were accepted and monies awarded for our annual $10,000 grant program. In this program, the proposer chooses the topic and submits a pre-proposal, which is taken to the board for approval. If this proposal is approved, the research grants committee will request a full proposal in order to determine if the money will be granted.

Now STC is excited to announce the launch of a major research grant program in which the Society publishes a Request for Proposals (RFP) on topics approved by the board. This year three topics are announced: Making Content Usable, Communicating with Many Audiences, and Achieving Return on Investment (ROI). For applicants, this grant program will be conducted in three phases:

1. Write a letter of intent that (a) defines a research problem, (b) describes the research project you would eventually conduct on that problem for the larger grant award, from $100,000 to $150,000, (c) describes exactly what you would do to prepare for the larger research project, and (d) details how the research can be put into practice. As the STC research grants committee reviews these letters of intent, it may ask for further information. After the review, the committee will choose three projects, one for each announced topic.

2. If you individually, or your team of researchers, are chosen as one of the three winners, you will receive up to $10,000 to do preliminary work (for example, a full literature review, a pilot, creation of a research team, development of methodology, pilot testing) toward the goal of creating a full, in-depth research proposal for the larger grant of $100,000 to $150,000.

3. The STC research grants committee will review all three expanded proposals and choose one to recommend to the STC board. If your project is approved by the STC board, you will receive funding in phases to support your project. During the course of your project, you will be required to submit periodic progress reports. Within five months of the completion of your project, you will be required to submit the following: (a) a final report and (b) a white paper including practical application(s) based on the research. Eight months after completion of the research, you will be required to submit a draft of an article for the STC journal, Technical Communication, or a special issue of that journal. Eighteen months after completion of the research, you will be required to submit a draft of a monograph to be published by STC (if requested by STC). You will also be required to present your research findings at the 2008 or 2009 annual STC conference.

For more details about the research grants program, please see the Research Grants section of the STC Web site. The deadline for letters of intent is May 30, 2005.