The EMS Bridge Funding Program for Research provides short-term funding to support the continuation of research projects facing unexpected stop-work orders, termination notices, suspensions, or interruptions of extramural funding. The program aims to sustain critical research activity by providing minimal “essential” support to enable milestone completion or continuity during a funding gap.
Funding priorities
Funds may be used to support the following in order of priority:
- Graduate Student Support
- Postdoctoral Scholars
- Reimbursement for Incurred Expenses (e.g., non-refundable travel, conference fees)
- Time-Sensitive Work (e.g., ongoing field studies)
- Other critical items or activities supporting milestone completion towards the next funded phase.
Funds may not be used to supplement previously secured major funding, for salary support for tenure-track faculty, major new equipment, or non-essential travel. The award period is generally six months, and any unspent balance at the end of the bridge funding period will be returned to the college for reallocation. Awards, if approved, will be made on a rolling basis.
Eligibility
- A principal investigator (PI) in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences must have received notification of sudden, unanticipated interruption of extramural funding prior to the anticipated project end date or no-cost extension date.
- Only one application per interrupted grant is allowed.
- The PI must demonstrate a good-faith effort to leverage available non-sponsored resources (e.g., faculty discretionary funds and/or department/institute/center general funds and endowments) to cover costs normally incurred on the activity.
- Only projects administered through the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences are eligible for bridge funding.
Submission Guidelines
- Submissions are made through the InfoReady website: https://psu.infoready4.com/
- Bridge funding should be requested for the shortest duration necessary to cover critical expenditures, generally not exceeding six months.
- Application materials include:
- A copy of the grant/activity interruption notice on which the application is based.
- Budget plan (maximum 2 pages):
- Items for which bridge funding is requested. It is important to include the date funds will be needed to ensure that graduate student stipends and employee salaries can be covered without gaps.
- Justification for critical funding needs based on terminated funding.
- Description of other resources contributing to partially address the funding gap (e.g., faculty discretionary funds and/or department/institute/center general funds and endowments).
- A short letter from the Department Head or Institute Director certifying that available non-sponsored funds (e.g., faculty discretionary funds and/or department/institute/center general funds and endowments) have been considered and used for bridge funding purposes, and outlining the resources already committed in support of the activity. If multiple faculty are included as Co-PIs advising the student/staff, their resources, along with departmental and college contributions, will be considered as an eligibility criterion.
- A brief statement outlining any plans to pursue future extramural support, including potential pivots or adaptations to align with current funding priorities (maximum half a page).
Review Criteria
Proposals will be reviewed based on:
- The PI’s efforts to secure other resources to partially address the funding gap.
- The PI’s effort to pursue alternative extramural support through continued proposal submissions or adaptation of research aims, where appropriate.
There is no strict minimum or maximum funding request; however, cost reasonableness will be considered.
Additional information
As a condition of any bridge funding, the PI agrees to submit a new application for funding within six months of receipt of bridge funding or by the next posted grant deadline. This new application may require pivoting to an alternate or related fundable research idea.
Please contact Karen Royer for questions (klr9@psu.edu).