Strategic Equipment Investment Program

The Strategic Equipment Investment Program (SEIP) is administered by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships. Awards from the SEIP can be used to support the purchase of all types of equipment, ranging from scientific to creative arts. The SEIP provides funding on a competitive basis for the purchase of truly strategic equipment that will have significant impact on enhancing a team’s capabilities and competitiveness in research and/or creative activities at a national level. The expectation is that acquiring the proposed equipment will provide new opportunities for advancing the team’s ability to achieve new goals in terms of creativity, discovery, innovation, and securing external funding. 

A proposal team must be led by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member. Research faculty and permanent professional/technical staff may serve as co-PIs on proposal teams. Funding received from the SEIP may not be used to renovate facilities or for infrastructure enhancements. Financial commitments from a proposing team’s parent units will be considered favorably. How these units’ funds will be used should be clearly articulated in the proposal, e.g., infrastructure renovations and/or assisting with the cost of the equipment.

Written proposals must not exceed two pages (single-spaced, 12-point font, Times or Times New Roman) and will be evaluated by a selected team of OU peer reviewers.

• The proposal must contain the following headers:
  • Abstract
  • Team
  • Equipment Justification
  • Impact and Goals
  • Alignment with Strategic Plans
  • Infrastructure
  • Cost-share
• Abstract (250-word limit)
  • Should briefly summarize the most salient proposal information.
• Team:
  • Define and describe your team and the departments/colleges the acquisition of this equipment will benefit. You may choose to attach an appendix with a list of team members and departments if needed.
• Equipment Justification:
  • Justification of the proposed equipment.
  • Explanation of the unmet need.
• Impact and Goals:
  • Describe the benefit this equipment will bring to your team as well as the larger community of researchers internal or external to OU.
  • How will the proposed equipment help enhance creative activities, produce new data, and possibly new proposal opportunities?
  • What are the goals, expected outcomes, and possible impact this equipment will bring to the university?
  • Describe plans to share or make available the equipment to new or additional faculty members beyond the proposal team.
  • What is the anticipated return on investment (ROI)?
• Alignment with Strategic Plans:
  • How do the activities conducted align with the Lead On, University Strategic Plan, particularly Pillar 5; Strategic Research Verticals; Strategic Vertical Institutes, and/or Cross-Cutting Foundations?
• Infrastructure:
  • Provide a statement related to available infrastructure and space to house the equipment. We understand that there could be a need for items like electrical upgrades, exhaust, etc., but do not include these costs in the proposal. Contact VPRP Associate Vice President Melany Dickens-Ray (mdickens@ou.edu) if you have questions or need assistance regarding space or infrastructure requirements.
• Cost-share
  • Describe your efforts to secure cost-share contributions.

• It is expected that proposals outline efforts to secure cost-share contributions.
• At least one equipment quote must be included with each submitted proposal.
• We are planning two proposal solicitations for Fiscal Year 2024 — one in Fall 2023 and the other in Spring 2024. For each solicitation, we expect to be able to support about four SEIP proposals in the $50K range. Due to budget constraints, we do not anticipate being able to fund individual proposals in excess of $100K.
• If you have any questions, you may reach out to OVPRP Senior Associate Vice President Carol Silva (clsilva@ou.edu), who serves as the point of contact for the SEIP.
• Proposals should be submitted as one PDF file using the submission portal provided below.

Prior to submitting, review the items on this list as it is required information on the application form.

• Title of proposal
• Names and affiliations (department and college) of the PI
• Names and affiliations (department and college) of the coPI(s)
• Name of the requested equipment
• Total project cost (needs to match the quote (s))
• Cost-share contribution
• Requested SEIP funding
• The sum of cost-share contribution and requested SEIP funding needs to match the total project cost.

Submit SEIP Application

• September 15, 2023 - Fall 2023 submissions due by 5:00 p.m.
• Early November 2023 - Notifications of selected Fall 2023 proposals for awards

• February 1, 2024 - Spring 2024 submissions due by 5:00 p.m.
• Mid-March 2024 - Notifications of selected Spring 2024 proposals for awards

Fall 2022 SEIP Awardees

Spring 2022 SEIP Awardees

2021 Awardees, SSHA and SEIP