Research and Creative Activities Fund (RCAF)

The Research and Creative Activities Fund (RCAF) Committee makes recommendations to the Vice Provost for Research regarding awards made from the fund.   The Committee considers support for four types of proposals:

1. Seed money that enables the investigator to do the preliminary work that precedes proposal submission for extramural funding; or
2. Support the gathering of preliminary results for resubmission of applications for which extramural funding was sought but not awarded; or
3. Pursue scholarly research and creative activities for which external funding is limited or not available; or
4. Conduct a systemic investigation into student learning with the purpose of developing novel teaching methodologies and practices that can measurably enhance student learning outcomes and advance the practice of teaching and public dissemination of inquiry findings.

Qualified faculty are those who:

• Hold a full-time, tenure, tenure-track, professor of professional practice, or instructor appointment at TCU.
• Have filed a final report on all previously awarded RCAF grants.
• Have submitted at least one proposal for external funding over the past three years -OR- have not received three or more RCAF grants within the last five years.

Funds will NOT be provided for:

• Any travel that is not directly related to the conduct of the proposed research or creative activity.
• Completion or publication of dissertations.
• Faculty salaries, though Junior Faculty may apply for the JFSRP supplement for summer salary with their RCAF proposal.
• Support of graduate students receiving fellowships or assistantships.

Proposals should be carefully prepared following the RCAF Guidelines