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About the CAS Office of Research and Scholarship

The College of Arts and Sciences is home to more than 120 funded research faculty with more than $60 million in active contracts and grants. With over two dozen research institutes and centers, the College of Arts and Sciences is engaged in innovative, interdisciplinary research that has the potential to improve society from utilizing renewable energy to developing new drugs to cure cancer. Boasting a 30 percent recovery rate for F&A (also known as indirect costs), CAS grants generate over $4 million a year in RIA dollars (also known as research initiative accounts).

Research and scholarly excellence in natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities address a wide array of relevant topics that face our state, the nation and the world. Examples of these research activities include: bio-defense, forensics, conservation biology, hydrology and water resources, globalization, sustainability, renewable energy, cancer research, drug discovery, materials science, neuroscience, obesity, nanotechnology, and science & math literacy.

The CAS Office of Research and Scholarship provides a broad array of pre- and post-award services designed to expand the research, scholarship and external funding portfolio of the College of Arts and Sciences.  A sampling of the services our office provides includes:

  • Assist faculty to identify funding, provide  proposal review to position for success, assist faculty on budget development, and navigate the proposal submission process.
  • Provide the Dean's office review of sponsored project proposals before they are submitted to the USF Division of Sponsored Research.
  • Partner with the CAS Budget Office on issues of fiscal management assessment and make investment recommendations; track and monitor expenses (such as cost share commitments), facilitate grant budget release (GBR), budget transfers and underwrites.
  • Provide the CAS Internal Awards Programs which awards for Faculty R&D, international travel, and conference coordination (budgeted up to $120K per year).
  • Provide research related web content for the College and School websites, including current Request for Proposals (RFPs) specific to each School.
  • Provide a voice for the college on USF committees and university initiatives that further the research and scholarship goals of the College and University (e.g. Integrated Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Faculty International Engagement, growing industry partners).
  • Help develop research workshops for USF TRAIN®  to improve grant administration and provide templates and tools for USF research faculty and research adminsitrators.
  • Team with the USF Office of Research & Innovation’s Division of Sponsored Research on workgroups to improve the  pre-award infrastructure and enhance university research reporting.
  • Liaison with the USF Office of Research & Innovation’s Division of Office of Research Integrity and Compliance for inquiries into research misconduct and related investigations.

The research and scholarship staff also represents CAS on many important university-wide committees, workgroups and task force initiatives such as: ORI/USF World Faculty International Engagement Workgroup; Proposal Development Enhancement Task Force; Integrated Interdisciplinary Initiative (III); Phi Beta Kappa Lecture Series Workgroup.