Program Office: Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
CFDA Number: 84.116H
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants
Also Known As: Research and Development Infrastructure (RDI)

The Research and Development Infrastructure Grant Program provides funding to eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs) that are four-year Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) including Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and/or Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), or consortia led by an eligible institution, with funds to implement transformational investments in research infrastructure, including research productivity, faculty expertise, graduate programs, physical infrastructure, human capital development, and partnerships leading to increases in external funding.

Grants awarded under this program have performance periods of four years. To be considered for a grant in this program, the eligible institution(s) are expected to implement transformational investments in research infrastructure, including research productivity, faculty expertise, graduate programs, physical infrastructure, human capital development, and partnerships leading to increases in external funding. There are three absolute priorities and one competitive preference priority for Absolute Priority 3.

Absolute Priority 1—Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ Research and Development Infrastructure.

Applications will be accepted for this absolute priority from HBCUs, as defined in the Notice, that propose to support high-quality implementation of transformative research capacity initiatives and that seek to attain higher research activity status, as measured by the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education, to either move from R2 to R1 status or from D/PU to R2 status. HBCUs that currently have an R1 Carnegie Classification are ineligible to apply as the lead applicant in this competition but are eligible to participate as part of a consortium.

Absolute Priority 2—Funding for Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities’ Research and Development Infrastructure.

Applications will be accepted for this absolute priority from TCCUs, as defined in the Notice, that propose to improve their research and development activities, including infrastructure, faculty development, and academic programs.

Absolute Priority 3—Funding for Minority Serving Institutions’ Research and Development Infrastructure.

Applications will be accepted for this absolute priority from MSIs, as defined in the Notice, including institutions designated as AANAPISI, ANNH, HSI, NASNTI, and/or PBI, that propose to support high-quality implementation of transformative research capacity initiatives and that seek to attain higher research activity status, as measured by the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education to either move from R2 to R1 status or from D/PU to R2 status. Institutions that currently have an R1 Carnegie Classification are ineligible to apply as the lead applicant in this competition but are eligible to participate as part of a consortium.

Competitive Preference Priority:
Absolute priority 3 has one competitive preference priority. We give competitive preference to applications that address the below priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we will award an additional two points to an application that meets this priority.

The priority is:
MSI Pell Grant Percentage (0 or 2 points).
Lead applicants whose Pell Grant recipients account for 50 percent or higher of their undergraduate student enrollment, as measured by the Department using the most recent data available in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), will be awarded 2 additional points.

Grants awarded in this program may use the funds for the following purposes.

• (1) Providing for the improvement of infrastructure existing on the date of the grant award, including deferred maintenance, or the establishment of new physical infrastructure, including instructional program spaces, laboratories, or research facilities relating to the fields of science, technology, engineering, the arts, mathematics, health, agriculture, education, medicine, law, and other disciplines.

• (2) Hiring and retaining faculty, students, research-related staff, or other personnel, including research personnel skilled in operating, using, or applying technology, equipment, or devices used to conduct or support research.

• (3) Supporting research internships and fellowships for students, including undergraduate (Absolute Priority 2 for TCCUs only), graduate, and post-doctoral positions, which may include providing direct student financial assistance to such students. Note: Per 20 U.S.C. 1138(d)(1), no funds made available under FIPSE can be used to provide direct financial assistance in the form of grants or scholarships to students who do not meet eligibility criteria under Title IV of the HEA.

• (4) Creating new, or expanding existing, academic positions, including internships, fellowships, and post-doctoral positions, in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.

• (5) Creating and supporting inter- and intra-institutional research centers (including formal and informal communities of practice) in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program, including hiring staff, purchasing supplies and equipment, and funding travel to relevant conferences and seminars to support the work of such centers.

• (6) Building new institutional support structures and departments that help faculty learn about, and increase faculty and student access to, Federal research and development grant funds and non-Federal academic research grants.

• (7) Building data and collaboration infrastructure so that early findings and research can be securely shared to facilitate peer review and other appropriate collaboration.

• (8) Providing programs of study and courses in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.

• (9) Paying operating and administrative expenses for, and coordinating project partnerships with members of, a consortium as described in this notice on behalf of which the eligible institution has received a grant under this program. A grantee under this competition may not pay for expenses to R1 institutions that are members of the consortia.

• (10) Installing or extending the life and usability of basic systems and components of campus facilities related to research, including high-speed broadband internet infrastructure sufficient to support digital and technology-based learning.

• (11) Expanding, remodeling, renovating, or altering biomedical and behavioral research facilities existing on the date of the grant award that received support under section 404I of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 283k).

• (12) Acquiring and installing furniture, fixtures, and instructional research-related equipment and technology for academic instruction in campus facilities in fields of research for which research and development infrastructure funds have been awarded under this program.

• (13) Providing increased funding to programs that support research and development at the eligible institution that are funded by National Institutes of Health, including the Path to Excellence and Innovation program with the National Institutes of Health.

• (14) Faculty professional development.

• (15) Planning purposes, for TCCUs applying under Absolute Priority 2 only.

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