Thrust Awards

The goal of these awards is to strengthen resubmission efforts of externally reviewed but unfunded proposals by addressing reviewer comments and generating additional supporting data.

Program Design

  • Five awards of $50,000 each per year; $250,000 total.
  • At least two awards are available for proposals submitted in each cycle (October 1 and March 1), with the fifth award flexible and made in whichever cycle yields the stronger proposal on merit.
  • Any uncommitted funds will roll over to the next RFP cycle.
  • Resubmitted extramural proposals supported by Thrust funding must be at least five times the seed funding received. For example, a $50,000 Thrust award requires a resubmitted proposal with at least $250,000 in direct costs

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be submitted directly to the ord@k-state.edu.

Applications must include:

(11 pt Times New Roman, 1-inch margins; 5-page limit, including a budget and brief justification.)

  • Original proposal submitted to an external funding agency
  • Agency's complete official review or summary statement
  • Score (if applicable)
  • A brief one-year program of work, based on the external proposal, detailing plans to address critiques, the resubmission strategy, and a timeline.

The prior external submission must meet minimum agency review thresholds:

  • NIH — the proposal was scored (not triaged).
  • NSF — the proposal received average panel or ad hoc ratings of Good, Very Good, or Excellent.
  • DOE — review contained “fund if possible” language, strong score (at least 4 out of 6 possible points, and PI demonstrates alignment with DOE and national lab priorities.
  • USDA (NIFA/ARS) — review includes language such as “high priority if additional funds available”, “meritorious but not funded”, or “recommended for funding.”
  • Other federal, state, or private sponsors — comparable evidence of competitive merit review, as determined by ORD.

Funding duration:

1 year with an optional no-cost extension of up to 1 additional year with justification and approval from the OVPR.

Expected Outcome

Revised proposal resubmitted to the same or comparable external funding program.