Research & Sponsored Programs
Welcome! Who are we and what do we do?
Thank you for visiting Trinity's home for research and sponsored programs. Grant-seeking and proposal development are scholarly activities that can help faculty and staff to focus on the larger context of their research and creative activity, and to articulate its importance and impact. It also brings resources to campus for the benefit of your colleagues and students, and enhances Trinity's academic reputation as well as your own.
The Office of Sponsored Programs, along with its partners, including Alumni Relations & Development is here to assist faculty and staff to further Trinity's research and education mission while simultaneously ensuring that externally-funded projects comply with sponsor and Trinity rules. We can assist in all phases of the proposal development process, connect you with Trinity resources to implement your project, and ensure appropriate expenditure of funds. We are also available to help you build a multi-year funding strategy that may include both federal and private funding sources.
Please view this webpage for an array of tools and information to help you develop your application and to understand Trinity's proposal development process and related policies.
If you are interested in pursuing external funding for your research or scholarly work or need assistance in managing an active grant, please contact us:
Armando Saliba, Director of Sponsored Programs, asaliba@trinity.edu, (210) 999-7413, (Government Funding for Research, Faculty Scholarship, and Academic Programs, Third-party Research Agreements, Research Administration Policies, Subaward Administration, and Contracts)
Catherine Kenyon, Director of Foundation Relations, mkenyon@trinity.edu, (210) 999-8428, (Philanthropic Foundation Funding for Research, Faculty Scholarship, and Student Support)
Mindy Miller-Hill, Director of Corporate Relations, mmille20@trinity.edu, (210) 999-8068, (Philanthropic for Funding from Corporations/Businesses for Faculty Scholarship, Academic Programs and Student Support)
Sheila Brell, Manager of Sponsored Projects Accounting, sbrell@trinity.edu, (210) 999-7331, (Post-Award Financial Management, Account Setup, Financial Oversight & Reporting, and Liaison to other TU Business Offices)
Funding Search and Research Compliance
PivotRP
Trinity now uses the grants search tool Pivot-RP. This tool allows users to discover, track, save, and share grant funding opportunities. Log in using your TU username and password at https://pivot.proquest.com.
From the log-in page, scroll down to Trinity University in the menu where it says “Use login from my institution”.
Pivot-RP is accessible by anyone with an active @trinity.edu email address and password.
A recorded virtual training session led by a company representative held in July 2022 is here:
CITI Program for Compliance Training
Trinity uses CITI to conduct mandatory compliance training in areas, such as human subjects, animal welfare, and responsible conduct of research (RCR). To access CITI, click the button where indicated to access the CITI website and register.
There you will click register to easily create an account and affiliate it to Trinity to access your assigned courses. Once you complete the self-paced course, download the certificate for your records and also send it the individual who assigned you the course/s to verify that you completed the training.
Proposal Development Tools
Institutional Info (1).docxTrinity Institutional Information
This helpful tool provides you with much of the institutional information required to complete government grant application forms.
To access institutional data for all years, go to the Trinity University Factbook here: https://tinyurl.com/TUFactBook
TU Institutional Profile
This one-page profile provides useful facts and figures about Trinity to introduce the university to proposal reviewers. It can be a copied and pasted as is or be modified for your needs. It will be updated each October after annual census. If it is not, please contact the Director of Sponsored Programs.
To access institutional data compiled for all years, go to the Trinity University Factbook here: https://tinyurl.com/TUFactBook
Trinity Institutional Profile.docxInternal Proposal Authorization (IPA) Form
Per Trinity policy, employees must obtain institutional approval prior to submitting any applications for external funding by completing an approval form.
Click on “Fill out form” button to the left. Once all approvals are secured, you'll receive a copy of the completed form for your records.
Budget Template
The following budget template follows the general budget format of federal grant applications and uses the same cost categories.
Use the tabs at the bottom to choose the length in years for your project. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate as you add information.
The purpose of this tool is to assist planning your funding requirements in compliance of federal and Trinity rules.
Trinity Grant Budget Template_Collaborative (10).xlsxPerson Months Calculator.xlsPerson Months Calculator
Some federal agencies, such as NIH and NSF, use a person months calculation instead of percent effort when describing effort dedicated to a project. This tool will convert percent effort calculations to person months.
Core Equipment List
The list describes the core equipment at Trinity by identifying each piece of major shared research instrument in the School of Science, Engineering & Math. This information can be useful in proposals to describe the general scientific research environment or research capacity at Trinity.
Core Equipment List.xlsxTravel: Mileage, Lodging, and Per Diem Rates
The websites at right contain U.S. government-certified cost projections for mileage reimbursement, hotel lodging, and meals & incidentals for both domestic and foreign travel. This information is useful to calculate travel costs when preparing your project budget.
IRS Driven Mileage Reimbursement:
GSA Domestic Per Diem & Lodging:
State Dept. Foreign Per Diem & Lodging:
certification-rui-eligibility.pdfResearch in an Undergraduate Institution Eligibility
If your NSF proposal requires certification that Trinity qualifies as a “Research in an Undergraduate Institution” (RUI) site, you can download the necessary certifying letter here.
It will be updated each January. If it is not, please contact the Director of Sponsored Programs.
Indirect Cost Rate Agreement
Federal sponsors and external collaborators sometimes require a copy of Trinity's negotiated indirect cost rate agreement. A copy can be downloaded here.
Indirect Cost Rate Agreement.pdfProposal Development Timeline and Trinity's Process
Proposal Dev't Timeline.pdfProposal Development Timeline
This timeline provides an approximate schedule for a well-planned application to a government sponsor. Use the submission due date as the starting point and work backward.
Proposal Development and Approval Process
This handy tool provides a visual conceptualization of Trinity's external funding development process.
The flowchart illustrates the sequence of general tasks that should be completed to develop your proposal application, including securing the required internal approvals.
Proposal Development and Approval Process.pdfResearch Protocols
Research With Human Subjects
All research projects involving human subjects by faculty or students must be approved by Trinity's Institutional Review Board (IRB). Questions can be referred to IRB Chair, Dr. Bill Ellison (Psychology). Please email wellison@trinity.edu or call (210) 999-8387.
Research With Animals
All research projects involving animals by faculty or students must be approved by Trinity's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Questions can be referred to committee chair, Dr. Troy Murphy (Biology). Please email tmurphy@trinity.edu or call (210) 999-8916
Research with Biohazards
Trinity’s Institutional Biosafety Committee reviews uses in research for Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules, Pathogens, potential Infectious Agents, and Biological Toxins.
If your research involves any of these, the IBC may have to approve their use on Trinity’s campus even if a protocol is already approved by IACUC or IRB. Questions can be referred to Ozzie Crespo, Director of Environmental Health & Safety and Chair of the IBC, at (210) 999-7004 or ocrespo@trinity.edu
Conflict of Interest
Trinity has an active Conflict of Interest Policy (available online) that all Trinity employees must follow. The policy is in line with applicable federal law. Further, any individual who has substantive involvement in proposing, performing, reviewing, or reporting research (including students) on a federally-funded project must also complete responsible conduct of research (RCR) training. If RCR training is required, please contact the Director of Sponsored Programs.
Agreement and Disclosure Templates
Trinity University Research NDA template.docxNon-Disclosure Agreement
An NDA is a contract that establishes confidentiality between Trinity, as the owner of protected information, and the recipients of that information.
By signing this NDA, Trinity and its collaborators agree to protect confidential and proprietary information shared.
Material Transfer Agreement
An MTA is a contract that governs the transfer of tangible research materials between two organizations, when the recipient intends to use it for their own research purposes. The MTA defines the rights of the provider and the recipient with respect to the materials and any derivatives.
If a Trinity researcher plans to initiate a material transfer, please notify the Director of Sponsored Programs and use this form to secure the signed agreements.
Trinity Material Transfer Agreement (1).docxTrinity's Invention Disclosure Form
TU community members who create a unique or novel device, discovery, method, process, research tool or software that may solve a significant problem or have significant value must complete and submit an IP Disclosure form. Submission of this form establishes what the invention is, who the inventors are, who is funding it, and what the anticipated product or market is.
Trinity's Confidential Invention Disclosure Form.docxTrinity University Sponsored Projects Policy Document
SponsoredProjectsv20.pdfSponsored Projects Policy
This resource describes TU’s Sponsored Projects Policy that covers externally funded projects for research, scholarly work, and public service.
It can also be found on Trinity's website. Grant seekers should familiarize themselves with this institutional policy.
TU’s Conflict of Interest Policy and Financial Conflict of Interest Disclosure
Please see the Trinity University Conflict of Interest Policy, last updated 10/2022, that is attached here in this section of the TU Sponsored Programs webpage. To comply with federal regulation and Trinity policy that require at least annual disclosure of financial interests, anyone who is a PI or Co-PI on an active federal grant must, either on an annual basis, or as new reportable significant financial interests are obtained, complete a Financial Conflict of Interest Disclosure. The online disclosure form is included here is this section.
The purpose of the disclosure, is to uncover potential conflicts of interest that might impact objectivity in research.
Respondents who answer “yes” to any of the questions will be asked to complete an additional disclosure to determine whether any existing or perceived conflicts of interest need to be managed, according to processes described in TU’s COI Policy, to mitigate any potential impact. See here the link to the online Financial Conflict of Interest Disclosure (Google form).
Upon submission, the disclosure is routed the Office of Sponsored Programs for review.
NSF Safe & Inclusive Work Environment
Each NSF proposal that plans to conduct research off-site must include a plan describes how certain behaviors will be addressed to ensure a safe and inclusive work environment. This plan must be submitted to the Sponsored Programs Office (only when TU is the lead), prior to proposal submission to the sponsor and kept on file.
As of Jan. 2024, the Geosciences and Biological Sciences Directorates require the plan be submitted with the proposal and evaluated as part of broader impacts.
Prohibited behaviors include:
Abuse of any person, including, but not limited to, harassment, stalking, bullying, or hazing, whether the behavior is carried out verbally, physically, electronically, or in writing; or Conduct that is unwelcome, offensive, indecent, obscene, or disorderly.
For the purposes of this policy, Trinity defines off-site as a location where project personnel and participants will conduct project activities at a site that is sufficiently distant, remote, or isolated that they will have diminished access to university resources (or their equivalent) that support a safe and inclusive working environment.
A full description of the NSF policy is here. We also provide a template to assist in developing responses to each plan criterion and a sample of a completed plan.
nsf_safe_inclusive_working_environment_plan_-_fillable_pdf.pdfSafe and Inclusive Working Environment Plan
TU Non-Profit Status
IRS Tax Determination Letter - 2014.pdfTrinity's Tax-Exempt Status Letter
Trinity is legally considered a non-profit organization under section 501 (c) (3) of the IRS code. Some funders require proof of that fact as part of the application process. Here, you can download a one-page official letter verifying TU’s tax-exempt status to include in your applications, as needed.