The Board of Regents Support Fund recommendations for funding for the FY 2009-10 competitions were approved by the Board of Regents at their April 22, 2010 meeting. Despite a significant reduction in the estimates of available money, a total of 122 proposals will likely receive support. Among these are 7 new Endowed Chairs for Eminent Scholars, 29 Research & Development awards, and 70 Enhancement projects. In addition, 16 Graduate Fellowships projects were approved for funding with first-year monies allocated from FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12.
This year we received 577 proposals in the Support Fund’s competitive programs: 244 in R&D, 264 in Enhancement, 17 in Endowed Chairs, and 39 in Graduate Fellows. The staff has hosted 13 final review panels both in Baton Rouge and via offsite conferencing. To ensure the objectivity of the review process,
all of these panels were comprised of out-of-state experts – faculty, administrators, and other professionals with experience in and detailed knowledge of the areas in which funding is requested.