Ball State University Instructor Photographs Indiana's Historic Courthouses

With the aid of Chris Flook, a Ball State University telecommunications instructor, photographs of Indiana's 92 historic county courthouses are now showcased online for Indiana's Courthouse Squares website. Historically, county courthouses served as iconic fixtures for a community's identity and recently several Indiana communities have taken significant strides to revitalize both the courthouses and their surrounding squares.   

As the website's project photographer, Flook spent many summer days traveling throughout Indiana to photograph the iconic fixtures. As quoted in an article from ABA Journal, Flook states, "I like the idyllic idea of town squares but its relatively rare to have the courthouse at the center of town squares in the United States. Only a few regions and states have this." The gathered historical information will be used in preparation for Indiana's 2016 Bicentennial Celebration. 

Please visit Indiana's Courthouse Squares website to view Chris Flook's photos and historical courthouse information. 

NIH Resumes Funding Process

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Deputy Director for Extramural Research, Dr. Sally Rockey, posts in her Rock Talk blog that October grant application submission deadlines will be rescheduled to dates in November. This will allow applicants time to access NIH staff, help desks, and electronic systems. The specific revised due dates will be published in the NIH Guide at a later date. The eRA Commons and other NIH extramural electronic systems are also expected to be accessible to the public on Monday, October 21.

Click here for more information. 

Ball State University Hosts Midwest Writers Workshop

This year Ball State University hosted the Midwest Writers Workshop conference which is a yearly gathering of agents, editors, and publishing professionals with a mission of helping individuals become published authors.

After applying for a grant through the Discovery Group, Ball State University Associate Professor of English, Cathy Day was able to bring the two day event to Ball State's campus. Many Ball State English students were capable of attending the two days of panels, presentations and forums by industry professionals as either a paid intern or scholarship winner.

During the conference, students were educated on how to create and format an e-book as well as build an author website. Conference attendees had an opportunity to schedule a free, 50-minute social media consulting session with the goal of recommending ways to improve online literary citizens. They were also able to spend an hour and a half talking to literary agent Brooks Sherman.

Please visit Cathy Day's Website to learn about all the exciting work that took place during the conference.

Discovery Award Grant Application Now Available

Discovery is a women's collaborative philanthropic group established to support projects and programs at Ball State University.  

Discovery members are volunteers who pool annual contributions and work with university administrators to select the projects they support.  

Discovery members encourage projects that significantly impact Ball State students, offer immersive learning opportunities, and have potential for other external funding in the future. The maximum grant request amount is $20,000.00.  

Discovery will consider funding for: specialized equipment, student assistant wages, graduate assistantships, program administrative costs, and summer stipend (salary is capped at $2,500; plus additional fringe benefits).  

Discovery will not consider funding for: faculty release time, computer equipment, general office equipment, or indirect costs.

For guidelines, cover page, and application please visit the Discovery Award webpage: http://cms.bsu.edu/giving/opportunities/discovery/discoveryawardsnominations

Federal Government Shutdown Contigency Plans

The White House has created a webpage with links to the contingency plans for many agencies across the Federal Government. The page will be updated as more plans become available.

Empowering Educators Through Engineering STEM Success Program

Warsaw Community Schools (WCS) and Ball State University (BSU) have teamed up to promote education in science, technology, engineering and math by launching the Engineering STEM Success Program. Last summer, WCS sixth through ninth grade teachers working with math, science, special education and English Language Learners voluntarily attended a two-week Math Science Partnership Summer Institute with the goal of improving classroom content. The 80 hours of instruction is college-level material provided by Ball State University to coach WCS educators in furnishing their students with a real world understanding of math and science. Throughout the program, teachers are encouraged to develop project-based, hands-on learning experiences that they can apply in the classroom.

After partnering with BSU about the program idea, both WCS and BSU worked diligently to co-write the grant. The Engineering STEM Success program was ultimately funded by a $450,000 grant received from the Indiana Department of Education. This past summer was year one of the possible three year grant. Almost fifty teachers were involved last summer and most of them plan to return this summer to continue their learning as well as strive to have a greater impact on their students.

Photos and more information from the event can be found here on the foundation's website.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund and their grant programs

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the biomedical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.

Within this broad mission, BWF has two primary goals: 

• To help scientists early in their careers develop as independent investigators 
• To advance fields in the basic biomedical sciences that are undervalued or in need of particular encouragement 

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund's grantmaking strategies are to support biomedical scientists at the beginning of their careers and to make grants in areas of science that are poised for significant advancement but currently undervalued and underfunded. Within this overall strategy, BWF makes grants within several focus areas:

• Biomedical Sciences 
• Career Guidance 
• Diversity in Science 
• Infectious Disease 
• Interfaces in Science 
• Population and Laboratory Based Sciences 
• Regulatory Science 
• Reproductive Sciences 
• Science Education 

Please visit the foundation website for more information about these programs.

Ball State University Supports Indiana Courthouse Squares Project

Indiana's Courthouse Squares showcases all 92 county courthouses and their adjoining squares by way of high-resolution photography. County courthouses serve as iconic fixtures for a community's identity that: symbolically asserts the rule of law at the center of American society; exhibits a unique architecture that captures the era in which the structure was built; serves as the iconic edifice for many of the county seats; and provides centralized places for economic and social activities. In recent decades, several communities in Indiana have taken significant efforts to revitalize their courthouses, which has assisted in the rejuvenation of their surrounding squares.

With the aid of project photographer Chris Flook, Indiana's Courthouse Squares promotes the historical Indiana Courthouse with high-resolution photography as well as develop further in preparation for Indiana's 2016 Bicentennial Celebration. This project was generously supported by Ball State University's Sponsored Programs Office in the summer of 2013. Additional support was provided by Ball State University's: Department of Telecommunications; College of Communication, Information, and Media; and Building Better Communities. All photographs, maps, and other materials are copyrighted by Ball State University.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Kris Scott: BSU Department of Telecommunications
- Chris Raleigh: Logo Designer and Developer
- Kelli Huth: BSU Building Better Communities Fellows Program
- Sarah Lee, Augusta Wray, & Maggie Cude: BSU Sponsored Programs Office
- Jarred Scott
- Allison Rice: BSU Department of Telecommunications
- Joseph Vella: Bayonet Media
- Andrew Bissonnette
- Joshua Carroll: BSU Teleplex
- Lori Byers: BSU College of Communication, Information, and Media

To find out more information or visit Indiana's Courthouse Squares website, click here. 

Ball State University Educators Publish Book to Promote Japanese Education

Dr. Kazumi Matsumoto, Assistant Professor of Japanese at Ball State University, and her colleagues within the Department of Modern Languages and Classics have published the book, Embracing the New Phase in Japanese Education in the United States. After the cancellation of the annual conference of Central Association of Teachers of Japanese (CATJ) in 2011, Dr. Matsumoto and her colleagues were able to resume the event in 2012.

 With additional funding received from the National Endowment for the Humanities through Indiana Humanities and the Northeast Asia Council (NEAC) of the Association of Asian Studies, they were able to host the 23rd CATJ Conference in 2012 with the theme of "Embracing the New Phase in Japanese Education in the United States," which spurred the creation of the likewise titled book.

The book presents a collective volume of conference proposals in hopes of providing valuable information to Japanese educators and educational agencies around the nation.

From NCIIA: E-Team Program for Faculty and Students

Next E-Team Stage 1 Deadline: October 4, 2013
Click here to view our most recently funded E-Teams.

NCIIA is announces this year's E-Team Program. This program provides early-stage support and funding of up to $75,000 for collegiate entrepreneurs working on market-based technology inventions.

Since 1995, our E-Team grants have been funding collegiate student and student/faculty teams to move ideas out of the lab and classroom and into the marketplace. The program enhances this opportunity by providing expert entrepreneurial and venture coaching, experiential workshops, and a potential investment opportunity to help realize the commercial success of the technology inventions and innovations that come through our organization.

Selected E-Team Program participants may also be invited to exhibit their technologies at Open Minds, the annual showcase of breakthrough technologies from NCIIA's top student teams. The 2014 Open Minds exhibition will be held in San Jose, CA, March 21-22 during NCIIA's annual conference, OPEN.

E-Team Program Stages

Stage 1 provides funding of up to $5,000 to attend a three-day workshop on market analysis and value proposition development. The intensive hands-on workshop is based on NCIIA's successful Lens of the Market and InnovationLab curriculum. The focus of Stage One is to better articulate the opportunity for the innovation in the marketplace and to develop near-term milestones.  Remaining funds may be used to support further development of your project/product.

Stage 2 provides additional funding of up to $20,000. A required, intensive workshop helps teams further develop their business model. Six monthly sessions of coaching follow the workshop, guiding the team from confirmation to execution of their business model.

Stage 3 Eligible Stage 2 teams may be invited to participate in Stage 3 - NCIIA's VentureWell program. VentureWell focuses on helping teams develop a “lens of the investor” perspective and culminates in a venture forum to present to potential investors. NCIIA will invest up to $50,000 in two to three Stage 3 teams per year, typically in the form of convertible debt.

At this time the VentureWell program is designed for for-profit ventures only. Two sector-specific  sections will be offered each year: one in the winter for teams working on cleantech devices, and one in the summer for teams working on biomedical and/or health-related devices.

What's an E-Team?
NCIIA defines an E-Team as a multidisciplinary group of students, faculty, and industry mentors working together to bring a technology-based invention (product or service) to market. The "E" stands for entrepreneurship.

E-Team Program submission deadlines:

• October 4, 2013
• February 7, 2014
• May 9, 2014

Program Guidelines
Read the guidelines before you apply!
The answers to most of your questions are in the program guidelines---program details and deadlines; how to apply; examples of eligible technologies; selection criteria; information about how to apply, and more.

Is the E-Team Program for you?
Students and faculty from NCIIA member institutions (US-based colleges and universities) are welcome to apply. Funding is awarded to institutions (not directly to individuals or teams). Submissions are evaluated by external panels of reviewers and will be judged on the following:

• Technology innovation and feasibility
• Business model and commercial potential
• Team composition, commitment, expertise, and institutional support
• Positive social and/or environmental impact

NEW!  OFFICE HOURS FOR E-TEAM PROGRAM INQUIRIES!
Have an idea but not sure whether it's a fit with the E-Team Program? Director of Venture Development Joseph Steig will be holding Office Hours (via phone or Skype) the weeks of September 9 and September 16 to review your proposal ideas and provide feedback.  Slots are limited so schedule your call today!
Once your call time has been confirmed additional instructions will be sent to you.

How to apply
Click here to apply. Detailed instructions and information about the application process can be found in the program guidelines.
You may preview a PDF of the online application here. 

PLEASE NOTE: this PDF includes screen shots of NCIIA's five-step proposal process. The proposal content shown may vary slightly from the E-Team Program proposal, but steps for the application are the same. This PDF is for preview purposes only.

Contact Us
Questions? Contact us: grants@nciia.org or call 413-587-2172.