Shared facilities provide the Universities with critical resources. They support interdisciplinary and guest research by providing communal equipment and tools. The Vice President for Research is responsible for overall policies, procedures, authorization, renewals, and reviews of Shared Facilities.
What Constitutes a Shared Facility?
The Shared Research Equipment and Shared Facilities Working Group report defines a shared facility as: a collection of equipment identified by the University as essential to high priority research activities, usually interdisciplinary activities, that span multiple departments, schools, centers, and institutes. These typically require dedicated skilled technical staff and may be located in contiguous space or be spread among several different physical locations.
Application Process
Authorization and recognition as a shared facility is required in order to access shared facility support. Initial authorization is for a five-year period and may be renewed for succeeding five-year periods.
The details of reporting will differ with different types of facilities and equipment, but the three major requirements for authorization as a shared facility are:
- development and online posting of facility policies and procedures describing facility leadership and staffing, means of access and contact information, safety requirements, cleanliness expectations, and other items relevant to all users of a particular facility;
- posting of available equipment on the Equipment Finder page; and
- an initial safety inspection report, including a review of physical facilities and equipment as well as safety requirements in the facility policies and procedures (conducted by the Office of Research Integrity).
Proposal Requirements
Proposals to authorize a new shared facility are accepted any time during the academic year. However, to be eligible to request funding, the Shared facility must be approved prior to November 1 in order to apply for funding the following March deadline.
Proposals should follow the following:
- Shared facility checklist
- Introduction
- Link to facility policies and procedures
- Facility leadership and staffing
- Facility description
- Means of access and contact information
- Safety requirements
- Cleanliness expectation
- Other unique items
- List of available equipment posted on the Search Equipment page
- Link to Safety Inspection Report
- Other Relevant Information
Please submit electronically, as one pdf, to sfgrant-l@mtu.edu.