A number of central administration offices as well as schools, colleges, and departments provide funds to support research, scholarship, and other creative activity. Support is most often available to seed projects in the early stages of development, encourage interdisciplinary work, help purchase equipment, provide bridging support between periods of externally supported work, offset some costs of publication and artistic productions and performances, and provide cost-sharing funds that sponsors may require. Online sources list internal sources of support, including “Funds for Research and Scholarship” on the research website < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/um_sources/ovpr.html> and “Awards & Funding” on the Rackham website < http://www.rackham.umich.edu/faculty_staff/awards/ >. The unit administrator in most schools and colleges also has information about sources of support.

Faculty members are urged to contact their unit administrator and ORSP project representatives for assistance with identifying potential sponsors of research, scholarship, and other creative activity. In addition, a library of guides to sponsors, fellowships, and other kinds of support is maintained at the ORSP offices in Wolverine Tower and on the “Funds for Research and Scholarship” < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/um_sources/ovpr.html> portion of the website. Note that the U-M research website provides access to several databases maintained elsewhere: Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/spin.html>, several Community of Science databases < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/cos.html >, Grants.gov <www.grants.gov>, and other non-Federal funding opportunities. ORSP also maintains several e-mail “alert” groups. Members of these e-mail groups include faculty and administrators with interests in specific federal agencies or, in a few cases, broad subject area. A list of these groups is available online < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/groups.html> with instructions for how to request being added.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) facilitates partnerships between first and second year students and U-M faculty and research scientists. All schools and colleges of the University of Michigan are active participants. UROP pays student wages, provides academic credit options, and manages paperwork. See http://www.lsa.umich.edu/urop for more information.

The U-M also provides access to an international database maintained by the Community of Science to help identify potential collaborators at the U-M and nationally. Details are on the U-M research website under “Funding Opportunities Databases” at < http://orsp.umich.edu/funding/databases.html >.

Computing support for scholarship and research comes from many sources. Information and Technology Services (ITS) has primary responsibility for a wide range of services and infrastructure requirements. For more information, see Chapter 20, “Technology and Communications,” or the ITS website at <www.itd.umich.edu>. The Center for Statistical Consultation and Research (CSCAR) < http://cscar.research.umich.edu/ > is administratively located in the UM Office of Research, and is available to assist with study design, selection of statistical methodology, and interpretation and presentation of results.