2013 PCMNCG PROGRAM
Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grants Program
GENERAL INFORMATION
Our mission is to sponsor and sustain educational and charitable activities for the advancement and benefit of scientific endeavor.
The primary goal of the Pittsburgh Conference is to promote science education at all levels. The Pittsburgh Conference Memorial National College Grants (PCMNCG) Program is one aspect of the efforts of the volunteer Committee members of the Pittsburgh Conference and its sponsoring societies to support science education.
This year, the maximum funding available for each grant is $10,000.
Last year we received approximately 59 proposals from small colleges and universities who met our requirements. Each proposal was reviewed by members of our evaluation committee, made up of members of the
Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (sponsoring societies of the Pittsburgh Conference).
- Good development and organization
- PCMNCG funds were leveraged by matching contributions from the university or another source
- Specific examples of how the requested equipment would be integrated into the science programs
- Requested equipment and materials would impact a large number of students
- Brief descriptions of specific experiments that demonstrated broad use of the equipment
Strong proposals had the following characteristics (in no particular order):
Reviewers tended not to rate highly those proposals that were too general, where PCMNCG money was a very small part of a large project, requests for classroom infrastructure and A/V equipment, or where only a small fraction of the students enrolled in science were affected.
APPLICATION CONTACT INFO
Faculty members are urged to participate by obtaining an application form and submitting an original no later than October 1, 2012 to:
-
Penny Gardner
The Pittsburgh Conference – PCMNCG
300 Penn Center Blvd., Suite 332,
Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5503 USA.
Results of the judging will be communicated to those who submit proposals during February, 2013. Selected schools will join the list of almost 300 institutions honored since the start of this program in 1974.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
- Enrollment must not exceed 5000 full-time students.
- No more than 25% of the operating budget may come from national or state governments. Two year community colleges sponsored by political subdivisions of a state are not bound by criteria one and two.
- Requests for materials to be used only for research purposes will not be funded.
- Awards may be used as part of “Matching Grant“ programs; use of matching funds to increase the overall impact of the grant will be considered in the evaluation of proposals and is highly encouraged.
- Schools are ineligible for the PCMNCG program for a three-year period following receipt of the PCMNCG grant (award recipient colleges from 2009, 2010 and 2011 are not eligible for the 2012 program).
Grants will be awarded to small college science departments for the purchase of scientific equipment, audio-visual or other teaching aids, and/or library materials for use in the teaching of science at the
undergraduate level.
Based on anticipated funds, we expect that at least ten (10) colleges will be selected to receive grants. The amount requested in each proposal may not exceed $10,000.
To be eligible for an award, schools must meet the following criteria:
2012 GRANT RECIPIENTS
2012 PCMNCG Grant Award Recipients
Previous PCMNCG Grant Award Recipients
EQUIPMENT EXAMPLES
- AA Spectrometer
- UV/VIS Detector for HPLC plus columns
- Gas Chromatograph, Software and Supplies
- Human Muscular Torsos
- UV/VIS Spectrophotometer
- Automated Pipettes
- HPLC
- NMR Workstations and Software
- 1H/13C Dual-Channel NMR Probe
- FTIR Software Upgrade and Spectral Libraries
- Camera and Software for a Fluorescence Microscope
Examples of equipment and instruments funded in previous years are listed below. In some cases, more than one school requested a particular type of instrument.
