Dear Faculty,

I would like to bring to your attention a new funding opportunity supported by the Office 
for Research beginning January 1, 2010. It is a Voucher Program (each voucher is 
equivalent to $10,000) for use of equipment or services in a university-sponsored core 
facility. The following conditions describe how you can earn a voucher.

1. A voucher can be earned by any faculty member who writes a successful 
instrumentation grant worth $100,000 or more AND places the instrument in a university-
sponsored core facility.

2. The voucher applies only to the faculty member who is the Principal Investigator (PI) 
on the grant.

3. A voucher will be applied to use of the new instrument.

4. The faculty member (PI of the instrumentation grant) must obtain prior approval of the 
core director*.

5. The voucher will be made out to the facility for use in the PI’s name.

6. The PI will also receive priority sign-up on the new instrument. 


* To determine if an instrument aligns with the operation of a core, the PI and the core 
director must jointly agree to a management plan that shows how the OVERALL core 
budget, space, and expertise can accommodate the long-term (at least 3 yrs) 
maintenance of the instrument. This includes projected revenues, service contracts (if 
applicable) and salary.

I hope that you will take this opportunity to consider writing a instrumentation grant for 
that instrument that you have been wishing NU had. If you would like advice on how to 
write a successful instrumentation grant, we will be running a workshop (to be scheduled 
in early February) that will cover how to write such a grant. More information on the 
workshop will be mailed to you in early January. Applications for the 2010 NIH Small 
Instrumentation Grant (SIG, $100K-500K) program are due in March, respectively.

Phil Hockberger
Director of Core Facilities
Office for Research