Exercise Science Grant Proposals

							           GUIDELINES FOR MARC STUDENT RESEARCH GRANT AWARD

I. PURPOSE
     The Student Research Grant Award is designed to support a student member of the Mid-
Atlantic Regional Chapter (MARC) of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) to
conduct research in the area of sport and exercise science. It is the intent of this award to provide
a student with the unique experience of participating in all steps of a competitive research grant
application.

      Funding for this award is provided through the ACSM Foundation. Awarding of the grant
will comply with the provisions of the guidelines, available from the MARC Home Office (see
web site at http://www.marcacsm.org/). A maximum of one grant award of $500 will be made
each year.

II. ELIGIBILITY
     Applicants for this award must be registered as full-time undergraduate or graduate students,
at any of the colleges or universities within the MARC geographical area. Applicants must also
be a student member in good standing of MARC.

     Only one grant application is permitted per student for each grant review cycle. Applicants
and awardees from previous years may submit a new application for subsequent awards, provided
they meet all other requirements.

III. AREAS OF RESEARCH
     The proposed area of research may be in any field of exercise science or sports medicine. It
may involve animal or human studies, or computer modeling. The research must be conducted
principally by the student awardee. However, the research may be part of a larger project,
provided it is sufficiently unique that the student functions as a principal investigator on a portion
of the project.

IV. TERMS OF THE GRANT AWARD
      Research grant funds will be awarded for one year from the date of the announcement at the
annual MARC meeting (usually held in October-November of each year). Any unobligated funds
at the end of the 12-month period will be returned to MARC. The $500 grant award may be used
to support any aspect of the student's research, with the following exceptions:
         A. No portion of the money may be used in INDIRECT COSTS.
        B. No portion of the money may be used for TRAVEL to attend professional meetings
           or to attend training/certification courses.

      After receipt of the grant award the student will be invited to make a scientific presentation
at the next annual MARC meeting. The presentation will enable the student to give an overview
of their award winning research proposal, as well as to present progress and preliminary data. It is
intended, in part, to be an encouragement to other students to submit proposals. The annual
meeting coordinator, in consultation with the student awardee, will determine if the presentation
will be a poster or oral communication. In either case, the presentation will be highlighted as a
recipient of the Student Research Grant Award.
V. REVIEW CYCLE
     Announcements concerning the Student Research Grant Award will be included in the
MARC newsletter and on the website and will include information on the application process and
deadlines.

     The completed application package must be received by the MARC Home Office no later
than the published abstract deadline.

     The MARC Home Office will mail copies of each student’s application to members of the
Student Research Awards Committee. Committee members will review all applications and make
a funding decision. Announcement of the student awardee will be made at the next annual
MARC meeting. A plaque and check for $500.00 will be mailed shortly thereafter to the
administrative official of the awardee’s institution. The check will be made payable to the
student.

VI. APPLICATION PROCESS
       A. DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS: October 6,
           2010.
       Mail the original and three (3) copies of all materials to:
       MARC–ACSM Home Office
       Attn: MARC Student Research Grant Award
       c/o Dan Drury, Ph.D.
       MARC Executive Director
       Dept of Health Sciences
       Gettysburg College
       Box: Campus Box 0432
       Gettysburg, PA 17325-1400

       B. LETTER OF ASSURANCE
               1. Both the student and full-time faculty member of the student's institution
                  must sign a letter of assurance, and submit the letter with the application
                  proposal.
               2. The faculty member must state they have read the student's proposal, found it
                  acceptable, and agree to be the student's advisor and provide professional
                  support during this project.
               3. Both the student and the faculty advisor must agree that any funds awarded
                  through this application will be used solely in accordance with these
                  guidelines, all research will be conducted in accordance with approved
                  practices governing animal and/or human use, and appropriate citation for
                  this funding support will be included in any publication resulting from this
                  research.

       C. RESEARCH PROPOSAL
               1. Enclosure (1) provides the outline form for preparing the research proposal.
                  The format must be followed exactly.
     2. Numbering of pages begins with the TITLE PAGE. Start each new section
        on a separate page.
     3. Strictly adhere to the page limitations for each section. Sections II-VI that
        exceed their page limit will receive a 0.5 penalty score added to the
        respective section(s).

D. REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH GRANT PROPOSAL
     1. All proposals will be reviewed by members of the Student Research Awards
        Committee.
     2. Proposals will be evaluated using a 1.00-5.00 scale, where 1.0 is POOR and
        5.0 is OUTSTANDING. Sections II through VI of each proposal will be
        graded individually by each member of the committee, using the 1.0-5.0
        scale for each section. Each committee member will compute an overall
        score. The overall scores for each proposal will be obtained and the mean of
        the overall score will be calculated. The proposal with the highest overall
        mean score will be declared the winner.
     3. In the event of a tie among proposals, the President of MARC will review the
        tied proposals in the manner cited in paragraph 2 to determine the winner.
     4. No person shall serve on the grant proposal review process that is: a) an
        advisor to a student applicant, or b) who is a faculty member of that student's
        institution. In the event of such a conflict of interest, the Executive
        Committee of MARC will appoint another member of MARC to serve as a
        reviewer.
     5. All applicants will receive the overall score of their proposal and the score of
        the winning proposal. In addition, each student will receive an average score
        for each section of their proposal as a learning tool for their use.
                                  ENCLOSURE (1)
                            RESEARCH PROPOSAL OUTLINE

I. TITLE PAGE (begin consecutive page numbering here)
       A. Limit: one page
       B. Contents:
              1. Title of project
              2. Name of student investigator
              3. Institution and address for correspondence
              4. Date of submission
              5. Name, title, address of institution's administrative officer
              6. Name and signature of student investigator
              7. Name and signature of faculty advisor

II. ABSTRACT (graded 1.00-5.00)
       A. Limit: one page, double-spaced
       B. Contents: Describe the background and rationale for the study. Outline the
                    methodological approach to be used and anticipated results. Summarize the
                    relevance of this research to areas of exercise science or sports medicine.

III. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW (graded 1.00-5.00)
       A. Limit: two pages, double-spaced
       B. Contents: Provide a background of the particular area related to your research
                    proposal. State existing problems, what is known about the problem, and
                    what remains to be solved. Cite relevant literature in this research area.
                    Number literature citations in accordance with instructions in the
                    LITERATURE section of this outline.

IV. SPECIFIC AIMS AND HYPOTHESES (graded 1.00-5.00)
       A. Limit: one page, double-spaced
       B. Contents: State the specific aims of the study or the hypotheses to be tested. Provide a
                    rationale for each objective, with particular reference to how the outcome of
                    your study might prove or disprove a hypothesis. Include what is original
                    about your proposal. Also include how the funding of this grant ($500) will
                    be used in your research.

V. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND METHODS (graded 1.00-5.00)
       A. Limit: two pages, double-spaced
       B. Contents:
           1. Include the number of animals or human subjects to be used, along with the
              appropriate statement that use of animals or humans has been reviewed and
              approved by your corresponding institutional review committee. Attach a copy of
              the approval letter or form to the proposal. Provide a concise outline of the
             experimental protocol. Indicate, where necessary, what constitutes control or
             experimental groups.
          2. State what variables are to be measured, how they will be made, and any needed
             calibration procedures to be used. Certain measures or assays may be cited by
             literature reference for brevity.

VI. ANTICIPATED RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE (graded 1.00-5.00)
      A. Limit: one page, double-spaced
      B. Contents: Discuss how your measurements will support or refute each hypothesis.
                   Include how this research will significantly advance understandings in this
                   particular area of exercise science or sports medicine.

VII .LITERATURE CITATION
      A. Limit: two pages, single-space each reference, double-space between citations
      B. Contents: Follow the citation format used in the journal of Medicine and Science in
                   Sports and Exercise. Arrange citations alphabetically by the last name of the
                   first author and number them in sequence. Reference the citation within the
                   text of the proposal by its number.