Financial activities

The Financial Activities board has overall responsibility for the finances of the Society, including the general responsibility for procuring more funds for the Society. The Vice President for Financial Activities shall chair a Financial Activities Board. This Board shall consist of the Chair, the Editors-in-Chief of the Transactions, the Editor-in-Chief of the Magazine, the Vice President for Conference Activities, the Secretary, the Treasurer, a member appointed by the Vice President for Member Activities, a member appointed by the Vice President for Technical Activities, and a member appointed by the Vice President for Publications Activities. This Board shall act as the liaison for the Society on financial matters with IEEE Headquarters; act as consultant and financial supervisor of the RAS Treasurer; make periodic reports to the AdCom on the financial status of the Society; and observe the financial operations of the Society and take appropriate actions to see that money is spent or invested wisely and in the best interest of the Society. The Vice President for Financial Activities, with the assistance of the Financial Activities Board, shall prepare the Society budgets which shall then be submitted to the AdCom for approval at the Society Annual Meeting.

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2008 Activities

2008 RAS Initiative Grant Proposals

As a result of a new IEEE policy, the Robotics and Automation Society anticipates being able to use some of its 2008 budget to fund a modest number of initiatives that would benefit society members in general. We expect a maximum of $60,000 to be available to support initiatives. We hope to be able to fund several initiatives in the range of $5000 to $24900.

Members are invited to submit proposals for initiative to the RAS administrator Rosalyn Snyder r.g.snyder@ieee.org.

In accordance with our Business Plan, proposals will be reviewed by the following major Boards of the Society, which, except for EPSB, will be chaired by their respective vice presidents in 2008:

• Conference Activities Board (CAB) VP: John Hollerbach
• Industrial Activities Board (IAB) VP: Alex Zelinsky
• Member Activities Board (MAB) VP: Alicia Casals
• Publications Activities Board (PAB) VP: Peter Luh
• Technical Activities Board (TAB) VP: Ken Goldberg
• EPSB Chair (not formally a VP) Stefano Stramigioli

Proposals must identify the Board(s) which most closely represent(s) the type of activity proposed. The Boards will prioritize the requests and send them to the Financial Activities Board, which will review them and forward them to the AdCom, which will make the ultimate funding decisions.

Timeline:

February 15, 2008 Deadline for proposal submission
March 15, 2008 Funding decisions disseminated
November 30, 2008 Final report due
November 30, 2008 Deadline for invoice

Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be submitted as an attached PDF with a two page limit. Proposals must include, in the following order:

• Most relevant RAS Board (Membership, Industry, ...) for the proposal
• Proposed Title of New Initiative
• List of PIs with contact info
• Short description of idea and impact on members
• Short plan for sustainability beyond initial seed funding
• Total funding requested in US Dollars
• Sources of matching funds (if any)
• Proposed use of funds
• Proposed timeline for project (funds must be spent in time for invoices to reach the Society Treasurer by November 30, 2008!)
• Short plan for administration of funds by proposers

Several issues to consider:

• IEEE is a volunteer organization and funding cannot be used to pay members fees or salaries
• Funds must be processed through the PI's institution
• There can be no "upfront" funds. Invoices must be submitted after expenditure of funds
• Expenses incurred for which invoices are not received by November 30, 2008 will not be reimbursed

All proposals and related questions should be directed to:
Rosalyn Graham Snyder
Administrator
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
http://www.ieee-ras.org
r.g.snyder@ieee.org
T +1 919 851 3603
F + 1 919 882 9734

Evaluation of Proposals

Priorities on which proposals will be preferred for funding will be conducted according to the following criteria:

Essential characteristics

• The proposed activity must benefit the RAS society as a whole or a substantial subset of its members
• The proposed activity must not be for individual or group research projects
• Proposed funding must be less than or equal to $24,900
• Proposed funding must be greater than or equal to $5,000 (smaller items should work their way through the boards in their normal budget cycle)

High priority characteristics:

• Those that that use innovative approaches to implement a strong vision for the future
• Those that directly impact a large number of RAS members
• Those that have high impact to cost ratio
• Those with cost sharing
• Those that seed self-sustaining activities
• Those that leverage volunteer efforts
• Those that provide travel or meeting support in a program area
• Programs providing student support
• Workshops in emerging areas
• Potential to increase membership or involvement in RAS activities
• Those that develop RAS activities in emerging regions or technical areas
• Those providing service to the R&A community
• Those that clearly identify one of the boards to administer, develop and evaluate the program

Low priority characteristics:

• Those whose activities are of peripheral interest to society
• Those that fund individuals
• Those restricted to a geographic region, especially not an emerging region
• Those that fund technical research
• Those containing extensive funding of staff salaries
• Long term activities
• Those with low impact to cost ratio
• Those particularly complex to execute

Other Issues:

• RAS will support payment of full-time students (undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral) for services, provided satisfactory information regarding their tax status is received prior to award/contract
• RAS will only support full-time students for initiative work
• RAS will not pay for activities that are considered a normal activity associated with academic activities, e.g., preparing courses
• RAS's standard policy is to pay zero indirect/ overhead on any award/contract. Exceptions are expected to be rare and must be negotiated in advance before the award/contract is issued, preferably before the proposal is submitted
• Laptops, PC's, software, or cameras, may only be purchased if the work for the award/ contract specifically requires these items (the case for the purchase of these items must be made clearly in the proposal). At the conclusion of the initiative, such items shall be the property of RAS, which will determine the future utilization of the items
• IEEE/RAS retains all rights on intellectual property developed under RAS-funded projects
• Travel to technical conferences is considered part of normal activity and will not normally be covered by initiative funding

The following must be included in/with the budgets of all proposals responding to RAS initiative competitions:

• Total amount of compensation for services;
• (Educational) status of all those to receive this compensation, and breakdown of compensation amounts for each such person;
• Itemization of all supplies/equipment over $500 to be purchased with RAS funds;
• If travel funding is requested, full details of the nature of each travel instance (location(s), duration of travel, purpose, estimated amount). Travel not specifically included in the proposal will not be reimbursed.