Carl R. Ice College of Engineering

Research Incentive Funding Plan

Effective 06/09/2024

Faculty of the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University have the opportunity to receive an annual cash bonus incentive from extramurally funding a portion of their salary.

Purpose

The goal of this plan is to enhance Research, Scholarship, Creative Activity and Discovery (RSCAD), as well as best practices in teaching and instructional activity, by increasing the amount of extramural funding in the college. This plan will provide an annual incentive payment, through the university’s additional pay process, dependent upon the amount of compensation recovered through external funding sources.

Criteria

  • Faculty must have a 0.5 appointment in the college.
  • The incentive plan will be applied during either a 9-month or 12-month appointment and does not modify an employee’s base salary.
  • The plan covers recovered funds for a fiscal year, with the bonus being provided to the employee in late summer or early fall of the next fiscal year.
  • The plan applies to recovered funds by external sources while on-contract.
  • Calculation of any incentive plan shall exclude the value of any fringe benefits.
  • The plan options are calculated as follows:
    • Option 1: Salary covering research and scholarly activity (recovered funds used to support “research” effort or related activities):
      Fifty percent (50%) of the recovered amount will be returned to the employee as a lump sum cash payment. The remaining portion will remain in the department where the salary buyout occurred.
    • Option 2: Salary covering research and scholarly activity (recovered funds used to support “research” effort or related activities):
      Ninety percent (90%) of the recovered amount will be returned to a restricted fees account to help grow the employee’s research program, following standard research expenditure guidelines. The remaining portion will remain in the department where the salary buyout occurred.
    • Option 3: Salary covering teaching/instructional activity (recovered funds from “buyout” of a course):
      Given course “buyout” must be covered by the department, 50% of the difference between the course “buyout” and the cost to cover instruction (i.e.net savings) will be returned to the employee as a lump sum cash payment. The remaining portion will remain in the department where the salary buyout occurred.
  • The employee must exhibit a minimum of ‘meets expectations’ on all assigned duties determined by the employee's department head and the dean of the college to be eligible for the incentive.
  • All ‘buyouts’ must be approved by the department head of the employee’s unit and dean of the college.
  • Advanced consultation with the department head (for non-administrative faculty) or dean (for administrative faculty) is required.
  • Participation in the incentive program is voluntary and the employee must request to participate in the plan by downloading and using the Research Faculty Incentive Form spreadsheet.
  • The college reserves the right to terminate the program or participation by any faculty member at any time.
  • Availability of any payments under this plan are subject to any applicable state or federal laws, policies and/or regulations.

Option examples

Option 1: Salary covering research and scholarly activity

A faculty member, with a 9-month appointment (40% research, 50% teaching, 10% service) with a salary of $100,000, secures an extramural grant/contract they use to cover half of their research appointment during their contract. Thus, they will ‘buyout’ half of their state-supported research appointment through extramural funds, requiring an amount of $20,000. At the end of the fiscal year, the employee will receive a bonus payment of $10,000. The additional $10,000 will remain entirely within the department.

Option 2: Salary covering research and scholarly activity

A faculty member, with a 9-month appointment (40% research, 50% teaching, 10% service) with a salary of $100,000, secures an extramural grant/contract to use to cover half of their research appointment during their contract. Thus, they will ‘buyout’ half of their state-supported research appointment through extramural funds, requiring an amount of $20,000. The employee chooses to return 90% of the amount to grow their research program where $18,000 will be available for research expenditures in a restricted fees account. The additional $2,000 will remain entirely within the department.

Option 3: Salary covering teaching/instructional activity

A faculty member has a 9-month appointment (40% research, 50% teaching (2/2 course load), 10% service) with a salary of $100,000 secures an extramural grant/contract they use to “buyout” of two courses during the academic year. Given they are on a 2/2 appointment at 50% effort, each course reflects 12.5% effort during the academic year. Thus, $25,000 is required to cover these two courses off an extramural grant or contract. To cover these courses, the department assigns these two courses to two faculty members, which requires $15,000 from the department. Thus, the net savings between the employee course “buyout” ($25,000) and the cost to the department to cover these courses ($15,000) is $10,000. At the end of the fiscal year, the employee will receive a bonus payment of $5,000 and the other $5,000 will remain entirely within the department.