Through a donation from the Boeing Company, the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCI has created a SDP-Fund for this academic year. The aim the SDP-Fund is to provide financial assistance to those teams who can demonstrate need and successful execution of projects with additional funding. The SDP-Fund can be used to support the costs of participation, materials, equipment, and fees. Travel expenses are not eligible. Here are the steps to apply for this fund.

1) Intent to Apply for SDP-Fund – Interested teams must complete the form below by Thursday, January 18th, 2018.
2) Proposal – Interested teams must create concise written proposals with detailed project costs, accurate funding needs, and evidence of good project management. Written proposals are due on Thursday, January 25th, 2018. Click here to submit your proposal. The proposal is to be concise and to the point – not laden with unnecessary details. The following is a guide for your proposal:

• Background (high level overview to describe the problem or challenge)
• Goal (describe your team’s solution and what makes it unique)
• Objectives (identify to key objectives to get to your goal)
• Scope (define the work to be done and show work breakdown structure)
• Milestones (provide a project time line, identify critical milestones, and show how the project is tracked)
• Team (introduce your team and the management structure)
• Human Resources (compute the number of hours your team will work to get to the goal)
• Costs (detail all project costs)
• Funding Effort (identify all of the ways your team tried to get funding)
• Confirmed Funding (identify all sources of funding)
• Financial Aid (determine the amount of money you’re requesting and how it will be used)

3) Interview – Based on the size of your funding request, an interview may be required to evaluate your financial needs. Interviews will take place on Thursday and Friday, February 1st & 2nd, 2018. You will be notified if an interview is required and how to sign up for an interview time slot.
4) Notification – Awarded teams will be notified on Wednesday, February 7th, 2018 with the amount the team will receive. The SDP-Fund awards will be available for spending starting on this date.
5) Donation Report – Awarded teams may be required to provide content to the final donation report that will be submitted to the Boeing Company. The structure of the content and the due date for this report are to be determined.
6) Unused Funds – Spend only as much as you need. Unused funds will be reclaimed by the MAE Department.