Artists, scientists and researchers of all stripes had to have their grant proposals done by last week. Now they must wait for the Council for Faculty Research to tell them if their work will be receiving funding or not.

Both research and creative activities pull their university funding from the Council for Faculty Research.

But the university is limited in the amount of money it has. Therefore, the committee must decide which work will be funded.

The process can be competitive, and faculty may repeatedly see their grant proposals rejected.

“The competition, I think, is more than moderate,” said Crystal Lin, assistant professor of business.

The key, according to Robert Chestnut, director of grants and research, is to keep resubmitting the proposal and incorporating the suggestions of the committee.

Of the 11 grants made in the 2006-2007 awards period, eight went to the natural sciences.

“If you look through the history of the program, grants have been given proportionally to those who submit the most proposals,” Chestnut said.

The distribution of awards over summer was more even. Twenty awards were made, and five went to a natural science.

“When I submitted my grant it seemed like a fair, objective process,” said Charles Costa, associate biology professor.

He went on to point out that the composition of the council ensures there are only two members from the College of Science out of the nine members that serve on the council.

These nine members are drawn from the four colleges on campus, with a ninth member from the library. The council examines each proposal individually and decides which will be funded and which will not.

The council does more than fund research on campus. They helped make associate English professor Tim Shonk’s trip to England possible.

The council provided funding for his air and bus fares to visit the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. This allowed him to research the production of non-religious texts before the printing press.

“I wish we had more funding to grant the ability to fund research travel,” he said.

Shonk gave credit to the council for funding faculty to display their work, which he said was an attempt to ensure Eastern’s name was recognized as a research institution.